Poking my head out of the grass, I looked around to see if any knights or monsters were in the area. But as far I could see, it was just trees, nothing standing out firm the ordinary.

Getting up from the ground. I looked behind me to see the hole I had dug myself out of begin to fill itself back in. In a few moments, it was just as if I'd never dug there to begin with.

'Who knew that Beloukas had something this fancy of an escape route?'

The "route" that the slave merchant had led him to, wasn't just serving as an easy escape path, it was another path for him to get goods inside the city in secret should the front gate be compromised in any way. While it is legal to have slaves in Melromarc, seeing carriages full of slaves isn't exactly something normal folk wants to see or that's how I interpreted his explanation.

I didn't really get it, seeing as the entire country was racist to demi-humans. I guess they didn't want their children to see it? Whatever, in any case, this escape route had helped me and I would leave it at that.

Unfortunately, I did not foresee this tunnel being so long, hence I neglected to ask where the hell this escape route ends up so the only choice I had was to go in one direction, going further away from the city and hoped that there would be a village nearby. While I could camp out if I want to, I just wanna sleep in a nice inn room for the night to at least let me forget the terrible night this had been.

Shaking my head out of these negative thoughts, I began my trek deeper into the forest.

While making my way through, I thought about using my newfound powers of summoning to gain EXP here. It would also be a good test run to see how well I could coordinate them.

And speaking of practice…I could see a couple of Orange Balloons, combined with some of the egg and mushroom monsters. While there were a lot of them, their levels are too low to possess any type of threat to me, not to mention the absolute BS of my defense stat. So I am in no danger whatsoever to try this exercise that I can't wait to do.

Snapping my fingers brought 2 Melromarc knights with Bows and 10 Wolves to life. The emerald wolves snarled at the incoming balloon monsters as they jumped at them and began tearing them apart like a bunch of chew toys. The archers meanwhile were shooting down the other monsters that weren't getting chewed on.

While I kept an eye on the battle to make sure no monsters snuck past my projections, I noticed that the EXP I gained from them were actually much lower than expected. It was odd though. Did I get cursed somehow to get lower EXP gain or is it that my new abilities that I unlocked would give me lower EXP than if I were to kill them myself?

I decided to test this theory by leaving out 2 mushroom monsters. I had my two archer's hold the mushroom monsters in place by going up to them and grabbing them, preventing them from escaping. I dismissed the 9 wolves and left only one to test. I then began the experiment, letting the wolf tear apart the mushroom in mere seconds and I watched the EXP gain from it.

14 EXP

I terminated the wolf and one of my knights, leaving me, my last knight, and the mushroom monsters. I switched to my [Bladed Shield] and stabbed the monster using its blades. It took a bit longer than the wolf to kill but I still managed to kill it and it confirmed my suspicion.

42 EXP

Somehow when my projections killed the monsters, I gained less EXP than if I killed them myself. It would be as if I had my companions with me in the first place, except even less effective since I would still gain more EXP from them than my own projections.

Still, it'sEXP and every bit of it counted, even if it was less than what I could gain. At the least, I can kill monsters reliably and not have to waste so much time just killing some low-level monsters. I would like to test more with this power but for now, I need to keep moving. I want to get as far away as possible from the city.

Quickly dismissing the rest of the projections, I continued my trek deeper into the forest, avoiding most of the monsters and only killing those that I couldn't avoid.

I had no idea where I was going and there were no signs to guide me in any direction. The trees were thick, almost impenetrable.

Every now and then I'd spot a glint of light reflecting off something nearby. It could have been anything though, so I kept moving forward.

My feet continued to pound the ground as I walked, but the sound wasn't nearly as loud when compared to the sounds from the forest around me. The trees were singing their own songs, each one unique and beautiful. They sounded like waves crashing against rocks as they swayed back and forth with the wind. Sometimes it felt like I was walking on water instead of earth.

…ok apparentlymy brain had decided to be philosophical all of a sudden. While that would have been fine in school, this is not the time to be doing it now, especially since I am alone right now…which may have been the reason why I was thinking like that just now…huh…weird.

