Sword and Shield
Game On 3
The next day Naofumi's party headed back out into the forest after having a simple dinner at the Inn. One the way there, though…
Cough! Cough!
Raphtalia started coughing again. Hadn't her cold healed? Must be a pretty stubborn illness to be able to last through multiple rounds of Medicine. He handed her one of the higher quality Cold Medicines he had made the night before.
"Sorry," she mumbled as she downed the bitter concoction with a grimace.
"Don't worry about it," Naofumi said. He meant it. He'd need her to be healthy if he wanted to get the maximum amount of use out of her.
The next few days they developed a routine and stuck to it. They traveled all around Castle Town; in the fields, the forest, the mountains and even the large landlocked lake to the east. They killed monsters, butchering them to unlock evermore shields, adding towards Naofumi's overall Stats even if his Defense Stat got most of the benefits, gathering loot and farming EXP. All the while they gathered herbs that were then used by Naofumi to practice his compounding. They made a tidy sum selling all their loot, herbs and the Medicines Naofumi made, even if some of those Medicines went to Raphtalia to battle her illness and gradually cure her.
It was on the sixth day that it happened.
SNAP!
With the sound of crunching metal, the knife Shirou had been wielding broke in half. The day was only halfway done and they were about to head into another monster infested area, but the knife had clearly given up the ghost. Fighting now would be much more difficult, and Shirou didn't fancy fighting monsters with his bare hands.
"What happened?" Raphtalia asked, walking over.
"…I'm surprised the knife lasted as long as it did," Shirou admitted, remorseful for his blunder. "It wasn't like we were doing a particularly good job of cleaning these knives. And with all the monsters we've been battling, the knife breaking was bound to happen."
Naofumi shook his head at the explanation and looked at the knife in Raphtalia's hand. It didn't look much better than Shirou's knife. It would probably break in short order, too. Obviously the fault of the almost non-existent maintenance they had done on the knives and a lack of Blood Clean coating applied to the blades. Annoying. Without weapons, fighting monsters would be much more difficult, quite impossible really. They would have to head back and buy new weapons from the Old Man of the Weapon shop, but they'd lose time they could have spent earning more EXP, loot and shields.
There was nothing for it, though. They couldn't fight monsters without weapons.
Shirou had realized the same thing Naofumi did, and was similarly not happy about it, but there was nothing they co- a lightbulb went off in his head.
"What are you doing?" Naofumi asked in confusion as Shirou sat down in the grass.
"I'd like to try something. Can you give me five minutes?"
"…Sure. Just don't take too long."
Shirou nodded, closed his eyes and focused his attention inwards.
Just because he had been transported to another world by unknown means didn't mean that Shirou had stopped his practicing of Magecraft. He might have less time and energy to devote towards it, but he was the diligent sort that wouldn't stop unless the circumstances made it impossible.
His father had taught him only three Spells: Projection, Structural Analysis and Reinforcement. He had been stuck on trying to learn Reinforcement for over two years now, ever since his father's death. On the other hand, Projection and Structural Analysis had been easy, ridiculously so almost. He had been able to perform both Spells after only a few attempts. As if the Spells had been made for him.
Shirou couldn't use his Magecraft in active combat. He wasn't good enough to pull that off yet, but… he might be able to solve their current problem with its use now.
He called up the image in his head of the knife that just broke. The image of the short blade formed in his mind with a clarity that startled him. Usually, he would have to use Structural Analysis first on an object before trying to Project it, in order to gather as much information as possible on the object in question. That's because Projection is a Magecraft that materializes objects in accordance to the caster's imagination. The more complete the image in your head, the better you are able imagine it, the better the Projection and the longer it will lasts before eventually fading away.
Shirou hadn't used Structural Analysis on the knife, though. He hadn't even thought to do so before it broke on him. But, somehow, someway, he could easily call up a ton of information on the knife: the exact size, shape, weight and materials used in its making were all flawlessly recorded inside his mind, as easy to imagine as breathing. And just beyond his perception, beneath the image he had called up, he could feel an even deeper well of information, waiting to be touched. He reached out for that well of information, but the effort only gave him a headache. He kept trying, but-
"Hey, are you just going to sit there or are you going to do something or what?"
