I do not own Rising of the Shield Hero
Once again, biggest thanks for Ace-Triad helping me with SPAG edit! Also special thanks to Angel Wraith for reading my rough draft and provide important feedbacks. Additional thanks goes to Jurodan, who suggested having Eclair help train Raphtalia and Kyubey.
The character Zylden Von Balveproven is dedicated to the memory of my former co-writer, Comrade Broseph.
More author note at the end for people who are interested to see me blabber some more.
A cozy bonfire burns bright under the moon and stars, the sweet scent of fresh food being prepared over campfire makes the princess turned adventurer puts down the Founder's magic tome.
Gaston adds more wood into the fire as he carefully pokes it with a metal rod, turning the body of the dead monster over. Naofumi is stirring a metal pot Gaston fixed over a second bonfire, making sure the ingredient in the stew is being heated evenly. Freshly foraged herbs, wild vegetables, and salted meat makes for an appetizing sight. A small pile of wild, but edible berries set on the side in a wooden bowl, making them the dessert after the main course.
The three orange spheres of pain have already detached themselves from Naofumi's body, currently busy devouring whatever scraps that don't fit either man, or bird's menu.
On the other side, Wolfgang and Firo are lying together like two unusually colored, but fluffy looking snowballs. Farkas stands much further away from them against a tree, barely visible in the light cast by their campfire. Éclair is holding Raphtalia's hand while the little girl is holding her dagger.
"Remember how you are holding it now. Any tighter, you might hurt your wrist when you hit something. Any looser, it becomes easy to lose your weapon." Éclair releases her hands from Raphtalia, giving the girl a light tap on her head.
"Okay." Raphtalia quickly looks at Naofumi and Mein before turning her head up at Éclair. "Thank you for your instruction, Lady Éclair."
"You are very welcome, little one." Éclair runs her hand through Raphtalia, very deliberately avoiding touching her ears. She pulls her long sword out and looks at Kyubey, who is standing opposite to her. "Shall we begin, Kyubey?"
"Please." Kyubey nods his head. The rabbit demi-human holds his sword up to his face and then waves it to the side. "Thank you for sparring with me, Sir Seatto."
"No thanks necessary. En garde." Éclair mimics Kyubey's salute and declares the start of their sparring duel. But instead of making the offensive move as per tradition, she simply adopts a defensive position and invites Kyubey to advance on her.
Mein is about to bury her face back into the Grimoire again when Naofumi hands a bowl of stew to her. "Fill your belly first, before filling your mind."
The meat floating in her bowl makes her release a gag.
Chapter 30: A Traveller's Prelude
Naofumi tilts his head a little at Mein, obviously not understanding why she's turning her nose up at his cooking all of sudden. "What's wrong, Mein? Did you get tired of the stew already?"
"No, it's nothing like that, Master Naofumi. But..." She turns around to give Naofumi a quick glance. The princess takes the bowl into her right hand, and points her left hand at the chunky bits of meat inside. "There's meat."
"You don't like meat?" Naofumi releases his left hand to scratch his head, his confusion obvious. "That can't be right, you didn't have a problem eating them before."
"No, I don't, Master Naofumi... not before the Wave. Remember what happened after the Wave?" Naofumi's eyes grow dark at the mention, "I had to burn a lot of people's wounds to stop the bleeding, after we ran out of potions and you were busy saving the ones with more severe wounds."
"Right, right..." Naofumi looks away into the still burning fire in front of them, his eyes become glassy and distant once again. "Still, try to eat some meat. It's not healthy only eating vegetables."
Mein blinks at Naofumi's response. Of all the possible reactions he may have, she didn't expect this particular answer. "Don't most parents say not eating your vegetable is unhealthy?"
"Well, yes." Naofumi shrugs his shoulder while his eyes are still somewhat unfocused. It seems like he appreciates the change of subject. "But your body also needs protein to stay healthy. Especially when we are on an adventure where we have to fight for our lives. You can get them if you eat a lot of beans, but we only foraged leafy vegetables. I think it's best for us to at least eat some meat for the protein."
"Protein, huh?" Mein tries to search her memory for the vocabulary. It sounds like something to do with a certain kind of defense based spell casting, with it sharing the first half of 'Protection'. But her mind still draws a blank with the specific term. "I don't think I ever heard of that word before. Is it more knowledge from your world, Master Naofumi? Adventure related knowledge you learned from your world's Hero Academy?"
Naofumi's body tense up at the mention of the institution.
The princess in disguise chides herself silently. Why did she bring up something that reminds Naofumi of his only friend?
The young man stays still for an agonizingly long few seconds before nodding his head. "Something like that."
