by Aneko Yusagi
“Witch, is there anything you can do?”
“I’m starting a spell right now. Just a moment.”
I didn’t even know if I was speaking to the real witch. What if I believed her, but it was actually the monster talking? This was some cave…
That’s it! I could use the shield I’d just got.
I switched to the Voice Gengar (bat form) Shield, and used the special effect Megaphone.
“Hey!”
My voice boomed and echoed down the call, and I heard some strange rustling in response.
“You scared me!”
“Me too,” chirped Filo.
“I am the source of all power, hear me and understand my reasons. Restore our vision.”
“Fast Anti-Bind!”
In an instant, the dark hallway became suddenly bright enough to see.
I looked at my feet to see a great number of small, rat-like monsters scurrying around my feet.
Then I looked over at Raphtalia and the others, only to find them beaten up pretty badly.
They must have been attacked in the dark. Of course they’d be beat up.
I took some healing medicine from my bag and handed it to Raphtalia.
“Witch, do you know any sort of restorative, healing magic?”
“Unfortunately not. I’m not suited for restorative magic.”
“Oh…”
This wasn’t looking good. They had taken some real damage.
Oh hey, that reminds me. I absorbed the monster we’d just defeated, and I unlocked the Voice Gengar (rat form) Shield. Its special effect was the same as the last one, but its equip bonus was “Blinding Endurance (small).”
Just to be safe, I switched to my Alert Shield. With it equipped, we would be alerted if a monster came within twenty meters of us. I’d wondered how useful a distance like that would be out on the fields, but I now realized that it was a pretty useful distance—if you were indoors, or in a dungeon.
We stumbled on through the tunnel for a while before eventually coming upon a vein of ore that glowed dimly in the shadowy hall.
“Kyukiiii!”
A strange voice suddenly filled the air. It was the monster that owned those footprints back at the entrance, and now it was there, guarding the vein of ore.
It was called a “Nue.” It was so similar to the Chimera.
Nues were like Chimeras in Japanese mythological settings, and they were a type of legendary mythical creature.
It was a monkey’s head on a tanuki’s body, with a tiger’s legs and a snake for a tail.
Come to think of it, it looked a lot like the monster Raphtalia and I ran into when we were hunting for the light metal ore, and just like the monster we saw during the wave. I’m sure it was just a coincidence, but still—it was creeping me out.
During the wave, it had taken the strength of the other three Heroes, plus the support of their parties, to take down that Chimera. Could we take this one here? Just us?
The witch was watching the beast closely. She whispered, “What is a beast from the east doing here?” I guess she meant that the beast was out of its natural habitat.
We could have retreated… That wasn’t a bad idea at all. I slowly turned my eyes to Raphtalia and the others to signal them to… but it was too late.
“I’m going!”
“Okay!”
“Dammit! Don’t just rush in!”
But Raphtalia had already run into battle. This was becoming a problem.
I wanted to keep her from getting hurt, but this girl…
“I’ll support you from behind.”
The witch tilted her staff towards the battle and began to chant.
I ran after Raphtalia and Filo.
“Take that!”
“Hiyaaa!”
“Kyukiiii!”
Raphtalia was madly swinging her sword, catching the Nue on its torso. Filo began to kick at the beast’s face.
But they weren’t getting in anything to approximate a finishing blow. The Nue seemed to be covered in little scratches, but was unfazed. It turned its tiger claws towards Raphtalia and Filo.
I wouldn’t let it hurt them that easily! I was quicker. And in a flash I was there covering them with my shield.
“Think for one second before you go rushing in!”
We could have escaped before the beast had even noticed us. But they ruined our chances of escape…
“I’m sorry. But now we have to take this thing down!”
“I’m hungry…”
“We aren’t very strong yet! If you don’t think about what fights we can actually win, we’re going to end up dead!”
Damn… The Nue’s claws clipped my shoulder, and I was bleeding.
It really hurt. Now I was pissed.
What?! The Nue’s body was suddenly glowing.
“Back off! Hurry!”
“Okay!”
“Master?!”
“I can’t back out!”
The Nue’s body was now covered in crackling blots of electricity, and it was pressing up against me.
This must have been its special attack.
Could I bear it? I honestly didn’t know. But the Nue wasn’t going to let me go.
“No!”
Filo kicked the Nue square in the face, and the beast fell back enough for me to jump away.
Filo’s kicks were impressively strong.
“Kyukiiiiiii!”
The crackling tongues of electricity all began to gather together on the chest of the Nue.
I was glad that I hadn’t been forced to take the brunt of the attack. It seemed like the Nue would be momentarily paralyzed after it lost the attack.
“I am the source of all power. Hear my words and understand them. Burn him!”
“Zweit Fire Place!”
The witch unleashed a blast of fire that covered the Nue.
“Kyukiiiii!”
Did we win?!
I was hoping it would fall, but the Nue only paused its attack before starting back up again.
