by Aneko Yusagi
Could we not do something with it? The materials were a parting gift from Ost. I wanted to make good use of them. It would be nice if my shield could modify the materials in some way, but that didn’t seem likely. Was there nothing I could say to help?
“That reminds me. When I was in Zeltoble—”
I told the old guy about the Spirit Tortoise Sword that I’d seen in Zeltoble. I mentioned that one glance was enough to tell that it was a one-of-a-kind sword made by a real master craftsman.
“It must have really been something for you to say so, kid. I have a feeling I’d know who made it and how, if I could get a look at it.”
“Are you trying to tell me to go buy it? Give me a break. There’s no way I could buy a weapon that expensive.”
I might be able to get the money by selling the weapons that the old guy had made for us, but that would be defeating the purpose. That made me think . . . Selling rare and unique weapons dropped by monsters was an option, too. They would probably sell for a good price since they were so uncommon. I’d have to give that one some more thought.
“By the way, I brought one of my slaves that I’d like you to take on as an apprentice.”
“Which one?”
I pointed Imiya’s uncle out of the slaves I had with me.
“It’s been a while, hasn’t it? I see you actually completed your apprenticeship with Master and opened your own weapon shop.”
“Oh! It’s you, Tollynemiya!”
His name was longer than I expected.
“You know each other?”
“Yes.”
“From a long time ago.”
It turned out that Imiya’s uncle and the old guy were both apprentices of the same master when they were younger.
“That said . . . I ended up having to quit halfway through due to various circumstances. Things were difficult at home, and I had to help raise several nieces and nephews, including Imiya.”
“Master’s business wasn’t doing too well back then, either,” added the old guy.
“Despite being a master craftsman?” I asked.
That seemed a bit strange.
“It had to do with some big business deals and women. Our master was a real sucker for women.”
Their master sounded like Motoyasu. I’d picture Motoyasu in my head any time I thought of the old guy’s master now. Although, the Motoyasu I knew had turned into a Filo fanatic now.
I wondered just what kind of life Imiya’s uncle had led. He and Imiya had both become slaves, so I couldn’t really imagine how things had turned out the way they had. I was sure he would tell me if I asked, but forcing people to talk about their own painful memories was something not even I was interested in doing.
“Alright, then. You already know each other. That makes things easier.”
“I guess that’s true, but . . . I certainly never imagined my new blacksmithing master would be you,” said Imiya’s uncle.
“I’m surprised, too! But I did tell the kid I’d take on an apprentice, so at least this will make things easier on me.”
“It’s just like old times. The memories are coming flooding back.”
“Including lodging expenses. How much should I pay you to take him on?” I asked.
“As a live-in apprentice, right? I don’t need you to pay me anything as long as I can work him like a horse.”
“Your generosity is appreciated,” I said.
“Hey now . . . I hope we’re not talking about hard labor for life here,” Imiya’s uncle retorted.
“What are you saying? You’re the kid’s slave! With you around, I should be able to save money on mining, too.”
It wasn’t much, but with my shield adjustments he should be tougher than your average demi-human or therianthrope. I wondered if that meant the old guy would be a hard-ass teacher. Speaking of images, Imiya’s uncle seemed like the kind of character that would always be puffing on a pipe or cigar. But he didn’t. He just wore overalls like some country bumpkin.
“I’ll just have you doing the same kind of work we used to do way back when.”
“That’ll kill me for sure.”
“Hahaha! It’s surprisingly not that bad.”
The old guy and Imiya’s uncle went about chatting as they got to work. It seemed like things were going to work out just fine.
“Alright, we have some other stuff to take care of,” I said.
“Gotcha. I’ll make sure he learns everything there is to know about running the shop.”
“I’m hoping you’ll either come set up shop at my territory or teach him the skills he needs to run his own.”
I wanted to have Imiya’s uncle make weapons and equipment back at the village, but that would depend on whether he was only skilled enough to work the counter or if he could actually give the old guy a run for his money.
“I haven’t really given it that much thought. Either way, I need to see what he can do now, before anything else.”
“I’ve continued to work with ironware a bit, but that’s about it.”
“You’re just being modest. I need to see you actually swing the hammer to judge your true skill.”
“You’re in for a real treat, then.”
Imiya’s uncle was always really polite when talking to me, but that wasn’t the case with the old guy. They acted just like you would expect two reunited old friends to. It was kind of nice. Imiya’s uncle . . . Tollynemiya, was it? I’d call him Tolly.
“Alright, if I need anything else I’ll drop back by again. If you need to get in touch with me, just send word to the village or the castle.”
“Will do, kid.”
“Despite having lost both of her parents, Imiya seems to be really enjoying herself. I want to do what I can to help you out, too, Shield Hero. I’ll do my best to master the trade.”
“I’m counting on you.”
I sure hoped the two of them could put their heads together and figure out a way to make good use of the problematic Spirit Tortoise materials.
And so we left the weapon shop and continued on our way.
Chapter Thirteen: Oodles of Ambushes
So we had departed, which was all well and good, but . . . that certain someone showed up, after all.
