by Aneko Yusagi
“Are you not going to sleep, Mr. Naofumi?”
“Not yet. I have to make medicines for us to sell.”
Our medicine sales had been booming lately. I was using my shield to make the medicines, but production was still falling behind. Pretty soon I’d have to get serious about teaching the slaves how to make medicine. I wanted to get things set up so that the village had a steady flow of income, but we still needed more people to make that happen. I’d arranged for the medicines to be sold in the neighboring town as well, but our supplies couldn’t keep up with demand. We could always sell the medicinal herbs themselves, but none of them were worth that much.
I’d managed to unlock most of the herb-related shields, since I’d been purchasing a wide variety of plants from all over the place. They’d enabled me to identify and analyze poisons, increase the effectiveness of those poisons, and increase my resistances to them, but not much else.
“I can see that you’re a hard worker, Mr. Naofumi.”
“Only because I want money.”
“But . . . I can walk now thanks to that.”
“. . .”
Something didn’t feel right about having my selfish motivations spun around and interpreted as good intentions. The room fell silent.
I wasn’t quite sure how to interact with this kid. She didn’t try to push her ideals off on me like Raphtalia. Instead, it was like she just openly accepted anything and everything I said. It frightened me to think what might happen if I said something like, “Alright! Spread your legs!” I had a feeling she’d happily comply, and probably even try to jump on top of me.
Just like Sadeena. Just like Sadeena! Except the scary thing about that woman was that she’d probably try to do the same thing without me even saying anything. She hadn’t tried yet, but considering the way she acted, it could happen at any time. Shit . . . I hadn’t realized how dangerous being alone with Sadeena was until just now. I felt shivers going down my spine.
“Mr. Naofumi.”
“Huh? What?”
“I was talking to Raphtalia. She told me that she serves as your sword to defeat your enemies for you.”
“Pretty much.”
I couldn’t do anything except defend myself and others. That was the shield’s limitation, and it had been that way ever since I set foot in this world.
“Raphtalia goes to great lengths for me, and I know I can depend on her.”
Raphtalia was working hard to put an end to the waves, for the sake of this world. Seeing how hard she tried made me want to try, too. All else aside, there was no one I trusted more than Raphtalia in this world.
“When I look around the village, I can sense that everyone here is protected under your wing.”
“My wing, huh?”
Was that like a baby chick being protected by its mother’s wing? That would make the village . . . a bird’s nest. Filo suddenly sprung to mind.
“The villagers are all under your protection, waiting for their time to leave the nest.”
“Leaving the nest is all well and good, but ultimately the villagers are the ones that need to protect the village. There will be consequences otherwise.”
This village was Raphtalia’s home. Once we rebuilt it, Raphtalia would have a place in this world even when I was gone. Even if I went back to my own world, she would still have Keel and Sadeena. I planned on leaving Filo in Melty’s care. Everyone loved Raph-chan, so she would probably end up sticking around as the village mascot or something. I was confident the village would last for a long time to come. If anyone—organization, country, or otherwise—were reckless enough to try to destroy the village built by the hero that saved the world, they were as good as dead.
“In my time here at the village, I’ve heard about all of the amazing things you’ve accomplished. It truly is . . . impressive, what you’re doing. You should be proud. Despite all of the hardships you’ve faced, you’ve persevered and overcome them all. I admire you, Mr. Naofumi.”
“Oh, umm . . . thanks. I’m not one to be modest, but I guess I have come a long way.”
“That said, who is it that protects you, Mr. Naofumi?”
“Huh?”
What was she talking about? Protect me? Why? Why would she be talking about protecting me, of all things? Didn’t she realize she was talking to the Shield Hero? How dense could someone be? Although, it was true I wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for the help of plenty of others. I couldn’t forget that.
“Plenty of people do.”
Raphtalia, Filo, Melty, the queen . . . All of them had given me a hand at times when my position or my life had been in danger.
“Here’s what I think. If Raphtalia is your sword, then I want to be the shield that protects you.”
“Shield, huh? It’s really not as great as it sounds.”
Being someone’s shield and always defending that person really didn’t feel all that great. Why do I have to defend this person? The thought had crossed my mind time and again. It was painful at times, too. But if I worried about that, I’d only end up losing and creating friction. Even so . . . Knowing that I was protecting Raphtalia, Filo, and all the people I cared about outweighed the unpleasantness of it all.
But still . . . Be my shield? She’d sure come up with a lofty goal. I guess it was because she had spent her whole life being the one protected by someone else. She’d probably idealized the role of protector. It was like saying if Raphtalia was my right arm then she would be my left. Still . . . I did appreciate the thought.
“How about you save that line for when you’re actually strong enough to pull it off.”
“Understood. I will become strong enough, no matter what. I will begin tomorrow. I’ll do my best!”
“Good. I’m counting on it.”
Before I knew it, Atla had begun snoring. Sheesh . . . So that was what she wanted to talk about?
“Now then . . .”
I picked Atla up and carried her to the house where Fohl was sleeping. And he really was sleeping.
