by Aneko Yusagi
Prologue: The Shield Hero’s Morning
This is out of left field, but my mornings usually started early. I was up and out of bed before the slaves even woke up. Well, maybe not when I’d been up all night compounding medicines or taking care of odds and ends, but still . . .
My name is Naofumi Iwatani. I was originally a university student in present-day Japan. One day I was in the library reading some book called The Records of the Four Holy Weapons, and that’s when I had the misfortune to be summoned to another world to serve as the Shield Hero. A phenomenon they called “waves” threatened to destroy the world I was summoned to. I found out later that the phenomenon was a result of separate worlds beginning to fuse together, and my mission as a hero was to stop that from happening.
In the beginning, the thought of being summoned to another world was like a dream come true. But then I got caught up in an awful conspiracy, which ended up with me being framed and thrown out on the streets without a penny to my name. That’s probably why I developed a warped personality—a distrust of others so severe that even I recognized it was absurd. But I did eventually manage to expose the conspiracy and have those who orchestrated it held responsible, so it’s gotten somewhat better.
After that, it was just one incident after another. I tried establishing friendly relations with the other heroes and failed, and then there was the whole Spirit Tortoise mess. But resolving the Spirit Tortoise ordeal ended up buying us a big chunk of time before the arrival of the next wave. I’ve been using that extra time to build my own private army to face the waves. That was an idea I got from observing Kizuna Kazayama and her companions. They were heroes from another world we visited while dealing with the Spirit Tortoise mess.
In order to do that, I started rebuilding the village that Raphtalia was from. Raphtalia was my most trusted companion, and I was kind of like a surrogate father to her. Her fellow villagers had ended up becoming slaves, but we brought them back to the village and began training them. Of course, that came with its own set of problems too. But we had taken care of those for the most part, and the reconstruction of the village had been going smoothly.
“Now then . . .”
It was still dim out, but . . . I looked out the window at the rising sun.
“Ho! Ha! To!”
Ren was diligently practicing swinging his sword. Oh yeah, I’d almost forgotten that he was already staying here in the village.
Ren was the Sword Hero, and he had been summoned from a different Japan. One with VRMMOs, a technology that let people travel into online worlds. When we were first summoned here, he had been preoccupied with projecting an image of imperturbable “cool.” But now he was showing a sincere willingness to take things more seriously. I probably would have gone and given him an earful if he’d still been in bed, but it seemed like he was serious when he mentioned having a change of heart the other day. I headed outside to talk with him.
“Already training this early?”
“Oh hey, Naofumi. Morning. Yeah, I’m going to do what it takes to get stronger.”
There were four holy heroes, including myself. I managed to get the other three to safety after they were defeated by the Spirit Tortoise, but then they ran off and disappeared.
I’d initially tried to take the Spear Hero—Motoyasu—into custody, with the cooperation of his former companion Elena, but that ended in failure. Afterward, on the way back to the village, I ran into Ren and tried to take him into custody, but . . . he fled too, after being seduced by Witch’s sly tongue. Witch was the root of all evil and the one who had originally framed me. On the upside, Motoyasu agreed to come with me after having finally realized the true nature of Witch.
That was all well and good, but then Filo tried to cheer up Motoyasu, since he’d gotten depressed. As a result, Motoyasu started acting really strange and ultimately ended up stalking Filo. Even just thinking about what had happened made me start to feel confused. Just suffice it to say that Motoyasu had gone a bit bonkers. After that, we used my portal to run from Motoyasu and returned to the village safely.
I enjoyed a string of mostly problem-free days for a short period afterward, but then some bandits started stirring up trouble in my territory. Naturally, I headed out to suppress them, but it turned out to be complicated. Ren had been deceived by Witch, consumed by a curse, and was wreaking havoc as the bandit boss. After that (I really just wanted to forget this part), I ended up using Motoyasu, who like Ren was off-kilter, to lure him out for Filo and me.
At first, Ren seemed intent on resisting. I started to think that taking him into custody wasn’t going to be possible, but Eclair managed to successfully get through to him via a dialog of swords. After that, Ren embraced his newfound mission to save the world and has been training under her guidance, while staying in my territory.
The only thing was, Motoyasu ended up getting away again. As far as I could tell, he had managed to implement the power-up methods that I’d told him about, so I wanted to think he’d be fine to some degree. But I was sure that our coming battles were only going to get tougher.
With that in mind, I figured I should learn the Hengen Muso style that had given Eclair the skill to defeat Ren. I decided to study under the master that had taught her. The master was an old lady who had recovered from a grave illness and ended up becoming exceedingly feisty after I administered her medicine while out peddling my wares. The old lady told me she had the perfect training method for me, so I was training separately from Ren and the others.
“You’re using a different training method than me and Eclair, aren’t you?”
“Yeah.”
“You do your best too, Naofumi.”
“Why the hell do I have to do my best? And why me too? Never mind. Sorry.”
When I was trying to capture Ren, he used skills from the greed curse series. It required him to pay a price. The price for greed was decreased luck and an inability to amass any kind of wealth. That apparently included equipment, and the cheap armor that he had been wearing was ragged and completely unusable.
