Naofumi took a glance towards the shields he had unlocked.

Slave Defense Shield

Raises defense proportional to the number of slaves you control, up to a maximum of 10 x the user's level.

Ah, so that was how he could raise his defense- but that was just defense, how was he supposed to attack and level up?

Enslavement Shield

Can be used to attempt to enslave a creature- the chance of success depends on how weak it is versus your own level and factors in other things into account. Can be done even if you don't have slave ink.

Wow, so Naofumi could get other slaves by using his own slaves to weaken them- this was just like a human version of Pokemon! Very much like Palworld actually.

Slave Maintenance Shield I

Slaves need less food, less sleep, and can work for longer periods without getting sick. Also makes the likelihood of them becoming sick lower and decreases the duration of mild sickness.

That was good, it was important to improve efficiency.

Master-Slave Bond Shield

The longer you have your slaves, the more they will get attached to you. Over time they will even have endearing feelings towards you, and will demand to remain your slaves even if freedom is offered to them. This will remain in effect even if their slave crests are removed.

Now, this was a very good shield! Any idiot could keep slaves in line with force, or magic like this world did- but a true slavemaster was one who would convince slaves that it was their rightful place!

Naofumi couldn't help but think of the House Elves from Harry Potter- despite his other gripes with J. K. Rowling, he had to say that she had made a wonderful race in the House Elves and how subservient they were. Yes, he needed to aspire to create a group of slaves who looked up to him like House Elves, though of course, he needed to make sure that no 'Dobby' ever came about.

Racoon Slave Shield

Greatly increases the XP yield, growth rate, and stat increases of enslaved racoon demihumans.

This was a shield he had gotten specifically from enslaving Raphtalia, so it looked like she would grow into someone quite useful.

Plantation Shield

Allows you to create a plantation for slaves to work upon, which provides several benefits.

Hmm... he would need to create a plantation, definitely, but that might need to wait until more slaves were obtained.

"Hello!" Naofumi said, walking into the blacksmith's shop.

"My gosh I told you to stay away from my shop!" Erhard yelled as he saw Naofumi walk in. Erhard had tried to punch Naofumi after the results of the trial, but Naofumi had weirded him out so much that Erhard had just given up at the time.

"Hey, I just wanted to get something for my slave," he said, pointing to the young girl at his side.

"You... bought a slave?" Erhard said and then sighed. Right, no one would team up with Naofumi, obviously, so he had been forced to do this.

"Yeah, I need some gear for her," Naofumi said. "A knife and some basic leather armor- I don't have much money on me right now though, turns out that orphans really don't carry that much money around... I mean Bruce Wayne is rich right, so what are the orphans in this world doing?"

"Kiddo, you can't go around extorting orphans for money..."

"Why what are they going to do? Complain to their parents?" Naofumi asked.

Erhard sighed. "Okay, little miss, let's get you something..."

Raphtalia walked out five minutes later.

"Wow, you look like the most adorable child soldier I've ever seen," Naofumi said.

Despite herself, Raphtalia blushed a little. She had rarely gotten praise aside from her parents, and she knew that her species was not noted to be one that was easy on the eyes. So, in spite of herself, she fumbled with her dagger.

"Great, now kill this," Naofumi said, holding up a balloon for her to pop. It hissed at her, and though it posed little threat to Raphtalia, she still stumbled back, triggering her slave crest. "Hm... the more things that I check on the slave menu, the greater the benefits are for me while keeping her enslaved." If he wanted to, he could only keep one of the things on the list like 'Always tell the truth' or 'Don't hurt your master' or 'Always praise your master' or keep them all on- keeping them all on would severely restrict the things she could do, but keeping just a few of them would hamper her growth as a slave. "It will hurt you until you strike this down. Do it Raphtalia, give into your anger, let the hate flow through you..."

Raphtalia gathered her strength and popped the balloon.

She got 10 XP, and Naofumi got 7... that was how it should have been, but Naofumi got a pop-up. "Oh? If I want I can keep all of those XP points for myself?"

"Eh? Parties don't work like that," Erhard said.

"I guess it's thanks to the Enslavement Shield," Naofumi said.

