by Aneko Yusagi
“Now you’re exaggerating.”
“This is very impressive work, Mr. Naofumi. You mustn’t hide your talent! Please continue your crafting work.”
She didn’t realize I already had a job as the Shield Hero. I certainly was no item maker.
“So . . . about the payment I was promised . . . .”
Before I could finish the sentence Therese produced a bad of gold and tossed it to me.
“Hey! Therese! You can’t . . . .”
“That doesn’t even begin to cover it. L’Arc, give me your wallet.”
“Therese! Get a hold of yourself!”
But she wouldn’t be deterred. She started pulling his clothes off to get at the wallet. Pedestrians began to stop and take notice.
“Calm down! You can just pay me in installments.”
“Excellent.”
Therese backed away from L’Arc and nodded her approval.
I hated women that just took what they wanted from men.
Still, if she was that impressed with what I’d made I couldn’t help but feel a little proud. Once again, I started to understand how the old guy at the weapon shop must feel.
“Shall we make our way to the hunting grounds?”
“You know, to get Therese that excited, kiddo, you must be a really impressive item-maker.”
“I don’t know about all that.”
I think I’d just had access to good materials.
“Alright, should we get going?”
“Oh hey, I almost forgot to mention it—but guess what? We found the Shield Hero.”
“Oh yeah?”
L’Arc nodded a few times and went on.
“Yeah, I knew him the second I saw him. I thought it was pretty much obvious. He looked like the kind of guy that would do anything, if you know what I mean.”
“You don’t say? Where is he?”
What kind of person would measure up to the gossip that was out there? Depending on who the guy was, I might have to teach him a lesson.
“Look, he’s over there.”
L’Arc pointed over to some people preparing for the hunt. It was Itsuki’s party and L’Arc was pointing to flashy Armor.
“See what I mean, kiddo? There’s no mistaking him. See how he just oozes self-satisfaction? His face says he wouldn’t mind killing anyone that got in his way. It’s the kind of face that never doubts itself.”
Give me a break! There WAS a hero there, but it was the wrong one.
“That guy is going to cause trouble at some point or another. Stay on your toes around him.”
“Can’t disagree with you there.”
Come to think of it, Itsuki and his party had been causing trouble pretty much since we left the harbor in Melromarc.
The shadows and soldiers that had come with us all from the castle looked like they were exhausted from dealing with it all.
“To think you’d be confused with someone like that . . . .”
Raphtalia looked almost sickened by the suggestion.
I wanted to tell him how disappointing it was to be put in the same category as Armor, but I was pretty sure L’Arc wasn’t going to be convinced that easily.
“Well that’s enough chitchat, isn’t it? Should we get going?”
“Good thinking.”
I sent them an invitation to join the party, and they accepted.
“We’ve already picked the island we want to head for, but did you have any other suggestions before we leave?”
I really hoped they were going to agree with my choice—if they didn’t we might end up running into other heroes.
“No problem, Shield Kiddo. If you have a place picked out, then that should do fine. We can probably handle ourselves pretty much anywhere.”
“Yes, I agree. The item you made me can’t wait to get into battle.”
The item wanted to fight? Uh . . . okay.
I was a little perturbed by how overly excited Therese was about the bracelet, but I didn’t say anything about it. Instead, I pointed to the island I’d picked out.
“By the way, L’Arc, what level are you guys?”
If they had made it up to level 40 then there shouldn’t be any problems. Actually we’d gone ahead and leveled up pretty far on our own, so even if they were lower than that, we should be able to make up for it.”
But still, no matter how you looked at it, if he was a normal adventurer, then I don’t see how they could have leveled past 40.
“I’m 56 and she’s 52.”
Huh? I guess they’d been through the class-up ceremony. If so, there shouldn’t be any problem.
But they were pretty high level. In a good way, I sort of felt like I’d been betrayed. But it was the sort of betrayal I was happy to accept.
“What about you kiddos?”
“I’m at 63, Raphtalia is 65, Filo is 67.”
“Ha! You guys don’t mess around, do you?”
“Well we leveled a lot over the last two days.”
Filo had shot up 27 levels in that time.
The leveling had been so fast it made my head spin. Sure, the shield helped by keeping the enemies at bay—but still.
“Let’s talk strategy. What kind of fighting style do you use, kiddo?”
“A shield is only good for one thing. I stand at the front and block the monster’s attacks. I keep them at bay. Then my friends jump in when they show their weak points.”
“Ha! You’re really into the Shield Hero thing, aren’t ya? But that’s okay, I like the simple folk.”
“What about you?”
He had an absurdly large scythe hanging at his waist, but did he really fight with it?
What a strange weapon to use. I’d seen scythes in games before. They were normally used by death-type characters. I didn’t really know why though. In the real world they were used for harvesting grain, or something like that.
