The Rising of the Shield Hero Volume 01 (4 page)

Chapter Five: The Reality of the Shield

Upon exiting the castle, fields of grass extended in every direction.

There was, at least, a cobblestone road meandering over the scenery, but once we left the town, it seemed like the world was nothing but green and green and green.

It reminded me of Hokkaido.

It struck me as novel and fascinating. I could see both the expanse of the sky and the horizon itself. I figured that running around in giddy excitement would not reflect well on me, considering I was the hero and all, and so I did my best to swallow my emotions.

“Now then, Hero. This land is filled with rather weak monsters, and battling them should make for very good practice.”

“Good idea. I don’t have any experience with battles and all, so this seems like a good chance.”

“Do your best.”

“Huh? You’re not fighting with me, Myne?”

“Before I participate, I’d like to get a sense of your ability.”

“Oh? All right then.”

I suppose it only made sense. She had more experience than I did, and of course she would want to see how strong I was.

To start off, I thought I would fight a monster that Myne thought would be easy enough for me.

We poked around in the fields for a little while before spotting something among the grass. It looked like an orange balloon.

“There’s one now, Hero. We call these ‘Orange Balloons,’ and they are rather easy to defeat.”

Well that’s a stupid name. There was a severe lack of creativity here.

“Gah!”

It let out an angry cry and flashed aggressive eyes at me, confirming its enemy status.

And so a creature sort of like those balloons we put in fields to scare away the birds rushed to attack me.

“You can do it, Hero!”

“Got it!”

I needed to look cool in the process, considering Myne was there and all.

I held the shield in my right hand, and made to hit the beast with the pointed tip.

“Haa!”

I managed to connect with my hit, but… BOING! My strike bounced back. The thing sure was resilient!

And I thought it was just going to pop…

The Orange Balloon reared back, bared its fangs, and came at me again.

“Ah!”

I heard a clanging sound from where the beast was biting me.

Oddly enough, there was no pain or irritation at all. The Orange Balloon continued to bite my arm, but its attack seemed to have no effect.

I felt like the shield was emitting some kind of soft, defensive barrier around me. Could that be the true strength of the shield?

I silently looked over at Myne.

“Do your best, Hero!”

It seemed like I was unable to either deal or receive damage.

“AAARRRRGGGHHHH!”

I pummeled the Orange Balloon with my fists, like some legendary warrior.

Five minutes later…

Pow!

With a soft puff of air, the Orange Balloon popped.

“Huff… huff… huff…”

I heard a persistent beep, and saw that my experience meter now read: 1.

I guess that meant I’d earned one EXP point.

But if it took that long to earn one measly point… I didn’t want to dwell on that for too long.

Besides, this was HARD. There was only so much you could do with your bare hands.

“Nice job, Hero.”

Myne was applauding me, but something about it felt hopeless.

“Huh?”

I heard footsteps approaching. I turned around to see Ren jogging with his retinue. I thought about calling out to them, but they looked so serious and focused that I decided not to intrude.

Three Orange Balloons appeared in front of Ren.

… But.

Ren swung his sword in a large arc, and all three enemies burst instantly.

One hit?! Come on now, this didn’t seem fair at all!

“…”

I was concerned, but Myne threw her hands up and waved them in my face.

“It’s fine! All the Heroes have their own ways of fighting.”

“… Thanks.”

What I gained from the process of fighting the Orange Balloon was that, after being attacked for five minutes and taking no damage, I must have had a significant amount of defense.

The Orange Balloon had left behind some battle loot which I picked up. It was the Orange Balloon’s skeleton. Upon touching it, my shield began to beep.

When the loot got near the shield, it was enveloped in a soft light and absorbed into the shield’s gem.

Orange Balloon acquired
.

The words flashed before me, and the weapon book icon began to glow. I looked inside and saw a small, orange shield icon. Apparently I hadn’t collected enough, but the Orange Balloon was a necessary item for upgrading the shield.

“So this is how the Legendary Weapons work?”

“Yes. It seems that to power them up, they need to absorb certain items.”