"Enslavement Shield?"

"Yeah, I was offered the chance to unlock it soon after the trial, and let me tell you it's great," Naofumi said, going into a monologue on the benefits of slavery.

"Kiddo, slavery is already legal in this country, you don't have to sell it to me," Erhard said with an exasperated sigh. "Now try not to get yourself and lil' missy here killed, okay?"

"Heh... don't worry, okay?" Naofumi said.

"Alright, I was going to save this for later, but I don't see why we can't try it at least," Naofumi said, changing his shield to the Plantation Shield and activating its skill. "Create Plantation!"

They had walked into a clearing near the woods, far away from the city, and with Naofumi as the center, a magical circle was traced around him. It was a lot like making a base back in Palworld, though there was no box in the center.

However, doing this did change the landscape somewhat. The air felt different around here, and a strange, glowing stone had popped up near Noafumi. It looked like a giant sapphire, though it had a magical sheen to it.

Naofumi punched it and a small fragment came out, even tinier than a grain of sand. Naofumi picked it up. "Hey- this stuff grants XP! Raphtalia!"

He took out a pickaxe he had bought along with the weaponry just in case there was some mining to be done. "Raphtalia, can you try to mine this?"

Raphtalia picked up the pickaxe, which she did with surprising ease and began to hit it over and over. Bigger fragments came out of the stone now, and it regenerated after every hit.

"I see... so we can farm for XP this way..." Naofumi said to himself. This was great! "Alright, Raphtalia, make sure you work hard!"

"Alright, Master Naofumi!" Raphtalia said, throwing herself at the task with gusto. Maybe she was just glad that Naofumi wasn't making her kill any more creatures, or the fact that the rhythmic action of hitting the huge sapphire was surprisingly quite fun in its own way, but she soon had a wide smile on her face as she chipped away at it.

"Aww, look at her go," Naofumi said to himself. "You know, it's a shame that we banned child labor back in my world- just look how popular Minecraft is with kids. And see her go- clearly the children yearn for the mines."

He didn't keep himself idle though, no matter how good Raphtalia was, she was only one person. He would need to find (or capture) more slaves to use, but in the meantime, he would need to do other things, like making medicine, himself. He found several very good herbs around the plantation, it looked like this was another effect of it, and he began brewing up something. Also, the stream that was in his 'territory' so to speak suddenly spawned many fish which were very easy to catch, kill, and cook, so they would be good on that front for a few days as well.

"Mmrgh!" Raphtalia said when he gave her the cough medicine.

"Look, good medicine tastes bitter," Naofumi told her. They had used a large amount of those sapphire crystals to level up, but that didn't seem to cure sickness, so Naofumi had to rely on herbs and potions. "You'll need to take it for a few days before you get better, but soon, you'll be running around again."

"Okay..." she said. She then paused for a second. "Master Naofumi... who are you exactly? You don't seem to be a normal person... urgh, I don't meant that in a bad way but..."

"It's alright, my parents always told me I was special," Naofumi told her. "You see, I am the Shield Hero."

Raphtalia's eyes widened- she had always heard stories of the great Shield Hero, and also of how he was nice to demihumans. Perhaps her earlier thoughts on him were wrong? He seemed nice enough.

Raphtalia fell asleep, but was assailed by visions of a terrifying beast that chased her through the woods, and the screams of her parents.

"Wah!" she yelled out, reaching for her parents. "Mama! Papa!"

Someone hugged her, but it was not either of them. She opened her eyes to see the gentle gaze of her owner, who wiped away her tears. "Ah, looks like you soiled yourself. No biggie." He didn't scold her, and without complaint, went to wash her sheets.

The next few days followed a routine of her mining the magical sapphire, him making medicine, and her cough getting much better.

Until eventually, one day, two things happened. First off, her pickaxe now broke, and secondly, she noticed something regarding her level.

"Ah, so it's broken," Naofumi said, sighing as he picked up the broken pickaxe. "You could try using your sword too... but that doesn't seem like a good use for it. I guess we have no choice but to back to town and get another one. Actually, we should pick up a few."