Shirou cracked an eye open and glared up at Naofumi, who was giving him a dubious look back. Shirou huffed to himself, closed his eye again, and got back to what he was attempting to do.
He would look into this later, but first he would attempt to Project a replacement for the knife he had just broken. First thing first. Creating a Circuit. He groaned underneath his breath as he began the arduous process. It hurt like hell, like a burning hot iron rod being inserted into his spine, but Shirou'd learned to ignore the pain after doing it a hundred times before.
It took about a minute, but he finished creating the Circuit. Then he raised both hands, took a firm grasp of all the information he could reach in his mind about the knife, used it to imagine as complete a picture as he possibly could… and then a Projected.
In a flash of light, a shiny new knife appeared in his hand. A phantasm though it was it looked identical to the knife he had been using till now. Raphtalia gasped and Naofumi's eyes almost popped out of his skull at the display.
"S-Shirou," Raphtalia stuttered. "You can do magic?"
"A little bit," Shirou confirmed , embarrassed by the wide eyed looks he was getting. "My dad taught me before he'd died. I was never much good at it, though, so I can't really use it for combat yet, but I can use it like this."
"Why didn't you do that before?" Naofumi asked confused. "It would have saved us the cost of buying these knives in the first place."
"Objects created this way are called phantasms. It's an image called up and then given form by the caster. It isn't real, it's just transformed magical energy, and will fade away with time. Even then, anything I create like this is inherently flawed. This knife might look like the original but its existence, for a lack of better word, is brittle. Put enough stress on it and it will break like glass," Shirou explained.
"Not really something you can rely on in combat much, or even daily life," Naofumi mused. It wasn't difficult to understand the limitations of such a Spell.
Shirou nodded as he Projected another knife. "Yeah, pretty much, but even if these knives won't last long, we can still use them to kill monsters. I'll probably have to Project several knifes throughout the day to replace the ones that break, but at least we won't have to go back early," he said, and handed the second knife he'd made to Raphtalia. She took it gratefully and sheathed her own beat up knife.
Good, Naofumi thought. They could still make full use out of the day, and he learned something about his slave he might be able to exploit in the future. A win-win as far as he was concerned.
"All right, then. Let's get back at it."
They continued hunting monsters throughout the day and gathering herbs, but contrary to Shirou's expectations he didn't need to Project a replacement for either knife throughout the day even once, which honestly baffled him. He knew that there were large gaps in his knowledge when it came to Magecraft, but he was well aware that the world's rules should have been resisting and trying to slowly break down the existence of the Projected knives. But that didn't seem to be happening at all; the knives were still every bit as whole when he had first Projected them.
That could be explained away by the rules in this world being different, but even considering that, the knives should have broken under the stress of constant combat. But they hadn't. Those knives were far closer to the real deal than anything else he had ever been able to Project, far more effective and sturdy than they had any right to be. The knives weren't as effective as the real deal with a noticeable decrease to their attack power, but it came far closer than it had any right to.
And if he could incorporate the rest of information in his brain that he could feel was there, but was just a little bit out of his metaphorical reach…
He was going to have to experiment more with this.
As Shirou was considering this, absently toying with the handle of the knife sheathed in the sheath he had similarly Projected, he and the rest of their party headed towards the Weapon shop.
A bell chimed as they stepped inside.
"Oh, if it isn't the Shield Boy. I hope you and your kids have been doing well?"
The Old Man behind the counter greeted them, looking them over one by one. He was pleased to see that both Shirou and Raphtalia seemed to be fine, better even when they first stepped into his shop.
"Anyway, what brings you to my shop this fine day?"
"The knives you sold us are worn down. We're here to buy replacements," as always, Naofumi was to the point and matter of fact during business transactions.
"Really? They should have lasted longer than that…"
"That's our fault. We were using them like they had a Blood Clean coating applied without doing proper maintenance on them."
"Yeah, that would do it," the Old man nodded. "What do you need?"
"Another set of knives, please. Blood Clean coating would be appreciated. Keep it under 100 pieces of silver."
"Got it."
The Old Man walked around the shop and rummaged beneath the counter for a moment, scrounging up about a dozen knives in Naofumi's price range that met the customer's condition. All of them had Blood Clean coating applied and were of similar length, about as long as a grown man's forearm, with the biggest difference being the material used to make the blade.