“Nooooo!”
“Filo-taaaaa—”
I sighed as I watched Motoyasu fly off into space for the third time today. He must have been using his teleportation skill to get ahead of us somehow, but it was still pretty impressive. Raphtalia and all of the slaves had shrieked in unison the first time it happened. But I guess witnessing a person being kicked off into space would get a shriek out of most.
“That guy with the spear was smiling as she kicked him. That’s pretty freaky.”
“I’m probably going to have nightmares about that.”
“That’s scary. Just scary.”
Great, now Motoyasu was traumatizing all of my slaves, too. Maybe it was my fault for ordering Filo to kick him, though.
“Just what in the world is he thinking?” asked Raphtalia.
“Who knows?”
I had been wondering how we should try to take the broken Motoyasu into custody, but if he was going to keep showing up this frequently then we could just try to talk some sense into him somewhere along the way. As we made our way further away from human habitation and deeper into the mountains, I suddenly noticed someone standing in our path.
“Is that Motoyasu?” I asked.
“Nooope!”
Oh? Filo sure had good vision. She seemed to be confident, even though the person was quite far away.
“Then I guess you should try not to hit them.”
“Okaaay!”
Filo continued running at her normal speed. I had planned on just passing by, but the person spread their arms out and blocked the way.
“What does that mean? Do they want us to stop?” I wondered out loud.
It could have been an emergency or something. Filo must have read my thoughts, because she came t
o a stop in front of the person.
“What is it?” I asked the person.
There were people that stopped our carriage like this every now and then when we were out peddling our wares. It was usually someone who had been injured or who had run into some monsters and needed help.
The person looked like a man. I wasn’t sure how old. He was rather small, but he looked older than his size let on. Maybe he was in his twenties. It was hard to tell. His hair was brown. His face reminded me of one of those comedians who are impossible to hate, despite being a bit of a scoundrel and always telling dirty jokes. I guess he was a human, but it seemed more appropriate to describe him as a mousy fellow. He was wearing a cloak that hid his clothes underneath, and it looked like there was some kind of red liquid spattered on it. Maybe he had been injured.
“Eeehehe . . . Stop the carriage, will ya?” said the man.
“We’re already stopped.”
He sure was an arrogant little bastard. Did he not realize that standing in front of a carriage and trying to stop it might be a little dangerous?
“Just making sure, but the Shield Hero is in that carriage, right?” he asked.
The queen had been nice enough to hang the Shield Hero sign on the carriage. That was supposed to be a sign that I was on board.
“Yeah, I’m Naofumi Iwatani, the Shield Hero. What do you need?”
Judging by the way things were going, this is where he would ask for my help. But the man’s response was completely unexpected. Suddenly, standing before us was . . . a new enemy.
“Oh really? Eeehehehehe! In that case . . . die!”
The man threw his cloak open and hurled a small ball of magic at me. What the hell? “Die”? Was he a member of the Church of the Three Heroes?
“Shooting Star Shield!”
I cast a defensive barrier centered on me and prepared to defend against the attack. It wasn’t that I was being careless. There was only a handful of people in this world that could injure me, since the curse hadn’t affected my defense. That was my only consolation. But for someone to even try to ambush me was just ludicrous.
At least that’s what I wanted to think, but then Murder Pierrot popped up somewhere in the back of my mind. It was always possible that there might still be someone out there unlike anyone else I’d encountered before. Just in case, I jumped on Filo’s back and readied my shield. But I never thought that this would actually turn out to be one of those cases.
Just before the ball of magic reached my Shooting Star Shield, it began to swell up and then exploded with a loud pop.
“What?!”
“Whoa!”
The explosion was centered on my shield and blew the roof of the carriage behind me right off. Hold on! Just how high was this guy’s attack power?!
“You’re full of openings!” he shouted.
The man swung a sword that looked like a shamshir at me and Filo.
“Zweite Aura!”
I quickly cast a spell to raise Filo’s stats.
“Here I goooo!”
With me still on her back, Filo did a flip and kicked at the man. But the man used his sword to block her kick.
“What’s the idea, all of a sudden?!”
Raphtalia unsheathed her katana and swung at the man.
“Oh! I heard the hero with the holy weapon drags pretty little girls around with him, and it looks like the rumors are true! Eeehehehe! You are the harem type, after all!”
This bastard seriously pissed me off with his annoying laugh. The man appeared completely unpressured as he drew another sword with his free hand and blocked Raphtalia’s katana. No way! Her stats may have been lower than usual, but I was pretty sure Raphtalia still had a huge amount of attack power. Her strike would have sliced right through most blades with ease.
“—?!”
Raphtalia seemed to have noticed a weakness or something, because she readied herself to use a skill.
“Brave Blade! Crossing Mists!”
It was her finishing move that used dual katanas to produce a cross-shaped strike. It would be really something if he could block that.
“Oh!”
Apparently blocking Filo’s kick and Raphtalia’s finishing move at the same time was pushing his limits, because the man took a step back. Not on my watch!
“Air Strike Shield!”
I produced a shield behind him to stop his retreat backward.
