“Feh... Everyone
seemed so angry.”
“Sorry. I could
have had Kizuna do it, but you seemed like the better choice.”
“Yeah...” Kizuna
muttered, looking at Rishia.
Even with her mask
on, Rishia looked like a klutz. She played the part perfectly. She didn’t even
have to pretend.
Though from a
certain perspective, we only got all that money because of Rishia.
“But, Naofumi, that
was pretty impressive. Where did you figure out how to drive the prices so
high?”
“It’s the best way
to make the most profit off the least amount of medicine.”
“Wouldn’t it work
the same way if we sold three bottles instead of two?”
“Business isn’t
that simple. If you can get people feeling desperate, it’s easier to lead them
to higher prices.”
Had we sold five
bottles, I’d estimate that the second bottle would sell for 35 tamagin, and the
merchants would have figured out a market price by the third bottle.
There’d be a
difference in the final price, but with a revolutionary medicine in front of
their eyes, and the sudden loss of merchandise, they’d lose their cool and lose
all sense of perspective.
Had there been any
merchants that were convinced they’d found the goose that lays the golden egg,
then things might have been different. But that wasn’t the case.
So it made more sense
to sell one bottle for a much higher price.
“If we had just
sold the five bottles, then it would have come out to one kinhan and 80
tamagin. It might have helped spread the word more for future auctions, which
could have helped get us higher prices down the road, but we don’t have enough
time for all that.”
We had other things
to focus on.
Kizuna said that
this was an enemy country, so we needed money in order to escape it and get to
safety. We had to get out of there before too many people started to think they
could make money off of us.
“So do you think we
can afford a travel voucher now?”
“Oh sure. We’ve got
plenty.”
“Great. Then let’s
buy the voucher and use the leftover money to get ores we can use to power up
our weapons.”
“I’m impressed. I
have some friends that are merchants and like to make money, but none of them
are as good at it as you are,” Kizuna explained as she followed me down the
road.
It was funny. After
selling our stuff at our roadside stand, we were now about to become customers
around town. I decided to head to the weapon shop first.
We walked inside
the store and looked around at what they had for sale. There were katana and
nagamaki. They also sold folding fans, scythes, and spears. All in all, the
selection was completely different from the old guy’s back in Melromarc.
Of course the
weapon shop only sold weapons. All we could do was buy a new sword for Rishia.
I bought one that seemed about right for her level.
“So where can I buy
a shield?”
“Over at the armor
shop.”
I should have
known.
The weapon shops in
the last world had sold both armor and weapons, but that was generally pretty
rare. I was kind of starting to miss the old guy.
We went to the
armor shop next, but they didn’t have many shields on sale—and the selection
wasn’t very good.
But I did find a
shield that seemed to be made from the carapace of a horseshoe crab.
I’d seen similar
things in games before. The rest of the shields on display were all pretty
close to what the old guy had back in his shop.
Actually, I could transform
my shield into most of them, if only my level was high enough to unlock them.
There weren’t very many to choose from, anyway.
The country had a
very Japanese feel to it, so I shouldn’t have expected them to have many
shields for sale. I never heard of soldiers from the Sengoku period using
shields, anyway. I wasn’t sure why, but regardless of the reason, the fact
remained that there weren't many shields available.
I guess it was the
same back in the previous world. Aside from the old guy’s shop in Melromarc,
most of the other weapon shops didn’t have a wide selection of shields for
sale. I’d heard that most of them had been taken off the market because the
national religion represented them as the weapon of the enemy.
“Want to get some
new armor?”
“Yeah...”
“Well, we’ve got
the budget for it, so let’s get a decent set. If we can get one with chainmail
on the inside, that would be best.”
I pretended to spit
at the suggestion, and Kizuna looked shocked at my behavior.
“Why do you have to
be so rude?”
I thought my
reaction was perfectly reasonable. There was nothing I hated more than
chainmail. I’d never wear something like that.
“I don’t like
chainmail.”
“Oh yeah? You get
emotional about the strangest things.”
“By the way, I know
this is an armor shop, but why are they selling kimono and haori?”
It made for a
refined atmosphere in the shop, but from the look of the tattered haori Kizuna
was wearing, they didn’t seem to offer much in the way of defense. Granted,
they might have been made with magic or other special attributes, but I still
didn’t see why they needed to be sold in an armor shop.
