This is a Full Metal Alchemist and Rising of the Shield Hero Fanfiction only.
Even I am surprised how quickly Filo grew, she actually started to want to pull carts, I swear she is often seen looking at a cart with such look of longing, I never expected to see her behave like my first Filolial. Oh, that is right, they have a natural desire to pull carts, and if memory serves me, they also have a deep hatred of dragons.
I continued to feed her my own prepared food, and she was showing good signs that the food was actually very beneficial, in fact, some of the men in Lute actually asked for me to sell them some for their filolials. I honestly hope it is beneficial and it is not thanks just to my shield ability.
Three weeks since the last wave, and now the repairs to Lute look like they are finally almost finished. One day I went to see the Mayor of Lute see if his filolial actually liked the food mixture I prepared and often feed Filo.
As I walked to his home, I saw a sight I really wish I didn't see, Myne and Motoyasu riding land dragons, and so were his party members which by the looks of it were two girls. I simply stood in the crowd and waiting to listen to what this is about.
"By order of the King, Sir Motoyasu has been named Lord of this region, in hopes to prepare for further waves, the King has authorized Sir Motoyasu to charge one gold piece levy for entering and exiting this town."
I know Luge is crazy but I didn't think he was also this stupid? I stepped closer to Myne and Motoyasu, "Do you honestly think people are willing to pay that? Motoyasu do you know how much does it cost a person to stay in the inn here?"
He looked like I asked him what the secret of life was? Guess he has no clue. "It costs one silver piece, that is for one day and includes three meals. You are asking people that want to trade with this town to pay a hundred times that amount simply to enter and leave the town."
He glared at me, "Look Mustang, to equip and maintain the equipment of my party costs money, and in order for me to have the best equipment I need a lot of money, shouldn't be that bad if in reality they realize they are paying for me to better save them from the threat of the waves of calamity."
Yet, I protect this nation and don't charge them a single copper, and here we have a hero that is basically extorting money from the town and yet I am the one in the church people call the Devil of the shield, ironically doesn't seem to fit.
"How about a wager then? You race our local hero, the Shield Hero, and should he win, you give up your right to set a levy, but should you win, we shall pay it without any further protest? Well, Spear Hero are you good enough on your mount that you can defeat Sir Mustang?"
Why is Raphtalia doing this? The last thing I need is to give the idiots in the capital even more reasons to hate my guts. Well, I guess she is doing this in order to protect people we consider our friends and neighbors.
It is true that Filo does seem to enjoy when I ride on her back, and I do want to protect our friends and neighbors but I still feel that there is something else behind this, a hidden purpose for Motoyasu to act this way.
I just hope it is not because this is the town I helped by clearing the mine, fighting to protect the people during the wave, and to top it off this is the place where my home is. I have to admit that seeing Myne there in favor of this entire thing hurts me more than even I thought it would.
To think all those times she whispered such encouraging words, was there for me when my own family practically told me I would not succeed in the State Alchemist Exam, all these difficult times in my life, true back then she was a spirit, but I thought that my girlfriend would be there for me no matter what.
I guess my initial suspicions were correct, that I was right in denying her request to become a member of my party. I just can not help but feel hurt at seeing her back Motoyasu and those that wish to harm me, and angry at seeing her so close to that spear wielding moron, the very sight of them standing so close enrages me to the point I am practically seeing red.
"So Roy, what exactly are you going to ride? Don't tell me you are riding that chicken? Why that thing looks so weak I wouldn't use it for stew." That is when he got close enough to Filo that I was worried how Filo would react, she really doesn't like it when strangers invade her personal space, that is why she is actually in her own stable in our home.
Sure enough, the idiot Motoyasu tried to touch her head, and what I was expecting happened, she gave him a hard kick and sent him flying through the air, and wouldn't you know it, Motoyasu came crashing into a cart where a person was transporting manure to a nearby field of fruit trees.
He landed right smack into the pile of wet manure, I know that this is not something that I should not consider as funny, but I can't help it, both Filo and me were laughing so hard we even had trouble breathing. I don't think I ever laughed like that in my entire life. Motoyasu head first buried in so much animal feces, more than likely it came from the local stable for Filolials.
"Sorry, you should really watch how close you get to a Filolial Motoyasu, they don't like it when strangers touch them. I am sure we can get something for the pain after I win the race. So tell me Motoyasu where does it hurt?"
I swear the idiot smells worse than anything I ever smelled before, and that includes pulling three shifts at a maternity ward changing diapers. "When I win, that fat chicken is going to be fried."
