The Rising of the Shield Hero Volume 01 (8 page)

I thought that the whispers around us were growing more excited, but it was nothing to worry about.

Raphtalia pulled the small toothpick flag from her chicken and rice and held it gingerly as she attacked the rest of her food.

“How is it?”

“It’s great!”

I guess I was the only one that didn’t find the food very good. Or maybe she was in league with the rest of them? Slaves wouldn’t be able to get away with lying though… due to that spell she was under. But what if it was all fake? What if she wasn’t really a slave at all? I didn’t know how to even start looking into it.

Anyway, I had lunch with my slave and thought about where to go next.

Chapter Eleven: The Fruits of Slavery

We finished our meals, left the restaurant, and made for the fields.

Raphtalia was in a good mood, and she hummed a song as we walked. But once we left the town and arrived in the fields, she looked scared, and started shivering.

She must have been afraid of the monsters.

“Don’t be scared. I’ll protect you from the monsters.”

She looked confused again.

“Check it out. These things have been chewing on me for a while now. Doesn’t hurt a bit.”

I pulled back my cape to show Raphtalia all the balloons there, chewing on me. She jumped back in surprise.

“That doesn’t… hurt?”

“Not at all.”

“Really…”

“Let’s go.”

“Okay… cough!”

She had been coughing a lot, but it was probably nothing.

Picking the medicinal grasses along the way, we headed in the direction of the forest.

Hey, there’s one!

No… There were three. Three Red Balloons. They were in the bushes at the edge of the forest. I called out for Raphtalia to be careful and drew the balloons’ attention. Soon, they were biting me.

“Just like last time! Just stab them from the back.”

“… Okay!”

She lunged forward and sunk her knife into the balloon.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

At the end of the fight, Raphtalia became level 2.

Red Small Shield: conditions met

Red Small Shield: ability locked: equip bonus: defense up 4

I immediately changed the shield into its newest form. Raphtalia was amazed by the process.

“How did you… Just what ARE you, Master?”

Didn’t she know I was the Shield Hero? Well, she was a demi-human, and a slave on top of that.

“I’m a hero. The Shield one.”

“Hero? You mean like one of the four Holy Things?”

“You know about it?”

She nodded.

“That’s right. I’m one of the summoned heroes. But I’m the weakest one!”

I chewed on my nails during my announcement. Just thinking of the others filled me with murderous rage.

Noticing my anger, Raphtalia was suddenly upset, so I decided not to continue the story any further.

“Anyway, the plan for today is to take on the monsters in these woods. I’ll hold them down, you stab them.”

“O…kay.”

Maybe she was getting used to me. She answered much quicker than usual.

We worked our way through the forest, and every time we encountered an enemy, I’d lure its attention, grab it, and Raphtalia would stab it from behind.

Soon enough, we came upon something besides balloons.

Loomush.

It was white, something like a mushroom, and hopped around. It had narrow, squinting eyes, and stood about as tall as a person.

I tried hitting it, but I had the same luck as I’d had with the balloon.

I had Raphtalia kill it.

We soon came across Bluemushes and Greenmushes.

Mush Shield: conditions met

Blue Mush Shield: conditions met

Green Mush Shield: conditions met

Mush Shield: ability locked:

equip bonus: plant appraisal 1

Blue Mush Shield: ability locked:

equip bonus: simple recipe 1

Green Mush Shield: ability locked:

equip bonus: apprenticeship compounding

None of these abilities were status boosts. They all seemed to be new abilities.

Compounding… That would be useful once I used up my medicine stores.

By the end of the day Raphtalia was at level 3, and I had risen to level 5.

Evening fell, and we left the forest to walk along the riverbank.

“Cough…”

Raphtalia was silent, complained about nothing, and stuck with me the whole time.

We’d have to spend at least some time focusing on building up our finances.

We arrived at the river. I opened my bag, removed some firewood, and passed it to Raphtalia. She stacked the logs and set flame to them.

“Go wash up. If you get cold, you can warm up at the fire.”

“… Okay.”