The consequences for me using Blood Sacrifice had included suffering a massive amount of damage and reduced stats. Similarly, Ren was suffering from his own set of consequences and persistent curse effects. I was pretty sure the price he had to pay for using the Gold Rebellion curse skill was the forfeiture of his riches. The persistent curse effects caused a reduction in quality of anything he touched, and also reduced the quality of any drop items he obtained. I’d finally managed to capture Ren, but he’d joined the team at a time when he was in a really problematic condition.
It became clear right away what the consequence was for the gluttony curse that surfaced while Ren was fighting Eclair. He had apparently been level 95 before losing to Eclair, but that had now dropped down to 85. So the price for triggering the curse had been his levels, or so it seemed. Even though he seemed to want to help out now, I’d have to think long and hard about letting him fight in the condition he was in.
“Later, then.”
“Later.”
Ren returned to swinging his sword. I waved to him and walked away. After that, I dropped by the monster stable. I grabbed the feed bucket and began feeding the monsters. Then I got in a bit of light exercise with them. I played with them, in other words. The village slaves were in charge of looking after the monsters, but I took it upon myself to tend to them in the mornings.
“Alright then, you guys. What should we do this fine morning?”
The monsters all cried out excitedly in unison. Sometimes I would throw a stick and have them fetch it, and other times we’d chase each other around, kind of like playing tag.
&n
bsp; The slaves also looked forward to participating in these games. They woke up early so that they could get ready and be waiting by the time we started. Of course, that only included slaves or monsters that weren’t out hawking our wares. The earthworm-looking monsters, called dunes, were in charge of working the land, so they got to join in every time. The dunes got along really well with the lumo slaves.
“Bark! Bark! Again, bubba!”
Keel came running back with the stick I’d just thrown hanging out of her mouth. Yeah, she was pretty much just a dog now. Literally.
Keel had originally been a demi-human slave that lost her parents just like Raphtalia. She’d apparently shown potential for being able to use a therianthrope form, so Sadeena taught her how. Now she spent most of her time running around in therianthrope form—an animal form, basically. Hers looked like a Siberian Husky pup. But recently, I couldn’t help but feel like Keel was quickly turning into an actual dog.
Other than that, I made breakfast when I felt like it. All of the prep had already been taken care of today, so I just helped the cooking division slaves do the cooking, and then I served the villagers.
That reminded me. We had some new slave children in the village. One of the slave trader’s assistants stopped by while I was out and dropped off some slaves. They weren’t originally from this village, but I had a serious lack of manpower, considering what was coming. We’d established a basic framework for how things operated in the village and development had really started to take off. Now was the time to start thinking about beefing up our offensive capabilities in preparation for the coming waves, so I needed to gather up more heads without being too picky.
After applying their slave curses, I left it up to Keel and the others to deal with the new slaves. I didn’t need to manage them directly anymore. The veteran slaves would see to it that they learned all of the rules and whatnot. Raphtalia was in command. Keel and the first round of slaves I’d overseen assisted her. They took care of pretty much everything, including the scolding, which made things a lot easier on me.
“Good morning, Mr. Naofumi.”
“Rafu!”
“Oh hey, Raphtalia and Raph-chan! Morning.”
Raphtalia had brought the slaves to eat breakfast. Raphtalia was my trusted sidekick. She had originally been a slave, but she became a hero after being chosen by the katana vassal weapon in another world. She was the first person to believe in me in this world. I was like a surrogate father to her. Whenever I made mistakes, she was always careful to point them out. It was just how you’d expect a parent and child to act.
“Rafu!”
Raph-chan was a shikigami, or what they called a familiar in this world. I’d made her from a lock of Raphtalia’s hair when preparing to search for Raphtalia after she’d gone missing in another world. Raph-chan was a cute little thing that looked kind of like a tanuki or a racoon. She was really good about playing along with the situation. I enjoyed doting on her, but Raphtalia always got upset if I gave her too much attention. Raphtalia said it made her feel awkward, for whatever reason.
“Good morning, Mr. Naofumi.”
Atla came strolling up. I’d purchased some new slaves recently in Zeltoble, and one of those was Atla’s older brother. The brother had been the actual product, and his sickly younger sister, Atla, basically got thrown in as part of the package—a bonus, I guess you could say.
The siblings were demi-humans, like Raphtalia. Specifically, they were a type of demi-human called hakuko. Hakuko were supposed to be one of the highest-ranking types of demi-humans. They were pretty much famous in Siltvelt, which was the country that worshipped the Shield Hero.
Despite being one of those hakuko demi-humans, Atla had been suffering from a congenital disease and was basically on the verge of death. But when I gave her some of the Elixir of Yggdrasil that I’d gotten hold of, her condition began to improve instantly. Before long, she was walking for the first time in her life.
She’d been covered in sores and wrapped in bandages from head to toe, but the medicine took care of the sores too. Now she was one of the village’s most beautiful, young girls. She’d been blind, unable to walk, and on the verge of death, yet she managed to make a near-complete recovery. It was truly impressive.