Shaking those thoughts out of my head, I continued through thick foliage, my body by now covered in branches and leaves. I brushed them off until I managed to find myself out of the forest.

But the sight that was before me…wasn't something I wanted to be reminded of

"What the hell?"

I looked around at what was left of the small village that had once been there, the same village that I had defended during the wave. The town lay in ruins; buildings were torn apart, and some of them burned down completely.

I still had fresh memories of how at one moment, I was here with my companions, just relaxing after the wave, and the next thing I knew, I was fighting against the heroes, only to be captured in the end and had that rigged fight that made me lose everything…again.

I let out a sigh of anger as I began to check the buildings one by one, hoping to find some supplies I could use for my journey ahead to…wherever I'm gonna go next.

"This is useless," I mumbled as I looked at the little pile of items I had gathered from all the buildings I had searched. "There's nothing here that can help me in any way, shape, or form."

Books that had seen better days, fruits and vegetables that looked too burnt to be eaten, a notebook that despite being relatively untouched and having written information in there, the fact that I still couldn't read it madeit ultimately useless.

As much as I wanted to keep searching for supplies, I knew it would be futile. The best thing to do now was to just head to the forest and travel from there on to…wherever the closest town would be.

Perhaps I should visit Reichnott again? He would probably be able to help me out here in this predicament since he is pro-demi-human and it would mean that he would have no problem with me either.

Except…I could not remember exactly how to get there. I didn't fully pay attention when I went there with Ghira, not on the trip back here but if I were to come across some familiar landmarks perhaps my unconscious mind would be able to recall some details. That is if I can even get to the landmarks in the first pose without getting lost in the forest.

Well…no time like the present.

After taking one last look at the ruined town, I began making my way once more into the forest, unaware of the events that will unfold within this journey (or something like that.)


April 10, 2011

It has been three days since I left the ruined village and a lot has happened since then.

On the first day of traveling, I took out the egg from my shield that I bought from Beloukas and placed it beside me while I was resting in the shade of the tree. The egg would be placed in stasis if it was in the inventory, thus would never be able to hatch at all. I would use this opportunity to let the egg out whenever I rest so that it can have time to incubate and hatch.

But I had my doubts of it hatching anytime soon since I would always put the egg back whenever I traveled, rather than leaving it out in the open in fear of monsters attacking me and accidentally breaking the egg.

In the meantime, I wanted to interrupt the journey to grind XP for at least an hour or two every day with the monsters around, despite the XP penalty. Even if I had gotten less XP from these monsters if I killed a lot of them, the penalty for XP was something I could deal with rather than taking so long just to kill a monster with my own poor attack stat and shield skills. Though it did get quite boring at times as the only thing I would do is stand there and let my projections kill the monsters, with me occasionally throwing a skill or two for the more troublesome monsters.

Still, I would say the first day of traveling was at least a bit productive if I had to say so myself.

The second day though…wasn't as productive, due to the fact that it rained heavily all day. Yeah not a fun time for me. Had to look for a cave early that morning and stayed there for the majority of the day until late afternoon. I decided to just stay in the cave that night since I wasn't motivated anymore to leave the comfort of my temporary home. I also took the egg out and let it incubate all day.

I also didn't know how long it would take the egg to hatch, something I forgot to ask slave trader, so I was hoping that this egg wasn't a dud or anything. I should probably inquire with someone who is an expert on monster eggs if I ever do make it to another village.

The next day was when something really exciting happened. The Egg hatched.

It freaking hatched! It was surprising that this had happened so quickly but I wasn't about to complain too much about it. It was more convenient for me anyway.

The monster that hatched out of the egg was a little creature with an eagle head, small wings, and a tail that looked like it came from a lion. I was convinced that the monster that hatched from the egg was a type of gryphon and my status screen seemed to agree with me.

[Unnamed Griffin Lv 1]

Violation Conditions

Refuse Order

Attack Master

Attack [ ]

Get [ ] Meters from Master

Lie to Master

Flee

Item Use

It seemed that the monster slave crest was working perfectly. Although it did make me feel bad for enslaving this little cute monster, I do have to remember that they are technically wild monsters that could harm others and myself if left on their own so I can understand why it was placed under this slave crest…

And with that I banished the bad thoughts and chose to focus on petting my new pet instead.