“Why not look at
their effects? Then you’ll see.”
I walked over to a
kimono and haori and looked up their information. I was surprised... They
seemed to have pretty impressive defense ratings. They were more effective than
their appearance would have you believe. That must be why Kizuna was so
attached to her haori.
“Glass gave this to
me, so I...”
“Don’t get
sentimental on me.”
The haori was
really beat up, though I guess she had been wearing it for years. What wouldn’t
get beat up in that amount of time?
I certainly didn’t
want to walk around in a kimono or a haori.
They were all a bit
expensive, too.
For the time being,
I decided to make do with a decent set of armor.
But all the armor
looked like it had come off of a samurai. It all was made of metal and
lacquered wood. I guess I’d have to settle for the samurai look.
Rishia could
probably use a breastplate, too. It would probably even look good on her.
Luckily the store
was selling breastplates, so I bought one and had her try it on.
“Does it fit?”
“Um...”
“Looks like your
kigurumi days are behind you.”
Rishia had always
worn a kigurumi, but now she looked more like a proper adventurer.
She had a kodachi
at her waist, too, which made her look like a ninja... but could she move like
a ninja? I had my doubts.
Would she ever be
able to move like the old Hengen Muso lady?
I had my doubts
about that, too...
“Alright, let’s
go.”
The new armor
clattered and squeaked as we left the shop. It didn’t feel like it fit quite
right. I should have expected as much, but the stuff the old guy in Melromarc
made was really the best. The Barbarian Armor had a noisy chain that hung off
of it, but it never bothered me the way that this new suit did.
Still, I couldn’t
complain about the defense boost it gave me.
We went back to the
market next and looked for materials we could use to power up my shield.
If I didn’t power
up enough to get through the coming battles, then my chances of surviving for
much longer were slim. I was still a pretty low level, so I would settle for a
stopgap shield that would last until I could access to stronger ones.
“So where do we get
this travel voucher?”
“At that guild—the
one we already went to.”
“Ah, right.”
Guilds always had
these town hall kind of responsibilities. I guess these various worlds had that
in common. Whatever, it could wait. I looked at a collection of earth crystals
a shop had out for sale and started haggling to get a better price.
There were chunks
of ore that helped recover magic power in this world—similar to what magic
water did in the world I was summoned to. As I expected, they sold for about
the same price. But when Rishia and I used them (probably because we were from
a different world) they gave us a more experience points than the boss monsters
we’d fought in the Cal Mira Islands. You can see why we would want them.
It looked like they
gave different amounts of experience based on their size and purity. It
basically meant that we could buy experience points with money, which was a
very good deal indeed. What could be more convenient than that? Unfortunately,
I didn’t know how long I could expect them to work.
“Alright, let’s go
get this travel voucher and be on our way.”
“Good idea. No
reason to hang around here for any longer...” Kizuna said, casting a glance
behind us.
I took the hint and
followed her gaze. We were being followed by a group of men. They probably
realized that there was money to be made with our soul-healing water, and they
wanted to capture us and force us to tell them how to make it.
“Why don’t we get
some ofuda for Rishia before we leave?”
“Ofuda?”
“They’re a sort of
magic tool. Really advanced users can take their own magic power and manifest
it physically as strips of paper. People that can’t use magic on their own can
use the ofuda as single-use spells.”
It actually sounded
like a pretty good idea.
“I should probably
get some, too.”
“If I try and use
an attack-imbued ofuda, by throwing it at a person, it never works. I have a
feeling they won’t work for you, either.”
That sounded
plausible.
My shield certainly
wouldn’t let me hurt anyone.
Even if I made a
bomb and threw it at someone, it didn’t do any damage, so I had a feeling the
ofuda might work, or rather not work, in the same way.
Kizuna and I
weren’t really suited to battle other people.
Rishia was more
versatile, but her problem was that she wasn’t very good at anything. She might
have been able to damage other people in battle, but she was such a bad fighter
that it didn’t really matter.
I couldn’t say how
useful ofuda would be for her until I saw how they actually worked. At the very
least, it would give her another avenue of attack, and that was certain to come
in handy.
“But I... I can’t
use them...”