Alright nobody, and I mean nobody threatens my kid, I took hold of my shield, "And when you lose you will apologize for calling her names, and for trying to get rich by trying to extort money from them, you will do a month of manual labor in the mines."
As the race was decided a simple two times around the perimeter of the town, nothing could be more simple. "Come on Filo, you and me, let's show this idiot how slow they both are. Him and his puffed up dragon that he came on."
As soon as the banner was lowered we took off, as fast as we could but for some reason, the speed we were going at is nothing like her normal speed, I decided to look at her status and that is when I saw it, they are using magic to lower our speed.
I decided to try and use alchemy on the spell being used, a little trick I learned called yin and yan, the more negative my condition was made by an attack, the reverse happened when I did this.
If a person tried to poison me, with this trick the ability not only did not hurt me, it healed me and made me immune to that particular poison, the lower the stats they make Filo the faster she ran.
We caught up to the cheating idiot in no time at all, and he clearly did not expect it from the way his mouth was hanging wide open, bad idea, at our current speed were pretty much causing every bug that was in our path to go flying right behind us from the sheer force of our speed.
This made some of them to simply end up in a certain idiot's open mouth, well dad used to say bugs are a good source of protein, and well thanks to the cheating moron, he was getting enough protein for a month.
When that didn't work they opened a giant hole in the ground that was directly in my path, I mean couldn't you get more obvious? If people don't notice this level of cheating I wonder how do casinos stay in business in this world? Oh, the hole? No problem Filo has wings, he can glide over them, the dragon not so much.
One lap and now Raphtalia is acting as a cheerleader, I am really getting worried here. She is just jumping around screaming things that I am sure they are embarrassing to me, to Filo and most of the crowd that is watching this race, and that includes some of the people that are helping Motoyasu cheat. Myne is just apparently glaring at her.
After all that she has done, why is she glaring at her like that? If she did back when we first met in this world I would say she is jealous but after the duel and this? I am starting to wonder if Envy's craziness was just on him, this guy used to change his appearance to that of a young woman, don't help that technically I could have ended up calling him uncle too.
Wow, got to keep my mind on the race, just how many holes are these idiots going to make, somehow I don't think they will have the decency of staying to fill them back up again. I wonder why did the stables. Someone said something about their feed going bad, but who? With the amount, Filo eats I barely have enough each week.
We are reaching the finish line and again with the holes, I am starting to wonder who is the biggest hole the idiot on the dragon or the one making pits to stop me. That is when my status magic told me Motoyasu received a speed boost spell. "Alright Filo, I know I told you before to watch your speed, but we can't lose. You got my permission to run as fast as you can, jump over him, do whatever you need."
She cried something that practically sounded to me like joy and that is when I really had to put my arms around her neck and hold tight for dear life or else Filo might finish the race and me? I would be dragged through the finish line.
Funny why is Filo shining? Don't tell me, all this has been adding up to her experience. As soon as we went through the finish line, Filo slowed down, most people began to cheer still covered in leaves and dirt, but at least they were happy. "Don't tell me you won with this fat ugly chicken, it looks even uglier than when the race began, where did you change your ride for this hippo in feathers?"
Some guys never learn, I told him Filo does not like it when strangers touch her feather, and sure enough he got kicked again in the family jewels and this time he went flying into one of the holes near the filolial stables, for some reason the hole screams toilet to the birds and well, they used the toilet, all twenty of them.
I guess their feed sometimes does go bad, and that causes shall we say lose bowel syndrome, yes, they all went and took a dump in the hole and I mean all twenty birds, like I said they felt like it was a toilet. Why mention this? Where do you think Motoyasu landed yet again? Yes, in the previously mentioned improvised toilet.
The only difference from before this stuff was actually still fresh, not as dry as the manure and of course, he landed head first and with him screaming in pain, you can imagine what else he had as a meal that day. So after thirty minutes of waiting for him to climb out of a toilet, that basically was filled hip deep.
That apparently was not good enough for Filo, she immediately began to kick dirt into the hole at an alarming rate after the other filolials were done relieving themselves, to me it looked like Filo wanted to bury the idiot alive, I had to step in and stop her which she did stop under protest from the way she looked at me.
I tried to offer him a hand to help him climb out, he called me a cheater and Filo something I don't even want to repeat, so he let go and he went down the hole yet again. It took him two hours for finally to ask one of the knights near him to help him out of that hole. If I was anything like Wrath, I would say fill the hole with as much dirt as you can, but a grave maker on it and call it a day, but that was if I didn't know any better.
Sadly after recovering my memories from my previous lives, I, in fact, know better, "So the village will not be overly taxed, and the local lord shall continue to rule the region. Now that has been taken care off, I need to speak with you Mayor. As much as I love being here in Lute, the monster population is now low enough that I am no longer as needed."