I placed my palm on its head and began to rub it with affection, causing the baby griffin to lean into my touch and letting out a cute whine. I couldn't help but smile, simply happy at this little moment I was having with my cute little monster.

We stayed like this for a few moments in the cave, just me and my little griffin pet in our own little world. But eventually, I knew I had to get out of the cave, I couldn't stay here forever after all.

Plus, it would allow me to think of a name while I continued my journey to a hypothetical nearby village.

Placing the unnamed griffin on my head, I slowly poked my head out of the cave and looked around to see if there were any enemies nearby. Satisfied that it was clear, I went out of the cave and continued my journey.

The trek was now more enjoyable thanks to some friendly company, despite it being a monster pet that I hatched. The griffin would occasionally let out some cute noises to fill in the silence while I would just ramble to it about Earth bet and all of its heroes just to fill in the conversation. It seemed to be quite receptive to me talking to it so I just kept at it.

It did look like I had gone insane and decided to talk to myself like this but let's see you try to survive on the woods on your own without any companionship.

Of course, the noise did eventually attract some monsters but I would just project two knights and have them dispatch any monsters that came close, giving both me and my pet some XP in a safe way. I projected ten wolves too for insurance.

Then lunch time came around and I decided to feed my griffin some raw monster meat. I remembered reading from a forum post somewhere that one could feed dogs raw meat but only certain kinds of it. I didn't remember which one and it didn't matter since I was on another world where there are literal walking eggshells and mushroom monsters so I didn't think that advice would hold true. But feeding it zombie meat sounded like a bad idea anywayso I opted to feed it some raw usapil meat instead.

And judging by the satisfied hum my griffin made, it had been the right call. Though maybe I should have tried feeding it vegetables to check whether it was an omnivore. I didn't know what griffin classifies it in myths knowing what I could feed it would have been helpful…

After lunch was done, I continued my journey through the forest until nightfall. This time, there was no cave for me to hide so I pulled out my camping supplies from my inventory and settled my mat down for bed as my griffin continued to make cute monster noises to fill in the ambiance.

Once I was finished setting it all up, I prepared dinner by grilling up some fish for me to eat while giving the griffin some raw ones. I panicked a little when I saw my monster choke a bit on the bones but I let out a sigh of relief as it managed to swallow it down without any issue. Still. Fish went off the potential babyfood list…

Dinner was done and I settled down into my camping bed, snuggled up with my cute monster griffin. I had try to come up with a name for it for the whole day but my mind was just not in it today. Usually, I would be able to come up with many types of names for my pets on the games I played back on Bet but now I just felt so…drained. Presumably the constant traveling for the past month had really taken a toll on me.

I looked up at the night sky, amazed by the amount of lights that could be seen from here. I wondered if these were the same stars like back on Earth or that perhaps the lights up there were something different entirely? Eh I wasn't a researcher or anything like that so I wouldn't know. Perhaps those lights could be different planets for all I knew or maybe just magic on the air that made lights or something.

More random thoughts began to spur in my brain in an attempt to lull me to sleep but then after a few minutes, I realized that I couldn't go to sleep for whatever reason. Frustrated, I sat up and decided to just simply check my own levels instead to pass the time.

Greg Veder LVL: 34

Unnamed Griffin LVL: 6

I hadn't really leveled up in the last three days since I left the castle but considering that my own projections reduce the amount of XP I get and how weak the monsters that I had been fighting…it made sense. But hey! It's better than punching monsters for twenty years with his abysmal attack stat.

Sure, I could summon a lot of them to spread out and find more monsters for me to kill but I found out that they have a distance limit of about…maybe a couple of meters? I wasn't really sure about the exact space but they basically can't go very far, effectively making them only suited for combat roles and nothing else, which absolutely sucks.

Not much I can do about but accept the limitation of my power. I should at least count myself lucky to even have something offensive, despite being the Shield hero so I'm grateful for my power to come in clutch at my most desperate moment.

After fiddling with my stats for a bit, rearranging my inventory and other pointless tasks, my eyes began to droop, telling me to finally go to bed. I closed my stats and quickly knocked myself out within a few moments of shutting my eyes.