Mein feels like there's a lot of things her Naofumi isn't telling her, but she doesn't want to press on this issue anymore. For the fear of bringing forth more unpleasant memories to the young man. The two of them simply sit in front of the bonfire while Gaston fills up more bowls of stews for everyone else.
The Lute hunter tosses the completely roasted monster over to Wolfgang and Firo. Both birds begin furiously digging their beaks into the roasted Porcupine.
On the other side, Éclair and Kyubey are still training together. It's clear the knight is the undisputed superior swordsman.
Despite letting Kyubey take all the offensive openings, she easily deflects all his assaults. Each time she makes a counter forces the rabbit man hopping back a good two, three steps to dodge out of her way. She doesn't press any advantages, simply standing her ground and letting Kyubey puzzle over his mistakes before they resume the dance all over.
Farkas walks into the camp where the bowls of stew lies. Gaston is about to pick a bowl up and hand it to him, when the werewolf picks the bowl furthest away from Gaston and bares his fangs at the hunter. "I'm not helpless."
The former gladiator turns around to walk out of their camp once again, ignoring Wolfgang's angry squawking behind his back.
Gaston hands the bowl in his hand to Raphtalia. The Lute hunter turns to look at Naofumi. "Shouldn't you do something about Mr. grumpy pants?"
"Farkas is still upset for his time as a slave." Naofumi simply shrugs his shoulder at the hunter. "I want to give him some space. Just leave him alone, when he gets grumpy."
In Mein's opinion, the fact that the werewolf can slaughter most of them serves as another good reason why they should leave him alone.
"Alright, if you say so." Gaston shakes his head and starts to dip a spoon into his own stew. The usually flamboyant hunter looks almost somber in their campfire's glow.
For two days, Wolfgang pulls their ironwood carriage with the speed barely above a leisure stroll. They travel at daylight, and rest when the sun starts to set.
Gaston, Wolfgang and Farkas go hunt monsters for fresh meat, and forage the area for edible berries, herbs, wild vegetables and even spices. The rest of them set up camp around their ironwood carriage. Naofumi cooks fresh, warm and tasty meals for all of them before they turn in for the night. Éclair and Kyubey takes up the watch.
The flat grassland outside the carriage slowly gives way to rolling hills as they travel north towards the Ivory Pass. It reminds the incognito princess about the trip her family made to the Golden Coast, When they visited House Amelia's ancestral home on Melty's sixth birthday.
She had a good time on that trip too. Both for the first time to lay her eyes to the vast ocean, and her annoyingly clingy sister's absence around her on the trip.
But looking back on that memory as an adult, it's tainted by the knowledge of hindsight. There's a reason why Mother requested Bern, Iris' younger brother as the chaperone and guide for Melty. There was clear under the table deals attempted, if not finalized between Mother and Duke Louis. It makes Bern publicly courting her (likely upon Father's suggestion, if not demand) much more awkward.
Staying in the background while playing all sides - something that Duke Louis is both good at, and allowed to do thanks to the power of his extended family.
No wonder Bern didn't put his mind on winning her over at all during their courtship. Why settle for the spare, when the hand of the true crown princess is already within reach?
The princess in disguise shakes her head. Well, it's Bern's loss for not winning her over when he had the chance. The Shield Hero Naofumi is ten times the man the pretty boy can hope to be. And knowing Mother, she'll probably try to match Melty to one of the other heroes.
Wolfgang's relative slow speed, steady pace, and rhythmic tap on the road makes for a passable reading environment while on the move. Mein flips open the Founder's Grimoire of Water, and settles her sight onto the first lines of the Founder's book once again.
The highest goodness is like water. Water benefits all things and does not compete. It stays in the lowly places that others despise. Therefore it is near the Eternal.
To the eyes of the unsophisticated, they might think that Lord Malfoy, or someone in Faubley tampered the Founder's writing. The beginning line of the Grimoire of Water sounds more like the start of a philosophy book than a magical tome. But after Uncle Aldrecht's education, the undercover princess can tell the authenticity of the book.
Even without seeing the tomes with his own eyes, Uncle Aldrecht long suspected that an ancient magical tome, like the four Grimoires of the founder, would resemble a philosophical book rather than modern magical text. Because at the much more primordial time, no systematic school of magical study has been established yet. Therefore the tomes would naturally reflect the writer's understanding of the world, rather than instruction on how to cast spells or train one's magical prowess.
The act of deciphering through their philosophy is the act of gaining better understanding of the world's functions, which can then be bent and manipulated by one's will through magic. This is why the Founder's tomes are much more valuable than any common spell book. They don't simply contain a few specific spells, they contain the secrets to understanding the world.