Raphtalia was glad that he didn't seem to be the slightest bit angry that she had broken the pickaxe. "And, um, Master Naofumi, there's one other thing..."

"Eh? What's that?" Naofumi asked.

"I'm already near my level cap," she said.

"Level cap?" Naofumi muttered to himself.

He hadn't heard of anything like that before, right now, Raphtalia was level 36 and he was level 32- that sapphire was very generous when it came to gaining XP, it seemed. He was sure that if it was just him on his own, it would've taken him days to even get up to level 3.

"Yes, I heard some people say this but, to go beyond level forty you have to undergo a ceremony," Raphtalia said. "Not you, because you're a Hero, but..."

"I see," Naofumi said. "Well, I guess we have to go back to town anyway..."

They packed up. Destroying the plantation showed up as a cooldown meter on Naofumi's HUD, it would be another 48 hours before he could create another one.

"Are we going to sell some of those XP stones?" Raphtalia asked. She had never heard of things like them, so she was sure that they would fetch a high price.

"No," Naofumi said, shaking his head. "One of the most dangerous things we can do is give other people actual strength- strength will only lead to rebellions and uprisings, remember that Raphtalia." A wicked grin crossed his face.

Raphtalia shook her head, he was definitely thinking of something evil.

"I have another plan to make us some coin." Naofumi said.

In a very seedy bar in Melromarc...

Naofumi walked up to the toughest guy there and gave him a shove.

"Hey! Watch what you're doing!" the guy said.

Naofumi smirked. "Why, you don't look so tough to me?"

At that moment, the guy started crying. "Why are you hurting my feelings?" and then ran out of the bar, leaving Naofumi speechless.

That was not how he had expected that encounter to go.

"That was kinda mean, Master Naofumi," Raphtalia said.

"Pfft, wuss," Naofumi said, walked up to the second-toughest looking guy there, and then shoved him.

"Watch it!"

"Oh yeah? You don't look so tough," Naofumi said. "You got a problem, let's settle it like men!"

"Embroidery contest?"

"No, arm wrestling- you look so puny that even that kid over there could beat you," Naofumi said, pointing to Raphtalia. "I'd bet ten silver on it!"

"Heh, easiest money I'll ever make," the man said, sitting down as Raphtalia sat opposite to him. Her arm was so small the man's could wrap around it like a twig, though to his utter shock, Raphtalia slammed his arm down in an instant.

Raphtalia's stats had undergone extreme growth thanks to the slave bonuses, to the point that right now, she could take on an average classed-up adventurer at level 80 with the right gear. Not to mention, Naofumi had unlocked some other shields.

Slave Stat Gift Shield

All your slaves received a boost to their defense that is equivalent to up to 10% of your own defense stat, depending on the strength of the bond between you two.

That meant that Rapthalia's defense was much higher than you'd expect, not to say anything of her monstrous strength and other stats.

Slave Stat Tribute Shield

All of your stats (except for strength) can increase by up to 10% (in case of defense) or up to 5% (in case of the other stats barring strength) of each of your slave's own stats, depending on the strength of the bond between the two of you.

With that, even Naofumi's stats greatly exceeded that of a comparable hero, to the point that he could easily tank a hit from Glass at this stage (not that he knew who she was yet).

"Ugh," the man said, handing over ten silver coins to Naofumi.

This exchange had drawn the attention of everyone in the tavern. "Step right up and try to beat a small child in an arm-wrestling contest, twenty silver per contestant! If you win, you get the whole pot? Are any of you losers strong enough to succeed?"

Raphtalia worked for a few more hours, and they left the place with two bags full of silver coins, each beneath Naofumi's arms.

"See? Easy as pie," Naofumi said while Raphtalia shook her head. "Now, let's get you a real sword! And a few more pickaxes! And most importantly-" he said with a smile, "-more slaves!"

A/N: I found the creative energy in me to write another chapter, I do think I will do a third though that might take a while. The thing is that given this fanfic is crack, it's fun to write for the first few chapters, but eventually you hit a stonewall (from my experience writing crack fics), so I don't see this becoming a long series, it will likely be only a few chapters, but we can see.