April 11, 2011

It was the next day and my pet monster griffin had gone missing. Not a great way to start the morning.

I panicked the moment I found out and quickly began to search for him and after a while, I found small footprints that looked like an eagle's feet and a lion's back leg. I knew right away that it was my griffin and quickly followed the path.

I peeked in my status screen to checkwhether my monster was dead or not and was thankful to see that it was still alive, as the [Unnamed Griffin] was still there in the party list. But it wasn't showing its HP due to the fact that it was too far away from me. This shield really had a weird set of limitations but at least I knew it was still alive.

Eventually, the system led me into a small clearing with loads of small corpses lying around. Mostly the mushroom and egg monsters, all barely recognizable due to the fact that their carcasses were torn apart so badly. There were also some dead usapils laid around here, their bodies marred with brutal laceration marks. Bodies were torn open and apart, leaving huge gaping holes of where the organs would usually be and blood was everywhere. I think I got a little bit sick here just by seeing this.

I continued making my way through the remains, following the small bloodied trail that my griffin left behind in its wake. I began to notice the footsteps getting larger and larger. I was wondering if these footsteps even belonged to my griffin now. Perhaps another bigger monster had found the bodies and decided to eat them?

Finally the trail stopped at a mountain of bodies, stacked high upon each other and I could hear a bunch of crunching and munching noise from somewhere. I summoned two knights and my usual ten wolves as I prepared my shield up just in case it's an enemy. I looked at my status screen and noticed a shocking detail I had so far overlooked.

Unnamed Griffin LVL: 15

Apparently my pet monster had skyrocketed in levels while I was asleep. Which was quite impressive since it had been very small, around the size of my palm so I wondered how in the living fuck did it actually gain that many levels in such a short amount of time.

I didn't have time to ask 20 questions about this as there was still a possible monster on the other side of this corpse hill, ready to eat me so I turned off the status screen for now and focused on what is going on right now. Which would normally be listening to a monster eating but now it has gone silent. Did the monster leave while I was looking away or is it preparing to attack-!

Suddenly, a big shadow jumped from the other side, completely blindsiding me and my projections as it simply used its weight from the jump to completely crush my two knights and create a shockwave and destroy all of my wolves and knock me back. I tried to get back up and summon more projections only to be forced to block a claw strike from the monster. I gritted my teeth as it continued to wail on me strike after strike before I parried the next attack with the shield and bashed its head away.

I took advantage of the monster's momentary distraction and quickly placed some distance between myself and my assailant. I summoned 2 archers and Usapils to guard me as I finally got a good look at the monster that almost made me mince meat.

The monster itself wasn't as huge as I initially first thought, their height being similar to mine but that won't take away the pure strength it displayed as it was able to crush my projections easily without much trouble. It has an eagle face with large feathered wings and a lions tail. It's a griffin alright, and this one seems to be still maturing to adulthood.

That still didn't mean that the fight would be easy for me, if anything, griffins are a pain in the ass to fight against as they all have BS stats and were usually endgame bosses or hardcore ones at least so finding this one in the wilds, despite them being smaller than usual would still be a difficult monster to kill.

I switch to my [Bladed Shield] as I stare at the monster, waiting for its next move as the griffin crouches down, preparing for a lunge before abruptly sniffing in the air, staring me down in confusion. I wasn't sure what it was trying to sniff but I'll take it over getting mauled alive. I just have to stay alert and observe its movements.

After smelling the air or me in this case, the griffin let out a strange sound from it's throat, almost like it was mewling and lying down on all fours as it motions it's head downwards.

…wut?

I'm sorry…what is happening exactly? Why the hell is this supposedly terrifying creature acting like a house pet of sorts?

My confusion must have irritated the griffin as it let out an annoyed roar and rushed toward me. I couldn't react in time, and closed my eyes for the inevitable pain that would come into being eaten alive.

…which did not happen as instead, I felt a soft fur on my hands.

I blinked owlishly as the griffin was making it's head comfortable with the palm of my hands, moving it around to pat his head in other areas. I instinctively began to scratch his head as the terrifying(?) monster let out a cute growl.