“I see.”

“By the way, how much could we get for the loot we just scored?”

“Hm… maybe a piece of bronze?”

“How many pieces of bronze are worth a piece of silver?

“100.”

I suppose that was to be expected, considering how easy they were for Ren to defeat.

“All right Myne, your turn.”

“I suppose you are right.”

As she said it two Orange Balloons appeared a short distance away and started coming in our direction.

Myne drew a sword that she’d had at her waist and swung it twice in quick succession. Pow! Pow! The Orange Balloons both burst.

Woah… was I really THAT weak?

Regardless it was clear that I… or at least my shield, was not going to win me any battles.

At this rate, it made more sense to have Myne fight, and I would handle the defense of our party.

“Ok then, Myne, you be the fighter, and I’ll cover defense. Let’s see how far that gets us.”

“Ok,” she nodded.

We stayed in the fields until the sun started to slant downwards in the sky. We fought any Orange Balloons we came across, and also discovered some Yellow Balloons.

“If we pressed on a little further, we’d encounter some stronger monsters, but we’d better head back if we want to be in the castle by dark.”

“Well, I kind of wanted to fight a little bit more…”

Considering I wasn’t taking any damage, and defending against the balloons was so easy, I wanted to keep going.

“Let’s head back early today, and use the extra time to revisit the weapon shop. If I get some new equipment now, we could go that much further tomorrow.”

“I guess you’re right.”

It will take a little while longer to level up, so I guess there was no reason not to wrap it up for the day. Also, my shield had absorbed all that it could, so the Orange Balloon loot just remained where it was.

Apparently, when I leveled up, my shield would also grow stronger.

Anyway, we decided to stop adventuring for the day and began our journey back to Castle Town.

Chapter Six: A Backstabber Named Landmine

Evening drew near as we reentered the town. We decided to have another look at the weapon shop.

“Well, if it isn’t my little Shield-Buddy. The other Heroes stopped by too, you know.”

I guess the shop really was famous.

The owner approached us, beaming from ear to ear.

“Yup. Hey, do you know of a place that would buy this off of us?”

I showed him the loot from the Orange Balloons, and he responded by thrusting his finger towards the door.

“There’s a shop set up for buying loot just down the road. I’m sure they’d buy it off you.”

“Thanks.”

“Sure. So why else did you decide to stop by?”

“Oh, well I thought I’d get some equipment for Myne, my travel companion.”

I looked over to her as I spoke. She was closely inspecting various weapons around the store.

“How’s your budget looking?”

I still had 680 pieces of silver. I wasn’t sure how much of it I should use.

“What do you think, Myne?”

“…”

She was deep in thought, comparing pieces of equipment.

It was like she couldn’t even hear me speaking to her. I had no idea what hotels went for around here, but it seemed like I’d better set aside at least a month’s worth of lodging.

“Well, as for your friend there. Of course, it’s true that you’ll be stronger with better equipment…”

“Right.”

It looked like there wasn’t much I could do to increase my own attack power, so I had better focus my resources on buying Myne’s equipment.

“You might fix the prices on me, so let’s talk them out right now.”

“Ahaha, this is a tenacious little Hero!”

“80% off!”

“That’s crazy. 20% up!”

“You’re raising it?! 79%”

“You haven’t even seen the products yet, you fool!”

“Whatever, 90% off!”

“Give me a break, 21% up!”

“You’re not supposed to raise it! 100% off!”

“Like I’d give it to you for free!” he snorted. “Fine, 5% off.”

“That’s it? 92%…”

We argued like that for a little while before Myne came over with a cute piece of armor and an expensive, gold-inlaid sword.

“Hero, I think these will be sufficient.”

“What do you think, old man? 60% off.”

“I’ll give you a deal, 480 pieces of silver. And that’s at 59%”

Before Myne decided on what she wanted, we were actually able to haggle a good arrangement for ourselves. But all we had left was 200 pieces of silver. Would it be enough?

“Myne, think you could downgrade a bit? I don’t know how much things cost around here, but I need money to survive on.”