“You just have to
throw them at the enemy or stick them on the enemy. That’s it.”
“Really? That’s
all?”
Kizuna led us to a
shop that had a lot of different ofuda out for sale. There were wood ofuda,
paper ofuda... even stone ofuda. They just looked like name tags to me.
They did look like
they’d all been made with a lot of care, from the materials to the designs on
the surface.
“Just take a simple
fire ofuda with you. We can at least use it at night to get a campfire going.”
Kizuna purchased a bundle of fire ofuda and gave them to Rishia.
“Rishia, I don’t
know how magic works in your world, but focusing your magic power when you use
these will amplify the effects.”
“Oh... Alright.”
I couldn’t think of
any reason to disagree.
Now to finish what
we came here for. We had to find a place out of the public eye where we could
use the earth crystals to gain some experience.
We pulled it off. I
ended up at level 35, and Rishia leveled up just a bit more than I did. How
come she leveled up faster than I did?
Oh well. At least I
had leveled up enough to use the shields on sale at the armor shop and enough
to unlock some of the shields I’d acquired back in the world I was summoned to.
We left the town as
fast as we could and made our way to the capital.
Let me try to sum up
some of the things I learned about Kizuna on the road.
Over the last few
days, it had become clear that she was a very strong hero.
She could easily
kill more than half of the monsters we encountered on the road. Her skills were
very unique, though, and I still didn’t understand them very well. I’ll try to
explain what I mean.
The first one she
used was called Form One: Pitfall.
It opened a large
hole in the ground in front of her, and any charging monsters were forced to
either stop or fall into it. It was about waist deep, which wasn’t really that
deep when you think about it.
All it really did
was make a hole. It didn’t have any other appreciable effects to speak of, but
it did interrupt the monsters’ charge and opened up holes in their defenses.
Once she saw a chance for an attack, she could take the monster out with one
hit.
When attacking, she
effortlessly switched between her fishing rod, a bow, and her tuna knife. Her
movements were clean and impressive to behold.
We came across a
large scaled, crocodile-like monster called Massive Mandible. I held it in
place and she swept in with her knife, skinning the whole beast with one quick
move and killing it instantly. It was kind of amazing.
Another skill she
liked to use was called Fishing.
She could hook the
lure of her fishing rod onto the mouth of monsters and yank them up into the
air. Then the monsters would crash back down to the ground and lie there,
belly-up, leaving the perfect opening for a finishing attack.
Apparently, she had
quite a lot of other skills. But we made it through a few days with only those
two.
I did see her use
one that involved a mysterious fishing lure.
I think it might
have lowered the enemy’s defenses... maybe. Rishia had followed up with an
attack that did way more damage than usual, so I assumed it was because of the
lure.
I could have asked
her to explain, but I had pretty much figured it out just by watching, so I
didn’t bother.
Anyway, after
spending a few days with her, I’d come to the conclusion that she was about as
powerful as Glass and L’Arc. If only she could use her offensive skills against
other people, she’d be a formidable opponent.
I still didn’t know
why, but we continued to gain more experience points from battle than I was
used to, and Rishia had already reached level 42. The monsters were pretty
strong, so I guess that explained why we were leveling up so fast.
Soon enough, we
arrived at the capital.
“Security looks
really tight.”
“If we can just
find a way inside, I think we’ll be fine.”
The town we’d left
looked like it had come out of Japan’s Muromachi period, but the capital looked
exactly like a city from of the Edo period.
A large
Japanese-style castle loomed tall over the city. But just like in the last
town, none of the residents wore their hair in a topknot.
We stood at the
entrance to the city and gazed off at an adventurer’s guild in the distance,
where we expected to find the dragon hourglass.
The enemy was
everywhere. I wasn’t sure who it was, but I knew that it included high-ranking
officials and other smart people. They must have been prepared for the worst,
because it looked like there were a lot of guards patrolling the area around
the hourglass.
“I wonder what’s
going on...”
If they were making
these preparations on the chance that one of the four holy heroes had escaped
from prison, then they were already demonstrating more intelligence than the
idiots back in Melromarc.
If Kizuna could
fight people, then we might have been able to punch through their defenses by
force. But with only Rishia capable of offense, that wasn’t going to be easy.