This is why the Grimoire of Water is still invaluable to her. Even with it being the opposite element to her own affinity. Even if it'll take much longer to study to gain benefit than a simple spell tome.
It makes Mein wonder how the tome of the opposite element, Grimoire of Fire, starts. If the Grimoire of Water promotes the ideal of nonviolence, it actually reflects her younger sister well. Naturally, the Grimoire of Fire would be the opposite.
Peace is a lie. There is only passion. Through Passion I gain Strength. Through Strength I gain Power. Through Power I gain Victory. Through Victory my chains are Broken.
Yeah, that feels about right.
Upbeat music, faster than a bard should be able to conjure up with their hands and instruments plays on her right. The princess in disguise looks away from her book, and sees Raphtalia holding Naofumi's magical tablet in front of her face. Oh right, she's playing that game Naofumi called 'Candy Crush'.
Mein smiles and ruffles Raphtalia's hair, she's still a child after all. The little child paid no attention as she seemed focused on playing her game.
The others are also minding their own business underneath the monster hide around the cart's frame. Éclair is in a meditative prayer, doing her best to fortify her own connection with the celestial plane. Naofumi is practicing his own spell casting by holding the basic [Mage Light] in front of his palms.
She can't tell what Kyubey, Farkas and Gaston are doing with them sitting in the front and Wolfgang respectively. Probably either drifting into a nap, or minding the road ahead.
With a small quack, Firo leaps into the back of their carriage.
The pudgy bird is growing at a visible speed these past two days. She already has an elongated neck and legs underneath her fluffy body, starting to more resemble the shape of an adult filorial than a baby chick. She is still small enough to fit into the back of their carriage with the rest of the team, but the day she becomes large enough to pull her own cart is drawing near.
Naofumi smiles, and scratches her feathers. "You are growing healthy and strong, Firo."
"Guah~" The dumb bird flaps her wings and blinks. She nibbles at Naofumi's messy hair.
The feather on her head and body is turning duller in color, they'll probably start losing their coloration before she grows into a full adult. Sadly, a trait from the most common mixed breed filorials people usually rises for their meat and feathers, instead of a purer breed with only a single color. "Her feathers are turning dull, Master Naofumi. She's probably just a garden breed."
"Guah!" Firo turns her long neck around to snort at Mein.
"I don't mind. She's still my chocobo... I mean filorial." Naofumi scratches Firo underneath her chin, making her coos happily.
Yes, 'chocobo' is definitely what Naofumi's world call those big, dumb, fluffy birds. Considering how many times Naofumi uses that word.
The Shield Hero turns to look at the princess and the book in her laps. "How goes the book?"
"I'm about a third through. The text of the Founder is ... obtuse to figure out. He writes down his understanding of the world like a philosophy book, instead of how to channel magic like more recent magical tomes." Mein slides a larger dried filorial feather into the page. She slams the book shut for emphasis. "I don't think I'll gain anything until I'm through the book cover to cover."
"I see..." Naofumi nods his head along at her statement. "Do you think the content has been altered?"
Mein was about to quickly deny it, but she catches herself before words leave her mouth. It's probably not fitting for a supposed country girl, with how uneducated and unsophisticated they are. "It's hard to say... I'm not so sure till I go through the whole thing. At least the content doesn't seem any more malicious than to have the reader waste their time."
"Is that so..." Naofumi withdraws into himself after hearing that. "You don't see words suddenly appear in the book, or hear voices in your head. Do you?"
Hmm... it seems like her Naofumi is rather knowledgeable on demonic and outsider influence. She honestly didn't expect that. More of his otherworldly knowledge, perhaps? He did complete his education in his world's hero academy after all. "No, nothing of that sort. It's just a regular book, with philosophy. Pretty mild and tame philosophy at that. Mostly promoting nonviolence."
"I'd imagine a Malfoy would do more than that. Probably not their fault then." Naofumi nods his head first, and then gives it a shake. Seemingly appeased for the moment till he looks at Mein again. "Maybe you should put the book down, if it's wasting your time?"
"Well, I'm not sure till I finish the whole book." Mein tries to find a plausible justification for her continued study. It would be a waste of her already invested time, and valuable resources, to leave the Founder's book aside. "The Founder was a powerful wizard from the ancient time after all. Maybe that's how he writes his own Grimoire, to make sure it doesn't get widespread by dumb people and cause harm? Coded in philosophy?"
Naofumi runs his finger under his chin to think over the reasoning. "That does make sense. But yeah, drop the book immediately if something feels wrong. My language isn't good enough to help you decipher yet."