“Who, me? I use this bad boy right here,” he said, touching the scythe. “Therese mostly sticks to magic.”
“That’s right. I have to say that I’m really excited to see how this new item works in battle.”
So I guess L’Arc was the offensive player while Therese backed him up with magic. We’d work together well—my party was pretty skewed towards offense, so I could use help with supporting the others.
There might be too many people at the front though. Maybe we needed more support in the center.
The center was basically a space between the frontline and the support group. It was populated by characters that could handle both offense and defense when the need arose.
The niche could also be filled by people with ranged weapons, so they could stay in the back line and still deal damage.
Among the four heroes, Motoyasu probably fit the bill most clearly.
If the four of us were fighting together, then Ren and I would be in the front, Motoyasu in the center, and Itsuki would be in the back.
The center was basically there to protect the back row from any enemies that made it through the first line of defense. Either that or it was there to help support the front when the back wasn’t able to.
They could really do anything, which was both a blessing and a curse. Motoyasu’s personality, however, pretty much put him at the front.
“Fine. I’ll stand at the front to stop the enemy attacks. L’Arc and Therese, you help Raphtalia and Filo.”
That pretty much summed it up.
If they came at me with weapons or magic though, it wasn’t going to be pretty.
“Sounds good!”
L’Arc seemed to be in full support.
We climbed out of the boat and stepped out onto the shore before pushing for the interior of the island.
The monsters that we met along the way were not very strong at all, so Filo basically took them out with a single kick the moment that we encountered them.
For the moment, Filo was fighting in human form.
I got the feeling that she was practicing her human fighting tactics o
n purpose, to make sure that she was always prepared.
“Alright . . . .”
“What should we do with this monster?”
L’Arc was pointing to the corpse at our feet.
“Huh? We could break it down for materials.”
Honestly, most of the monsters we’d run into on the islands were not great for materials. And that went double for all the weaklings we ran into on the path deeper into the island.
“I was actually wondering if I could take it.”
“Hmm . . . .”
The drop would be some usable potion of something, which I guess might be a little useful.
I was considering it, when L’Arc lowered his weapon and pointed it at the corpse.
“We’ll split it then.”
And then, just like I did with my shield, he absorbed it into his scythe.
“What?”
“What’s the matter, kiddo?”
He’d absorbed the corpse so naturally—I was speechless for a minute.
What was going on? I was pretty sure that was an ability only possible with one of the heroes’ legendary weapons.
But L’Arc wasn’t a hero. I knew that he wasn’t, because when we killed the monster I got experience points out of it.
What on earth was going on?”
“Alright, I’m next.”
I held out my shield and absorbed the corpse.
I could barely believe it. The queen hadn’t said anything about this either. This world was full of mysteries.
L’Arc had a weapon that processed abilities I’d thought were only available to the heroes and their legendary weapons.
Actually, now that I thought about it, I didn’t really know very much about normal adventurers.
There was that transformation ability, I guess. I didn’t know very much about it. Melty had said something about it before, something about the reappearance of the heroes’ skills or something . . . .
I’d have to make a point to discuss it with the old guy at the weapon shop the next time I saw him.
If there were weapons that could do THAT, why hadn’t he sold me one?
Anyway, it was clear that I didn’t have enough information to figure out what was going on.
“I think we just met someone very interesting, don’t you think?”
“Maybe so . . . .”
Raphtalia and I whispered. She was motioning towards L’Arc with her eyes.
“Filo, you sure are a tough girl!”
“Hehe! I know I am!”
L’Arc and Therese were talking to Filo, who had her chest puffed up with pride at her victory.
I wanted to find out just how powerful these two really were.
We pushed on further into the interior of the island and encountered a monster called the Karma Rabbit Familia. It was basically a giant black rabbit. If this island was anything like the last one, there would probably be a boss waiting at the end, the Karma Rabbit.
Should we bring L’Arc and Therese all the way back there?
Regardless, I needed to focus on the battles that were happening along the way.
I couldn’t let myself be tricked by the appearance of the cute rabbit.
Rabbit-type enemies always appeared in games in a tricky way—they always sort of betrayed your expectations of them.
The first time you ran into them, they’d be one of the lower level monsters that you ran into at the start of the game—like the usapils back in Melromarc.
But once you got further along in the game, rabbit-type monsters would appear again, but they would normally be way stronger than you would expect from your previous experience.
I’d run into that in games before. They trick you by looking cute, and then when your guard is down they rush in with a killing move.
You’d let your guard down, and they’d kick your head from your shoulders.
The rabbit tensed its powerful hind legs and shot through the air at us.
I anticipated the attack and raised my shield to block my neck. The rabbit connected and produced a shower of sparks.
I figured it would do something like that.
I jumped back and caught the Karma Rabbit Familia as it tried to escape.
“Everyone watch out! These things are way stronger than they look! They’re fast too!”
