Arc 2: Chapter Thirteen: Leave the Past Behind
Naofumi sat back against the counter of Elhart's shop, tapping his fingers impatiently against the solid granite. 'Come on… what's taking her so long to get changed.' He impatiently waited for his Companion to leave the dressing room.
Before they'd gotten back to Elhart's shop, Raphtalia and he had purchased food and other various supplies at the market that they'd need on their journey. The merchants obviously hadn't been very pleased that the Shield Demon wanted to do business with them, but one lift of the cloak to reveal one of his remaining balloons munching hungrily on his armor had been enough to change their tune.
Before that, they'd spent an hour wandering the Capital so they could find Belouka's tent and get Raphtalia's slave crest replaced. It had been hard to find it since: A. Naofumi hadn't been in the Capital for a month. B. It had been dark when Naofumi had been led to it. And C. they had to find it by themselves since no one would give them directions.
When they'd finally arrived, Beloukas had replaced Raphtalia's slave crest himself while Naofumi looked through the inventory of slaves Beloukas had available to see if he could find anyone he could buy/save. But none of the slaves he looked at had stuck out to him. They had all been either too wild, feral, or maimed to be of any use as a fighter in his party. And those who he could have helped with their issues were way out of his price range.
It was after that look through that he'd really begun to realize how lucky he'd been to buy Raphtalia when he had. 'At least Raphtalia was cheap and had problems I could help her out with. Even with my best medicine, I can't fix someone who has gone feral... Or repair someone's missing arm or leg.'
The latter part of that thought came soon after he saw a rabbit-like demi-human missing its left leg and hand staring down dejectedly at the floor of its cage. Even though it was already at level 15, he couldn't fix a missing leg or hand. Was it possible for him to learn to do that... nah, he possibly couldn't have that much potential. That'd be the work of miracles there.
And as far as Naofumi knew, he was no miracle worker.
He'd gone back to Beloukas shortly after he'd finished redrawing the crest. He'd been so generous when he saw how much Raphtalia had grown that he gifted Naofumi some slave ink when he requested it. After absorbing it into his shield, he unlocked the Slaver User's Shield I and II.
Turned out, it'd been a good call to give Raphtalia a slave crest again. As both of the new shields gave passive bonuses of increasing the stats and growth rate of any slave he owned.
Naofumi looked the shields over again in his HUD. They were just like the Raccoon Shield. Only, they weren't limited to one species. Anyone that became his slave would get the benefits of these shields…
It was almost like the Shield was encouraging him to be a slaver.
…
Oh yeah, he also couldn't forget the funny scene that happened right after absorbing the ink.
"Good sir, I must say I'm still impressed with how you took a shabby mangy raccoon girl and changed her into such a beauty!" Beloukas swooned over the newly dressed Raphtalia who looked bashful at receiving such praise.
Naofumi shrugged. "Sure, what about it?" He said dryly. This was his business face.
"Well, with a strong good looking girl like her, I could make a real fortune selling her off to other nobles! I'd buy her back off you for 30 gold pieces since she isn't a virgin!" Beloukas said excitedly, holding up three fingers and forming a 0 with his other hand.
Raphtalia's bashful look changed to a sputtered look. Naofumi couldn't hide the look of shock from his business face at hearing the high price tag. "30 Gold Pieces?" He said out loud.
"But, but I am a virgin!" Raphtalia said to defend herself. Even with her rapid growth rate, her mind wasn't entirely sure what the term meant. But somehow her instincts were able to process that she hadn't done something to lose it or something along those lines. She really wished that she'd gained knowledge about all the adult terms while leveling up.
"SHE'S STILL A VIRGIN!? 50 GOLD PIECES!" Beloukas yelled excitedly. Raising the other two fingers on his hand. Raphtalia now looked as shocked as Naofumi.
'50 GOLD PIECES!...'
...
Naofumi put a hand to his chin as if he was really considering it.
"Master Naofumi!" Raphtalia yelled angrily. "If you're even considering his offer, then I'm going to be mad at you!" She yelled, her tail spiking out angrily behind her.
"50 Gold Pieces could get me a lot," Naofumi said in consideration.
Raphtalia's face boiled red with anger at Naofumi. "Do my feelings mean nothing to you Naofumi?!" She yelled angrily.
Beloukas looked quickly from her to Naofumi. "Did I hear that right?" He asked, sounding genuinely surprised.
Naofumi briefly wondered if he should continue joking about it, but he felt that his life was strangely in danger for some reason, even with Raphtalia's slave crest back on her chest to punish her if she tried to hurt him. Though he'd found out the punishments had been set a little too high before, so he'd made sure to alter the settings so the pain the crest would inflict would be almost nothing. Just a small zap if she disobeyed him or tried to harm him…
Maybe that hadn't been his best idea...
"But I'm sorry. I don't think I could let go of an amazing and beautiful girl like her." He finished to Beloukas with his classic business face. Putting an arm over her shoulders in an effort to defuse the situation.
Just like that, Raphtalia shifted from angry to bashful again. "Master Naofumi…"
The situation was defused successfully.
"Well, erm, I didn't realize the girl wasn't for sale," Beloukas said, taking off his hat to rub his head. "You certainly have good taste, Sir Shield Hero."
Naofumi smiled. "Yeah, I like to think that too. Don't ask again. Besides, I'm sure spreading the word about how much she changed will attract more business to you."
"Oh, most certainly! I had my escorts take several magic portraits of her the moment you arrived! Now with advertising like this, I'll really be able to blow my business through the roof!" Beloukas admitted cheerfully.
'So that's why he gave me that ink for free. That greedy little rat.' Naofumi thought. 'Oh well. As long as we both benefited from this arrangement that's fine by me.' "How much for one?" He asked.
"AHAHAHAHA!" Beloukas laughed in delight at Naofumi's cheekiness. Raphtalia blushed even more heavily. "That depends on how much you're willing to spend, hmmm?!" A glint appeared in Belouka's eyes.