"I'll be sure to remember that, Master Naofumi." Mein nods her head and sets the book aside. As much as she wants to dive head back into the Grimoire of Water to discover its secret knowledge, it's probably better not to raise the Shield Hero's suspicion now he has the attention on the book.
Naofumi turns around to look at Éclair, who is still deep in her prayer. He turns to look at Raphtalia again, who is blinking her eyes rapidly and rubbing them with her free hand. Seeing this, The Shield Hero quickly turns his magical tablet off and takes it away. "Okay, I think that's enough gaming for now. Raphtalia."
"Oh, sorry." The raccoon girl's ears droops down on her head.
"No, you didn't do anything wrong." Naofumi is quick to comfort her, running his hand through her hair. "I think your eyes are tired, and I don't want you to ruin your eyesight, that's all."
Raphtalia smiles, her ears instantly perk right back up. The girl is like an open book with her emotions.
Mein waves her hand at the little raccoon girl. "Want to come practice magic with me, Raphtalia? It's not as fun as playing a game on Master Naofumi's magic device, but it'll help you in our adventure."
"Okay!" Raphtalia quickly scoots her way to Mein's side.
"It's not a magical device... oh, whatever." Naofumi smiles at the two of them sitting side by side. He's about to place his magical tablet back into his shield storage when he narrows his eyes. "Hmm, I wonder... Oh, what the hell."
The Shield Hero places his tablet near the emerald on his shield, the shield absorbs it in... and suddenly turns into an enlarged version of his magical tablet.
Naofumi pumps his left arm up in excitement. "Oh, boy! My own PIP boy!"
Mein doesn't understand what Naofumi is so happy about. But it's still nice to see him slowly turning back into his more carefree self after Hob's death.
Naofumi quickly turns his magical tablet shield back up and scans through the different square shaped icons. "Status screen? I don't have an app with this name installed... wait, is it my status screen? Yes, it is!"
Both the princess, and Raphtalia move closer to sit beside Naofumi, curious to see what he is talking about. The thing he opens up resembles one's status screen, except it's written in what appears to be gibberish to the undercover princess. Letters from Naofumi's world, no doubt.
"Maybe I'm old schooled... but it sure feels more fitting to read them on an actual screen." Naofumi nods his head while he talks more to himself in his excitement.
"What does it say, Master Naofumi?" Raphtalia looks quickly between the screen and the Shield Hero. She asks the question Mein is having on her mind.
"Oh, it's just my status screen, written in Japanese." Naofumi turns to smile at the raccoon girl, he ruffled her hair once again. "That's my native language."
"It would be useful, if it can also show Medean. We can help go over whatever Master Naofumi might have trouble with," Mein thought out loud, not really expecting the suggestion to go anywhere.
"Well... a smart phone can change different languages. But obviously I don't have your language installed from my world..." Naofumi suddenly stops as he quickly starts to swipe and click on the screen. A list of different styled squiggly lines suddenly appear on the side, all of them gibberish to Mein's eyes but have somewhat distinct style to their own. And as Naofumi scrolls down, the common letters used on Medea appear in their view. "...it does have your language! Does this mean my Smart Phone Shield gains whatever knowledge I have, because the shield is connected to me?"
"Try to switch to it, Master Naofumi." Mein nudges Naofumi on his shoulder.
Naofumi nods his head and picks Medea Common. All the letters on the screen change to letters from Medea Common, but something has gone wrong. A number of symbols is blurred out, impossible to decipher which Medea Common letter they are supposed to be. The longer sentences have their grammar wrong, as if spelled by a four years old.
"The letters are all blurry, Master Naofumi." Raphtalia squints her eyes narrower with Firo, her voice cracking. "Did I ruin my eyes already?"
"No, you didn't, Raphtalia. It's blurry to me too." Mein quickly puts her hands on the girl's shoulders.
"This smart phone does gain my knowledge... and my literacy level, apparently." Naofumi nods his head along at the revelation. He switches it back to 'Japanese' and starts to fiddle with his status screen. "Well, all the more reason for me to learn your language."
"What else can your new shield do, Master Naofumi?" Raphtalia blinks her eyes at Naofumi, obviously curious with the shield that a few moments ago is a toy in her hand.
"I assume I can use all the apps I installed back home, and everything included in my status screen. Hmm... I wonder if I can combine it with some of my abilities." Naofumi runs a finger on his chin for a moment before shaking his head. "Ah, what the hell, let's give it a try. [Terrain Prospect]."
The familiar circle shaped blue wave quickly expands out from Naofumi. After a moment, the same blue shaped map appears on the screen of Naofumi's shield.
