Night fell. I had
dinner and a bath and then went out on the terrace to cool off.
I looked out at the
ocean and relished the cool night air. Had the storms finally subsided?
I caught sight of
Filo out in the water. She’d wanted to go swimming after dinner. She was
borderline obsessed with swimming lately. I decided to pretend I didn’t see
her.
“Huh?”
At the far end of
the terrace I saw Motoyasu walking with . . . Rishia? They seemed to be walking
back to the hotel.
She wasn’t wearing
the squirrel kigurumi.
Was he hitting on
her? That would make sense. He had indicated that she was on his list of pretty
girls.
I guess the guy
really wanted to build a harem for himself. What did he think Itsuki would have
to say about his ambitions?
I decided I had
better warn him to keep his distance.
“Hey! Motoyasu!
Better stop hitting on everyone you see!”
“Hey! Naofumi! It’s
up to you now!”
Motoyasu looked
pale when he walked over to me and slapped my shoulder. Then he shoved me in
Rishia’s direction.
“What’s your
problem?”
“Nothing! She’s
yours!”
What was going on?
He was a real womanizer, so why would he want me to have her? I looked over at
Rishia and was shocked by what I saw.
Her eyes were red
and puffy, as if she’d been crying for a while. I took a seat next to her.
“Hey, what’s the
matter?”
“Alright, I’m out
of here!”
“Wait! You didn’t
...”
Could it be that he
was so rotten he’d done something awful to her?
She didn’t want to
be with him or something, so he said something like, “It will be fine. It only
hurts the first time ...” And then raped her?
I wouldn’t be
surprised if Motoyasu had done something like that. He seemed like the sort of
person that would push and push until he got his way with a girl.
She was crying so
hard that she was shaking.
That was too awful.
I couldn’t let him get away with it.
“I did not!”
“Prove it!”
“No . . . It’s not
the Spear Hero’s fault...”
Rishia collected
herself and whispered.
I guess I let
myself get carried away. Motoyasu probably wasn’t that
terrible. Right?
“Then what
happened?”
“Something’s up,
but I’m not so good at dealing with this sort of thing. So I’m leaving it up to
you!” Motoyasu said as he left. He was smiling, but he also looked sick, like
he might throw up. He ran off on shaky legs.
I’d never seen him
look like that before. And I’d never heard him say that he wasn’t good at
dealing with something.
What had happened?
Had she done something to him?
“What happened?”
“Please don’t worry
about it.”
“I can’t do that. I
was afraid that he had raped you or something.”
“No . . . I just .
. . I couldn’t hold myself back anymore.”
“Hold yourself back
from Motoyasu?”
“N . . . No!”
She looked angry,
like she might burst into tears again. At least she had the energy to be angry.
“The Spear Hero
tried to cheer me up, but I . . . Actually, I probably shouldn’t be talking
about it.”
“Well, you’ve
already started. Is it about what we discussed earlier?”
I don’t know why I
wanted to help her. Maybe it was because I felt like we were in the same
situation, and I couldn’t help but empathize.
“No, please. Don’t
worry about it.”
She jumped to her
feet, made an apologetic face, and ran off.
“What was that all
about?”
I was left alone,
having no idea what had happened, but feeling terrible about it.
The next morning I
lay in bed reading, but my mind was still occupied with worries about Rishia.
We’d already done
plenty of leveling up here, so there was really no need to do any serious
leveling while we were confined to the islands.
So I had some time
to myself with nothing important to do, but I couldn’t stop thinking about the
previous night.
“I really want to
know what happened.”
Normally, I would
probably feel fine just ignoring it, but this time I couldn’t help but dwell on
it.
I felt the way that
I had when Bitch had framed me, or when I’d been attacked and forced to defend
Melty.
Basically I had a
bad feeling about it, a feeling that something bad was about to happen.
“What do you mean?”
“Oh nothing. I’m
going to go look into something, so you can just relax here.”
“Hm...”
Raphtalia wanted to
know what was going on, but I left the room without explaining.
I didn’t know what
I would say anyway. What was happening?
I was nervous about
it, but I decided to stop by Itsuki’s room and listen in on them to see if I
could figure it out.
I could hear
exuberant voices coming from the other side of the door. Was I overthinking
this?
“Ah...”
I spotted Rishia.
She was gazing at the room enviously from far away.
Then she noticed me
and ran off.
What was going on?
I figured that all
I could do was try to get Motoyasu to fess up and tell me what he knew.
So I went to his
room and knocked on the door.
“Coming!”
A woman, one of his
party members, came to the door.
His party consisted
of Bitch and two other women. The woman at the door was one of them, so I’ll
call her woman #1.
She was smiling
from ear to ear. She wore a look on her face like I was the last person she
expected to find knocking on their door.