Raphtalia undressed and jumped in the water. I started fishing and tried to secure some dinner for us. I tried to watch over her as I fished. But there were no balloons in the area, and everything seemed safe.

I started going over the loot we’d secured that day.

We had a pretty large pile of medicinal herbs and lots of herbs that you couldn’t find in the fields.

We had some balloon skins, quite a few, and a good amount of mushrooms too.

And I’d unlocked four new kinds of shields.

Yes, I was way more efficient working with her. Good thing I bought myself a slave.

I should try compounding.

I brought up an easy recipe.

I found one recipe that could be made with the herbs I had on hand.

As for materials… I should be able to make do with the rocks from the river. I could grind things up with them. I’d need a recipe for mortar and pestle.

There must have been some tricks to make it easier, but they were not noted in the recipe.

I thought back on what was for sale at the apothecary. The pharmacist had been working on something that looked like it could be made from the materials I had, so I took a crack at it, and just copied whatever I could remember.

Healing Medicine: fabricated

Healing Medicine: quality: bad to fair: effective when immediately applied to the surface of wounds

The information appeared directly before my eyes.

I guess it was a success.

The shield responded but didn’t absorb the medicine.

I thought it would be a good idea to try some other combinations, some things I didn’t have recipes for. I tried mixing a variety of things, and the majority of attempts ended in failure: typically a black pile of rubbish. It was pretty interesting though.

It reminded me of an online game, though that thought was immediately followed by the memory of the other heroes. I found myself quickly annoyed

I could hear the snapping of logs in a fire. Raphtalia had left the water and was already warming up near the flames.

“Warm yet?”

“Yes. Cough…”

She must have had a cold of some kind. The slave trader had mentioned that she was sick. Which reminded me… didn’t I just make some medicine? I couldn’t have her dying before I made back the money I’d spent on her. It might not be smart to give away some of my scarce resources, but I didn’t really have a choice.

Normal Medicine: quality: fair: effective on weak colds

“Here, take this.”

I didn’t know if her cold was “weak,” but it was all I had.

“… But it hurts, so… ugh…”

The dummy, she tried to say something selfish. She put her hand to her chest in pain.

“See?”

“Y…yes, okay.”

She took the medicine with trembling hands then quickly drank it all.

“Huff... Huff…”

“Nice. Good job.”

I rubbed her head, and she didn’t try to stop me.

Her raccoon ears were so fluffy. I looked at her tail, and her forehead furrowed, as if to say, “What are you looking at?” Her tail started batting around in irritation.

“All right, dinner time.”

I hooked a fish, skewered it on a stick, roasted it over the fire, and passed it to Raphtalia. I took a bite, but it didn’t taste like anything. It was like a crumbling, firm tofu, without any flavor.

I was surprised by how disgusting fish looked once you were unable to taste it. Whatever, no matter. It might have been gross, but Raphtalia was eating it up voraciously.

I decided to return to fabrication.

I’d always liked subtle work like this. The sun fell, and everything plunged into darkness. I continued working in the ring of light around the fire.

Apparently there were all kinds of things you could make.

After she finished eating, Raphtalia gazed at the fire, mesmerized. She looked like she was falling asleep.

“You can go to sleep, you know.”

She shook her head vigorously.

What now? She was acting just like a kid who didn’t want to go to sleep. But then again, I guess she WAS a kid. She’d fall asleep if I just left her alone. I wondered if the medicine was having any effect on her. She didn’t seem to be coughing as much.

I continued fabricating for a little while and started to get an idea of what I could make.

I took some of the poor materials I’d made and let the shield absorb them to see what I’d get.

Small Medicine Shield: conditions met

Small Poison Shield: conditions met

Small Medicine Shield: ability locked:

equip bonus: medicine efficacy up

Small Poison Shield: ability locked:

equip bonus: poison resistance up

Any of the shields could be equipped from the Leaf or Mushroom Shields. I didn’t really know how useful medicine efficacy would be. Did it mean that using medicine would work better? Or did it mean that I could fabricate more powerful medicines? It didn’t matter. We’d collected a lot of materials today, and that would help us.