Naofumi instantly knew that trying to obtain a magic portrait would result in him getting ripped off to the point of no return. Plus, why get the portrait when the real thing was next to him?
"Maybe some other time, when we're not on the run," Naofumi dryly responded, glaring at the Slave Trader.
"Ooooh!" The Slave Trader shivered pleasurably under his glare.
Seriously. What the hell was wrong with this creep?!
"So." Beloukas went into business mode. "Find any good slaves back there, hmmm?" He asked.
Naofumi shook his head. "Everything I looked at inside my price range was either dead, wild, feral, or maimed in some way." He said. "In short, these slaves are treated too badly for me to find it sensible to buy one."
Beloukas put a hand to his chin in thought. "I see. That is troubling indeed. I'll have to put more effort into taking better care of my stock down the road. When my business booms due to her, I don't want them rotting in my cages." He said seriously. He then turned upbeat like the flip of a coin. "I apologize you couldn't find a suitable slave this time good sir. Perhaps there's something else I have that could be of interest to you, hmm?"
"Something else?" Naofumi asked.
"I don't just deal in the market of slaves, hmmm?"
Naofumi looked at the table behind Beloukas more closely. "Now that you say that. What are those there?" He asked.
And thus, Naofumi learned about the monster aspect of Belouka's business.
Naofumi picked up the egg in its incubator off the table next to him. 'So basically, after all that, he sold me a gotcha egg.'
That was Naofumi's nickname for the monster egg based on Belouka's description. He couldn't believe the slimy little bastard had hit one of his old gaming weaknesses. Gotcha games were really popular in his Japan. Hell, that was one similarity he and the other Heroes shared during the round of questioning their first night together.
The names of the games may have been different. But they had all played their fair amount of gotcha games nonetheless.
'At least he threw in the slave crest for free with me getting this… but 100 silvers is still a lot… that's a whole gold coin...' Whatever hatched from it better be worth it.
The monster egg was pure white. Besides the purple monster crest, Beloukas had put on it. It was just a little bigger than his hand.
Naofumi decided to think about the egg while waiting on Raphtalia. 'So I could possibly get a dragon from this?' He examined it from different angles. He had to admit it'd be cool to ride around on a dragon. He briefly wondered if he would be lucky enough to get a dragon or not. Hell, he wondered what he'd do if he got a dragon from the egg. How would he even raise it when he wasn't sure what it did.
'If it's a dragon, is it the kind that breathes fire? Can it fly or run really fast? Is it able to swim or, or… This world just keeps getting weirder and weirder. But honestly, I hope whatever I get will make it easier on Raphtalia since she'll have something to fight by her side.'
At least he'd had a valid excuse to indulge in his gotcha pastime. Raphtalia had already done so much for him. And while he was grateful for her, he wanted to help relieve some of the pressure of fighting off of her…
However, the poor girl almost had an aneurism when he spent 100 silver just like that. Hell, she'd slammed her foot down when he'd suggested getting two. Seriously, what had he done wrong to make her so uptight about spending their money? What was the point of getting money if you never spent it on anything?
No, she definitely wasn't like his old high school crush who'd spend money willy nilly on everything in sight… which honestly made him like her a little more.
...
"I'm done!" Raphtalia said happily, walking out from the changing stall.
Naofumi was dragged from his thoughts, and he looked up to say something along the lines of 'It's about time.' Only, his jaw slacked at what he saw. "Whoa…"
Raphtalia was still wearing an outfit similar to what she'd worn as a kid. Some of the noticeable differences he recognized were the laced leather boots that went up just a bit past her knees. She also wore a pair of brown gloves on her hands to make gripping her sword easier. She had on a leather breastplate over her chest to protect her vital organs whilst not inhibiting her movement speed (or looks, as his brain duly noted). Her slave cuffs from before were back in place and being used to help keep her gloves on instead of holding down her sleeves. Overall the ensemble made her look more like a warrior than ever before.
A very, very hot warrior. Naofumi almost thought he was going to get a nosebleed seeing her like this.
"So, how do I look Master Naofumi?" Raphtalia asked as she showed off her new armor.
Naofumi had to shake his head to clear it. The way she said it almost reminded him of when they had been in Belouka's tent and she'd asked how the slave crest had looked on her bosom when he first walked in. And he did not want to get distracted with those kinds of thoughts again. "You look fantastic Raphtalia." She smiled widely at the compliment. "But are you sure that's enough armor to protect you-" He tried to ask.
"Sorry Shield bro," Elhart said, shrugging helplessly at Naofumi as he appeared from the back of the shop. "The lady wouldn't allow me to add anything else to the mix."
...
"What?" Naofumi asked him.
Elhart shrugged again. "I can't go against the pretty lady's wishes now, can I?" He asked.
When Naofumi looked back at Raphtalia, she had crossed her arms and stuck her tongue out at him in victory. Naofumi inwardly groaned. "Wow, that's really mature of you Raphtalia." He said sarcastically.
"I know, right?" She said happily.
'... Great, she's not only turned into an adult, but she's continuing to develop sarcasm too. That's just what I need to deal with now.' Maybe he was rubbing off on Raphtalia in too many ways.
"Plus, I saw the way you were looking at me Naofumi. You can't tell me you don't like it!" She said happily.
Naofumi blanched. "I don't know what you're implying Raphtalia, but stop it right now!" He yelled with embarrassment lacing his tone as he faced away.
Elhart laughed behind his counter. "Just be glad the armor I made will help protect your girlfriend for a discount of 50 silvers kid. Cause I'm not lowering my prices any further!"
"She's not my, I mean, um…" Naofumi stuttered embarrassedly. Elhart laughed even more heartily behind the counter while Raphtalia giggled into her hand.
Naofumi… well, he continued to fume as one of his own heated blushes traveled up his face. 'I swear, I just need some time on my own to go through all my emotions. Then I'll decide on how far I want to go with Raphtalia and-'
"Oh, by the way, kid, could you stick around for just a moment?" Elhart asked curiously.
Naofumi's train of thought was derailed and smashed into the side of the cliff it had been going along. "What is it now?" Naofumi asked.