“You?! What are you
here for? What do you want?!”
She looked at me
for a second before realizing who I was. Then she accosted me.
I really couldn’t
stand talking to these people.
“Is Motoyasu here?”
“Why should I tell
YOU that?”
“Hey! Motoyasu!”
“Don’t you ignore
me!”
“Yeah! Don’t ignore
her!”
Woman #2 came up to
the doorway to join her friend. As for Bitch, she had apparently decided to
ignore me, despite sitting right where I could see her. I really wanted to
assume that meant that she was traumatized, but I shouldn’t let my fantasies
get ahead of me.
These two didn’t
mean anything to me.
Bitch had been
ordered, by her mother the queen, to assist Motoyasu in his fight against the
waves so that she might prove herself useful in some capacity.
When the queen had
been away on diplomatic missions to other countries, Bitch had spent her time
doing whatever she pleased, and the queen returned to find much of the crown’s
money had been spent.
She had red hair
that she often pulled it back into a ponytail. She had the sort of face that
was pretty enough but grew more irritating the more you had to look at it.
As you’d expect of
Motoyasu, she was on his list of pretty girls along with Raphtalia and Filo.
She was Melty’s
older sister, and she had the worst personality of anyone I’d ever met. She was
an amoral monster that got her kicks from setting traps for people and watching
them suffer.
Her equipment
looked a little shabbier than it had before. I wonder if the queen had
completely cut her off financially?
“What do you want,
Naofumi? None of these girls like having you around.”
Motoyasu stepped
into view, surrounded by his harem of girls.
Seeing him standing
there with his confident swagger really got on my nerves. If I didn’t want to
get information out of him, I would have just told him off and left.
“I don’t really
care what your girls want. I have a question for you.”
“What is it?”
“It’s about last
night. You said you were leaving it up to me, but I don’t know what I’m
supposed to do.”
“Fine, I’ll tell
you, but you have to take responsibility for everything else.”
“How convenient for
you. But fine, I’m curious enough. I’ll agree to that.”
He must have known
something. His face looked suddenly pale, and he stepped out of the room,
leaving his harem to watch over the place while we spoke.
We both walked out
to the terrace, which was mostly deserted. He looked at me again, and sure
enough, his face was very pale.
That wasn’t like
him at all. I didn’t know he was capable of actually worrying about things.
Usually, he would
just call me a criminal, blame everything on me, stand up for Bitch, and make
my life a living hell.
Oh, and of course
he would hit on Raphtalia and Filo the whole time.
He seemed to have a
thing for Filo in particular.
“You’re talking
about Rishia, aren’t you?”
“Yeah.”
Had he made her cry
like that? Or had she been crying before he met her?
She had been very
tightlipped with me, and I hadn’t been able to get an explanation out of her.
But Motoyasu had a
way with women, and I thought that he had probably gotten her to tell him about
it.
“So actually...”
And Motoyasu
started explaining the whole thing to me.
When he did, I
realized that my intuition had been right. I felt anger bubbling up from deep
inside my guts.
“At first I wanted
to know why she was crying, and I might have been a little overzealous when I
asked her what was wrong, but . . . Sorry, you know, I . . . I’m no good with
girls when they are like that. Can you step in for me?”
“Itsuki!!!”
I kicked his door
with all my might and barreled into the room.
The door crashed
open and everyone in the room stared at me in the doorway.
“Wh . . . What is
it?!”
“You’re the Shield
Hero! What do you want with us?!”
The leader of
Itsuki’s underlings, Armor, glared at me.
Armor apparently
had a real name, but he was always wearing a suit of flashy armor, so I’d taken
to calling him that.
Armor had a crappy
attitude. He was the sort of guy who always acted like he’d been put in charge.
He wanted power and
respect, and I think he was mostly just hanging with Itsuki to make sure that
he got what he wanted.
I didn’t know how
powerful he was. I didn’t see him doing anything very impressive, or really
helping anyone at all, during the last wave.
L’Arc might have
been the enemy, but I shared his assessment of Armor: he looked like a criminal
of some kind.
“What do I want? I
want to know how you live with yourselves!”
I was shouting and
I felt like the whole room had become chaotic.
I must have really
looked unstable, because Armor and the rest of the group looked suddenly
intimidated.
Itsuki was the
first to come to his senses. He was very angry now. He shouted back at me.
“What are you
talking about?!”
“Still playing
dumb?”
Damn, I was getting
so angry that I felt like I could switch to the Shield of Wrath right then and
there. Hate billowed up inside me like smoke.
If Ren showed up,
I’d probably go crazy. The Shield of Wrath contained the core of a dragon that
Ren had killed, so the shield itself responded dramatically to Ren’s presence.
“You’re trying to
seed doubt about our master, aren’t you Shield Hero?!”