“It will be fine, Hero. With my new equipment, I can make back the money with relative ease. Battle loot will cover it.”

She batted her eyelashes and leaned her breasts against my arm.

It really must be a different world, and what a ROYAL summons it was.

I’d never been popular with girls before, and now look at this girl pressing up against me!

She might be right. We did need higher attack ability.

“Well, I guess…”

200 pieces of silver. Ren, Motoyasu, and Itsuki all had at least three people with them, so their expenses were sure to be that much higher.

Besides, 200 pieces of silver was probably plenty to live on for a month. Regardless, to recruit other people, I’d need to level up and make more money.

“Fine then, old man. You’ve got yourself a deal.”

“Thanks boy. You seem like quite the Hero already.”

“Ahaha. What can I say? I enjoy business.”

Whenever I played online games, I was pretty good at making money. I’d always try to buy things as cheaply as possible at auctions and then resell them for profit. Haggling was easy for me. It came naturally. There was a number you could see, so it always made sense.

“Thank you, Hero.”

Myne looked thrilled. She kissed my hand.

Things just kept getting better and better. Tomorrow was sure to be a great adventure.

Myne changed into her new equipment, and the both of us made for an inn.

30 bronze for one person, per night…

“We’ll need two rooms,” said Myne.

“Isn’t one room enough?”

“But…”

Myne seemed to be playing a waiting game.

Uh… fine.

“Two rooms please.”

“Very well then, if you will.”

The innkeeper showed us to our rooms, wringing her hands the whole time. I kept our budget in my head the whole time, and we ate dinner in an attached restaurant. Meals were not included, and dinner for one cost us 5 bronze.

“Just to confirm, the fields we hunted in today were… right here?”

I’d unrolled a map on the table that I’d bought on our way back to town. The map had a lot of information about the geography of the area. Sure, I could have just asked Ren or Motoyasu, but considering how they’d acted earlier, they probably would not have told me much. If it meant getting ahead, it seemed like there was nothing they wouldn’t do. Since I knew so little about the place, I had to do what I could to avoid being led into a powerful monster’s lair. To that end, I unfurled the map.

“Yes, that’s where we were.”

“Based on what the other heroes said, once we leave the fields, we enter the forest, right? Is that the next training ground?”

The map was really helping me get an idea for the geography of the place.

Basically, the castle stood in the center, and was surrounded by fields. There were roads leading to the woods, the mountains, and another road that led to a river, and another that led to a remote village.

The map was pretty small though, so I wasn’t able to make out much about the neighboring villages.

I wasn’t able to see what lay on the other side of the forest, but if I didn’t try to pick an appropriate path to stronger monsters, we’d never level up.

“Well, you can’t see it on this map, but I was thinking of heading to a village on the other side of the forest. It’s called Lafan.”

“You don’t say…”

“On the outskirts of town, there’s a dungeon suited to beginners.”

“A dungeon…”

This whole thing was like a dream! Online games normally just started off with hunting monsters and leveling up. But a dungeon!

“We might not make much money there, but it would be a great place to level up.”

“I see.”

“I have new equipment. While we will depend on your defense, it should not be too difficult for us.”

“Awesome. I’ll consider it.”

“Oh, no problem at all. Oh, hey, don’t you drink wine?”

The restaurant had given us wine with our meals, but I had yet to touch mine.

“Nah, I don’t really like alcohol.”

It’s not that I can’t drink. It’s sort of the opposite. I never really end up drunk, so I guess I have a high tolerance. Whenever I went to social events in college, I’d drink with other people. I’d see them all end up drunk—which never happened to me. I ended up developing a distaste for the stuff.

“Is that so? You could just have one glass?”

“No thanks. I really don’t like it.”

“But…”

“No thanks.”

“Oh… All right then.”

She looked upset as she retracted the glass of wine.

“At least we were able to get a plan together for tomorrow. Let’s get to bed early tonight.”

“Sure. See you tomorrow.”

We finished eating, and I turned my back on the loud restaurant to go to my room.