"I just have a couple of friends waiting in the back who wanted to see you before you left," Elhart responded happily.
"Oh, alright then. Bring them in." Naofumi responded.
Elhart left his counter to go into the back room to grab his 'friends.'
"Who do you think wants to see us, Master Naofumi?" Raphtalia asked curiously.
Naofumi shrugged. "Beats me. We've already met that town guard in Lute, and that weird blacksmith from Dragon Village." He listed.
"Jerry was not weird!" Raphtalia defended the blacksmith. "He was very nice and polite!"
"Sure, whatever," Naofumi said in a tone of bland dismissal of the subject while turning to face another way. He still thought Jerry was a lolicon.
Raphtalia fumed at him. He was daring to use that tone on her!... She suddenly smiled evilly. "Oh, Master Naofumi." She called to him.
Naofumi rolled his eyes as he turned to look at her. "What is it-" He was suddenly surprised at how close she was to him.
"Be honest, is this armor okay, or does it make me look fat?" She asked, her hands showcasing her new armored body.
Naofumi suddenly got extremely flustered. Red flags were going up all over his mind that this was a trap. In fact, he could easily visualize the massive red flag dyed in his blood hanging over a raging Raphtalia wielding a bloodied sword if he said the wrong words at that moment. Why did he have to lower the punishment for when and if she tried to harm him? 'Do I say she looks great and listen to her say she's fat, or… no, the second option is untrue… and suicidal since she can wield a sword and I can't... damn I wish I knew more about girls before I came to this world!'
"Well, master Naofumi?" She asked. The possible threat of violence dripping off her sweet voice.
...
Naofumi put a hand on her head. "Raphtalia, I think you look amazing the way you are. And I wouldn't want to change your shape for the world." He said in his calmest attempt of a voice as possible while giving her a head pat. It seemed like the most logical thing to say.
…
…
She hung her head. "So you really think I'm fat?" She asked.
Naofumi's hand dropped in shock… '... WHAT IS IT WITH GIRLS AND THEIR FREAKING MIXED SIGNALS BEING ALL OVER THE PLACE!? DAMN HOLY HELL!-'
All of a sudden, Raphtalia started giggling into her hands, cutting off his mind mid-rant. "It's okay, I was only playing with you there Naofumi. I knew you were being honest." She hugged him as she said that. "I just didn't know if you like your women stout or not."
'... ... what the hell…' He thought in disbelief. "If this is an effect of you having to go through years worth of hormones over the next few weeks, then I'm taking you back to Beloukas and taking his offer right now," Naofumi said out loud.
Dealing with a mentally maturing girl going through years of hormones did not seem worth it. The Slave Trader had offered 50 gold coins for her since she was a virgin. One gold coin was equal to 100 Silvers. That would be enough for him to get three crippled lvl 75 wolfmen bodyguards with extra leftover.
BONK!
"OW!" Naofumi yelled in pain, holding the back of his head. Even three lvl 75 werewolves wouldn't hold a candle to the amount of force Raphtalia had put behind the chop she had given him. He was surprised how much that hurt, even with his high defense stat. 'But how- The Slavers' Shields.' He realized as Raphtalia now looked super pissed at him. Her attack stat had increased considerably because of them.
He made a mental note to himself to be careful of what he absorbed in the future.
"Don't even joke with me about that Master Naofumi!" She yelled angrily. "You are not selling me back to that place!"
"I'm sorry, you know I'd never actually do that!" He hurriedly apologized to appease her anger.
She hmphed and turned away. Pretending not to believe him.
"Especially when you're so important to me…" He admitted quietly.
...
Raphtalia turned and stared open-mouthed at him. He was a little speechless himself considering he'd said that out loud.
"Awwwww. It's always so nice to see two young people falling in love."
"You got that right, Mahoya."
"I said I saw it coming the way those two were acting after Jerry brought them back here."
'DAMN IT!' Naofumi flushed a bright red again. Raphtalia also flushed a shade of red similar to his. The two caught young (20ish looking) adults both turned to see Elhart standing tall and smiling widely. In front on either side of him was an older gentleman with greying hair dressed in the clothes of a senior apothecarian. Along with a plump woman who looked to be in her 60's dressed in witch clothes.
"Oh, um, are these the friends you were talking about Elhart?" Raphtalia asked.
"Yep, I'll allow them to introduce themselves," Elhart said humorously. Especially since he'd caught the Shield Bro and the pretty lady in one of their moments.
"I'm the top apothecarian of the Capital. The name's Kusuriya." The apothecarian spoke calmly, approaching Naofumi to give him a firm handshake.
"And I'm the magic shop owner Mahoya! It's a pleasure to meet the great Shield Hero and his beautiful companion!" The witch said happily, shoving the apothecarian out of the way and hugging Naofumi instead of giving him a handshake.
"Urk!" He said in surprise at being hugged by someone other than Raphtalia. And at the fact that he was able to feel the squeeze from the hug. 'Just how high is this lady's attack stat?! DAMN!'
She released him and he looked at the two. He forced the question away from his mind. "Why did you want to see me?" He asked curiously.
"We wanted to give our thanks of course!" The witch said happily.
"We both had relatives in Lute Village. Relatives that were saved by your bravery during the waves." The apothecarian said calmly. He was smiling in appreciation as he said it. "And they asked me to give you their thanks."
"Oh, my dear precious granddaughter now thinks of you as her favorite hero!" The witch continued happily. "She hopes to one day journey with you!"
Naofumi looked surprised at hearing that. He was somebody's favorite hero now? "Do you think it might have been some of the people you saved?" Raphtalia asked Naofumi quietly.
"You got me." He said, still feeling surprised. He'd thought that almost everyone besides Raphtalia didn't like him. And now to hear he was some little girl's favorite hero…
The apothecarian pulled out a book from a satchel that he was carrying. It was thick and had a diagonal green square in the front with four metal triangles surrounding it. A thin rectangular slab near the top of the square held the title for the book in a language Naofumi couldn't read. "Elhart told me about your hobbies with compounding medicine while you stayed with him. This grimoire has recipes for finer medicines that should help you on your journey." He calmly explained.