Armor took a step
in my direction, so I reached out, grabbed his arm, and tried to use a judo
hold on him.
“In violation of
the legendary weapon rules, you have touched a weapon besides the weapon with
which you specialize.”
There was a crackle
and hiss, and pain shot up through my arm. It wasn’t that bad though.
I was surprised
that the legendary weapon rules applied to things like judo holds. I’d been
able to hit things in the past though. What was the difference?
“Ouch!”
“I came here to
speak with Itsuki. Don’t get in my way, underling!”
I shoved Armor back
and glared at Itsuki.
I hadn’t felt this
angry in a long time. Raphtalia had done so much to help keep my rage under
control.
But I didn’t want
to keep it under control right then.
“You . . . You’re
always going on about justice and honesty, but you don’t understand anything at
all!”
“What are you. . .”
I was really
shouting at this point, and apparently Rishia had come to the door to see what
all the fuss was about. When Itsuki saw her there he finally understood what I
was upset about.
“You mean to tell
me that you are upset over THAT?”
“Now you’re talking
sense.”
“She’s in the wrong
here.”
“Are you out of
your mind?!”
Here’s what I heard
from Motoyasu:
Here’s why Rishia
was so upset.
Yesterday, Rishia
finished her shopping and was heading back to the party’s room.
This happened right
after I’d parted ways with her.
“Rishia? Was it
you?”
“Hm? What do you
mean?”
Right after she got
back to the room, Itsuki approached her looking very upset. But she didn’t know
what he was upset about.
“There’s no point
in pretending you don’t know. I know that you’re the one who broke my
accessory.”
She looked around
and saw that Itsuki’s favorite bangle was broken into little pieces.
“Me? No! I, I don’t
know anything about it. What happened?”
“I can’t believe
you would lie to me. We have proof that you did it.”
Itsuki turned to
his other party members.
“That’s right. I
saw it. I saw Rishia break Master Itsuki’s prized bangle and then hide it.”
“Yeah.”
“I saw it too.”
“What?! I did no
such thing! I . . . I really don’t know what you’re talking about!”
Rishia emphatically
denied the charge. But Itsuki wouldn’t believe her.
“Look at all the
witnesses that claim they saw you. I guess there’s no avoiding it. Shame, had
you repented I would have forgiven you. Rishia, you are no longer a member of
this party.”
“But! But I really
didn’t do it!”
Just then, Rishia
saw Armor smile.
But she didn’t have
time to try and figure out what had happened; she simply wanted to keep her
place in the party. So she fell to her knees in front of Itsuki and begged him
to reconsider.
“Please! Please! I want
to be by your side, Master Itsuki!”
Itsuki wavered,
perhaps feeling guilty. His eyes filled with tears.
“You mustn’t
forgive her now, Master Itsuki!”
Armor and the other
party members shouted to him.
“I’m sorry. We must
part ways.”
“Master Itsuki?! I’m
telling the truth! Please believe me! Please reconsider! I’ll do anything!”
She was crying at
his feet, but Itsuki turned his back on her.
“How long will you
beg for his emotions?! You’re a liar! Why should we allow someone like you to
get close to our master?!”
Itsuki’s remaining
party members chased her out of the room.
She still tried to
get back to Itsuki, but her efforts proved futile.
And that is pretty
much everything that Rishia told Motoyasu.
“You’re not going
to forgive Rishia after all she did for us during the battle with L’Arc?”
“That’s not it at
all!”
Itsuki snapped,
suddenly fierce.
It sounded to me
like I’d stumbled on the truth.
The queen had
praised Rishia for her help, and that was something that he simply couldn’t
stand. He couldn’t let that happen because his party and he had spent so long
condescending to her.
So he was jealous
that the weakest member of his party was getting praise from the queen, and the
only way he could deal with it was to frame her and get rid of her.
From what I’d
heard, Rishia hadn’t done anything wrong. Someone else had broken the bangle,
and they were clearly trying to frame Rishia for it.
I hate cowards that
frame people for crimes they didn’t commit!
That was why I was
so upset with Itsuki, because it was a personal issue for me.
“So you didn’t get
what you wanted by begging, so you’d get another hero to come beg me on your
behalf? Do you really think I’m going to let you back into my party?”
“Rishia didn’t tell
me anything. Our womanizing friend, Motoyasu, used his ‘charm’ to pry the story
out of her!”
Speaking of which,
Motoyasu had come to this world because he’d been killed in an emotional fit
back in his own world.
He was probably
nervous around girls that seemed to have an unhealthy obsession with guys.
I guess it was like
a yandere character from a gyaryge
.
There were gyaruge like that back in my world too. It was infamous for
the bad ending.