But it might not be impossible.
“Should we go out
to the mountains and level up more? Then maybe we could come back and break
through.”
“You think this is
a game?” Kizuna asked.
She was right.
How would higher
levels help us break through a crowd of guards? It wasn’t a very good idea.
“Besides, if we
spend more time leveling, we’ll just lose more time before the next wave
comes.”
“Good point.”
I don’t know what
hourglass Kizuna was registered with, but if we were going to waste time
leveling, we might as well just wait for the wave to teleport us out of the
capital.
We’d spent five
days on the road.
The next wave would
come in nine days, and it would teleport us to another country when it arrived.
But what good would that do us?
I could hardly
remember what we were supposed to be doing at the time, but regardless,
whatever happened, I couldn’t afford to lose sight of the goal. We’d come to
this world to punish Kyo for using the Spirit Tortoise to cause chaos in our
world. But that possibility was looking further and further away. We had to
stay focused.
We didn’t have time
to waste. We were supposed to find a way out of the country as soon as
possible. Besides, people were after us. Who knew if we could manage to stay
out of sight for a whole week?
Why was I a wanted
man literally everywhere I went?
“Still, with all
the guards out like this, I don’t know if we’ll just be able to sneak in
undetected. This isn’t a spy movie.”
“Sure—but if it
were that easy, it wouldn’t be any fun.”
“Feh... What are we
going to do?”
“Kizuna, are you
sure we can teleport out of here if we reach the dragon hourglass?”
“You’re asking that
now? Yes, if I can get to the hourglass, we’ll be free. Trust me.”
I wanted to protest
that trust was exactly the problem, but I held my tongue.
“We’ll look
suspicious if we keep standing here, looking at the building. We should go
somewhere else to talk.”
“Yeah.”
We left the area
and made our way to a nearby riverbank to continue our conversation.
“What is that
building used for? Class-up ceremonies?”
“You mean
job-changing? It is used for that, too, but most of the time people go there to
check their drop items. If you check your drops at the dragon hourglass, you
almost always get more items than you would from one of those sketchy machines
out in the country.”
“So the heroes
don’t need it, do they?”
“Nope. Heroes can
access their drop items whenever they want, so they don’t come here very
often.”
“Maybe we should
pretend to be normal adventurers to get close to the building.”
“It won’t work. You
have to go through a thorough screening to get inside. You have to provide
official identification. It’s a very important site as far as the government is
concerned.”
Hm... I guess we
couldn’t make a forgery, either. We could probably pull it off if we had some
connections on the inside, but I couldn’t think of a way to make that happen,
either.
“And there’s no
guarantee that a holder of a vassal weapon from this country won’t attack us.
We are in enemy territory, after all.”
“Wait a second.
This vassal weapon... is it a book?”
“A book? No. I
think it’s a mirror in this country.”
“A mirror? How does
it work?”
“I don’t know. I
don’t know everything, you know.”
That reminded me of
something. I couldn’t stop imagining the story of Snow White.
The mirror in that
story would answer the queen’s questions. It would go something like, “Who is
the most beautiful in the land?” What if this person could ask their mirror
questions, too, like, “Who escaped from the labyrinth? Where are they?”
I hoped it didn’t
work that way. That would have been bad news for us.
“But you know,
there’s really no telling how strong we’d need to be to break through the
security and run in.”
It’s funny that we
were worrying about all this when there was a time when I could have just
broken right through whenever we wanted.
“I can’t deal any
damage to human opponents, but they would still have a hard time catching me.
The only reason they got me into that prison in the first place was because I
couldn’t move...”
Kizuna didn’t have
any doubts about her actual power.
I’d seen her
demonstrate her impressive power plenty of times already, and I was already
assuming that she could restrain people, even if she couldn’t hurt them
directly.
“But I guess it’s
an important site, so it’s probably safe to assume that the guards stationed
there are all mature, skilled fighters.”
“Yeah, but
still...”
I’d be able to use
the Shield of Wrath soon, and then I could use it to burn through the enemy
lines. Maybe then we could break through and get to the hourglass.
“You and I might
make it through, but what about Rishia? She could be a problem.”
“How so?”
“If all the guards
attack at once, you won’t be able to protect her from everyone.”
What? Something
wasn’t quite right here.