Raphtalia had fallen asleep but suddenly started speaking.

“No… No… Help!

She was having a nightmare.

“Noo! Noooooo!”

Her voice rang in my ears, high-pitched and terrified.

This wasn’t good. What if her screams attracted monsters?

I ran over and put my hand over her mouth.

“N………!”

Still, her shouts made it through my fingers. I see what the slave trader meant when he said she had issues.

This could be a problem.

“Relax! Calm down!”

She was screaming, but still asleep. I hoisted her up and held her close to pacify her.

“Noo! Daddy… Mo…mmy.”

She called out for her parents. Tears were streaming down her face. She reached out a hand, calling for help.

I didn’t know what her situation was, but it looked like she was traumatized by her separation from her parents.

“You’re okay… You’re okay…”

I ran my hand over her head. I was trying to calm her down.

“Ugh…”

She kept crying. I held her close.

“ARRR!”

A balloon appeared, attracted by her screams.

“Geez…”

Of all the bad timing…

I held Raphtalia tight, and ran for the balloon.

“Arrrrggghhhh!”

Cheep! Cheep!

“Morning already?”

It had been a hard night. After I finished with the balloons, Raphtalia’s crying started to subside. It grew intense again if I backed away from her. And when it grew intense again, the balloons came back. I ended up getting very little sleep.

“Um…”

“You’re awake?”

“Ahh?!”

She was shocked to find herself in my arms, and her eyes grew wide in surprise.

“Ah… That was tiring.”

It would be a little while before the castle gates opened. This was my only shot to get a nap.

Our job for the day would be selling off the medicine I’d made and the herbs we’d gathered. If the herbs sold for a better price than the medicine, there was no point in making medicine.

“I’m going to take a nap. Can you eat the leftover fish for breakfast?”

She nodded slowly.

“All right then, night. If monsters come, wake me up.”

It was hard just to keep my eyes open. I felt myself being drawn to sleep.

What was she so afraid of? I didn’t plan on asking her. It must have been that her parents sold her off, or that she was taken away.

Even if it was the latter, I didn’t need to return her. It’s not like I’d stolen her, I’d paid a hefty price for her service.

She could hate me if she wanted. I needed to stay alive.

I had to find a way back home.

Chapter Twelve: What’s Yours is Mine

The sun was high in the sky when I woke up. Raphtalia was waiting for me.

“Are we going back to town? Cough…”

“Yeah.”

She was coughing again. I silently passed her some medicine which she swallowed in silence as well.

We went to an apothecary and tried to sell our wares.

“Well these aren’t bad at all… Hero, do you have a background in medicine?”

He acted like we were already close associates as he looked over the medicine I’d made.

“Nope. Yesterday was my first try. Would it be more profitable to sell these medicines, or to directly sell the herbs?”

“That’s a tough one. Medicine, if effective, is easier to use, and therefore probably easier to sell.”

The owner looked at Raphtalia. He seemed calm, cool. He spoke directly and simply, as if he knew we would doubt his council if his eyes were darting around the room.

“The prophecies are pushing the price of medicine up though, so it’s probably more profitable to sell the medicine.”

“Hmmm.”

It would depend on the risk involved in fabrication, as some percentage of attempts were sure to end in failure. I also had no idea how much it would cost to assemble the necessary tools for the job. But I would need them to do it, regardless.

“Do you have any tools that you don’t use anymore?”

“I thought about telling you two weeks ago, when you came to sell those herbs.”

The owner wore an odd expression, like half of a smile. In the end, he took the herbs as payment for instruction, bought the medicine I’d made, and gave me some of his older, used tools.

He gave me a proper mortar and pestle, as well as some other things: scales, flasks, and the like. I got the impression that, had I bought them new, it would have come to a hefty price.

“They’re all old and clunky, so I don’t know how much you’ll get out of them before they break.”

“Sounds perfect for a beginner like me.”

Regardless, it was plenty of equipment to start experimenting with compounds and fabrication.