If Motoyasu had
experienced something similar in his past, then hearing about Rishia and her
relationship with Itsuki would have prompted memories of his own personal
traumas.
But that wasn’t the
issue here!
“What I’ve already
said about it is the truth and needs no elaboration. Rishia lied about her
actions. She forgot about her debt to me and was only using me for her own
ambitions. Removing her from my party is only natural.”
“And you don’t
think that any of your other party members are just lying about it?”
“Seriously? You
would accuse my trusted teammates of lying to me? I don’t think that is likely.
Rishia has been with us for the shortest amount of time. Therefore, I have
reason to trust their word over hers.”
The idiot. He
wasn’t even trying to make sense!
Obviously, I’d
taken the time to look into the issue before I came breaking into his room.
I knew that I
couldn’t just run in there without proof and use my emotions to change his
mind. Luckily, reason hadn’t completely abandoned me at that point.
Rishia was not the
real culprit. Furthermore, I’d already figured out who the real criminal was.
It was actually
pretty simple. I just asked a shadow.
Shadows were secret
agents under the command of the queen.
They were a lot
like ninjas. They snuck around in secret, gathering information on people.
I knew that they
had been watching all of the heroes since we’d arrived in Cal Mira. So I
assumed, correctly, that they might have insight into what had really happened
to Itsuki’s bangle.
Rishia didn’t break
the bangle. One of Itsuki’s other party members did.
Apparently the
shadow had even anticipated this turn of events and had therefore met with
Itsuki and explained the situation to him. But Itsuki chose to believe his
party over the shadow.
When I heard that
Itsuki had already been informed of the truth, there was nothing left for me to
do but barge in and demand answers.
“But there is a
witness! And it’s a disinterested third party who watched with objectivity!
Think about it! Are you really going to believe that your party members watched
her break the bangle without stopping her?”
“So you’ve already
investigated... Well, I suppose there’s no getting around it. It was all for
her, you see? They weren’t just giving her the opportunity to confess. By
setting her up, they were really giving Rishia a way to avoid conflict.”
“What are you
talking about?”
I didn’t know about
this “setting up” business . . . but it all sounded very coercive.
“It was a way to
get Rishia to leave the party. My teammates here, by taking these actions on
their own, were giving Rishia a way to avoid battle. Don’t you see? They did it
out of concern for her.”
“. . . ?”
What was he saying?
I couldn’t make heads or tails of it.
They did all of
this on purpose? They made it all up to get her to leave the group?
“Rishia doesn’t
belong on the battlefield. Everyone talked about it, and we decided that it
would be better for her to live out her life, happily, back in her village.”
“Yes, exactly. We
did all of this for Rishia.”
Other party members
were jumping in and agreeing with Itsuki’s story. They were trying to make it
look like this was all done out of concern for her.
I guess they
thought it made it okay to falsely accuse her of a crime?
Did they think
about what life in her village would be like after that? Did they think of how
people would treat her?
Was that really
their best idea?
Rishia understood
perfectly well that she wasn’t the most powerful fighter around.
If they wanted to
protect her from the danger of battle, why didn’t they just sit her down and
talk about it sincerely?
Granted, Rishia was
very passionate about wanting to help them, so she probably wouldn’t have
immediately agreed to leave. But if Itsuki had sat her down and sincerely
explained his feelings, wouldn’t she have choked back her tears and nodded?
Whatever. I knew
one thing for sure.
Itsuki wanted to
get Rishia out of his party. But Rishia was insistent about helping, and he
didn’t know what to do.
So his party
members decided to commit a crime and frame her for it?
Did that make any
sense? No. The truth was that he was upset that she’d proven herself useful in
the last battle.
So they all framed
her—out of jealousy.
They did it out of
concern for her? Ha! Give me a break!
It seemed more
likely to me that he knew he wasn’t in any risk from the plan, so he thought it
up and asked his party members to carry it out.
He could have made
a sincere request of her, but instead he tricked her and ended up hurting her
in the process. And all because he was jealous of her success in the last
battle!
When was he going
to understand that we weren’t playing a game?
Besides, had this
been a game, a party member probably would have just left the party if he’d
asked her too.
But that’s right.
Itsuki had been used to playing console games . If
those were single player, then he would be accustomed to his party members
being NPCs.
I was really at the
end of my rope with this guy. Exhausted, I turned to Rishia.
She looked like she
was on the verge of tears. She was shaking as she looked at Itsuki, clearly
using what energy she had to stay composed.
As for myself, well,
this was really the last straw. There’s no way I could respect Itsuki at all
after this.
Motoyasu was an
idiot who believed everything Bitch said, sure. But he wasn’t the sort of
person that would cast off one of his teammates and leave them to rot.
As for Itsuki, if
he were facing an enemy he couldn’t defeat, would he run away and leave his
party to die?