He then pulled out a set of advanced compounding tools from the satchel. Naofumi could tell they were an advanced set even before the item description popped up in his menu. They looked far better than the beginner's set he'd been using the past month. "And this is so that you'll be able to handle making more advanced levels of medicine with ease."
Naofumi held the grimoire and compounding tools in his hands. "How much are they?" He asked. If he remembered correctly after all their purchases, they were sitting at around 600 Silver Coins after all of their purchases from today.
"It's yours to keep." The apothecarian said calmly, though still smiling as Naofumi looked floored that he was being given something like this for free. It should have been worth at least 5 or more gold pieces!
"I appreciate it, but-" He said, opening the book. As he suspected by the title, he wasn't able to read a single word. The notification Failed to read appeared on his menu. He could see the illustrations of various herbs and plants and potions, but without the words, he couldn't understand what they meant. "- I can't exactly read this world's language." Naofumi pointed out.
"Well, that'd be a pity then because of what I wanted to give you Sir Shield Hero." The witch said happily as she brought out a bound black, purple, and gold striped grimoire along with a crystal ball from the folds of her cloak.
Naofumi looked at them confusedly. "Is that-" He started to ask.
"Why of course, this is a magic grimoire, and this crystal ball here is how I assume the Spear Hero learned that spell of his during the duel!" The witch said excitedly, holding up the crystal ball. "Using one of these can allow a person with a magic affinity to learn any spell they want."
"... holy hell," If that was how Motoyasu had learned to use such a powerful spell, then he needed one of those!
"The King did order dozens of them for the heroes... Though I'd suspect that information wasn't shared with you." The witch said knowingly.
'HA! She couldn't get any closer to the truth.' Naofumi thought sarcastically at the thought of that piece of trash. It seemed the two of them also knew about their horrible trash king's deeds. Wonderful.
"Because of the King ordering all of them, these rare items are a lot harder to come by and even harder to replace after being used. So I simply use mine to show people their magic affinities." She said happily, setting the crystal ball on the counter.
So he wouldn't be using it to learn a spell. Damn that prick Motoyasu and all the support he got! She muttered a quick spell over it, the words so fast and quiet that Naofumi couldn't hear them.
"Now, who'd like to go first?" She asked, looking up at Raphtalia and Naofumi after finishing the spell.
The two looked at each other. "I guess I could go first," Naofumi said hesitantly.
Raphtalia nodded her head eagerly, her tail wagging eagerly behind her at the thought of learning more about Naofumi. Naofumi got on the other side of the counter. "Now what am I supposed to do?" Naofumi asked.
"Just look into the crystal ball for me dear." The witch said.
'Really, it's that easy for her to tell?' He thought. But he did as the witch had commanded him to do.
...
"Hmmm, this is surprising." The witch said, looking amazed. From the orb, a green ball of energy swirled in harmony with a white ball of energy.
"What is it?" Naofumi asked.
"You have a rare affinity for healing, and support magic Shield Hero." The witch said happily.
"How rare is it?" Naofumi asked skeptically. 'Seriously, healing, and support!? Why not fire or ice or lightning or, or something offensive!?'
"Kid, out of the hundreds of magic users I've met in my life, I've only met a dozen or so who said their affinity was in support or healing magic. You're the first one who I've heard of having an affinity for both." Elhart said, sounding rather impressed. "Not to say that a water mage couldn't learn a water spell that'd heal someone. But you have magic that's capable of bringing someone back from death if you get it powerful enough!"
"Alright. But does that mean I can only learn that kind of magic, or can I learn-" He tried to ask.
The witch answered, knowing what his question was. "I'm sorry, normally if you had an affinity for something like, let's say Earth. You'd be able to learn all sorts of Earth spells. But since you have these two rare non-elemental affinities, I'm afraid it'll be impossible for you to learn any type of elemental magic outside of those attributes. So no Water Heal. No Earth Guard. No Healing Warmth. Just plain Support and Healing like Guard and Heal."
"... Yay…" Naofumi muttered weakly. 'Great. So now I'm really specialized to be an unarmed cleric in battle.' Naofumi thought sarcastically. 'Thanks a lot shield for taking away another option for offense! Not!'
If the shield could read his mind, it didn't show it. But in all likelihood, even if he did have a Water attribute, it likely would have still limited him to Support and Healing spells in that attribute since, while his Magic stat was high, his ATT and Magic ATT stats were still as abysmal as ever. Learning an offensive spell would do him nothing but waste MP.
"Alright, now for your girlfriend." The witch said happily.
He wanted to say something along the lines of 'She's not my girlfriend!' but Raphtalia pushed him out of the way in the midst of her excitement. "Tell me, what are my affinities?!" She asked excitedly. A month ago, she didn't even believe she'd ever been capable of fighting. And now she not only had a sword but the chance of using magic too! This was too good to pass up, even if it did potentially cost them a pretty coin for it. But the lady seemed nice enough, and she was offering.
"Let's see here young lady." The witch said, staring intently into her crystal ball as Raphtalia did likewise. The look of seriousness on Raphtalia's face and the way her tail was wagging excitedly behind her almost made Naofumi burst out laughing. If he wasn't still blushing from the previous comment that is.
...
"Well?" Raphtalia asked after a long moment. A bright ball of light was dancing in tangent with a purple ball of energy in the orb.
"My, this is also an unexpected surprise!" The witch finally said with excitement. "It seems that you, young lady, have affinities for both light and dark magic!"
Raphtalia looked surprised. "Light and dark magic?" She asked confusedly.
"I mean, it's common for Raccoons to have both of these affinities. But you, my dear, are amongst the strongest I've ever seen! Were your parents perhaps nobles from Siltvelt by any chance?!" The witch asked curiously.
...
Raphtalia grimaced, and not because of the memory of her parents' deaths. "I wouldn't know. I grew up in a simple fishing village in the south. I don't know if my parents lived there before my village or not." Raphtalia said in a dry tone, reminiscent of Naofumi's.