Compared to the knives they had bought the first time, though, these knives had far higher attack power. Considering that Naofumi had considerably more money to spend this time around, that was to be expected.
Shirou looked at every knife for a short while before closing his eyes. Just like he had hoped, he could easily imagine every single one of them in his mind's eye and he had a ton of information to work with without consciously doing anything. There was clearly more to this and it was not some fluke.
Actually, now that he thought about it…
Trying not to attract attention to himself, he'd looked surreptitiously around the shop, making sure to focus on each and every weapon on display he could get his eyes on for at least a couple of seconds before moving on, even those weapons that were far out of their current price range. In spite of being a Magus, Shirou wasn't much of researcher, but even he knew the benefits of large sample size.
Meanwhile, Naofumi picked the knives that suited them best, payed, and was about to leave the shop when the Old man had a surprise for him.
"Here," the Old Man handed over a large, white rock.
"What's this?"
"A whetstone. Blood Clean coating only goes so far, I'm afraid to say. It's still recommended for most weapons to do some periodic maintenance. This way they'll last longer…"
As the Old Man talked the shield reacted, it's jewel glowing. Naofumi let it absorb the whetstone. The Old Man trailed off at the unexpected action.
Requirement met: [Sharpening Shield Unlocked – Base Defense: 3 – Equip Bonus: Sharpening +1 (unmastered)]
Special Ability: Automatic Sharpening (8 hours): consumption (large)
Special Ability: Special Abilities are abilities that are only useable when the corresponding shield is equipped. Unlike Equip Bonuses, Special Abilities cannot be mastered and used independently at a later time without having the necessary shield for use equipped.
Interesting. Naofumi changed his shield into the Sharpening Shield. It looked like a large white stone with groves of varying sizes running the length of it.
"Do you have an old beat up weapon I might try this out on?"
"…Sure, if you explain how this all works. Hold on a moment."
The Old man disappeared into the back for a moment. He came back a minute later with an old, rusted sword. With some experimenting they figured out that the Sharpening Shield could take care of maintenance of any blade in the span of eight hours at the cost of SP. Not yet having any Skills that cost SP – which he guess stood for Skill Points – Naofumi had no problem with the cost.
"Hey, Old Man, now that I am here do you mind if I ask a question?"
"Shoot."
Naofumi pulled out a cheap map that he'd bought. It showed the surroundings of Castle Town, which included all the locations they had been before as well as a single small town beyond the forest. He had been avoiding that place like a plague, as it was that woman that had first suggested going there, but…
Naofumi pointed towards the village displayed on the map, Riyute Village. "I was told that there's a dungeon in this village. Is that true?"
"That's correct, though I'll warn you to not step foot in a dungeon if you are not sufficiently prepared. The dungeon in Riyute Village is fairly small and basic, but dungeon's are places where monsters spawn endlessly. It's possible to completely clear out a dungeon, but the moment that you leave, it'll fill right back up. Monsters are also on the whole stronger than average in a dungeon. Not to mention the threat of getting lost or any myriad of traps that you could find in there."
"I figured that would be the case," Naofumi shook his head. "But it's the best place I know we can go and continue Leveling and collecting materials. I think we've just about exhausted the usefulness of Castle Town and its surroundings in that regard."
The Old Man shrugged, resting his elbows on the counter. "If you think so. Oh, and another piece of advice. The monsters on the road to and around Riyute Village are also stronger than what you would have encountered around these parts. Be careful."
Naofumi nodded. He would himself have preferred to continue on as they had been, but he had to do everything he could to get stronger. The Wave, the prophesized day, was only two weeks away. He had to Level Up, gather materials and unlock as many shields as possible before that day came. If that meant occurring some manageable risks now, so that he may have a better chance at survival later, then so be it.
"I'll be seeing you again soon, Old Man."
"Yeah. Yeah. Just don't die out there and drag those kids down with you, okay?"
"I wasn't planning on it."
With that idle piece of banter, Naofumi, Raphtalia and Shirou left the shop, headed towards the ever so distant Riyute Village.
