Chapter 4 – New Companion

"Why are you following us?" I asked, but didn't turn around.

Things had gone well. The minions had some of the loot from the slavers in sacks over their backs. It turned out I could store things in my shield and pull them out later, but that required use of the Dragon Hourglass. Gnarl had something that could do that a little, but only a few items per day. Finding a place with strong dragon veins—something he still needed to explain—would let him do that more. But I digress.

Once we had everything, we started going back to the underground base, the girl following us.

"I…don't have anywhere else to go." She replied.

"You don't have a home?"

She paused for a second. "It's gone."

Hm. That's terrible, but I wasn't in a position to do anything. "Then find somewhere else to go." It's not like where we were going was any place for a kid.

"I'll be punished." She said.

That caused me to stop, the minions pausing whatever weird humming/rambling they were doing. "What?" I turned around.

The girl stopped as well, hands clasped together against her chest. "I was being taken to my new owner's, but they didn't transfer my slave seal since he wasn't here. My old master is still in the city. If he sees I still belong to him in a few days, then…"

Tears started to form in her eyes.

I let out a sigh. Well, I guess I would be able to sleep right if I didn't do something.

"Gnarl, did you hear all that?" I asked aloud.

"Yes, Sire." He responded. "And I believe I have a solution. With such a transaction, there's sure to be a vial of blood of the current owner. Do you have it?"

"Minions." I looked to them. They're the ones with the loot.

"Here, Master!" One of them said, holding up the vial.

"Excellent." Gnarl said. "Bring the girl along."

When I looked at the girl again, she just looked confused. Understandable. It's not like she could hear Gnarl.

"Follow me." I told her, then continued on.

We traveled for a few hours more to get back to the city. On the way, the girl started to slow down. Since it would likely be a hassle to be seen with a bunch of goblin-looking things, I just picked her up and carried her. She weakly protested, but quickly stopped.

After the hours in the fields, the trek through the tunnels felt much shorter. We arrived back in the minion cave.

"Welcome back, Sire." Gnarl greeted us with the two remaining minions at his side. He pointed up at the girl, still in my arms. "That's the slave?"

"…Yes." I still didn't like hearing that. Slavery was one thing, but enslaving children? This country was sick.

"I'll begin right away." He directed the minions to spread out the loot from the slavers, going through it.

I set the girl on the ground, now that we were here and it wasn't as dark as the narrow tunnels.

"Thank you for carrying me…and for letting me come with you, mister." She said, gripping her dress.

"Sure." I watched as Gnarl took the blood vial, an ink vial, and a dish from the emptied sacks.

"Are you…" She began to ask something, but lowered her head when I looked at her. It must not have been important.

After about another minute, Gnarl spoke up. "Ready, Sire." He waved us over to a large rock, the dish sitting on top of it.

"What now?" I asked him.

Gnarl smiled. "Now I paint a new mark on the girl, transferring ownership from her current owner to you. I'll just need a bit of your blood."

The girl lets out a whimper and backed up. "I told you I don't want slaves." I had to restrain a yell in the small cave.

"This works out perfectly, Sire." He said, picking up a brush. "You need someone to help you gain levels, and she needs a different master. Everyone wins this way."

"You're talking about enslaving a kid!" I did shout this time. This was too messed up. If I was an Overlord, I was going to choose what kind to be.

"Oh, it's hardly so bad, Sire." Gnarl shook his head. "The girl should be happy to be enslaved by you. She is a demi-human, after all."

"What does that have to do with anything?" Was he saying demi-humans were a slave race or something?

Gnarl looked as confused as I felt. "Sire, do you not know how demi-humans view the Shield Hero?"

"The Shield Hero?" The girl perked up immediately. She looked up at me, then the gauntlet on my arm. As she did so, her eyes widened. "Is that your shield?"

"Yeah." I didn't really get what the big deal was, but I showed it off, transforming it to the Small Shield and then back again.

The girl's eyes widened further and switched back to me. "You're really him…you came for us!"

Before I could ask what she was talking about, she latched onto my waist and pressed her face against the side of my hip.

"Hey, what're you doing!?" I yelled, somewhat reflexively. That bitch princess must have messed me up more than I first thought if a hug was making me this mad.

"My apologies, Sire. I thought, as a summoned hero, you already knew." Gnarl said. "Demi-humans revere the Shield Hero as a god. It's why it was so easy to get you through that trial. Melromarc is enemies with Siltvelt, a country of demi-humans with the Shield Church as their main religion. Ah, and Melromarc's religion is the Three Heroes Church."

As he explained, my situation started making more and more sense. I was the devil here. That must be why the princess chose me. Who would take my side?

"Mister Shield Hero!" The girl eased back a little to look up at me again. "Please, let me help you!"

I wanted to object, but Gnarl quickly spoke up. "See, Sire? This works out perfectly."

"She'll still be a slave!" I responded.

Gnarl gasped. "Why, Sire, I didn't know you intended on abusing her!"

"What? No!" I shouted back. Gnarl just grinned in response.

"Then taking her as a slave is nothing more than a formality, isn't it?"

I still wanted to object, but he had a point. I didn't have to treat the girl badly. And being here was probably better than wherever she was going. Gnarl knew just what to say, I guess.

He played me just now. Earlier, he said it was a pity I didn't actually rape the princess. I needed to get a better understanding of him. If I didn't, I get the feeling he'll be doing this a lot.

"Fine." There was really no arguing here. I looked back down at the girl. "What's your name?"

"Rifana, Mister Shield Hero!" She happily replied.

"Alright, Rifana." I patted her head, earning a wide smile from her. "My name is Naofumi Iwatani."

"Okay, Mister Naofumi!" She went right back to hugging me tightly.

I still didn't like this, but Gnarl was right. I do need someone to help me get XP. Maybe we could get some tamed monsters later.

Author's Notes:

Name confirms it. Also, given name before family name in this fanfic. No particular reason, just felt like it.