Naofumi stared at the two in confusion. 'I recognize Melromarc, but where the hell is Siltvelt?'
"Well, either way, I'd say you have a great future in store for you if you work on illusion magic young lady!"
…
Slowly, Raphtalia recovered and a happy smile spread across her face. "Thank you!" She said happily.
The witch handed the grimoire over to Naofumi, who opened it up to try and read it. Once again, the message Failed to Read popped up on his screen. "Thanks, but how much is this going to cost? We don't exactly have the money to buy a magic grimoire." He found himself asking again.
"It's a gift." She said waving her hand dismissively at the suggestion of selling it. "As thanks for helping my granddaughter out during the waves." She said happily.
'So we're getting around 10 gold coins worth of stuff for free… holy hell…' Naofumi kept on trying to get a symbol to make some sense from the print. She must have seen the look on his face as he tried to read. "Learning magic from a grimoire is certainly hard, but if you keep at it and do the work; you can learn all the spells you'll need! Plus, they'll be far more effective than anything you could ever learn from a crystal ball!"
Naofumi's eyes widened at that. 'You mean if we manage to learn magic from this...' His mind flashed back to when Motoyasu had chanted that fire javelin spell of his. 'Our magic would be stronger than what Motoyasu and his allies could pull up…'
Naofumi found himself smiling widely as his imagination got to work. Using a support spell on Raphtalia that increased her attack and speed so much that she was a blur stomping all over Motoyasu. And then a blur that punched Myne and Trash in the face repeatedly for him…
His smile grew a little bigger. Maybe support magic wouldn't be so bad after all. "Master Naofumi, you aren't thinking of anything spiteful now, are you?" Raphtalia asked.
"Of course not." He said to Raphtalia. Revenge against Bitch and Trash wasn't spite in his book.
"Then why were you making that evil face?"
"We'll try our best," Naofumi said happily to the witch, ignoring Raphtalia's statement.
"That's the spirit! With that, I know you can do it!" She said confidently.
"Thank you so much…" He said to the witch and apothecarian.
...
A look of realization crossed his face. 'Was that… the first time I've said thank you to someone besides Raphtalia and Elhart... and actually meant it?' Sure, Raphtalia had thanked Ren and Itsuki for him that morning. Yet he had just met these people, and despite that, he found himself trusting them almost as much as Elhart. He bowed his head gratefully to the apothecarian and the witch. "Seriously. Thank you so much." He said more humbly.
The apothecarian and witch both bowed to Naofumi and Raphtalia. "No, it is we who can't thank you enough for saving our families and loved ones Shield Hero." The witch said. "Should you ever be allowed in the Capital again after today, I'd appreciate having you visit my shop."
"Yes, I can't wait to see what medicines you'll bring for me to buy." The apothecarian said calmly. "They are in high demand because of the waves."
Naofumi put the two grimoires in his inventory. "I'll definitely think about it." These people seemed nice enough. He wouldn't mind seeing them again. He looked outside and saw the sun was getting close to midday. "We'll get going then," Naofumi said.
"Alright, we won't impede you two lovebirds any longer. Have safe travels!" The witch called happily, exiting through the front of the shop.
"Good luck Shield Hero." The apothecarian said over his shoulder as he followed the witch out. "Don't do anything with a woman that I wouldn't do."
Naofumi pulled his hood over his head. He did not want the others to see how fiercely he was blushing right now. 'Seriously, how long am I going to have to deal with this ^%$#?! Don't they have other people to tease!?'
If he had only looked, he would have noticed that Raphtalia was similarly blushing. "You two look so cute together I want to vomit," Elhart said with a laugh.
"Come on Raphtalia! We're out of here!" Naofumi said through gritted teeth, heading towards the exit. He did not want to deal with anymore teasing from people. In fact, he couldn't wait to be out on the run again. At least he'd have the privacy of being alone.
He never thought he'd see the day when he'd look forward to being on the run.
"Right!" Raphtalia said, quickly following behind her master.
"Good luck Shield Bro!" Elhart laughed mirthily behind his counter as the two exited his shop. "Oh, I can't wait to see that kid again…"
His laughter disappeared, and he started to frown. "I hope I see that kid again." He said more seriously. What with everything that was going on and everything.
…
…
He was surprised at how quickly the door opened again. A wide-eyed Naofumi came charging back in. "Damn, did you already run into trouble again?-" Elhart was asking.
"I forgot to test out Ren's suggestion!" He yelled as he hurried over to a shelf. Raphtalia rushed in behind him. Looking confused at why her master had run back into Elhart's shop.
Elhart blinked confusedly as he watched Naofumi pick up his expensive Meteorite Shield off his shelf. 'What in the blazes is he talking about? A suggestion from who-' His eyes widened when Naofumi's shield on his arm changed from the legendary shield to the meteorite shield he was holding.
"HAHAHAHA! Ren wasn't lying about the weapon copy system after all!" Naofumi yelled happily. Who would have thought?! One of the other Four Heroes actually did help him!
Raphtalia brightened with happiness next to him. "That's great!"
"Now I can get a bunch of stat increases from all of these shields!"
"Here Master Naofumi, use this one too!" Raphtalia said while holding up a cool looking steel shield.
"Wait, just what the hell do you think you're doing?! Are you trying to steal my whole shop!?" Elhart yelled as he hurried from behind his counter.
Raphtalia and Naofumi, however, were too caught up in their newfound excitement to listen to the old blacksmith. "This one looks so cool!" Raphtalia said as she hurried by carrying a shield almost as tall as her.
"Wait, no, that's an antique!" Elhart yelled after her.
"These ones look like they'll have decent equip bonuses," Naofumi said as he copied a regular Mythril and a magic Mythril shield.
"No, please, they're expensive-" Elhart tried to say.
"Wheeeee!" Raphtalia was already blazing by again, holding another small shield above her head like a little kid. "Not my grandpa's, please no-" Elhart tried to say to her. It had been on display, not for sale.