I remembered my chainmail. I’d have to take it off if I wanted to get any sleep.

I slipped out of it and flung it over the back of a chair.

“…”

I then put my money pouch on the bedside table.

200 pieces of silver… and we had to pay up-front for the rooms, leaving me with just over 199 pieces. I felt a little anxious about my finances, but I suppose that had always been my way.

Just like a typical Japanese person going traveling, I took 30 silver pieces and hid them on the backside of my shield. That settled my anxiety, if only just a little.

It had been a busy day.

Now I knew how it felt to battle, and defeat, a monster. I’d felt it yesterday as well, but I really was in another world.

I was so excited. It was hard to calm down. The curtain was rising on a new, shining adventure. I might be a little behind the others, but there was a path just for me. I had no specific goal in mind. I could do whatever I wanted.

I was suddenly very sleepy. I could hear the sounds of revelry coming from the restaurant. Some people, they looked almost like Motoyasu and Itsuki, were talking down the hall. I thought I saw them walk by my doorway. I wonder if they were staying here too?

I reached out and extinguished my lamp. It was still a little early, but I wanted to get some rest…

Rattle, rattle.

Hmmm? What was that? People yelling at the bar?

Snore.

Whisper, whisper… Something was pulling at my clothes.

“Heh, heh, men are fools. So easily tricked… Can’t wait until tomorrow.”

Who was that? Was it… a dream?

“Hm?”

It was so cold…

The sun was on my face, telling me it was morning already. I rubbed the sleep from my eyes, still very groggy. I rose from bed and went to the window. I guess I’d slept later than I’d intended. The sun was already high in the sky.

It must have been somewhere around nine.

“What?”

I suddenly realized I was only wearing my underclothes. Had I slipped out of my clothes in the night?

Whatever.

I looked out on the town. People were running around in the streets, bustling about just like any other day. There were merchants selling their wares, shops cooking up breakfasts, and horse-drawn carriages clattering down the road. It really felt like a dream.

This new world was so wonderful.

I noticed different kinds of carriages on the streets. There were big birds, like ostriches. They looked just like cho**bos, you know, from THAT game. It seemed like horses denoted a higher class than the birds. And I even saw some carriages being pulled by cows.

“I’d better get some food in my belly and be off.”

I looked around for my clothes. I looked through the bedding.

… That’s odd, I couldn’t find them.

The chainmail I’d placed on the chair… It was gone too.

And my money pouch was gone too! Even my original clothing that I’d set aside was gone!

“What the…”

Could it be true?! Had I been robbed? Who would steal from a sleeping person?!

This inn… couldn’t they take some basic security measures?!

Anyway, I’d better find Myne. And quick.

Slam! I flung open the door and ran to Myne’s room, which was next to mine. I banged heavily on her door.

“Myne! It’s terrible! Our money and equipment has been…”

Bang, bang, bang!

No matter how hard I knocked, no sounds came from within.

I heard footsteps approaching quickly. I turned. Castle knights were running up to me. They were a veritable light in the darkness. I would tell them about the robbery and enlist their aid in finding the thief!

Besides, what kind of an idiot would steal from a hero?

“You’re knights from the castle, aren’t you? Please, listen to me for a second!”

I turned to them and begged for their attention.

Myne, come on out already. This situation is getting worse by the second!

“You are the Shield Hero, yes?”

“Well, yes, but…”

What the hell? They sounded oddly aggressive.

“The king has summoned you. You will come with us.”

“He’s summoned me? Okay, whatever. But before that, I’ve been robbed! We need to catch the…”

“You WILL come with us. NOW.”

One of them grabbed my collar and pulled me forcefully.

“That HURTS! Listen to me!”

But they held my arms tightly and pulled me along with them.

I was basically in my underwear. There was no dignity in this! Why was I being treated this way?

“Myne! Please hurry!”

But the knights would not listen. We left Myne in her room, and they dragged me back to the castle.

The carriages I’d seen before were apparently prepared to bring me back to the castle.

And so, without ever understanding why, I came to be seen as a criminal by the town.