The campfire crackled in the center of their camp for the night. They were camping out on the side of the road leading towards Riyute Village. Like the Old Man had said the monsters in this region were more powerful than those they'd encountered so far, but they still were not able to breach Naofumi's Defense, so taking care of these monsters was only marginally more difficult.
Raphtalia and Naofumi were on one side of the fire, sitting close by to keep themselves warm during the chilly night. Raphtalia was collapsed against Naofumi, fast asleep, the close presence of the Shield Hero keeping her calm and keeping her night terrors at bay.
Naofumi idly prodded at the flame with a stick, throwing logs onto the fire to keep it going.
Shirou, on the other side of the fire, stared into the crackling flame for a brief moment before getting back to his Magecraft studies. Sat down on a log, in front of him laid multiple basic knives and swords he had Projected. He was constantly practicing the Spell, trying to draw out more of the mass of information that he gained whenever he laid eyes on a bladed implement. They had been traveling for three days now and every night he'd practiced. Normally, traveling from Castle Town to Riyute Village would have only taken a couple of hours at most, but they were taking their time grinding the higher Level monsters in the area and collecting herbs for Naofumi to continue making evermore potions. All in the name of EXP and profit.
His progress was marginal, with him slowly even managing to draw out the process that went into forging the various weapons. But, compared to his non-existent progress he'd had before stumbling across this lucky discovery, that was more than enough to excite him and motivate him to keep going.
He was about to call it quits, though. In a little while they would change shifts and it would be his turn to sleep. As he was tired from fighting throughout the day, he wasn't about to object to that.
"Any progress?"
Shirou looked at Naofumi over the crackling flame, a small grin on his face. "A little bit. My Projections should be bit closer to the real thing now."
"Hmm. Good. Continue practicing whenever you have the chance," Naofumi encouraged.
"…You want me to improve?"
"Yes. Please don't misunderstand. The more capable you are, the more use I can get out of you."
Shirou's face scrunched up. He had long since noticed that Naofumi was a ruthless pragmatist that, if nothing else, believed in necessity. But this was the first time he was so blatantly obvious about it. Usually the man kept his thoughts to himself and aired them only when upset. Was Naofumi so tired that his filter had dropped for a moment? That he would admit to his slave that he only wished for his improvement so that he, the slave owner, would benefit?
"That's not why I study Magecraft," Shirou mumbled to himself.
"Then why do you?"
Shirou looked up, alarmed. He hadn't realized he had spoken out loud. Naofumi looked at him from across the flames, a note of interest in his eyes.
"Did your father teach it to you so that you could protect yourself?"
"U-Uh, no," Shirou stuttered. "It's actually the opposite. Magecraft is dangerous. A single misstep can mean death. I had to pester him almost day and night to get him to teach me…"
Naofumi leaned forwards. In spite of himself, he found himself interested in the story of his slave that was clearly so much more than what it appeared to be on the surface.
Shirou realized this and continued to explain, blushing. "And I really idolize Heroes. I want to be a real Hero, a Hero of Justice. That's why a study Magecraft. So that I can help people."
Naofumi raised an eyebrow at him, and Shirou waited patiently for the words of ridicule that always followed whenever he spoke about his dream. He knew that his dream was an unreasonable one, with unknown difficulties and prerequisites, but he really wanted to – no, he needed to be – a Hero of Justice, so he would not back down no matter how many people told him it was impossible.
But, contrary to his expectations…
"I see," was Naofumi's only response. It was such a simple response that it momentarily left Shirou baffled. "And how do you expect to achieve that?"
Shirou bit his lip. He wasn't sure he should be saying this, but if he lied or tried to avoid the question the Slave Crest would punish him. "I first want to start with saving the slaves back where you bought us and, at the very least, drive the Slave Trader out of business, if not see justice done outright."
"And then what?"
Again, the simplistic follow up question threw him off. "I think the logical next step would have to be doing something about slavery in this country in general…"
Naofumi shook his head. "You misunderstood my question. Let me rephrase it. What will you do with the slaves after you have freed them?"
Shirou opened his mouth, but no words came out. He'd not thought about what would happen with the slaves after he had set them free. He'd assumed everything would work out from there somehow, like in the stories about heroes he'd always enjoyed reading.