"Why do you want to look at the screen, Master Naofumi? You can see it better when it's floating before us all?" Mein looks up and glances sideways at Naofumi, not understanding why he wanted to try this specific ability.
Naofumi shrugs his shoulder at her question. "Good point. Guess I'm old schooled? It feels weird looking at a hologram map floating. Wait, let me take a closer look."
The Shield Hero promptly looks back down at the screen. His brow started to twist together in fierce concentration.
For a moment, Mein wonders what the young man is worked up for. Until she takes a closer look herself, and starts to notice some small squiggly lines written with gibberish like symbols. No doubt, the native letters represent Naofumi's nation, if not what his world uses. "What's written here, Master Naofumi?"
"I think... They are special features buried underground. I see a small deposit of iron to our west." Naofumi points one of his fingers at a glowing dot on the screen.
The same kind as the precious metal deposited in the abandoned Lute Mine. Something they completely forgot right after her injury. They should really look towards unearthing that cache of resource... assuming they don't hightail out of the country after their current quest.
Naofumi continued to look through the map, not bothered by the same thought as the Princess turned adventurer. "And to our North East, this is a-"
Their carriage suddenly pulls into a full stop before Naofumi finishes his line. Mein looks out of their carriage, and sees the light is still shining bright. It's definitely not the time to make camp. Which means something happened on the road.
"Wha- did the sun set already?" Éclair is jolted out of her meditation. She takes a look at the back entrance, seeing the bright light and instantly reaches for her sword.
"Sit tight, I'll take a look." Naofumi climbs to the front and opens the Chimera hide flap. "What's going on, Kyubei?"
"Someone's cart broke in the middle, Master Shield Hero." Kyubey's voice is slightly muffled from the outside. "Gaston and Farkas went ahead. They'll see if we can fit from the side, or if we have to wait in the middle."
Naofumi looks down for a moment before answering Kyubey. "Can you bring us forward? Let's stick close together, in case it's an ambush."
"Will do." Their cart starts gently rolling forward once again. Wolfgang is obviously trained enough to obey Kyubey, or perhaps Naofumi's command.
The whinny noise of a man starts to assault their ears as their cart rolls closer. "OH! Bothered and befuddled! I only bought this new wagon in Melromarc capital! Are all the people of this country dishonest, manipulative liars and swindlers?"
Mein feels like her cheek burning up. Both from her own shame at deceiving Naofumi, and at the indignation of the accusation. Okay, so what if she isn't the best example of her fellow country man. Melromarc people certainly aren't all dishonest and manipulative, thank you very much!
The undercover princess tosses the drape over and looks out besides her Naofumi. In the middle of the cobblestone road, a filorial wagon even larger than theirs lies in the middle. Both wheels are flat on the road instead of on the wagon. A quick scan with her eyes reveals the reason, the axis in the back is snapped almost in half.
While the road is still wide enough for their smaller carriage, it'll be a tight fit. They need to drive extra careful, if they don't want to end up bumping into the other group, or slide off the road into the mud themselves.
Around the broken wagon, a dozen armed men dressed in leather armor, and carrying iron weapons. Wooden stick wrapped in cured leather strapped on their waist.
Sellswords, and not very good ones judging from their attire and weapon of choice. They're mostly useful for scaring away thieves and ruffians than fighting off stronger monsters. The mercs regarding them with suspicion in their eyes.
On the two sides of the cobblestone road is a forest even thicker than the one near Lute Village. Mein's sight can barely see twenty paces into any direction before they are covered up by more trees and thick foliage. A perfect place to set up an ambush, it seems.
At the back of the wagon stands a fat, well dressed man, and a child only to his waist. Father and son of these peddling operations, perhaps? The father is the one still complaining and stomping his feet at the ground. "Where is that damn oaf Hector? He should be back now! Why is this happening to me!?"
The child takes out a water skin from inside his cloak and takes a swig. Wait, is that a mustache above his thin lips?
"Hmmm... a deal that's too good to be true turns out really was too good to be true, and not because the wagon seller wants to grant you a favor? Who would have thought?"
The boy, no. The man's voice is also deep like a fine tuned bass. This is most definitely not a boy, but a very short grown man. He has short, curly golden hair. A pair of shaded spectacles that's popular amongst the younger Faubley elite sits on his nose, making it hard to see what the little half man looks like underneath.
"Oh, be quiet you imp!" The fat merchant stomps his feet on the ground once again. He shakes his balled up meaty hand at the short man. "Haven't you heard the phrase 'if you have no nice thing to say, don't speak at all'?"