I won’t be able to
protect her? I’m the Shield Hero!
All I could do was
protect people, and now she was saying I couldn’t do that? Kizuna was getting a
little too condescending for my tastes. Did she think I was just in charge of
sales? Was I just the chef in the group?
“Kizuna, I hate to
state the obvious; I really do. But I have a number of defensive skills that
cover a wide area. I don’t think I’ll have any trouble protecting anyone that
needs it.”
“Oh yeah. Right.”
“Exactly. Rishia’s
only one person. I can protect her easily.”
“Feh...”
“What’s wrong? Did
I say something?”
“You sounded like
you didn’t think I could handle defense.”
“I guess it is your
specialty, isn’t it? So do you want to try attacking from the front? We don’t
really need to pay too much attention to the battle. We just need to get
through. And if it’s really necessary, I have a way to deal damage to people.
It comes with a heavy price, though.”
“A curse series?”
“Something like
that.”
Considering how
similar her weapons were to mine, I had assumed that she had access to
something like the curse series.
Just like how I had
the Shield of Wrath or the Sprit Tortoise Heart Shield that could do damage
directly, I bet that she had access to a weapon or two that could go on the
offensive against human opponents.
But just like the
curse series, I assumed that offensive actions like that would come with a
heavy price.
“I’d prefer to
avoid it if possible. But it might be better than sitting around talking,
considering how little time we have. If worse comes to worst, maybe you can use
your teleport skill, Naofumi.”
I had already
checked to make sure that I was able to use Teleport Shield again.
I could use it, but
none of the locations from the world that summoned me were available. The only
places I could go were places in this new world that I had visited and
registered.
“I don’t know if I
can still use it when we are close to the dragon hourglass, though.”
There had been
times and places in the past where I hadn’t been able to use Teleport Shield.
So there was the chance that we might make it to the room with the hourglass
and then find ourselves unable to teleport out. It was probably better to be
cautious about it.
“If that’s the
case, we’ll just have to run to a place where you can use it.”
“This plan is
getting messier and messier.”
“It’s better than
doing nothing, isn’t it?”
“Yeah.”
I thought of myself
as the sort of person to attack from the front and power through the enemy...
but I don’t think I had ever actually done it. I had thought about it
before—like the time when I was wanted by the crown and had to cross a border
to escape. I’d planned on it, but the high priest showed up and revealed
himself before I ever had to cross the border.
“Feh... We’re going
to charge the guards?”
“Don’t be such a
scaredy-cat. Of course that’s what we’re going to do.”
“When this is all
over, it would be nice to spend some time fishing and relaxing.”
“Don’t sound so
wistful before the battle. It’s bad luck.”
“Ha! Good point,
Naofumi. You know, maybe you and Glass... Yeah right.”
“Give me a break.
Let’s get going.”
We pretended to
look disinterested, like it was just a normal day, and made our way to the
city-hall-like building that housed the dragon hourglass.
But... something
was going on. A throng of people crowded around the entrance.
Maybe we could use
the chaos to our advantage.
Kizuna looked
confused about whether or not we should sneak into the crowd. I locked eyes
with her, and she nodded.
“What’s all this
about?” I asked a random person in the crowd.
“Don’t you know? A
genius from the next country over developed a way to duplicate the dragon
hourglass teleportation powers of the four holy heroes and the people who hold
the vassal weapons. He just teleported into this room to demonstrate it.”
“Really? What kind
of person is it?”
It sounded like
whoever it was had set themselves up nicely. I stole a glimpse into the
building through the front door. When they mentioned a genius inventor, I
thought it might have been Kyo, but it wasn’t
He looked like a
character out of a manga and wore samurai-like armor over a school uniform. Did
they even have schools in this world? It looked strange to me. He wore his hair
pulled back into a ponytail.
He didn’t wear his
ponytail up high, like Motoyasu, just pulled it back and downward.
A flock of girls
stood behind him.
He must have been
the person that Kizuna and I had heard about back in the adventurer’s guild:
the one they said had duplicated the heroes’ teleportation skill. I guess there
was truth behind the rumors.
“We did it.”
“That was amazing!”
“I knew it would
work!”
The women standing
behind him all shouted words of praise.