Uhhhhh wut?

I didn't know what to do at this point. This has got to be the strangest encounter I have ever witnessed in my life. I don't think anything could top this experience.

I decided to just roll with the punches and continued to pet the monster.

After what felt like an eternity, the griffin was satisfied and separated itself from him, letting out a howl before going back to the corpse hill and continuing to feast on the piles of bodies.

I didn't know what to do at that point. I think I was just left very confused at the strange encounter I had with the griffin that my mind sorta…blanked out I guess.

It took me a bit to get back into gear as I turned on my status screen once again, telling me that my pet griffin is still safe and sound.

But then I noticed something when I turned on the status screen.

Unnamed Griffin LVL: 15

That same name was on top of the same griffin that I spent time patting its fur to prevent me from getting eaten.

…I let out a scream of rage mixed with embarrassment.

"IM SUCH A FUCKING IDIOT!"


It was quite a shock to me that my pet griffin grew this big already with just these levels already in hand. I wonder if the levels given to a monster dictate the maturity of the monsters similar to that of demi-humans like Raphtalia or are there exceptions to the rules? Or is it because of my unnatural status as a hero that would accelerate the growth of any monsters I tamed?

Either way, it's doesn't matter too much in the grand scheme of things. What matters now is that thanks to this sudden boost in fighting power, I can actually let my monster fight monsters now. Although that comes with their own problems.

That issue being that my griffin…is a battle junky.

While that type of attitude is something that I valued at the moment…it became apparent that all my griffin wants to do is just simply fight monsters all day.

I'm not sure if that is within their nature or it just a personality thing but it keeps hunting every single monster it can find or smell.

I had to always try to keep up with my monster whenever it goes to hunt just to make sure I don't lose it again. I think I got lost in the forest multiple times because of this.

At one point, it even encountered a pack of wolves that were way above my monster's level and almost died. Thankfully, I managed to be the tank and aggro them towards me with my skills, allowing my griffin to kill them off easily.

Still, this is a problem that I did not expect to have when my monster pet grew up though. I bet that Beloukas knew about this and decided not to tell me for his sick amusement.

I will not use the monster slave crest to compel it to obey me. It's something I just cannot bring myself to do, despite it being owned by me. I don't have the strength in me to use that power to force obedience to a monster that I raised on my own (disregarding the fact that it's only been a day since it hatched from its egg).

Still I do know that I will have to reign in my monster before it gets itself and me kill so when I do visit another village, I will need to ask if they is a way to train Griffins to be more behaved or at least, get an insight on their behavior and see how to deal with those in the future.

For the time being, however, I believe this is nothing too difficult for me to deal with. It's annoying, but it's nothing I can't handle.

At the very least, I can rely on it to hunt monsters for me since it can track prey very well due to its great sense of smell and battle sense I think.

Case in point, the huge amount of monster carcasses that I had to get rid off earlier through my shield's ability to store all of them into the inventory. I would need to eventually dismember each corpse but not now since time is of the essence and I need to move as quickly as possible to get to the next village.

I did try to ride the griffin once like a horse but it didn't seem to like it as it kicked me off it's back so riding it is a no-go so walking it is.

Now if only my griffin would simply stop fighting every monster it encounters, we could actually get somewhere!

I panted heavily as I observed my griffin decimating a group of egg monsters with a simple slash of its talons. It was amazing the first few times I saw it destroy enemies in action but now I'm just simply tired from chasing it all day, trying to make sure I keep my monster safe.

"Can…we take a…break please?" I wheeze out these words as I looked pleadingly at my monster who did look guilty at me before deciding to give me a bone and simply settle down as it lays itself down on the grass.

I barely managed to give out a "thank you", before following its example by facepalming into the cold unforgiving dirt. I was simply too tired to give a damn about my face and was content to lay here until my legs felt better again.

I tilted my head up to see my griffin peacefully sleeping on the grass. My heart warmed up at the scene, relieved to know that my monster can actually relax and not be so…battle hungry all the time.

I summoned two knights to lift my body and placed me against the tree before dissipating. There was not much I could do at the moment besides simply stare at the nameless griffin.