Now all we needed to do was sell off the balloon skins we had.

We were on our way to the loot shop when a kid we passed in the street caught my eye. The kid was playing with a balloon, bouncing it up and down like a ball.

Raphtalia was watching him too, jealousy in her eyes.

“Hey, that…”

“Hm?”

I pointed to the ball the kid was playing with and asked the shop owner about it.

“Yes, well it’s made from battle loot. From balloon skins.”

“I get it. Can you make me one too? You can subtract the cost from the amount of skins we sell you.”

The owner calculated the cost, subtracted it from our total, then gave me both the money, and a ball made from the balloon skin.

“Here.”

I threw the ball at Raphtalia. She caught it, looked at the ball, then at me, then at the ball. She was surprised.

“What? You don’t want it?”

“That’s not… Yes…”

She shook her head and smiled.

That was the first time I saw her smile.

… Whatever, it didn’t matter. She was just a kid.

“When we finish our work for the day, you can go play with that.”

“Yay!”

She looked excited. That was good.

The more exited she was, the more money I could make with her.

We went back to the forest and started gathering herbs and fighting off monsters. We went anywhere we could with my current defense rating.

Apparently there was a town on the other side of the woods, but just thinking about the path
that woman
had suggested made me angry, so I decided not to go there.

We were doing pretty well and collecting lots of stuff. It felt like we’d gained a little latitude, so I decided to start heading for the mountains.

Huh? A monster I’d never seen before appeared.

It looked like an egg of some kind. If I had to classify it, it was probably related to the balloons somehow.

“There’s a new monster. I’ll go first and see what’s up. If I say it looks okay, run up and stab it.”

“Okay!”

Good answer.

I ran toward the monster. When it saw me approaching, it bared its fangs.

Clamp!

It didn’t hurt a bit. I fought with it for a second, to get a good grip for Raphtalia.

“Hiya!”

She attacked the monster with much more enthusiasm than she’d shown the previous day.

Eggug was what the thing was called.

The Eggug cracked with a loud snap, and its yellow interior ran out onto the ground.

“Ew! Gross!”

Could we sell the shell? It seemed like a waste to just leave it there. But it smelled rotten, so it probably wouldn’t be any good for eating.

My shield absorbed the eggshell.

Soon after, a number of other Eggugs appeared, but Raphtalia took care of them.

Egg Shield: conditions met

Egg Shield: ability locked: equip bonus: cooking 1

Seems like I got yet another ability.

This one was about cooking.

Soon after, more enemies appeared. They were variations on a theme though: various colors of Eggug. We hunted them for a while.

Blue Egg Shield: conditions met

Sky Egg Shield: conditions met

Blue Egg Shield: ability locked:

equip bonus: vision up 1

Sky Egg Shield: ability locked:

equip bonus: simple recipes

How come I only ever get crafting abilities?

I wondered if it had something to do with the type of enemy. Regardless, as the day went on we also found various types of new medicinal herbs. I was careful to gather as much as I could.

The sun was threatening to fall out of the sky. It was probably too late to start heading into the mountains. Besides, I wasn’t sure that Raphtalia’s equipment was up to the task.

So what did we achieve that day?

I reached level 8.

Raphtalia reached level 7.

She was catching up so quickly.

I suppose that only made sense; she was the one defeating the monsters after all.

It looked like the majority of the EXP points went to whoever landed the finishing blow, which would explain her quick progress through the levels.

“I’m hungry…”

Her stomach was rumbling. She looked at me, concerned.

“Fine. Let’s head back and get some dinner.”

We gave up on our duties for the time being and went back to Castle Town.

When we entered the town, I made for the loot shop. The Eggug shell wouldn’t be much use for compounding, so I decided to sell it off.

Combined with my sales from earlier in the day, we made 9 pieces of silver.

I couldn’t even imagine what they would use the shell for, but they bought it for a good price, so I decided not to press the issue. Our herbs and medicine sold well too. So what should we get for dinner?