“Got it!”
“Understood.”
L’Arc and Raphtalia signaled that they understood.
“I’m going in!”
Filo shot forward and ran for the rabbit.
Therese was still hanging back. What was she doing?
“All-encompassing power of the jewel, hear my plea and show yourself. My name is Therese Alexanderite. I am your friend. Lend me the power to destroy them!”
She was chanting a spell.
But it was a phrasing I’d never heard before. As she chanted, her hair began to turn red.
The bracelet on her wrist began to glow, and then a giant ball of flame appeared, hovering before her.
“Shining stone, ball of flame!”
Of all the magic attacks I’d seen before this one was the most beautiful. It shot toward the Karma Rabbit Familia.
But it sucked me into its path of destruction on the way.
“Mr. Naofumi!”
Hey! I’m standing here! Why did they have to hit ME with their magic?
Or so I was thinking, but then something mysterious happened.
The spell didn’t hurt me. It only affected the rabbit, which burst into flames.
And when it passed me by unscathed, I heard a voice.
It was a voice I’d never heard before. I think it said “thank you.”
By the time I realized what was happening, the rabbit was engulfed in flames.
I didn’t even feel any heat. And it wasn’t because of my defense level either. The flames didn’t seem to have any effect on me at all.
To take it one step further, it was almost as if the flames had protected me. The parts of my body that had felt sluggish since the curse suddenly felt lighter, as if they had been purified.
What a strange spell.
The flames finally burned out, and then L’Arc held his scythe aloft before bringing it down hard.
“Flying Circle!”
His scythe transformed into energy and spun rapidly, producing a circle of light that fell on the rabbit, slicing it in two.
The Karma Rabbit Familia was now definitely dead.
“Are you alright?”
“What was that spell you used?”
“Therese’s magic doesn’t hurt her allies!”
“Yeah . . . I’d figured that much out.”
It was a form of magic I had never seen before.
“The bracelet you made me is very powerful, Mr. Naofumi.”
“She’s right. I could tell from the minute the spell activated. We could give you all the money we have and it wouldn’t be enough. Thanks a bunch, kiddo.”
“That’s not really what I meant.”
L’Arc finally seemed to understand what I was trying to ask. He rubbed his chin and answered.
“Therese’s magic works by combining her magic with the power of the jewels she wears.”
“Hm . . . .”
“I’ve never heard of such a thing.”
“Oh well, it’s a pretty common type of magic where I’m from.”
“What are you saying Therese? Your magic is . . . .”
But before he could finish, Therese rushed over and clapped her hand down over L’Arc’s mouth. Then she whispered something in his ear, and he nodded along.
What were they talking about?
“Oh . . . .”
To be fair, I guess we hadn’t been completely upfront with them either, so I couldn't really blame them.
And besides, we were only going to be sticking around for the duration of the activation event. But if they were as powerful as they seemed to be, then it might be worth keeping them around.
“These things give tons
of experience!”
“Yeah, they do.”
For such a short battle, the rewards were great. Each time we defeated a monster, L’Arc and I split the drop items and the corpse.
I unlocked a few skills, but only one looked interesting.
Karma Rabbit Familia Shield: abilities locked: equip bonus: alert range (small): usauni status adjustment (small)
Alert range (small), huh? It was probably something similar to the ability I got from the dogs, the sense of smell up (small). Maybe this ability was even better?
“You kiddos sure are powerful.”
“Well . . . .”
If the Shield Hero wasn’t able to block the attacks of enemies, then he really wasn’t good for anything, was he?
“Actually, L’Arc, I’m pretty surprised by how powerful you guys are.”
L’Arc seemed to have just about as much attack power as Raphtalia. He was defeating enemies with one hit.
It seemed like the scythe was normally more portable, but it grew to be really large when it was time for battle.
It wasn’t a hero weapon. And it wasn’t a replica of a legendary weapon like the high priest had used. It must have just been something I’d never heard of, but what?
I recalled something the queen had said. She’d said that the heroes were weaker than she had been expecting.
Maybe this is just what powerful adventurers were like? If so, then what she’d said made sense.
Anyway, I never got an answer to my questions, and we all moved on deeper into the island.
As expected, we found a strange Stonehenge-like structure, and in the center was another mysterious sphere, just like the one we’d seen that was protected by the Karma Dog.
We approached the sphere, and it suddenly warped—just like last time—and a monster appeared. This time it was a Karma Rabbit.
Its ears were very long, and they moved almost as if they were hands.
From the look of it, I had an idea of how the battle was going to go. Just like we’d done when fighting the underlings, I’d have to block the sneak attack that it had—only this time I’d have to find some way to deal with those hand-like ears too.
“Boo!”
In my world, rabbits weren’t known for their voices. But the Karma Rabbit opened its mouth and exhaled sharply, and it certainly seemed to be shouting at us.