Speaking of being nameless, I think I finally found a good name for my monster after thinking about it for a while.

Simply basing on it's attitudes and how it likes to fight, I thought of the name, Cheimon, a name from unknown origins that represents strength for a griffin or so I heard anyway.

A notification pops up in front of me.

[Unnamed Griffin is now changed to Cheimon]

Oh wow that's…rather convenient. I haven't told Cheimon yet about it's new name so it's a bit presumptuous for the shield to already declare it as its name…maybe I'll ask it when it wakes up from its nap.

For now though, I'm just gonna chill here and relax my bods here. I hope we can get to a nearby village soon.


After taking a small break, we were back on the road, or in my case, back to trying to get Cheimon to stop hunting monsters every five freaking minutes. It's getting to the point that I might have no choice but to actually use the damn slave crest if I were to make actual progress at all.

Still I did attempt to try and dissuade my griffin from killing any more monsters…

"Come on Cheimon! Please stop killing already! You killed plenty this morning and afternoon!" I tried to plead with it but no matter what I do, it just wouldn't listen to me and keeps on trying to find things to kill.

I have lost almost all of my patience for my companion and already contemplated on simply abandoning it to the wild and just travel alone…but the fear of going on my own overpowered that train of thought. I don't know if I can stand to be alone right now, especially with everything that has happened to me.

Leaving my companions behind in the hands of that…womanizer makes me utterly sick to my stomach. I wanted to save them from that cruel fate of being my slave only to be a slave to someone far worse than me.

If only I had known that I would have been captured back then in that village…then maybe I could have escaped with my companions and just fled right after I woke up…no that would be unreasonable. We were just too mentally drained from the wave to even suspect that we would be captured like that.

I just didn't think that their hatred for me was that intense that they would pour all their resources into getting back at me, even after a disaster like the wave.

It's so absurd and yet…I should have expected it. I let my guard down too easily after getting a bit too comfortable and now my friends paid the price for it.

I pushed those thoughts to the side for now. I can brood about these bad decisions of mine later when I'm in a private room of my own in a village that I will eventually find…if Cheimon doesn't get distracted too much that is.

I let out another defeated sigh as I caught up to my griffin eating some Usapils without a care in the world. I went closer to it and let my frustrations and worries be known.

"Cheimon I don't know why you like killing things so much but we need to slow down on it. We don't know if there will be stronger monsters nearby if you just wander off like that on your own." I couldn't tell whether or not my monster could understand what I was saying but at least it's giving me its attention so that's gotta count for something right?

"Also you killed lots of monsters already in just one day. Can't you at least stop killing for a bit and focus on traveling so that we can get to a nearby village faster…please? You can continue killing as soon as we arrive at a village."

The griffin swallowed its meal as it tilted its head in contemplation to my words. Hopefully it would understand it and can slow down on the killing at least.

The only thing I could right now is just stare patiently as Cheimon continues to just stare at the sky and wait for its answer. After what felt like forever, it nodded its head at my request.

My entire body sagged in relief as my biggest hurdle has now been passed for now. The only thing I need to do now is to make sure I reach another village in time before Cheimon gets cranky and starts killing things again.

"Thank you so much! Now we will rest up here and-!" I was interrupted as my griffin grabbed me by using its mouth to bite my armor and threw me over its back. I wasn't able to get a word in before I instinctively held Cheimon tightly as it began to run very fast.

I wanted to shout at it, berate it for doing something like this without any warning or even at least asked why the fuck is it doing this right now but I had kept my mouth shut as we are travelling very quickly, much faster than I have been traveling for the last 4 days. The harsh winds make it difficult for me to even try and pry my mouth open to day even a word, afraid that I might swallow flies or small insects at this speed.

The only thing I could do was just close my eyes, hold Cheimon tightly and just hope that wherever it's gonna take me would bring me at least much closer to a village. Or at least pray that it won't bring me to another big monster that it wants to fight.


After what felt like hours of intense travel (in reality it was only an hour), Cheimon finally began to slow down a bit, allowing me to open my eyes, gazing upon a village not too far from here. I can already see the sun beginning to set so this was simply perfect timing for me.