“The truth is that
Rishia never really quite fit in with the rest of the party. I don’t want to
force her into unnecessarily dangerous situations, so I think it would be
better for her to live in a peaceful place. I think she would be happier that
way.”
“Did you stop to
think about how Rishia might feel about it?!”
“That’s easy to
say, but a battle for the fate of the world isn’t the sort of thing that we can
risk on someone’s emotions.”
“Then why didn’t
you just tell her that in the beginning?”
“I will say it now.
She simply isn’t powerful enough to be of use in battle. I thought that if we
gave her time to level and power-up, things might change. But nothing changed.
Therefore, I think it’s best that she goes back to her village.”
That was what I
expected him to say.
Basically, he was
just trying to make himself look better.
“Then why didn’t
you tell her that honestly? Were you afraid of being the bad guy?”
“Not at all! Why
are you so simple-minded?”
“If you think being
thoughtful means framing someone for a crime so that you can get what you want,
then yeah, I’m fine with being simple-minded.”
“She won’t be able
to keep up as the battles get harder. We had to be tough to protect her!”
“But you’re the one
that ignored her real potential and forced her to be a fighter! Why won’t you
let other people control their own lives?”
Hasn’t she said
that she was better with magic than a sword?
He must have known
that, but he told her to focus on melee when she went through the class up
ceremony. He should have known that she’d end up useless!
And then when he
realized she couldn’t keep up, he decided to do away with her. That’s the Itsuki I know.
What a jerk!
If he’d just been
honest with her, she would have understood!
In the end, he came
up with this elaborate scheme just so he wouldn’t have to look like a mean
person.
And that’s
basically what he had done to me too.
They’d had a
specific goal in mind and they had schemed to get what they wanted. And Itsuki
had been in on it the whole time.
“Then this is a
good opportunity to be clear about it. My party is not going to be able to
continue working with you, Rishia. To be frank, you are too weak to keep up.”
Which meant that he
would only say what he really meant if his back was up against a wall—which it
only was because I’d stormed in.
On top of it all,
he must have felt like he was being blamed for his behavior, so he reasoned
that it was because of Rishia, and therefore Rishia must be in the wrong.
How hypocritical
and self-righteous can he be?
Compared to him, I
preferred the company of slave traders and con men. At least they knew that
they were evil.
They didn’t pretend
to be something that they weren’t, and their intentions were clear. That alone
made them way better than someone like Itsuki.
“...”
Rishia tried to
reply to Itsuki but couldn’t find the words. She turned and ran out of the
room.
“Rishia?!”
“She’s just trying
to get your sympathy. Now please get out of my room!”
“You . . . You want
to make innocent people suffer—again!”
“When did I ever do
that?!”
“Oh, I guess you’ve
forgotten? About Bitch? About your little disguised hero antics?”
“I don’t believe I
have anything to do with the Bitch incident.”
Nothing to do with
it, eh? He was standing with her, blaming me for everything. But I’d yet to
hear an apology for it.
He really thought
that he was the center of the universe. He didn’t care a lick about the
thoughts and feelings of others.
I didn’t have
enough energy to be angry anymore. I was just tired. The boiling rage I’d felt
was starting to cool off.
I thought that this
made me feel the way that Bitch had made me feel when she betrayed me. But I
was wrong. This was different.
“Oh well. I thought
you had a sense of justice. I thought that you had some issues but that you
could at least be a decent hero. And now this. I suppose I’m surprised.
Surprised and disappointed in you.”
I shot him a nasty
look.
I’d heard that the
opposite of affection wasn’t hate—it was indifference.
So that meant that
the opposite of hate was also indifference.
I couldn’t bring
myself to care about Itsuki anymore. I couldn’t get mad at someone I didn’t
care about.
“We don’t have the
sort of relationship that permits you to say things like that! Please keep your
distance from me in the future!”
Itsuki was furious.
He was shouting at me.
I was starting to
understand. Itsuki thought very highly of himself, so there was nothing worse
for him than knowing his estimation had fallen in someone’s eyes. He must have
found it traumatic.
“I don’t care. Why
should I spend time with a self-righteous brat like you? Just keep doing your
best to keep your nasty, true nature hidden from everyone.”
“I told you to get
out of here!”
Itsuki looked like
he was about to reach for his bow, but I just glared at him with cold
indifference.
“Go ahead . . . do
it. Take that beloved bow of yours and shoot me. You coward!”
“You asked for it!”
Itsuki pulled the
sting back on his bow and fired an arrow.
His bow was
magical. The arrows just appeared when he pulled the string back.
I just took one
step after another towards him.
His arrows hit me,
but clattered to the floor with an ineffectual clang.
“What?!”
“You monster!”