“Ugh…”
It looked like the thing could run fast, if it wanted.
“Master.”
“What?!”
“Can I make a big noise too? Like you just did?”
“Sure.”
The Voice Gengar Shield had some type of device on the backside of it that would listen to the voice of the user and amplify it.
“Okay, Master! Stop the movement of the monster, like we just did, and then let me make a big noise!”
“What’s the point of that?!”
“The monster is very sensitive to sound.”
Did she know that because of some kind of mutual monster analysis? I could trust her. In monster hunting games, there were monsters that would show their weak point at a loud sound. It might be a good idea after all, to get in a killing blow…
“Witch, you keep up the support magic, and Raphtalia, you protect her and watch out for the party.”
“But Mr. Naofumi!”
“I don’t have the time to protect both of you! Please, just listen to me!”
“All right.”
The Nue was rushing at us. I threw my arms open and stopped its advancement.
Dammit! That little monkey-head still had sharp teeth. It was biting me, and it really hurt!
“Kyukiii!”
I took my shield arm, my right arm, and moved it to block the head. My left arm was getting shredded by the tiger claws.
This was driving me crazy. I was covered in scratches. If I were fighting this thing back in Japan, I’d have been mincemeat long ago. Thank goodness for the Legendary Shield. It was going to drop my defense rating, so I didn’t want to do it, but I went ahead and changed to the Voice Gengar Shield.
“Go!”
I shouted the sign, and Filo began to inhale a huge amount of air.
“Waaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!”
Crap! My eardrums were about to break!
That’s how loud Filo’s call was, and that
was from this side of the megaphone.
I heard the sound of heavy stumbling in the distance.
“Kyuki?”
Two powerful streams of blood shot from the Nue’s ears, and the beast fell over.
Now’s our shot!
“Raphtalia! Filo! Witch! Now’s our chance! Give it all you’ve got!”
“Yes!”
“Okay!”
Raphtalia rushed forward and stabbed at the Nue’s chest. And Filo… Filo started gathering her strength, slowly crouching down to the earth. From under her body, her feet were scratching, scratching, and making a terrifying sound.
“I am the source of all power! Hear my words and understand them! Burn them!”
“Zweit Fire Blast!”
Fire balls flew through the air and collided with the fallen Nue. And that was when it happened.
“Hiyaah!”
Ba-Boom! The sound actually exploded and echoed when Filo’s charged kick slammed into the Nue. There was so much power in it that the Nue’s head exploded into little chunks and the body itself flew back and slammed into the wall.
Ew… It was like a gory splatter movie.
“We did it!”
Filo threw both her wings in the air to celebrate our victory, but I personally didn’t feel much like celebrating.
I was exhausted, and in pain. If Raphtalia and Filo had been a little more careful, we wouldn’t have had to fight the thing in the first place, but then…there was no point in complaining.
“Well we’ve won. It seems to have been a child Nue. I think there might have been a rich family somewhere that kept it as a pet, but it escaped and became wild again.
If there were people that would keep something like that as a pet, then this world was worse off than I had imagined.
And did she call this thing a child? I suppose it was a little small…
“Feed me!”
Filo stood over the Nue and made to start eating it. Was she just going to start snapping at the dead thing?!”
“Stop that!”
“But…”
I could unlock new shields with that thing. I couldn’t let her just eat it.
I butchered the Nue and absorbed the various parts, unlocking some excellent shields in the process.
But as for status boosts… the Chimera had been better.
“Okay, let’s rest up for a minute and then get that ore.”
There was a vein of glowing ore right there, and it would be easy enough to pry some out with a pickax.
“Good idea. Let’s take as much as we can carry.
So we took a break and then set to work prying out ore. Once we had it we set off.
Oh, of course I also let the shield absorb a little ore too.
But I hadn’t filled in the tree enough to unlock anything. And I didn’t know what else I needed.
We made our way back to Castle Town, and on the advice of the witch decided to stop by the apothecary to get some treatment.
Luckily the apothecary knew a place that could treat us, and luckily enough it was cheap to get some restorative magic spells cast on us.
Apparently I could use restorative magic too, so I wanted to hurry up and learn some. That was the rest of our day.
The next day we processed the ore we’d gotten into a proper jewel, which the witch installed on the top of the magical spindle. Just like she’d done the day before, Filo slowly and begrudgingly turned the handle.
“It’s boring…”
“Just do it. If you finish, then I promise to uphold my end of the bargain.”
Honestly, yesterday had been exhausting, and I wanted to relax that day.
“You mean food? Is it gonna be yummy?”
“Yeah.”
I kept my word. And I had promised to feed her something delicious, so I would.
“Okay then, I’ll do my best!”
She went on turning the squeaky wheel.
“Oh good! She’s doing such a good job!”
“Weapon guy. I made a promise to you too. Do you have any time after this?”