"Hell yeah! Now that's what I'm talking about!" Naofumi yelled excitedly as he posed with a freshly copied gold plated shield. It was a special shield fit for one of royalty's personal bodyguards. "Royal Shield!" A shield similar to the Air Strike Shield appeared in front of Naofumi, almost knocking over a table full of weapons. It was wider and shaped more like a barrier. It had a royal crown in the center and was a translucent gold color.
It was the final straw. "Augh! Fine!" Elhart yelled, giving up on trying to stop the two as he fell to his knees in the middle of his shop. "Just do whatever the hell you want!"
It was only an hour later that Naofumi and Raphtalia found themselves leisurely walking out of the city into the forest. "Damn, I can't believe those Church Knights tried to stop us on our way out," Naofumi grumbled to himself. And after they'd had so much fun going through and copying Elhart's entire shop.
"I know, claiming that we had turned back time so we could make everyone believe it was still midday," Raphtalia said irritably. Her tail was bushing up behind her. "The nerve of them!"
"I just hope we don't have to see those losers again anytime soon." Though, knowing his luck, he was sure they'd have to deal with them again. He just hoped it wasn't the next day. And that it wouldn't come from having to break into the Church again.
On the bright side, they couldn't chase after him until the end of today. The vice-captain who had invited him to the celebration was keeping post over the gates to make sure no knights broke the King's word. So that left them plenty of time to escape.
"I'm sure we won't have to, Master Naofumi. Especially after I bared my fangs at them." Raphtalia said, smiling at the memory. Some of them had obviously been part of the group from last night. The look of death she'd given them was super effective in getting them to back off.
She was normally more reserved, but something about the way they'd tried to unfairly treat Naofumi made her want to protect him from them.
"Who knew you could be so intimidating?" Naofumi muttered blandly to himself. Though he was thinking back on some of the other times she had been rather intimidating. Like the time she'd convinced him he needed some new armor. Or earlier when he'd joked about selling her. 'I'm glad she's on my side. Otherwise...'
Continuing that train of thought would give him nightmares. 'And the fact that she loves me is a bonus.'
"Although… I still feel kind of feel bad that we copied all of the Shields Elhart had in his shop without his permission," Raphtalia said.
"... I'm sure he'll be fine," Naofumi eventually said. "He's a good man. And he understood why I did it." With all the Shields he'd copied, the Royal Shield being the first one he had equipped to unlock the stat bonus and skill, he just needed to unlock their equip bonuses and his defense would rise to an all-time high. "Besides, I gave him 300 Silvers without taking any of his inventory. He got the better end of that deal." 'And besides that, he teased me and Raphtalia a little too much. The old man had it coming.'
"Hmmm…" It didn't sound like Raphtalia was convinced.
"Look, if we have more money the next time we see him, I'll give him several more gold coins to make up for it," Naofumi promised.
"Alright…" Raphtalia sounded happier that he was promising to make sure he made it up to Elhart. "So where are we going now, Master Naofumi?"
"Not sure yet," Naofumi said as he used one hand to pull out the map Elhart had first given him. "It's obvious that King Trash still doesn't like us, as well as that ugly bitch daughter of his. And the Church likes us even less. I'm not seeing a whole lot of options of safe places to travel in Melromarc." He examined the map. "I was thinking we could try stopping by Lute Village first. I want to ask Elhart's friend there if he knows a monster tamer in the area that we could stop by for our little egg friend. I want to figure out what kind of monster it is and learn what we'll need to do to raise it fast so that we don't have to figure it out through trial and error while we're on our own."
"Hmmm." Raphtalia studied the map with him. "That does sound like a good idea. But where should we go after that?"
Naofumi looked up at her. "How about that Siltvelt place you and the witch mentioned?" He asked curiously.
…
Raphtalia's face twisted into an angry look, her hands clenching into fists at her sides. Her tail spiked out again. He briefly wondered if he'd said something wrong. But then just as quickly, she calmly breathed in and unclenched her fists. "No… I'd rather we avoided that country for now." She said.
Naofumi gulped. "Is there any reason why?" He tried to ask curiously.
"My parents told me it's a country of demi-humans… but they warned me against going there. Every time I asked why they said they'd tell me when I was older. And then they'd tickle me and make me laugh until I forgot all about it..." She looked depressed at that. But it sounded like she was hiding something.
Naofumi almost wanted to press, but didn't. He put the map away and put an arm over her shoulder. She gladly leaned into him, appreciating the small gesture of kindness. She was stronger now than she was before, but it still seemed like there was more she had to get over from her past.
"Alright, we'll try and find a different country to travel to after we stop by the village." He said evenly. "Besides, I'd bet it'd be hard for wanted criminals like us to cross the border at our current strength."
Even if there were other countries than Siltvelt, it'd be hard for him and Raphtalia at their current levels to break into another country. If they had one or two other people, then maybe he would consider it.
Raphtalia bit her lower lip for a moment. She had an idea where they could go… but it was still inside Melromarc. It held a lot of bad memories for her recently… yet it held a lot of good ones too. It could also serve as a good place to hide out... 'I'll tell him about it later. If he thinks it'd be a good idea to go there, we can go.'
"Thanks, Naofumi," Raphtalia said. Allowing herself the moment of being so close to Master Naofumi while walking. Her tail wagging gently behind her.
…
Naofumi looked up from Raphtalia and finally noticed the red arrows all around them on his HUD. Red arrows indicating that monsters were peeping in on their little moment. "Hey Raphtalia, I know these are small fry for you now, but could you-"
He didn't need to say anything else. Raphtalia was already off like a rocket, slashing her sword through all the balloons, rabbits, Pikyu, porcupines, and other monsters who thought it'd be smart to work together to ambush on their moment. Naofumi just shook his head and chuckled to himself as he continued walking. The screeches of surprised and terrified monsters sounding all around as the high leveled Tanuki girl easily dispatched them. Many tried to flee but failed to escape.
The familiar experience notification appeared next to Naofumi's face once again. He whistled to himself. None of the shields he'd copied had an equip bonus that'd raise his ATT stat. But who needed that when you had party members that could dispatch monsters for you?