Itsuki’s party
members couldn’t believe how ineffective the arrows were against my defense.
They were already calling me a monster!
“You know that evil
attacks don’t work against me, right?”
I continued walking
towards Itsuki, and he kept backing away to keep his distance. Soon he was in a
corner, shooting arrow after arrow at me.
“Eagle piercing
shot!”
I couldn’t believe
he was going to use a skill inside a small room like that.
I squinted at the
arrow and steadied myself, then reached out and snatched the eagle-shaped arrow
out of the air by its throat.
“You . . . You
stopped my eagle piercing shot?”
“I’m sure it’s a
defense ignoring attack, but it doesn’t matter. It’s not even worth it to
defend myself against something so weak.”
I tensed, looked
down at the magic eagle, and then I squeezed its throat and killed it.
It wasn’t an actual
monster, so I was able to kill it with my own strength.
I dropped it and
approached Itsuki until we were face-to-face.
“You say Rishia is
weak? Ha! And you think you ’re strong?”
“. . . !?”
His face flushed
red with anger.
I didn’t care. I
know that Fitoria had warned me about it, but I no longer wanted anything to do
with Itsuki.
I turned and left
the room.
“I hope you enjoyed
that! You won’t be able to boss us around for much longer!”
I didn’t care.
Maybe he’d finally understand how substantial the difference in our strength
was. Maybe it would inspire him to get stronger.
I chased after
Rishia.
I’d seen her
running off in the direction of the harbor, but when I got there she was nowhere
to be seen. She wouldn’t...
Just as I was
considering it, I saw Filo pulling Rishia out of the water.
There was a crowd
of people standing around them.
“Hey, do you like
swimming? It didn’t look like you were having very much fun though! And weren’t
you sinking?”
“Let me go! Please,
I . . . I...”
“Filo, you did
good. I’ll get you a treat later.”
“I don’t know what
you mean, but yay!”
“Tell me what
happened.”
“This nice girl
just fell into the ocean. But she started to sink, so I jumped in and pulled
her out.”
“She jumped...”
She was sad enough
to attempt suicide. It was horrible just thinking about it.
I suddenly
understood why Motoyasu had been so freaked out.
Someone you liked
might say terrible things to you, but why would you try to kill yourself over
it?
“Good work, Filo.”
“Heh, heh, heh.”
I rubbed Filo’s
head.
If Filo hadn’t been
there, that might have been the end for Rishia. The harbor was very deep in
places.
The spots where the
large ships docked were especially deep. If you tried to drown there, you could
do it.
We had just managed
to avoid a real disaster.
“Ok, Rishia...”
Filo was still
holding Rishia, who seemed to be very distraught. I took her hand and talked to
her.
“Let’s just say
that you succeeded, and that you’ve died here. Now what do you want to do with
the life that was saved?”
“Let me die. Master
Itsuki rejected me. I have no reason left to live. I’m not worth anything to
anyone.”
“No one said that. You’re the one who decides what you are worth.”
“Then let me die.”
“You can do what
you want, but I won’t forgive you!”
I couldn’t stand
the thought of her being treated this way.
“Are you just going
to accept that they’ve pinned a crime on you? Don’t you want to prove them
wrong?”
“But I...”
“Don’t you want to
make Itsuki say, ‘Please come back. We need you’?”
“I know that I’m
weak. I know it!”
“Who says you’ll
always be weak? Only Itsuki. But he’s wrong.”
They’d told me that
I was the weakest hero too. They’d looked down on me.
That’s why . . .
that’s why you can’t just accept the things that people say about you.
“Can I . . . Can I
be stronger? Will he respect me someday?”
“I promise you
that. We’ll show Itsuki just how strong you can be!”
We’d make him
regret kicking her out of his team. The fool!
If we made Rishia
stronger than any of his other teammates, then eventually Itsuki would have to
believe the things I told him about the power-up system.
“Rishia, I’ll help
you. I’ll help you until you are strong enough to help yourself. We can do it!”
That was how I
really felt.
We’d been through
the same things. We’d been framed, called weak, and condescended to. I saw
myself in Rishia, and I was going to make sure that Itsuki understood how wrong
he had been.
“Come with me!”
I reached out a
hand to her. She hesitated, then took it.
“But I love Master
Itsuki.”
“Fine. Love who you
want. I don’t care what you think of me. I care what you think of yourself.”
It’s not like I was
inviting her into my party because she was a girl.
I just couldn’t
forgive Itsuki’s actions. He’d forced her to level like he wanted her to, then
tossed her to the curb when she didn’t suit his needs.
And I felt like I’d
been through the same things she had.
That’s why I knew
what I was talking about.
“You’ll be strong.
We’ll do whatever it takes.”
“Okay. Thank you.”
She was still
sobbing when she accepted my party invitation.