"I know, I know this is my home, and I am not ungrateful for your kindness, but tragically I also realized that there may be other people that need my help, and as such I am going to need to travel, Filo can carry me and Raphtalia, but if we need to carry anything more that will be very difficult I may need your help to think of a possible solution."
Filo sure grew bigger thanks to all the experience she gained due to having to run under such negative conditions, as a result, she became quite bigger, again she does remind me of Fitoria. That does make me a little sad since I don't even know if she is still alive.
"Well Roy your filolial seems to be rather interested in my old wagon, as you know I was a trader in my younger days, so why not, I can give you this wagon, and a pass to be able to go through the checkpoints without having to pay a toll. Don't you dare tell me that you want to pay for them, this is my way to give you a gift."
Filo was practically singing as she heard that, "Well Master Mustang shall we help the Shield Hero climb out that hole or do you wish to start visiting other villages." A cloaked figure appeared behind Raphtalia startling her and causing her to trip and end up leaning on me.
"You have nothing to worry about Shield Hero, we shall make sure the Spear Hero is properly treated and we shall help him out of his predicament, I do believe however he does deserve what happened to him, I dare say."
I looked at her and smiled, "Well thank you for your help Shadow, can I ask you if her majesty is doing well? I do hope that nothing bad has happened to her. I was actually hoping to meet her when I noticed I summon in Melromarc."
She looked at me and I could see they were still wearing the same black robes, masks, and armor, nothing has changed since the last time I met one of the Shadows, well except that we were on opposite sides when we first met.
"The Queen was away in international diplomatic meetings at the time, yes, she is well and no, there is nothing to be concerned about, I do believe she will find your concern to be rather touching, I shall express to her your concern and your warm regards, I dare say."
I will never get used to how quickly they appear and disappear well as long as they keep Mire safe I have no reason to complain. It was nice to hear she is doing well, I may not express it to others that often or as much as I should, but deep down regardless of how many times she slept with that backstabbing bastard, I still feel the same way I did back then.
It will be nearly impossible now that she is in fact married to the creep, but that doesn't stop me from remembering those sweet time we had way back when. "So come on Raphtalia, time for us to hit the road and see who needs our help."
She didn't look too happy when I said that for some reason, Filo, however, was nearly dragging me to hook the harness of the new wagon on her and she really seemed very happy to have this wagon. I know it is instinctual but not even Fitoria was this happy about pulling her first cart.
Granted that back then said cart was built more like a chariot, but then again we were fighting in a war between to polar opposite nations, the human centrist Melromarc and the demi-human centrist Siltvelt. At the time I had been summoned by Siltvelt but they knew very well that I hate it when people harmed unarmed people regardless of race.
During those troubled war times is when I first met Mire, she was probably the single bravest princess I ever saw, taking such high risks in trying to protect children and unarmed civilians, her caring nature and tough attitude was the first things that drew my attention, but as I helped her we became closer.
That is when Siltvelt tried to kill me for according to a general being a traitor, it was Mirellia that saved me that day, and being treated by her in a smelly cave meant to me she was willing to put up more than even I expected to help me. If I had to admit this, it was this time that made me fall in love with her.
From that moment on we were inseparable, and even as the war came to an end, she did not want me to leave, my so-called treason had been an attempt of a high ranking duke to kill me and steal my shield, according to what he told the king, he wanted to eliminate me so a more suitable person may wield my shield, a demi-human.
As the war came to an end due to the waves of Catastrophe, I was assigned a party by Mire's father. The very first person was a guy who came from low nobility, Lüge Lansarz Faubrey or as I knew him Luge, my vassal, one of the seven-star heroes, the hero of the cane. I trusted him as my companion and ally.
We fought through so many grueling fights against the waves, defended each other through thick and thin, as the last wave was about to end that is when Luge showed his true colors, he took a blade he had hidden in his armor and stabbed me, it wouldn't have been so bad had he not coated the blade with poison, poison he knew I had no resistance.
I guess after so many battles Luge actually managed to guess pretty much a lot of my weaknesses, he was always a brilliant strategist, and before that happens I once thought of him as a friend, now I find that he eventually married the very woman I planned to marry myself, and if that happened it means he also took credit for ending the last wave.
Well, I am sure one day I will hear this from Mire, I just hope that we meet under better circumstances than how we first met. "Raphtalia what is the matter?" She looked at me and immediately asked for the wagon to stop, she ran from the wagon and began to throw up, guess she is suffering from motion sickness, I better brew a potion to help her overcome that.