"Yes, that's how we got to this point, isn't it? A wagon uselessly broken in the middle of a forest. You can't go to the next town to peddle your ware, and I can't reach my destination." The so-called 'imp' opens his arm and spins around, as if trying to encompass his surrounding terrain. He waves at the rest of the sellswords. "All right, pay up mercs. No drinking and whoring for you when we reach Trumpet."
The armed guards grumble at the command, but they obediently take the money out of their money pouch and toss them into the hand of the short man.
The merchant screeches with indignation. He looks back at his broken wagon, through his hired escort and finally back to the half man. "You had a betting pool going behind my back?! On my wagon breaking!?"
"But, of course! A deal too good to be true turns out to be a swindle trick on you? I can bet Casterly Rock's entire vault and walk away a richer man." The imp shakes his shoulder. It's hard to tell if it's nonchalance, or regret. "Not that my lord father left me with anything."
Mein feels the movement besides her, rather than seeing it with her eyes or hearing it with her ears. She turns around and finds both Éclair and Raphtalia looking at the scene before them. Seatto heiress looks the half man up and down behind her helmet. "You are the imp of Casterly Rock!"
"Right on the first try, my lady. Guilty as charged." The imp pushes his shaded spectacles up to wink at Éclair with his large eyes. What would have attributed to a boyish charm on the face of a child, or a fully grown adult instead gives a creepy vibe due to his adult face and short stature. Like the large eyes on certain amphibian monsters. "It warms my heart to know my reputation precedes me."
Naofumi looks at Éclair, he turns to look at the half man. "Tyrion Lannister?"
"Who?" Both the dishonored Seatto knight, and the Imp of Casterly Rock looks at the young man with confusion. The half man shakes his head at Naofumi. "Not important, I guess. Zylden Von Balveproven. Arcane researcher, enchanter, and the greatest behind the door lover you'll find this side of Medea."
Mein quickly covers Raphtalia's ears. The words spewing out of the imp's ear isn't fitting for a young lady.
The fat merchant clears his throat, reminding everyone of his existence. "And I am this jester's current employer, Walter Hickwaal."
The last name is certainly more than a little familiar to the undercover princess' ears, even if she never heard of this particular Hickwaal. No doubt, forming a connection with this respectable merchant would be a much better venture than a certain slave dealer in the Melromarc slum.
"He must come from the world's most famous trading group, Hickwaal and Sweed, Master Naofumi." Mein whispers into the Shield Hero's ears. "Their founders rise to fortune by investing in a previous Shield Hero. They were known for supporting summoned heroes, and this in turn help grow their business."
Naofumi looks back at her and immediately asks the million coins question. "The King of Rape?"
"No, they weren't involved with him." Mein looks back at the merchant and his cohort, they are back to stare at their broken wagon after the initial introduction. "They are based in Faubley, and Siltvelt is extremely biased towards the human nations. They couldn't get in contact with the last Shield Hero even if they tried."
"I see." Naofumi nods his head along, his face turned slightly downwards. The young man is obviously thinking over something. He jumps down from their carriage, walks to stand besides the merchant and asks him. "Is there anything I can help with your broken wagon?"
It seems like the Shield Hero made a similar conclusion. Mein quickly leaps down their cart, and walks up to stands besides her Naofumi.
"Oh, don't worry about it. I already sent one of my guards, Hector, to the next town. Trumpet is a pretty large trading town, they should have wagon repair shops..." The merchant's continuous ramble is broken by a sudden roar in the sky. For a moment, it almost looked like a black cloud spinning in the azure.
"KR...UN...S!" The exact roar is hard for Mein to make out. All she sees is a black dragon diving towards the ground a good distance ahead of them. From where they stand, the dragon looks small enough to be held in her hands, almost like a pygmy dragon.
"AAARRRGGGHHH!" Kyubey suddenly lets out an ear piercing scream as he slumps down on the driver's seat. The rabbit man's body shakes and quakes without control, almost like he's suddenly having some kind of severe ailment.
"KYUBEI!" Naofumi immediately turns on his heel and leaps to the demi-human's side. He starts to chant a series of incantations for healing magic. When that fails, he tries to use Miracles taught to him by preacher Logarius. But the rabbit man is still shaking like a leaf in the storm. "I don't understand, nothing's working!"
Mein quickly looks back at the direction of the dragon again, only to see it flies right back up. With some kind of dead monster in its mouth.
"Kyubey is perfectly healthy, Sir Shi... Naofumi." Éclair throws a glance at the Faubley merchant and his escort. She quickly changes from addressing Naofumi's title to using his name. "Whatever hurt him inflicted some kind of status effect, or... did something directly to his soul."