"Even if you free the slaves, the fact that they are slaves kind of implies they got no family or home to go back to," Naofumi casually poked holes in his logic. "Even if they have, how do you suppose to get them home? You would first have to find out where that is and then you have to feed all the slaves on the way there. That would bankrupt us long before we brought even a few of the slaves back home, and then they, and us, would starve. What will you do with the slaves that do, in fact, have no place to go back to? Just dump them at a convenient place and forget about them?"
Shirou's mouth opened and closed, desperately trying to form words as his brain went a million miles a minute, trying to think up solutions for the various issues. After several minutes of trying and failing to think of anything plausible he admitted, in a tiny voice, "I… don't know."
Naofumi didn't look surprised. He let out a small breath. "It's alright to be a Hero. It's even good to be idealistic to an extent, but if you don't have a plan to fall back on when you are helping people and simply throw yourself at a problem, chances are that you are making it worse. The slaves might be held captive in terrible conditions, but at least they have a roof over their heads and some food. If you simply did what you wanted to do, most of them wouldn't make it to the end of the week."
Before he had been betrayed, Naofumi would have likely entertained the same notions of saving the slaves like Shirou did now, but not anymore. Being stabbed in the back had made him more thoughtful if nothing else. Moreover, ignoring the fact that he wasn't particularly inclined to help the slaves of this country anymore…
How could he help them if he could barely even help himself? There were limits to what a single man could do, and he had reached his by keeping himself alive and strengthening his party.
Shirou looked at Naofumi for a moment, uncomprehending. No, that's wrong. It's not that he didn't understand, it's just that he didn't want to understand. The problem was that he couldn't deny the stone cold logic in Naofumi's words. No matter what he did, he couldn't help the slaves. He didn't have the abilities or the resources to help them in his current state. Like what Naofumi said, currently he would only make things worse.
Wanting desperately to help someone, but being unable to do anything… It hurt more than he'd cared to admit.
"I get it," Shirou muttered, defeated.
Naofumi sighed at Shirou's crestfallen expression. He'd engaged in conversation purely out of interest for his slave and his story, but now he had crushed his motivation. This was bad. An unmotivated slave wouldn't do him any good, even if the Slave Crest would force him to act as Naofumi ordered. It would be better for Naofumi if Shirou did his best of his own volition.
In service of that, some words of support couldn't hurt.
"That's not say that you should give up, though," Naofumi continued. "If you are currently unable to do anything you'll just have to improve yourself and your situation until you can. If you attain a higher Level and gather more resources, both monetary and manpower, who knows what options will open up to you…"
At those words, even if the man speaking them didn't truly believe what he was saying, Shirou rallied before Naofumi's eyes, nodding with determination. He had already figured for himself what Naofumi had just said, but the fact that he would have to leave those slaves in the hands of the Slave Trader so much longer then he had figured was a real dampener for his mood, but there was as much truth in Naofumi's words of support as there was in his words of caution. If he couldn't do anything right now, he'll just have to improve in various ways until a path opened up. It may be more difficult than he had first assumed, but he'd find a way. One way or the other.
"Thanks… Master."
"No problem. Now go to sleep. I'll wake Raphtalia and she will take over watch."
Shirou nodded and laid down by the fire. He knew that sleep would not come easy, the conversation with Naofumi having opened up new doubts about his ability to help people because of his own deficiencies, but paradoxically, he only felt more motivated as a result. After all, it's a common saying that necessity was the mother of invention. And if he couldn't help other people as he was now… than he would just have to get better, now didn't he?
He closed his eyes and slowly drifted off to sleep.
By midday next day they arrived at Riyute Village. It was a moderately sized village at the outskirts of the forest, with a few hundred people calling it home. There was a swamp area to the west and an mountain range to its north. The dungeon, a former and now abandoned mine, could be found at the base of the mountain range and the village itself...
"… Has seen better days," Naofumi muttered to himself.
All of the buildings on the outskirts of the village appeared to be damaged to some extent. People milled about in quick, hurried steps, as if desperate to finish their work and get back inside. There were no merchants around that he could see. Besides that, the villagers shied away from him and his party, looking at them wearily as they whispered lowly to each other. He scowled heavily. It seemed that his reputation as the Shield Hero proceeded him even here.