“Hey!”
“Zzz . . .”
“Seriously? Zzz? This isn’t a manga! Wake up!”
“Wha?!”
I laid Atla on the bed and took the freshly woken Fohl outside to talk.
“You need to look after your sister better. She showed up at my place saying she wanted to sleep with me.”
“She . . . she what?! That means . . . Atla already . . . Noo!”
Fohl was glaring at me like I’d murdered his parents or something. I activated his slave curse and scolded him.
“You think I’d do that?!”
“You bastard! Are you trying to say that Atla isn’t attractive?!”
“Oh, hell! Stop being difficult! I have no interest in that kind of thing!”
“Liar! Nadia was hanging all over you, and you’re surrounded by women!”
Ugh . . . I couldn’t deny either of those things! I’d given up on any fantasies that included surrounding myself with women long ago! I was getting the feeling it was time to start being more careful about whom I ran around with. But then I remembered I’d never cared whether my companions were male or female.
“They could all be men for all I care. Gender makes no difference to me.”
“Wh . . . what?! Are you saying that you’re . . .”
Fohl turned pale and started backing away. He had obviously misunderstood. I’m sure he probably thought I was gay, now.
“I’m not into that kind of thing! Stay away from me!” he shouted.
“Neither am I!”
These siblings sure were a pain in the neck! Still . . . be my shield? She was a strange one, for sure.
Chapter Five: Trash and the Hakuko
The next morning, I ended up making breakfast, since the village slaves practically insisted on it. The cooking division slaves took care of all of the prep work, so all I had to do was cook the food.
“Alright, I made exactly what you asked for.”
“Yay!�
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They all cheered. Sheesh . . . This must have been what people meant when they talked about kids only looking grown-up. Raphtalia had been a lot more mature by the time she was their size.
“Oh, little Naofumi! It all looks so yummy!”
“Yeah, whatever. You better not start drinking this early.”
“I won’t!”
Hmm? Sadeena and I weren’t the only ones causing a ruckus. Those voices . . . Ah, it was Fohl and Atla.
“It’s Mr. Naofumi’s cooking! I’m going to lick the plate clean!”
“Atla! No! You have better manners than that!”
I wasn’t even going to go there. I went about putting the food on the slaves’ plates, which they put on their trays and carried back to their seats. It reminded me of lunch back in elementary school. There were quite a few slaves now. That meant more helping hands, of course, but to think that three massive pots of food would disappear in a single meal . . .
“Huh? Who are you?”
There was a girl was standing next in line, waiting for me to serve her. She sure acted like she was right where she belonged, but I didn’t recognize her at all. She looked . . . 15 years old, maybe? She was a human, as far as I could tell. She looked sleepy, like she was only half awake. Her eyes were silver, and her hair was a silverish color, too. She had pale white skin, and something about her made her seem delicate. Being a human surrounded by all of the demi-human slaves made her even more conspicuous. There were soldiers from the castle here, too, but she wasn’t dressed like a soldier.
“Yeah, who is that girl?”
The slaves were looking at the unfamiliar girl and whispering.
“Raphtalia, do you know who this is?” I asked.
“No. She doesn’t appear to be a soldier,” she replied.
“Oh?” said Sadeena quizzically.
“Rafu?”
Filo came running up just then.
“Master! I’m back!”
“Hey, Filo. Are you going to eat, too?”
“Yup! I ate over at Mel-chan’s place, but I’ll eat again!”
What a pig.
“Huh? It’s the clown girl,” Filo said.
“Yes,” replied the unfamiliar girl.
Clown girl? Did I know any clown girls? Or was it a friend of Filo’s? Filo had been going out more on her own to help with peddling and other stuff. She must have met the girl that way.
“Did something happen? What are you doing heeere?” Filo asked the girl.
“Is she a friend of yours, Filo?”
“You’ve met her before, toooo, Master.”
I tried to think of someone that Filo knew, that I had met, and that looked like this sleepy-eyed girl waiting for me to feed her.
“I ha———breakfast . . .” said the girl.
Huh? All I could hear was static in the middle of her sentence. Wait. Hadn’t there been someone like that before? I could feel myself breaking out into a cold sweat.
“Who are you? Filo seems to know you, but I don’t. Answer me.”
“Huh?” she replied, confused.
The unfamiliar girl pulled a pair of scissors out and showed them to me. Umm, nope. That didn’t ring any bells. Then, right in front of my eyes, she transformed the pair of scissors into a ball of thread. Then she pulled out a familiar mask and showed it to me.
“Surely this———remember.”
“You?!”
That’s right. She was showing me the same equipment that had been used by Murder Pierrot—the freak that we had fought with Sadeena several days earlier in the underground coliseum! The Murder Pierrot in the coliseum had been wearing a mask and a weird outfit, so I didn’t recognize her at first. But there was only one person in the world that sounded like a sandstorm when they spoke!
“Murder Pierrot?! What are you doing in my village?!”
“I walked?”
“I’m not asking how you got here! And why did you say that like it was a question?!”