“Oh! Safeguard! Earthen Wall!”
A wall shot up out of the ground right in front of Raphtalia while she was still in mid-attack. She swung her katana down, striking right through the wall at the enemy, but the man crouched down and dodged the attack. I didn’t even think a dodge like that was possible! Producing shields haphazardly was obviously pointless. The exchange had only lasted a few moments so far, but I could already tell that the man knew how to handle himself in combat.
“Magic Shot! Meteorite Mobilization!”
The man rapidly formed a hand seal and cast something that seemed like magic. He was fast! Then again, that wasn’t really anything to get worked up about as there were people out there like Trash #2, who had been so proud of his ability to cast magic without an incantation.
“Bubba!”
Keel called out to me when she and the others finally recovered from their state of shock, but this was no time for chatting. A massive meteorite appeared above in the sky and was headed straight for us. And it was crazy fast! What kind of magic was this?! I’d never seen anything like it. This was just a guess, but I had a feeling this guy was from another world, just like Murder Pierrot. But I didn’t have time to think about that at the moment. I had Keel and the other slaves with me, and this guy was casting magical area of effect attacks on us.
“Filo! Raphtalia! Restrain him!”
“Okay!”
“Understood!”
“Second Shield! Dritte Shield! Shield Prison! And Zweite Aura!”
I used my Second Shield as a platform to suspend me in the air and then cast my Dritte Shield up above me. I used E Float Shield for extra protection above and readied my shield. I had cast Zweite Aura on Raphtalia to try to buy us a little time, but . . .
“Disarming Shot! Earth Evasion!”
Raphtalia blocked the man’s magic, but . . .
“My . . . strength?!”
There was a visible decrease in Raphtalia’s speed.
“Eeehehehe! Is this the first time you’ve had support magic nullified? Have you never been in a real fight?”
I had a feeling the man still wasn’t struggling. Damn it . . . We’d found ourselves hurled into the very predicament that I’d feared was a possibility.
“Huh?”
Raphtalia cocked her head to the side in confusion. But at that moment I had to figure out what to do about this meteorite barreling toward us! The meteorite had smashed through my Dritte Shield and Shield Prison up above, destroying them. E Float Shield finally reached its limit and shattered, too. Now the meteorite was coming straight for me.
“Ughhh . . .”
I felt the massive impact hit my shield and reverberate throughout my body. I’d just barely been able to withstand it.
“What are you doing to bubba?!”
Keel and the others drew their weapons and began running toward the man.
“Wait! You all stay back!”
Keel and the others ignored me and kept running.
“Too late! I was hoping this might be more of a challenge. Eeehehehehe!”
“Keel!”
Raphtalia called out to Keel. At the same time, the man must have determined Keel to be a weak link, because he turned in her direction and raised his shamshir. Raphtalia was doing everything in her power to come between Keel and the attack, but it was questionable whether she would be able to make it in time. It might have just been my imagination, but it seemed like Raphtalia was moving quicker than just a moment ago . . . but it still didn’t look like she was going to make it.
Shit! Keel an
d the others still couldn’t keep up, even with their newly increased stats. They were nothing but a hindrance right now. I began to see everything in slow motion, and just as the man’s shamshir was about to pierce Keel’s chest, that’s when it happened! A loud clashing sound rang out as a large pair of scissors appeared in front of Keel and guarded her from the attack.
“Huh?!”
I couldn’t believe my eyes. Murder Pierrot was standing before the man with her scissors in hand.
“Spider Web!”
“Bah!”
Murder Pierrot wrapped the man’s shamshir in thread and attempted to restrict his movements, but the man cut the thread and leapt away.
“You ok—?”
Murder Pierrot spoke to Keel, but her words were mixed with static like usual.
“Y . . . yeah!”
Just as Murder Pierrot appeared in front of Keel to protect her, the meteorite that had been looming overhead as it pressed against my shield exploded outward. Ugh . . . I’d been able to withstand the impact, but it hurt pretty bad. My armor was damaged in several places. I jumped down off of Second Shield, landing firmly on the ground, and turned toward the man with my shield readied.
“Well if it isn’t the vassal weapon holder from the destroyed world. I guess you’re still alive, huh? Eeehehehe!”
I guess they knew each other. Murder Pierrot glared at the man belligerently. Destroyed world?
“But yikes, the holy heroes in this world sure are weak. I get to take it easy and enjoy myself this time. Eeehehe!”
What was with this creep? The way he spoke implied that he was from another world. But . . . the impression he gave was unlike Kyo’s arrogance, Trash #2’s selfishness, or even L’Arc and Glass’s sense of purpose.
“Are you a vassal weapon holder?” I asked him.
“Me? That would be nice, but I didn’t make the cut. Eeehehe!”
“This jerk———friend of the chosen heroes———another world———”
Murder Pierrot tried to explain. I guess that meant that the enemy was in a position kind of like Keel or Filo. Kind of like Therese, maybe. Taking a better look at the man, I noticed he was wearing a strange pendant that hung down over his chest. Maybe it was an accessory that was translating for him or something.