“I put up a sign saying I’d be closed until afternoon, so I have that much time. You gonna get me something good?”
“Something like that. You think you could get me a big sheet of iron?”
“Huh? What do you need something like that for?”
“To cook something.”
“Little-Hero’s gonna cook for us? I don’t know if I should look forward to that or not.”
“Oh, come on.”
He looked disappointed—which annoyed me. Show some gratitude.
“Okay, Raphtalia. Head to the market and get me charcoal, some veggies, and meat. We want enough for five people, but make sure you consider Filo’s appetite.”
“All right.”
I gave her some silver, and she left.
“Yummy food, yummy fooooood!”
Filo was excited now and started turning the spindle wheel faster than before.
That went on for a little while, and then the witch finally asked her to stop.
“That should be enough for now. You can stop.”
“If I keep turning it, will I get more yummy food?”
“No. Stop turning it.”
“Okaaaaay.”
Filo came over to my side, in her giant-bird form.
“Master… yummy food.”
“Not yet, we don’t have your clothes yet.”
“But…”
Filo looked very disappointed. But Raphtalia wasn’t even back yet, so I couldn’t have fed her had I wanted to. I didn’t have the things I needed. She was so innocent and free… really just like a kid.
“When we leave the magic shop, you need to transform into a human.”
“Okay.”
Did she really understand? I wasn’t sure. Is this what it felt like to have kids? Nah…
“I just needed to weave this into cloth, then make the clothes.”
The witch held out the thread for me to see.
“I know someone that can take care of turning this into cloth for us.”
“He’s got an idea, so we’re heading out.”
“All right then, what should I tell the young lady when she returns from shopping?”
“Just tell her to wait for us at the giant gate where you exit the town.”
“Okay.”
The weapon shop owner led the way out, and I followed him.
“I’ll accept payment later on, from the weapon shop!”
“And how much will that be?”
I really wanted to know, that’s why I asked.
“For the magic thread? Well the crystals cost quite a lot, but you helped me out, and provided me with the materials, so this time let’s just call it fair at that.”
“Thanks.”
She probably knew that I couldn’t afford it if she had she asked for 50 pieces silver or something.
So the weapon shop owner and I went to visit a friend of his who said he could turn the thread into cloth for us.
“This is a very rare material indeed. Yes, this might take some thought. But I can probably have it ready for you by this evening. You should take the day and visit a tailor to get measured. I’ll bring you the cloth once I have it.”
So we went to the tailor.
I couldn’t believe how much time and energy we were spending on getting a set of clothes.
“Ooh! What a cute little girl.”
The tailor shop was run by a young woman who was wrapped in a scarf and constantly fingered her glasses. She was leaning on the counter.
She seemed kind of plain. I don’t know how to describe her. If this were my world, I’d say she looked like the kind of girl who wrote doujinshi or something—kind of quiet and geeky.
“She’s got little wings too, just like an angel. I’ve heard there are winged demi-humans too, but they don’t look so perfect.”
“You think?”
I asked the weapon shop owner what he thought, but he just shr
ugged.
“Yeah, the winged demi-humans also have other bird-like parts, like their arms and legs. But this girl is just a normal human girl, expect for those little wings.”
“Huh?”
Filo looked up, inquisitively, at the tailor.
“Oh, yeah, she’s actually a monster. She’s just transformed into a human right now. When she turns back into a monster, her clothes rip, you see?”
“Ahhh…. so you’ve come to get some magical clothing made, is that right?”
Her glasses flashed. I was sure of it now. Had this been my world, this girl would have been a total Otaku.
I knew someone like her back home, who sold her own doujinshi at conventions.
She’d lent me some of her participation passes from time to time, and that was how I got to go to some of these conventions and see what they were like. She had been a pretty nice girl.
“She is very pretty, so I think a simple one-piece would work well. If we just add some simple accents that can survive the transformation, that should be enough!”
She unraveled a spiral of measuring tape and set to measuring Filo, who stood there wrapped in my cape.
“I’d love to see her transform!”
“Huh?”
Filo shot me a searching glance. I couldn’t think of a way out of it.
“I’m not sure that this room is large enough.”
The ceiling only looked to be about two meters high, in which case Filo would slam her head against it in her Filolial form.
“Can I do it while I’m sitting?”
“I guess so.”
She sat down and, her eyes on the ceiling, transformed into her original form. The tailor was impressed.
“She’s so different! That’s even better.”
If this girl wasn’t shocked by seeing Filo transform, then I felt like she knew what she was doing. We could trust her.
The tailor measured around Filo’s neck and started jotting notes about the design.
“Okay, we’re all set! I’ll just wait for the fabric to show up!”
“This one knows what she’s doing.”
“Apparently.”
She was the kind of person that couldn’t stop once the flame was lit. She’d have to focus on the project until it was done.
“I think I can have it done by tomorrow.”
“That’s fast. But how much will it cost, all together? Give me the total please.”