So Rishia ended up
joining my party, but...
When we were on our
way back to the room, we ran into Raphtalia.
“I heard you
screaming. You sounded very angry! What happened?”
“Itsuki pissed me
off.”
“But . . . Oh,
isn’t that Rishia behind you?
So she knew about
Rishia. Good. That would make explaining it easier on me.
“Oh, um . . . yes.”
“What happened to
you?”
“I’ll explain when
we get back to the room.”
“What about
Rishia?”
“She’s in our party
now.”
“R . . . Really?
Okay.”
Raphtalia nodded.
It looked like she had already run through the possible scenarios in her mind.
We went back to the
room, and I told her what had happened.
Raphtalia reacted
like I expected she would. She was half annoyed, half angry.
“Itsuki...”
“Please, don’t
speak ill of Master Itsuki.”
“After all he did
to you, you still want to defend him?”
Raphtalia looked
like she couldn’t believe her ears.
I felt the same
way.
“If Filo hadn’t
stepped in, she would have drowned.”
“Did I do
goooooood?”
“Yeah, you did
great. I already told you that though.”
“Heh, heh.”
Apparently Filo
hadn’t gotten enough praise yet, so I reached over and ruffled her hair.
Her cowlick was
kind of annoying.
“Master Itsuki
isn’t bad. It’s my fault for being weak.”
Rishia looked like
she was about to burst into tears again. Raphtalia reached out and took her
hand.
“You really care
for him, don’t you?”
“Yes.”
“He’ll come around
someday. Until then, you and I just need to be patient.”
“You feel the same
way then, don’t you? Very well.”
Huh? What were they
talking about? I didn’t really understand, but the room felt a little
claustrophobic all of a sudden.
What did she mean
by “you and I”? Whatever, at least they weren’t being antagonistic with one
another.
“Okay, first things
first. Rishia, no stalking Itsuki, okay?”
“Oh . . . Okay.”
She was already
well on her way to being a stalker, so I felt like I needed to nip that in the
bud.
What she really
needed now was distance and space to think.
“I’ll do my best.”
“Itsuki is pretty
pissed off right now, so it’s best to keep your distance.”
I didn’t want to
see him either. His whole self-satisfied attitude really got under my skin.
“So what role
should Rishia take on in our party? What do you think she’s best at?”
“Oh no!”
“Calm down. We’re
not going to force you to do anything you don’t want to.”
All I was saying
was now that she was a member of our party, we needed to figure out what role
she was going to play.
But she’d been in
Itsuki’s party this whole time.
Which meant there
was a good chance she thought I was a sexual predator or something like that.
“What are you good
at? From what I’ve heard you’ve been a melee fighter?”
“Well, I was doing
my best, but . . .”
“Everyone has
things they are good at and things they are bad at. We’ll just have to practice
different things to help you find your niche. My party really doesn’t have
enough members, so there’s sure to be something perfect for you.”
Both Filo and
Raphtalia were already excellent melee fighters, so I think we were going to be
just fine on that front.
With melee taken
care of, it probably made the most sense to have her focus on magic use, since
we didn’t have any dedicated magic-users.
“What sort of magic
can you use?”
“I don’t have a
specialty. But that also means I can use all different kinds.”
“That sounds pretty
useful.”
Filo, Raphtalia,
and I were all limited to one particular type of magic. I could use support and
restorative magic, Filo could use wind magic, and Raphtalia could use illusion
magic.
But Rishia was
saying that she wasn’t limited the way that we were.
Unfortunately, that
probably meant that she wasn’t going to be very advanced with any particular
type.
Regardless, it
would be a big help.
If she could use
any king of magic, then we would be able to adjust our battle plan on the fly,
responding to whatever came up.
Strength wasn’t
only about your level and your stats, after all.
If we thought our
strategy through, we should be able to perform above what might be expected of
someone at our level.
So this was a good
opportunity for us to sit down and decide on the most strategic way to divide
up the necessary roles in the party.
I was in charge of
defense and healing, which made me the supporting player.
Raphtalia was an
attacker that could offer support in a pinch: our version of a shortstop.
When she was
attacking, she would follow up on Filo’s offense. In a pinch, she could use her
illusion magic to give us an advantage.
Filo was a flat-out
attacker.
She was strong and
fast. She could use haikuikku to take out and decimate a range of monsters
quickly.
So I needed to find
a useful job for Rishia to perform and then adjust our strategy to accommodate
her.
“Don’t worry,
Rishia. Mr. Naofumi comes off as pretty rough and mean, but he’s actually not
nearly as bad as you might think.”
“Maybe you and
Rishia should have a long chat about it someday.”
What was that
supposed to mean? Not as bad as you might think?