"Is there anything we can do?" Naofumi quickly looks up, his eyes full of expectation towards the knight.
"If we had a miracle user in their prestige level, like Pope Balmus himself. But at our current level, no." Éclair shakes her head. She takes a blanket, dipping some water from her water skin and wipes Kyubey's sweating face with it. "We can only make him comfortable, and hope he recovers."
Raphtalia quickly shrinks back into the carriage. She re-emerges with a pillow in hand. Éclair gently holds Kyubey's head up as the raccoon girl slides the pillow below his head.
"Well, that's a sordid affair." Zylden turns to look at his boss Walter. "Think good Hector became dragon chow? What do we do now, boss man?"
"Oh, shut it you damn imp!" The Hickwaal shakes his meaty fist at the half man. "Don't jinx it!"
"Never hunted a dragon myself, but I heard an awful lot about them. They don't usually attack us humans. Or demi-humans, for that matter." Gaston crosses his arms. He gives a sideway glance to Farkas. The werewolf growls back at the one-eyed hunter. "Not enough meat for them, I think. Too much hassle for something barely a finger snack."
"That's good to hear. You adventurers go ahead, if you want to." Zylden sits down on the cobblestone road. He takes his wine skin for another swig. "I'll sit tight and take my chance of wine skin running dry."
"Well, we'll also wait here. At least till Kyubey recovers." Naofumi pets Wolfgang's head a little. He takes off the saddle around the bird. "What brought you all from Faubley?"
"For this big tub of lard here? Money, and politics." The imp snaps his fingers together for a few seconds, and then hammers his fist on Walter's impressive stomach. The merchant gives his supposed subordinate another eye roll. "Walter here is trying to compete for the seat of the next Hickwaal and Sweed president. That means he needs to show some great achievements. His idea? Expand the Hickwaal and Sweed empire in glorious Melromarc."
"Do you have no lock on your big mouth, imp?" The Hickwaal scoffs at Zylden, but he isn't spending any effort to stop the half man at running his mouth.
"A man is defined by his ambition. Isn't it?" The imp brings his wine skin up to his mouth again. "As for me... research. Melromarc is rich with uncovered ancient knowledge. Of the seven old kingdoms, it covers the former areas of Hibernia, Gallia, and Romalia. And when the Arcs migrated to what's now called Defiant Bay after the beastmen took over Albion, they brought what they salvaged from ancient Albion with them."
The little half man stands up on his feet once again and opens his arms. "It's a treasure trove of ancient knowledge! Something that'll no doubt help me achieve my life's goal."
Hmm... Mein has to admit she never thought about things this way. It seems like the imp is the son of the old lion after all. Despite Charles having burned him off the Balveproven family tree.
"And that being?" Naofumi nods his head along.
"You shouldn't have asked, good sir." Walter pinches his bridge as he sits down onto the edge of his broken wagon. Mein doesn't like the direction this conversation is going. "The answer is very stupid."
"Why, discover a way to summon nubile young women directly into my bedroom, of course!" The imp's teeth seem to glitter under the sun. The half man dares to look proud of his abysmal goal for collecting ancient secret knowledge. "As the best behind the door lover, I can't very much let all the eligible ladies around the world feel lonely in the dark, stormy nights."
It seems like Éclair has the same idea as Mein from a short while ago. She quickly covers Raphtalia's ears.
"...wouldn't it be easier to simply make a fortune with your knowledge, and then pay for them?" Naofumi's face scrunches up at Zylden's suggestion.
"Well, yes. But where's the fun in that?" The imp sits back down and takes one more swig at his wine skin. "If all I wanted was to pay for love, I could easily have lived off my good brother's fortune. He needs as many drinking buddies he can get, having to put up with my precious darling sister."
That's when Kyubey lets out another pained groan, and shakes Naofumi out of his awkward conversation with the half man of House Balveproven. The young man quickly turns to look at his companion and places a hand on Kyubey's shoulder. "How are you feeling, Kyubei?"
"I think I just lost ten years of my life..." Aside from the weakness in his voice, the rabbit man's tone is completely neutral. Mein can't help but shake on her feet, with Kyubey's lack of emotion and the content of his statement. "...That was a Thu'um, for sure. Mother used to talk about them. Though they are nothing more than old wives' tales."
"As a son of Malis, you should have known better." Farkas snorts at the rabbit man, as if the strange word has some kind of special meaning.
"Yes, I should have." Surprisingly, the rabbit demi-human seems to know exactly what the wolf beastman is talking about. Some kind of secret culture not even she, the first princess of glorious Melromarc knows?