I can hear the labored breaths of my griffin as it shook me off of it and simply collapsed out of exhaustion. While I was glad that we finally managed to find a village after all this time, I did not like how Cheimon had to push itself so hard just to get here.

I don't know why it pushed itself this hard since it was perfectly content with just simply killing monsters and not…running really fast, especially since I remembered not long ago that it didn't exactly like me riding on it like a stead so this rather surprising action took me off guard. But I'm not gonna complain. We got to a village and that is all that matters.

I took out my canteen and a wooden bowl and placed water on it. I pushed it to Cheimon as it eagerly quenched its own thirst. I also drank some water for myself, taking a short break here. We're not far from the village since we can see it from here so I can simply refill my water soon.

I then realized that I might be recognized as a criminal soon enough if word already spread here of my crimes from Melromarc and I don't want to be captured again.

So rummaging in my inventory, I found some old helmets that I can use to cover my face. I also switched out my [Blacklight Armor] for same basic leather armor since there is a chance that they might also recognize the armor I wear so better safe than sorry I guess.

I also tested a theory that I wanted to do for some time now. I moved the shield across my arm and slipped it to my back, changing its form so that I could fit it behind a new cloak that I got with the leather armor.

It fits like a glove. Now no one can tell I'm the shield hero with this get-up! Especially with my griffin around, people might be too scared to ask for any information about me so this is another win in my book.

One last thing to do now is to place weapons on my belt to make me look legit.

While I may not be able to use any weapons for obvious reasons, I can still technically wield weapons so long as I don't use them for anything combat related. I tested this before when I was traveling with Ghira and the others so this should work.

I took out small daggers from my inventory and placed them on my belt. To my delight, the shield did not shock me for it! Now I look like a rogue adventurer with a mysterious past!

Now if only said mysterious past wasn't being summoned as a hero, framed for a crime I did not commit, forced to use slaves to fight the waves of calamity, lose said slaves due to a rigged duel and being constantly on the run, I would probably be a bit more happy.

But hey what can you do? Some people just have all the damn luck in the world.

Once Cheimon was finished resting, we continued to trek towards the village at a much slower pace than before. It took about 30 mins before finally arriving at the gates of the village where it is guarded by two guards.

One of the guards walked up to me and began to speak. "Hello adventurer! I haven't seen you around here before, what brings you to Duncaster?"

"Well…" it has been a while since I last spoke to someone that had no hostility towards me so I'm kinda caught off guard a bit. "I'm just simply exploring Melromarc and it's beautiful… uh villages! Yeah, and it's been a tiring journey for me and my griffin here so I'm gonna go rent a room for the night in your village inn. Is that ok?"

The guard nodded. "Sure thing, we just need you to pay an entrance fee to the village."

"Ok how much is it?"

"10 silver."

I couldn't help but be surprised by the cost of the entrance fee. Normally it would only be 1 silver to enter the village, sometimes even less than that. My surprise must have prompted the other guard to explain. "I don't know if you live under a rock but due to the Waves of Destruction, we're having difficulties requesting supplies from the capital. The cost to just have them deliver them had skyrocketed so much that we needed to increase the entrance fee, lest this village collapse."

l can see his point, considering that this village is way farther out to the woods than Riyute village so the cost for travel would be much higher. Not to mention the protection cost to guard the supplies entering here… and taxes, because of course governments, whether it's the modern one or the medieval one will always charge you taxes. That is one of the only things that is consistent in any world.

With no other choice, I did give him the ten silver needed to enter the village. I have to thank the Item Drop feature for also dropping coins also from monsters, otherwise I would be toast right now.

The guards accepted the silver and let me passed, although they did scrutinize me for a moment before shrugging and returning back to guarding the gate.

I let out a sigh of relief, relieved at the fact that me and Cheimon were able to finally find a village after all that traveling. Now I just gotta find a stable for Cheimon to sleep in and an inn for myself as well.

Due to still being illiterate, I had to ask one of the residents for directions. After getting them, my first stop was to the stables where my griffin would be sleeping for the night.

Unfortunately, it came with a bit of a problem.