… Is what I was thinking, but Raphtalia had already fixed her eyes on a food cart, and was drooling in anticipation. I didn’t plan on spoiling her, but it seemed like a fair price. It seemed just fine.

“You want to eat that?”

“Hm? Really?”

“Well, you want to eat it, right?”

She quickly nodded.

She was much quicker to respond to my questions now.

“Cough…”

She was still coughing though…

I silently passed her some medicine and placed our order at the cart. They were selling something like thick mashed potatoes, formed into balls and skewered.

“Here you go. Good work today.”

I passed her a skewer, and once she finished swallowing her medicine, she took it and smiled.

“Thank you!”

“Oh… Um…”

She looked genuinely happy.

She chewed on the potatoes as we walked around town, looking for a place to stay.

“You want to stay here tonight?”

“Sure.”

I wanted a place to escape from Raphtalia’s night terrors, and I was tired of fighting off balloons. We entered the inn. The owner made a face when he saw me, something approximating anger, but once we came to the counter he approached us with a business-like smile on.

“My friend here might scream a bit in the night, but can we stay here?”

I didn’t intend to threaten him directly, but I waved my cape a little so he caught a glimpse of the balloons inside.

“That… that’s…”

“It’s fine, right? We’ll try to be quiet.”

“Y…yes.”

I’d slowly realized since I arrived that a measure of tenacity was important when conducting business in this place. All the people in the country thought it was fine to ridicule me, but if anything happened they’d run to the king.

Even if they did, there really wasn’t any other choice but to let me do as I pleased.

Geez. Oh, what a world…

I paid for the room, and we went in and started unpacking.

Raphtalia was holding her ball, and her eyes were shining.

“Come back before dark. And try to stay close to the inn, okay?”

“Okay!”

Geez, what a child…

Apparently demi-humans were subject to a fair amount of persecution but I figured that if she were an adventurer, she’d be left alone.

I watched her playing ball in the street from the window, and turned my attention to studying compounding.

About twenty minutes went by. Then I heard the shouts of children.

“What’s a demi-human playing in our spot for?!”

What the heck? I looked out the window. Down in the street was a pack of children, clearly just a bunch of brats, and they were approaching Raphtalia as if they were picking a fight. No matter what world you went to, there was always someone like this to contend with.

“Aw, look, she’s got something good! Give it here!”

“I… um…”

Raphtalia understood that demi-humans were in a lower class. It didn’t look like she was planning on fighting it.

Huff... I left the room and ran down the stairs.

“Give it here! Can’t you hear me?!”

“But I… Um…”

She looked weak, and scared, and I could tell that the brats were going to take the ball from her by force. They formed a circle around her.

“Hold on a second, you little brats.”

“What the hell? Who’s the old guy?”

Wh… What? Old guy? Whatever, I was twenty. Who knew what age they considered grown up in this place? I guess I was an “old guy" to them.

“What are you trying to take toys from her for?”

“What do you care? It’s not yours.”

“It IS mine. I’m letting her borrow it. If you steal it from her, you are stealing it from me.”

“What are you talking about?”

I didn’t care if they were kids. I wasn’t going to go easy on them. If they felt like breaking the rules, they needed to be punished.

“Okay, Okay. Let me give you another ball that I have.”

Raphtalia looked at me in shock. She turned to the boys and looked ready to scream.

“Run!”

But they didn’t run. They looked right back at me.

I smirked, and grabbed a balloon out from under my cape.

“OUUUUUCCCH!!!”

I let the balloon bite the kid before immediately putting it away again.

“Now then… Are you sure you want to play with my ball?”

“Ouch!”

“What are you talking about? You’re crazy!”

“Die! Argh!”

“What do I care, you brat!”

They ran off down the street, and I called out insults after them before heading back inside.

“Um… I…”

Raphtalia had a hold on my cape.

“Careful, you know there are balloons under there.”

She quickly released the cape, surprised. She was shaking with fear, but she slowly raised her face and smiled.

“Thank you.”

What was that about?

“… Right.”

I rubbed her head, and her face flushed red as she turned away.