"A Thu'um, as in Dragon Shout?" Naofumi blinks his eyes at Kyubey's words. "As if the Wave wasn't enough... should I worry about a black dragon eating the world too?"
"Yes, Master Shield Hero. That's a Dragon Shout. And no, the World Eater is just a myth." Kyubey slowly sits up with both Éclair and Raphtalia's help. The rabbit man still only manages to lean weakly against the ironwood. His voice trails even lower as he seems to start whispering to himself. "Mother used to say we rabbitkind is more attuned to the world, thanks to our superior hearing. We can't speak the language of the pure blood dragon, but we can hear them. It can be a curse."
"Pure blood dragon?" Naofumi looks between Kyubey and Farkas. One of his eyebrows were slowly rising as the young hero seemed to chew on the word. "Is there some kind of impure dragon?"
"I believe your companion speaks of the true blood Dragon Emperors, Shield Hero." Zylden tosses his empty wine skin onto Walter's broken wagon, and pulls out a second one out of his traveling cloak. "Some of the beastmen from Siltvelt see them as living gods, before they adopted hero worship like the rest of us."
"Show more respect to the first children, gnome." Farkas hisses at the imp. "They are the everlasting first born of Gaia. They existed long before all of us, and will continue to exist after we are dust."
"Right. You do realize just because someone is here first doesn't mean they'll stay forever, right?" Zylden looks up from the wagon challengingly at Farkas. Even if the werewolf can snap him in half without his arms. "Didn't stop you guys from kicking the Albions out of their ancient home and taken it as part of Siltvelt."
"So, you are the Shield Hero, huh?" While the giant werewolf and the half man is having their staring contest, the fat merchant picks up a box from his wagon and walks in front of Naofumi. He opens the box up, and shows everyone the glittering jewelry sitting inside.
They aren't exactly at the same craftsmanship as the one from Mein's room, but the quality is still good enough for high society. Hickwaal and Sweed only deal in top quality, after all.
The fat merchant continues to peddle his ware to Naofumi. "May I suggest some of my top qualities to you, Master Shield Hero?"
Mein thought she had gotten past pointless luxuries after adventuring with Naofumi for a month. But looking at those gems Walter Hickwaal presented... She'd be lying if she denies the urge to wear them.
"Really? Jewelry?" Naofumi looks into the box and picks up a gold ring with an emerald on top. The frown on his face deepens. The Shield Hero quickly set them right back inside the box. "As nice as they look, I'll have to decline. How are they going to help us fight the Wave?"
"Ah. But they DO help you fight back the Wave of Catastrophe, Master Shield Hero." Walter tries to straighten his back, but all the pudgy merchant accomplishes is poking his impressive stomach forward.
He points his finger at the emerald orb in the middle of Naofumi's shield. "You see, Master Shield Hero. Just like the gemstone core at the middle of your legendary weapon. Gemstones are the best medium to hold a permanent enchantment. That's why wearing jewelry is a good way to give yourself some additional advantages in a battle. They are small and don't affect your fighting stance, and they can hold strong enchantment effects when properly prepared by an enchanter or rune smith. And I just so happen to have some of the best magical jewelry around."
"I can vouch for the tub of lard." Zylden holds his hand up in the air and furiously waves at Naofumi. "I made them after all. And my magical enchantment skill is second only to my ability to make love..."
Mein promptly slams her hands into her ears. She'll most likely go deaf if she hears more of the imp's lecherous boasting.
Naofumi looks down back at the box full of magically enhanced jewelry. He looks interested for a minute before shaking his hand and pushes the box back. "Sorry, but I still have to turn you down. I am a bit short on the coins right now, and I'm not sure I can afford them."
"Ah, that's a shame." Hickwaal lets out a short sigh as he closes the lid back down. "Well, I'm still going around Melromarc for a while. Hope you'll have a fuller pouch next time we meet."
"If you don't take that jewelry, we will." And with this voice, a group of armed men emerges from both sides of the forest, surrounding both of their parties in the middle.
End Note:
I think the idea of a smart phone shield was first suggested to me by Fluffball13, although I also have vague recollection of seeing it mentioned in a review. Sorry I forgot to give you the proper credit.
Zylden Von Balveproven is a D&D character Comrade Broseph created (originally a gnome). After reading the brief bio, I mentioned to him how this character is kind of like Peter Dinklage from GoT, if he became a mad scientist instead of a politician and he agreed. Which is why I substituted a lot of Peter Dinklage's backstory and personality into this version. Since unfortunately we didn't hammer down most of Zylden's detail before Comrade Broseph went MIA. He did admit Peter Dinklage is the character he feels most connected with from GoT, so I think it's in good taste to use his character as a foundation for Zylden.