The stable was just too small for Cheimon to fit in, let alone rest.

I did ask the owner of the stable if they had bigger places for Cheimon to sleep in, but they told me that this is the only thing they have which sucked.

So it's either that Cheimon would have to sleep outside of the inn I'm staying in or outside the village. And both of these options are pretty shit in my opinion.

The first option would scare people away from the inn because of Cheimon's intimidating figure, causing the inn to lose customers and I would be held responsible for it. And might have to pay extra because of it.

The latter option is also bad because while Cheimon can handle itself with weaker monsters, it might begin to wander off too far after waking up to kill more monsters like this morning. And I don't think I can handle another heart attack like that one again.

So the only solution?

Make a tent on an empty plot of land and sleep there.

…in hindsight, this kinda defeats the purpose of finding a village with an inn to sleep in since I'm still going to sleep outside. But hey! At least I don't have to be half-asleep all the time and can actually relax for once without monsters jumping at us to kill us.

Though I do have to be still aware of the people in this village though since they might do something bad to me while I'm knocked out, thankfully I can trust Cheimon to keep guard easily since my griffin is a light sleeper as far as I can tell…I think?

Eh, if I get robbed in the middle of the night, that would be a problem for tomorrow's Greg. For now, this Greg needs his sleep pronto!

As soon as I set up my tent for the night, Cheimon perched its body beside my tent and began to snore, tired from all that running around despite resting a few hours before arriving here. Guess it was way more exhausting than I thought.

I went inside the tent and began to take stock on my items that I earned today after all that monster hunting that my griffin did.

It was a surprise that I had gained quite a bit of money from all those monster kills thanks to the [Item Drop]. I can safely say that I can make a profit simply by killing monsters and nothing else. But I do know that they are also other money-making methods that I can do as well which are just as effective if not more than monster-hunting so I will be doing those as well.

For instance, the potion-making that I had done before back when I was trapped in that…basement. I shivered just thinking about that place but pushed that thought aside for now as I know that I can make random potions that could either benefit me or fuck me over depending on the material and effect I have. I would need to get that [Book Shield] that my power told me about since it recorded all the potions I had made since then so that's one thing I need to do.

Maybe I can also get into crafting items like gemstones and bracelets with enchantments on them. Like what Dauntless would do with his gear but mine would be more instant since magic is just as bullshit as Tinkers equipment as well.

Speaking of magic, I should really find out what type of magic I should be able to cast. Sure, having this power to make monsters and humans out of thin air and having a Legendary Shield with me is cool and all, but there is just something…special about shooting fireballs out of my hands or lightning out of my fingertips or even the ability to heal like Panacea…

In any case, I need to find someone here that can tell me what aptitude of magic I can learn from. Hopefully I can actually learn some offensive magic.

I took a very deep breath as I stare at the night sky, contemplating my entire journey since the very beginning.

The summoning to this new world, my first party member, my party members betrayal, charged with false crimes against the kingdom, forcibly taking a slave to gain level, rescuing the slave's friends, bonding with my new companion's slaves, being forced to fight a remnant of a wave monster, fighting against the actual wave of catastrophe, living through the wave, being forced to fight and lose against the Spear Hero, escaping the underground dungeon into the forest, hatching Cheimon and now finally settling down in this new village.

In hindsight, my life seemed to be overall depressing and hard for the most part. It's as if this world is set in the hardcore difficulty with all the bullshit that comes with it.

I wonder if I can actually live peacefully here without being caught by the knights of the kingdom or will they eventually hunt me down and kill me for good in here or the waves. Either way, I need to find a way back home. Brockton Bay may be the worst shithole in existence but at least there, he can make a difference with this Shield in my hands.

Perhaps…I can be a hero there and make a difference. Until then.

I need to survive, no matter the cost.


AN: The Story lives on! For a while at least lol.

My beta is no where to be seen at the moment so I decided to just post this last chapter regardless. In any who, I'll be releasing an interlude soon and maybe another omake for this story. Season 1 of Shield or Arc 2 has been concluded. As for when it will continue? Maybe when Season 3 airs who knows.

Anyway Xian you guys later! Chow!