'Thank goodness for Raphtalia.'
The sun was setting over the mountains in the distance. Below the mountains were some stone cliffs, and in front of the cliffs was the small village of Lute. It looked better than it had the day before, but it'd be a while yet before the town was to the way it was.
At the base of a small hill in the forest, the same one he'd been summoned to when the wave started, Naofumi stooped over a pot he had cooking over a small fire. Inside was a stew that he was preparing. It had meat from some pill rabbits and porcupines that Raphtalia had managed to hunt on their trip today. Along with some vegetables and herbs he'd managed to gather while she hunted.
While he was preparing it, he was looking through the list of shields he'd copied from Elhart's shop. 'Damn, I can get a lot of defense boosts from unlocking some of these shields.' Other shields equip bonuses also included agility boosts, stamina boosts, slash resistance, and other types of resistances. 'I even have a couple of new skills. Though it doesn't look like I'll be able to use some of the others until I'm a higher level.'
The skill he was looking at in particular was one called Meteor Shield.
His thoughts were dragged back to the food that he was preparing. 'It smells so good…' His stomach growled in agreement. He had never been so happy to have his stomach and tongue working in tandem with each other again. He could also appreciate the extra cooking skills boosts that he got from the Mush Shield and the other shields now. He sprinkled some herb flakes onto the stew, and he swore his pleasure senses skyrocketed when the smell hit his nose.
"Master Naofumi! Are you almost done yet?!" Raphtalia asked from where she was sitting on a log.
"Give me a minute. Good food takes a while to prepare." Naofumi responded.
"But I'm soooo hungry." Raphtalia moaned in displeasure. Her head leaned back as she carried her whine into the air. She'd expended so much effort on killing everything in sight today. And she'd really worked up an appetite.
"Are you sure you still aren't a little kid mentally?" Naofumi sarcastically asked.
Raphtalia was so hungry she didn't lash back at the comment. Naofumi rolled his eyes. It felt like so much had changed, and yet so much would remain the same too.
...
"There. One nice hot bowl of stew." Naofumi said, handing Raphtalia a bowl with steam coming out of it.
"Thank you!" Raphtalia said happily before she quickly dug into the stew Naofumi had carefully prepared. Her tail wagged side to side behind her in gratitude.
Naofumi smiled a little at the sight and took a tentative spoonful of his own stew. His eyes lit up, and his taste buds once again sang praises to him for a job well done. 'Now that I can taste the effects of my own cooking, I could get used to this.' He got to devouring it almost as fast as Raphtalia was devouring hers.
He was going to pay more attention to shields that could increase his cooking skills in the future. They'd certainly come in handy. Though he still had a feeling getting them would only turn him into a butler. "So? Does it taste good?" Naofumi asked.
"It's delicious Master Naofumi!" Raphtalia said happily.
Naofumi quickly looked over their stats on his stat bar after her day of hunting. He was at level 30 now, and she was level 34. There was also a little mini bar below Raphtalia for the egg he was carrying.
"Do you think you'll be eating as much as you did growing up from a kid to an adult?" Naofumi asked curiously.
"I'm not sure, but I'm still hungry now," Raphtalia said, pouting as she set her empty bowl down on her lap.
Naofumi glanced at her. 'I'm just glad she hunts so many monsters. I couldn't imagine what I'd have to do if I had to deal with someone else that eats more than her.' He set his finished bowl of soup to the side and pulled out the spellbook grimoire. "You can finish off the rest of the stew if you want." He said as he opened to a random page. "I'm going to try and read now."
"Really?!" Raphtalia asked excitedly.
"Of course. You worked hard today. You deserve it." He said indifferently.
Raphtalia thanked him again and happily scurried off to the pot with the leftover stew in it. Naofumi stayed sitting on his log trying to figure out what the heck the magic grimoire was saying. 'It's not Japanese, and it's not like the English alphabet I had to learn in college…' After a few minutes of trying, he groaned in his mind. 'Why can the shield translate when people speak, but not when I read a different language?' He thought in anguish.
It was like the world wanted to make him work for the most important things. Trust, Respect, Dignity, Integrity, Hope, Love, a freaking language he had no idea how to understand.
Just to name a few.
"Is something wrong Master Naofumi?" Raphtalia asked as she sat beside him again. The stew pot was now empty beside the fire.
Naofumi rubbed at his forehead. "I can't read a damn thing from this, no matter what I try." He said, showing Raphtalia the grimoire. "My shield can translate when someone speaks, but it can't translate written words for some stupid reason."
Raphtalia stared at the magic grimoire curiously. "Hmmm." She put a finger over a line of text. "As source of thy power, I decipher the laws of nature, and command the elements to heed my call and illuminate my target." She pointed a finger above the fire. "Fast Light!"
Suddenly, a ball of light brighter than the fire appeared over in front of them. "Augh!" Naofumi yelled in surprise, covering his eyes from the sudden blindness he received.
After a few seconds, the ball of light disappeared. Leaving the area strangely darker than before despite the bit of light coming from the setting sun and the fire. Still, despite the darkness, the look of excitement glowed on Raphtalia's face. 'I did it! I was able to cast magic!' She thought happily.
"What the hell!?" Naofumi yelled angrily.
"Sorry Master Naofumi, I didn't think that would happen-" Raphtalia tried to say apologetically.
"You mean you're already able to cast magic just from reading one page?!" Naofumi interrupted her angrily.
…
Raphtalia slowly started to laugh. Adding fuel to his anger. "Are you jealous that I can already use magic while you can't read?" She asked him with a smug smile.
Naofumi grumbled and crossed his arms over the grimoire on his lap. "Maybe a little." He said grumpily.
Raphtalia giggled beside him. She found it cute that he was acting like such a kid. "I mean, I loved to play a lot as a kid. But my parents still taught me the importance of reading and writing. I'm just surprised I remembered so much after… everything that happened." She said, resting her head on his shoulder.