Was she trying to be funny? I wished she would stop it with the static already, too.
“Umm . . .”
Murder Pierrot put away the mask and ball of thread she’d used to identify herself and held her tray out to me, as if asking for food.
“Despite what it may look like, I’m not just handing out food for free.”
“Oh . . .”
She stuck her hand in her pocket, pulled something out, and . . . placed it in my hand. It was two silver pieces. Umm, I wasn’t trying to ask for money. But two silver was more than I would have expected. Thirty copper was enough to get a pretty good meal in this world. Two silver would have bought a really nice set meal—something like fancy broiled eel served over hot rice at a posh restaurant if we had been in Japan. I was going to play along with her joke and say something clever, but she just stood there staring at me, completely serious.
“Oh, fine. Whatever.”
We weren’t getting anywhere like this. I decided to just feed her and then we could talk later. I put some food on a dish and handed it to Murder Pierrot. She sat down and began eating like everything was completely normal.
“Well, well, well . . .”
Sadeena sat down next to Murder Pierrot excitedly and struck up a conversation, although Murder Pierrot was hardly even responding. It was really more like Sadeena just talking to herself.
“Just who is she, anyway?” asked Raphtalia.
“Who knows? I’ll ask her later, but we need to get the slaves fed right now.”
It didn’t look like she was going to cause any trouble, and I could tell that Sadeena was on her guard just in case she did. The slaves did seem curious, but with all of the new slaves and everything else going on, they didn’t really seem bothered by her presence. But why in the world had she come to the village?
I finished serving the food to the slaves and sat down to eat my own breakfast.
“Little Naofumi, the girl told me that her previous contract was terminated, so she’s not tied to any employer at the moment. She said she came to find out if she could work for you.”
Fighting us at the coliseum had been purely business, I guess. Running off in the middle of a fight didn’t seem like it would be good for business, but I guess that kind of thing was probably common in the mercenary business.
“I don’t need any mercenaries.”
I was already working on training the slaves to fight, and I had no desire to hire a weirdo like her.
“Really? Then let’s be friends,” the girl responded.
“You realize it seems like you’re not actually listening to anything I say, right?”
“Umm, why do you want to associate with Mr. Naofumi?” asked Raphtalia, choosing her words carefully.
“. . .”
Murder Pierrot fell silent.
“At the coliseum, you told me, ‘You have to work harder, or you’ll die.’ What did that mean, anyway?” I asked.
“——trying to help.”
I was hearing static again. What was that? It felt like talking to someone on a cell phone with really bad reception.
“What’s going on, Mr. Naofumi?”
Atla came walking over with Fohl tagging along behind. If they were done eating, they should’ve already hurried home and started getting ready to head out. We were going to the castle today to reset her brother’s level.
“It’s nothing. This girl . . . We fought against her in a tournament at the Zeltoble coliseum and now she’s here asking to be friends.”
“Oh really?”
Atla turned to face Murder Pierrot.
“I sense a transient power that is on the verge of disappearing, together with a separate, untainted power. She doesn’t seem to be a bad person, Mr. Naofumi.”
“Still . . .”
I’d felt the same when she’d shared her impression of me. Atla’s “senses” were just a bit too out there for me. I wasn’t quite sure what to make of them.
“Are you refusing to tell us why?” I aske
d.
Murder Pierrot shook her head emphatically.
“I want to stay——the village until——the waves. I want to help you do that.”
I hadn’t realized how frustrating it would be to try to have a conversation when you could only just barely get the gist of what the other person was saying. This was beyond annoying.
“Let me ask you this, too, while we’re at it. Who are you, really? And what’s with your weapons?”
Murder Pierrot stood there thinking for a moment and then started opening and closing her mouth, but . . .
“——and——at——”
Aside from the simplest of words, all I could hear was static. I had no idea what she was saying. What was with this girl?
“Also, about our fight at the coliseum . . . Judging from what I can make out of what you’ve said, you’re . . . the holder of a vassal weapon or a seven star weapon, right?”
I wasn’t dumb. It wasn’t like I just thought her weapon was odd. It had changed shape repeatedly, and it seemed to have mysterious powers that could restrict an opponent. That kind of performance meant it almost certainly had to be a vassal weapon. The only thing was, none of the seven star heroes had a weapon like hers, according to the queen.
“I’m guessing you were trying to warn us that we could end up getting killed by invading vassal weapon holders if we didn’t get stronger—”
When I said that, Murder Pierrot started nodding her head emphatically. So I was right. Also, that meant she could understand what I was saying. I bet that was it—she’d probably snuck into this world to try to kill the holy heroes like Glass and the others had done, but now she couldn’t get back home because of the Spirit Tortoise’s barrier. Something like that.
“You seem to be under the impression that we’re weak, but I’ve used the power-up methods of all four holy heroes. I’m just in a weakened state because of a curse right now.”
Murder Pierrot shook her head. The little brat obviously wasn’t satisfied with my explanation.
“——not enough. You——more——”