The guy was shaking
hands with someone who looked like an official representative of the
government.
We’d managed to
show up just in time for the strongest security possible! I decided we should
probably pull back and wait for the excitement to die down before making our
attempt to charge through. So I turned to work my way out of the crowd when...
“Ahhhh!”
The government
official inside the room shouted and pointed his finger at Kizuna.
“What are you doing
here? Aren’t you supposed to be in prison?”
“Damn!” Kizuna
immediately took off running at the dragon hourglass.
She was right to do
so. Once they knew we were out of the prison, they would increase security
around the hourglass and we would never get a second chance. We had to go for
it now, despite the risk.
Rishia was
frantically looking around the crowd, unsure of what to do, like a stupid
schoolgirl who didn’t know if she should do what her friends said or not,
because she didn’t want them to make fun of her.
I grabbed her hand
and yanked her over to me.
“Shooting Star
Shield!”
The roughly
two-meter barrier appeared around us, and it pushed back the people in the
crowd and the nearby guards.
“Get him!” someone
shouted, and all the guards immediately readied themselves for battle. The
adventurers near the hourglass, as well as the “genius” and his cohorts, all
turned to face us.
When I deployed
Shooting Star Shield to push back the soldiers, Kizuna took off running for the
dragon hourglass.
But the soldiers
charged with protecting the hourglass reacted very quickly. Furthermore, the
interior of the room was like a city hall and full of desks, tables, and other
obstacles.
Kizuna didn’t seem
to care. She jumped on top of the desks, leaping from one to the next on her
way to the hourglass. The guards fired arrows at her, and one went straight
through her haori—but she didn’t stop.
I chased after her,
using the barrier to push all the people out of the way. The barrier was a very
powerful line of defense, but it also repelled anyone that wasn’t in your
party.
Swords and spears
could get through it, but they weren’t strong enough to break it.
That’s when the
“genius” and his friends all came after us.
I didn’t like the
look in his eyes. Something about them just pissed me off. They reminded me of
Kyo.
“This cannot be
permitted! Stop them!”
“On it!”
“Take that!”
The women behind
him all rushed to attack us, slamming the Shooting Star Shield with attacks.
How long would it last?
I didn’t have time
to wonder—the barrier shattered with a high-pitched crash.
“Feh!”
“It’s fine. Stand
back.”
I’d sworn that I
could protect her, but it was looking like that might be more difficult than
I’d expected. If only Raphtalia had been there—she could have taken care of all
these women.
I still didn’t know
what world I was in, but I couldn’t deny that everyone here seemed to be
stronger than where I’d come from. The monsters gave more experience when they
died. That meant that the samurai and adventurers in this world would all be at
higher levels for the same amount of work.
Kizuna had
mentioned job-changes and class-up-type ceremonies, but that didn’t mean that
people in this world were limited to level 40 without going through one, did
it? If these people had managed to get to relatively high levels, then maybe
they’d have no problem shattering my Shooting Star Shield, considering that my
level was pretty low at the moment.
I hadn’t been able
to power up very much, and I was paying for it.
“Take that!”
The genius shouted,
and the women all fell back in response.
What was going on?
I actually hoped
they would focus on me. Our mission was to get Kizuna close enough to the
dragon hourglass for her to touch it. If I could distract the enemy, it would
help.
Just when I was
wondering what they were concentrating on, they formed a giant ball of fire in
the air and hurled it directly at me.
It looked like the
sort of attack I could send back at them if I got the timing right.
“Hya!”
I readied my
shield, waited for the right moment, and used it to hit the ball of flame back
at the genius.
“What?! Nooo!”
The ball of flame
flew across the room and slammed into the genius, setting him aflame. He fell
to the floor and rolled around, trying to put out the flames, which were
burning ferociously.
“Gyaaaaa!”
Everyone started
screaming. In all the chaos, I couldn’t make out the genius’s name.
“I’m not finished
with you...” the charred genius said, climbing to his feet.
He was pretty
tough.
He drew a sword
from a scabbard at his waist and flew at me.
I raised my shield
just in time to stop it.
“You fool. You
blocked my attack without knowing how high my level is. I can slice right
through this shield of...”
A loud clang echoed
through the room, and I felt an odd shock run through the shield.