'And she learned it so quickly too...' Naofumi looked down at the fire. It was a relief that Raphtalia could read the grimoire. Maybe she'd be able to help if he asked, but something nagged at the back of his mind. "Hey Raphtalia, didn't you say before that you had to be nobility to get an education here?" He asked.
"Of course. It's not something that's accessible to the common folk. Why do you ask?" She asked curiously.
"Oh, it's nothing really." He said. 'Maybe that witch was right, and her parents were from a noble line. It'd explain how they were able to teach her to read and write. It could also explain how she was able to find that first spell so quickly… But if Raphtalia doesn't know, then I probably shouldn't press it.'
"Well, I was just wondering, maybe you could give me the noble treatment and help me learn this world's language?" He quietly suggested.
She smiled widely from his shoulder. "Naofumi, all you have to do is ask. If it means you learning magic and compounding better medicine, I'd be happy to help."
He smiled back for her. "Thanks,"
"But not until morning. For now, I want to enjoy this." She said, wrapping her arms around him while resting her head on his shoulder. Her tail slid along the log behind them.
"Okay. Just don't go falling asleep on me." He ordered her half-seriously. Enjoying the feeling of her warm body hugging him.
…
It took him a moment to realize she hadn't listened, and that she'd fallen asleep on his shoulder. Her breaths came in and out in even intervals. Naofumi looked down at her sleeping vulnerable face.
"Well. So much for that." He mumbled to himself. Not that he minded. One of his hands moved along her hair. She smiled brightly in her sleep.
Damn. Was there ever a moment where she wasn't adorable… besides when she was angry?
…
'What do I feel around her…'
...
Part of him still wanted to call himself a Lolicon. To call himself a Furrie. To think of something, anything that could potentially cut him off from forming any sort of emotional attachment to this beautiful smart woman next to him. But the more he tried to think about it, the less that course of action sounded appealing. Not when he had all these positive emotions coming from having her there next to him. Emotions indicating he'd already formed an emotional attachment to her. And that cutting it off would be too painful for him to bear.
'If I don't want to cut this off, then what's holding me back…' Raphtalia was slightly more affectionate with him now than before. And he was honestly starting to become more affectionate with her too. She'd turned into the kind of girl he could see his previous self falling for. He found himself smiling more and more since he'd woken up that morning. It was like something inside him had changed, and was helping him to turn back into what he had been before he'd overheard Myne and the nun Altara plotting to kill him so long ago.
So if he was starting to change, why didn't he want to initiate something… more between them? Why was he afraid to make a bigger deal about their relationship?...
...
After a moment, Bitch plotting against him came back to mind… her evil smile, her bitch like laugh. Her twisted bitch eyes, and her stunted bitch personality. On top of a bitch ego.
Positive thought didn't exist here. A deep scowl covered his face.
He wanted to hunt Bitch. To punch Bitch. Kick Bitch. Torture Bitch. Burn Bitch at the stake like the bitch she was.
She'd plotted to have him betrayed and left all alone in this world. Worse, she'd tried to separate him from Raphtalia. She wanted nothing but for him to be miserable.
He wanted to make Bitch regret the day she was ever born.
"No, please, don't do this to me!"
Yes, he could see it now. He laughed to himself evilly as Myne stared up at him in horror. The buildings around them burned with black, twisted flames. People stumbled out of them, screaming as the flames devoured them.
Knights, citizens, the King, Elhart, the witch and apothecarian, and others he'd met over his travels. All of them were becoming screamed, charred husks before his fiery eyes. This was great! This was perfect!
"AHAHAHA! YES! FEAR ME!"
The Church crumbled under his massive foot. He launched a ball of fire from his shield, setting the surrounding landscape ablaze.
"YOU ALL SHALL PAY FOR EVERYTHING YOU'VE DONE TO ME!"
The Bitch cowered in horror. "Please, stop! I'm begging you!" Even as she pled, fake crocodile tears came down her Bitch face.
He was done with her. He raised his shield, a glowing red gemstone embedded in the center of it, over his head, and-
Raphtalia gripped him tightly in her sleep. The action caused Naofumi to jerk awake. "What the &^%$?!"
It took several seconds. Eventually, though, his vision cleared. No, he wasn't at the Capital. He was still in the forest, and Raphtalia was still resting beside him. His Shield's gemstone was green, not red. Nothing was on fire. And there was no sign of that red-haired soulless bitch.
Naofumi thought over the nightmare, and he frowned. Even after her selfless actions the night before, he still had rage and hatred harboring itself deep in his soul. But it was only supposed to be towards Bitch, Trash, and that damn Church.
Why would he want to burn everything else? That troubled him...
...
After a moment of calming down, he looked back down at Raphtalia just as her face calmed down again, forming a peaceful smile. Naofumi was coming back to her. Naofumi would be okay.
'Wow. Even in her sleep, she watches out for me.'
His scowl visibly softened. Yeah, there was all that anger and hatred, but there was also a comparable force of other emotions surrounding it. Hope, Determination, Care, and in the midst of those emotions…
Naofumi found himself becoming tired again. He decided he and Raphtalia should take whatever it was they were doing slow for now while he recovered from the mental scars that Bitch had inflicted upon him. They still had a long time ahead of them to sort out what would happen. So he shelved his thoughts for another time.
He knew he should keep the first watch. He and Raphtalia had kept a watch system before when she'd gotten old enough to stay up for part of the night. But he was tired, and the monsters here were weak. And tonight, he wanted to hold her close. Just like she had for him...
…
'Just in case monsters, knights, or something else tries to sneak up on us.' He changed his shield to the Two-Headed Dog Shield and activated the shield's other ability. A ball of light exited his shield and started hovering in a 25-meter perimeter around the camp he and Raphtalia had made. It would alert him if anything, monster or knight, approached their campsite.
'We can go back to keeping a system of watches tomorrow night. For now, I'd rather enjoy this.' With security precautions taken, he rested his head against Raphtalia's, and slowly drifted off into a warm, peaceful sleep. Much more so than the nightmare he'd had just minutes ago.
Till Next Time
Allen