Oh well. It wasn’t
who I really was, but I can imagine that people might be intimidated after
hearing about my merchant life and association with slave traders.
“Oh, well . . .
I...”
Rishia’s eyes flit
over to me, and then she looked away again before nodding.
I guess she agreed
with Raphtalia?
“Hey, what are you
trying to say about me?”
“Nothing...”
“I don’t think it’s
nothing. Tell me.”
“That’s the kind of
person he is.”
“I see.”
What did she see? I
can’t understand the way that women think.
They were a
mystery. They were way easier to understand in gyaruge.
“That reminds me of
something.”
I looked Rishia
over from head to foot.
She didn’t have
very good equipment.
The squirrel
kigurumi, I think it was called a Risuka Kigurumi? They probably forced her to
wear that because she had been in the party for the least amount of time.
“Rishia, what level
are you at?”
“Hm? 68.”
That was higher
than I’d expected. I didn’t check on her stats directly, but if she were at
level 68, then she would probably prove useful.
Rishia was going to
be a jack-of-all-trades type of magic-user. Should I have her focus on healing
and support magic?
If she were a
magic-user though, I would have to worry about her defense rating. I had to
realize that there were going to be times when I wouldn’t be able to completely
protect her in battle.
If she were at
level 68, then she would be a little behind Raphtalia and Filo, but she would
still be able to participate in battles.
The only thing that
really worried me was that Itsuki had gone out of his way to drop her. Could
she really have been that weak? Granted, Itsuki wasn’t the smartest guy around.
“Um, Shield Hero?
You used to have a Pekkul Kigurumi, didn’t you?”
“Huh? Yeah, I’ve
got a couple of them. Oh, and don’t call me that. It’s too stuffy. Call me by
my name.”
I’d gotten in a fight
with Melty over this in the past, so I’d come to realize that calling each
other by our names was important.
“Feh? Okay, um,
Naofumi.”
“Good. Now what
about the kigurumi?”
“I was wondering if
you might let me wear it.”
“What?”
“Well, I had to beg
them all to let me wear the Risuka Kigurumi, but eventually . . .”
“You mean they
didn’t force you to wear that?”
“No, they didn’t.”
Oh, give me a
break! And she was nodding along like she was saying the most obvious thing in
the world.
She was so
pathetic. She played right into their bullying and smiled about it the whole
time!
“It’s an excellent
piece of equipment. But when they kicked me out of the party I had to give it
back.”
“Well...”
“It had a lot of
special effects that made everything easier.”
“I guess so.”
The Risuka Kigurumi
probably had magic-enhancing effects, which would have worked well with
Rishia’s innate tendencies.
I pulled out the
Pekkul Kigurumi and passed it to Rishia.
It did have a lot
of equip effects and in many ways was better than Raphtalia’s armor.
“Mr. Naofumi, are
you really going to make her wear that?”
“I’m not making her wear it. She requested it.”
If we’d just given
her some cheap equipment we had lying around, it wouldn’t be much of an
improvement over what she was already wearing.
And besides, we had
three of them. We’d gotten them from the Karma Pengu bosses on Cal Mira.
The other karma
series bosses we defeated hadn’t dropped any kigurumis though.
“Do you like it?”
“Yes, it’s very
convenient. Even when I’m sad or depressed, no one can really tell when I’m
wearing it.”
Well, that was a
depressing thing to say. How badly had they bullied her?
“Are you sure you
want to wear it?”
“Yes!”
Yes?! Give me a
break. She sounded pathetic.
This put me in a
touchy spot. I wanted her to be herself, but if she didn’t truly want to get
better, then she wasn’t going to.
And here she was
asking to wear a kigurumi so that she could cry and it would go unnoticed?
“You can wear it
for a little while, but eventually I’m going to have to ask you to move on.”
Sigh
Raphtalia looked
concerned.
Were they going to
be friends? Could Raphtalia stand it?
Personality-wise
I’m sure we’d be able to get along, but it was too early to make a judgment
call anyway.
“Let’s work
together and get stronger, okay?”
“Yes!”
At least she could
answer with some vigor. It seemed to me like she might get along with Ren’s
party.
Slowly, but
excitedly, Rishia unveiled how she looked in the Pekkul Kigurumi.
“How’s it look?
Pen-Pen!”
“Um . . . yup.”
She seemed a little
too excited about it. She reminded me of myself, before I was summoned to this
world.
But now I’d met
another person, besides Filo, who actually enjoyed wearing those things.
She didn’t seem to
know how to make friends with humans, but she could probably make friends with
monsters.
“Thanks for
inviting me into your party.”
“No problem. Thanks
for joining.”
“Yay! We can dress
the saaaaame!”
“Pleasure to be
traveling with you, Rishia.”
And so my friends
welcomed her to the party.
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