“Oh hey, Atla. Where’s Sadeena?”
Sadeena was a killer whale woman with a penchant for drinking. She had the ability to transform, and she usually ran around in her therianthrope form. She played the role of the dependable big sister to the village children. She also had tons of combat experience, and we really struggled when we fought against her in the coliseum tournament.
Sadeena apparently had a thing for men that could outdrink her. Since I was physically unable to get drunk, she sexually harassed me every chance she got. Atla and Sadeena both liked me, so they tended to hang around together a lot.
“I haven’t the slightest idea. Come now, Brother. Let go of my hand. Off you go to find Sadeena.”
“No, Atla! If I let go of your hand, you’ll just run to him, right?!”
That was Fohl holding on to Atla’s hand to make sure she didn’t come to me. Fohl was Atla’s big brother. He was the reason I’d originally bought the siblings, seeing as how I’d needed offensive capabilities. He had a sister complex and the spirit of the Alps . . . No, never mind that. His little sister meant everything to him, but he was completely at her mercy too. He was one of the older slaves in the village.
“Brother, take a look at the sky over there.”
“Huh?”
Out of nowhere, Atla used a completely hackneyed line to divert Fohl’s attention. Immediately after, she jabbed her finger into her big brother’s stomach.
“Aiya!”
“Guh!”
Taken by surprise, Fohl hugged his stomach tightly and fell over, writhing in agony. Between the two of them, it seemed like Atla actually had the most combat potential. I was pretty sure that wasn’t just my imagination. According to the old Hengen Muso lady, being blind made Atla more sensitive to things like the surrounding life forces, flows of magic, and sounds, which gave her the ability to identify opponents’ weak spots precisely. As a result, she had become a poking specialist.
“I’m still . . . not going to let go!”
“Don’t be so stubborn, Brother!”
They were a strange pair of siblings in more ways than one.
“You two, stop messing around. Finish eating and get out of here. Atla, sparring isn’t until after you’ve finished breakfast.”
“I’m looking forward to it!”
“Yeah, good for you. Fohl, you better get out there and start leveling. Otherwise, your little sister is going to pass you up.”
“Ugh . . . I know that!”
Fohl glared at me and nodded.
Just recently, the two of them—well, just Fohl actually—had been affected by a skill Motoyasu used and started attacking Atla. The scene was still fresh in my mind. I say “attack,” but he was really just hugging her and wouldn’t let go. Either way, it was clear that Fohl’s feelings for Atla went beyond brotherly love.
“. . .”
And then there was Filo. She had run off to play with Melty and still hadn’t returned. Filo had become my second ever companion, after Raphtalia. She was a bird-type monster called a filolial that could also transform into a human. In her human form, she was a young girl with blonde hair, blue eyes, and a pair of wings on her back.
Filolials loved nothing more than pulling carriages, and they exhibited a special type of development when raised by a hero. Filo had great fighting instincts, and she’d helped me make it out of tight spots time and time again. She had a childlike innocence and an insatiable appetite.
Filo tried to cheer up Motoyasu not too long ago and ended up becoming the sole target of his romantic pursuits. As if that weren’t bad enough, she’d also had her precious carriage stolen away from her, so she was a bit on edge lately.
“Alright, everyone, once you finish eatin
g, get started on your tasks for the day. That will be all.”
As I was giving my orders, a single sleepy-eyed girl came strolling up along with her two . . . companions.
“N———”
Her name was S’yne. She was a vassal weapon holder who wasn’t from this world or even Glass’s world. Her vassal weapon was a sewing kit, or something like that. She fought with scissors and a ball of thread. And for whatever reason, I’d ended up looking after her here in the village.
She had silver hair and appeared to be around 15 years old at first glance. She was on the short side. I guess she probably would have been considered cute, but I didn’t really look at her that way. Her home world had been destroyed, and now the people who had destroyed it were here in this world, trying to kill the holy heroes. She was basically acting like my bodyguard now.
“Good morning, Mr. Iwatani.”
One of the stuffed dolls that S’yne had with her spoke on her behalf. I wondered if the reason S’yne looked so tired was because she’d been up all night making the doll. Apparently, she could use stuffed dolls as familiars.
Perhaps it was because sewing was her specialty, but there were some real issues with the designs of the stuffed dolls she made. First of all, for whatever insane reason, she had made a stuffed doll that looked like Raph-chan and gave it the ability to talk. Raph-chan squeaking “rafu!” —and nothing else— is exactly what made her so cute. When the stuffed doll started speaking human language fluidly, it immediately lost half of its allure. S’yne made it stop talking when I pointed that out, and now it’s sitting on my bed beside my pillow.
The newly designed stuffed doll was based on Keel’s therianthrope form. I’d call it Keel #2 for now.
“Good mo ——— ”
The translation functionality of the vassal weapon that S’yne was using was damaged as a result of her world having been destroyed. Half of what she said just ended up turning into static.
“Morning. You know, your stuffed doll sure is speaking a lot more clearly now,” I said.
“Please, allow me to explain.”