No matter. He had his methods to force them to treat him fairly. Giving a dark grin that scared away even more people, he led his party to the only Inn in town.
After they had rented a room for the coming night, they discussed what they were going to do for the rest of the day and the days after that.
Naofumi laid down his map on a table and pointed towards various locations. "According to the Innkeeper, there's a Potions shop in town. We'll first sell the Medicines I made during the trip over here and then we'll go grind monsters in the forest. We'll first exhaust all the surrounding areas for materials and EXP. First the forest, then the mountain range and then the swamp. After that we'll go and check out the dungeon. This way we'll be extra prepared for when we take a crack at the dungeon."
Shirou and Raphtalia offered no objections. After a short rest in their room, they headed towards the Potions shop in the center of town. It appeared to be just an ordinary home, probably the home of the Apothecary in question. Unfortunately, when they got there, the shop was closed down, the windows closed and the door shut.
"Huh. It's midday, isn't it? Shouldn't it be open?"
Annoyed, Naofumi continued to pound on the door to little effect. This continued for about a minute.
"Master, I don't think anyone's home," Shirou said. "It's probably better if we came back later."
Huffing to himself, Naofumi gave the door one last belligerent kick before giving up. The treatment he'd received the moment he'd stepped into town had annoyed him and it showed. He also didn't trust leaving his entire stockpile of potions in their room back at the Inn for any extended period of time, but taking all of that with them when they were grinding wasn't an option either. There was nothing for it, though. He would just have to take the chance and hope that he wouldn't be robbed, again.
"Fine," Naofumi grumbled underneath his breath as he turned towards his slaves. "We'll drop our stuff off back at the Inn and-"
The door behind him slammed open hard enough to make Naofumi jump and turn around with wide eyes, shield raised in defense. In the door stood a young man with messy brown hair and black eyes, dressed in a green Apothecary vest with and a satchel strapped to his side. The young man looked angry and, if Naofumi wasn't mistaking his expression, also worried and slightly desperate. What was going on in this guy's life?
"I hope there's a good reason why…" the young man began with a growl, before slowly trailing off, a shocked look on his face. "Adventurers?"
"…In a manner of speaking, yes," Naofumi said. Didn't this guy recognize him as the criminal Shield Hero like all the other villagers? Well, he sure wasn't going to enlighten the guy to his identity. More chance that he could get a fair deal that way without resorting to threats. "Why, is there something-"
The young man surged forward and grabbed Naofumi by the shoulders. "Please, I need your help! I'll do anything! Just help Alfyn and my sister and-"
Naofumi shoved the young man back roughly, knocking him on his ass hard enough that he rebounded from the ground and a yelp escaped his mouth. Naofumi didn't like it when strangers got close, much less actually touched him. "If you want me to listen to what you have to say, you better calm down, explain yourself in a coherent fashion and most important of all don't touch me. Am I clear?"
"Y-yes, I'm sorry! I didn't mean any offence!" the young man stuttered and got on his knees, bowing his head so low that it touched the dirt. Naofumi raised an eyebrow. "I've got a bit of a situation going on right now and time is running out and if something were to happen to Alfyn I'd-"
"I've noticed," Naofumi said, his tone carrying a hint of warning.
The young man swallowed his rapid fire words, took a deep breath and stood up, facing them. "Okay, let me start from the beginning. Get inside and I'll explain."
Naofumi searched the young man's face, not quite trusting this sudden situation, but the desperation on the young man's face made him relent. "This better be good," he muttered as he and his party stepped into the modest home. Only a few steps in he froze. Shirou and Raphtalia came to a stop only a step behind him, obviously having noticed the same thing he had.
In front of him, on a bed in a corner in an infirmary-like room, laid a young girl, about 8 years old if Naofumi were to hazard a guess. She was obviously ill, her cheeks tinted red, her forehead covered by a wet cloth and her entire thin frame trembling from a fever. All around her laid potions bottles and materials, having been used in an unsuccessful attempt to heal the ailing girl.
"My name is Zeph," the now named Zeph walked past them, kneeling besides the bedridden girl to stroke her hair. "This is my little sister, Nina. She's…"
Naofumi already had an idea where this was going.