This guy... Just
how high was his attack power? Sorry to break it to you mister, but it isn’t
high enough to get through my defenses.
“It’s great that
you’re so confident, but it looks like I can stop your attacks without any
trouble!” I shouted, pushing him back with all my strength. There was a
momentary pause before the impact sent him flying backwards.
I looked over at
Kizuna. The soldiers had nearly cornered her. They nearly had her surrounded,
and were inching closer.
“Air Strike Shield!
Second Shield! Dritte Shield!”
I sent the series
of shields flying across the room and positioned them like steps so that Kizuna
could jump on them to get over the soldiers.
“Thanks, Naofumi!”
she winked back at me as she bounded up and over the shields.
She was right in
front of the dragon hourglass.
“Stop right there!”
the genius shouted, dashing across the room to stop her.
I didn’t know what
he was planning, but I knew I had to stop him.
“Form One:
Pitfall!”
Kizuna didn’t need
me. She summoned a hole in the ground to stop the genius in his tracks. He
tumbled into the waist-deep hole, lost his footing, and crumpled to the ground.
“Ugh! Damn it! That
won’t stop me!”
“You! Stay out of
my way!”
He tried to jump
out of the whole, but it was too late.
His women
compatriots were running after Kizuna, blood in their eyes.
But before they
could reach her, Kizuna reached out and touched the dragon hourglass. She
looked back to find me.
“Let’s go! Return
Dragon Vein!”
A soft light,
completely unlike the feeling I got when I used Portal Shield, filled the room
and enveloped my field of vision.
“No! You won’t get
away with this!”
The genius shouted
after us, his voice rattling with fury.
“Too bad. We don’t
have time to waste on people like you.”
He glared at me
with so much anger in his eyes that I wondered if it was the first time he’d
ever lost a battle.
I guess I could
understand how he felt, but we had our own goals we had to accomplish. We
couldn’t just hang out in his country forever. And I couldn’t think of a reason
to obey the laws of an enemy country that had thrown Kizuna and I in prison.
“I won’t forget
this! I’ll make you pay!”
It sounded like
we’d made a new enemy for ourselves. Oh well. I was going back to the world I
came from once we finished what we had to do in this world. I’d probably never
see the guy again.
Before the genius
and his women could reach us, Kizuna’s teleport skill activated, and the
scenery around us changed in an instant. It was like... It was like we’d fallen
back in to that hole of light we’d passed through on our way between worlds,
but it was somehow... softer
Before I could
comment on it, the scenery changed again, and we were standing before a desk
staffed by people wearing western-styled clothing. It looked like we were in
another city hall, but it was very different from the one we’d just left.
So... the escape
was a success?
Everyone in the
room turned to look at us.
“Ah...”
They all ignored me
and stared at Kizuna.
“Kizuna-sama!”
“I’m back!”
“Welcome back!”
I looked around at
our new surroundings.
An official-looking
bureaucrat-type excitedly shook her hand, a huge smile plastered over his face.
It certainly seemed like we’d reached a safe place.
“Do you think
they’ll follow us here?”
“Not if they are
using Return Dragon Vein. It can only teleport you to a dragon hourglass you’ve
already visited.
That meant they
couldn’t follow us. Perfect.
I kept looking
around to make sure it wasn’t some kind of trick, but it still seemed safe.
“Looks good to me,”
I said, and let out the breath I’d been holding.
The new country we
found ourselves was much more western, not like the Japanese style of the
previous country. It reminded me a bit of the world I’d come from before this
one.
It suddenly struck
me as strange that I’d come to feel nostalgic for stone castles that looked
like they’d come from the European Middle Ages. Still, even if this country
seemed like it was in the same time period, it also felt like a different
country. If the Melromarc I was used to was like England in the Middle Ages,
then this new country was like Germany in the Middle Ages, or something like
that.
Everyone looked
very happy to see Kizuna. They were kind to us because we had arrived with her.
An important-looking person, maybe even the king, walked over to greet us.
“Kizuna-sama, I’m
so pleased that you’ve made it back safely. Those in my service say that you
were captured and imprisoned in the inescapable labyrinth. It seems they were
not mistaken. Something will have to be done about this injustice.”
We were led into
the throne room along with Kizuna and had a lot of questions addressed to us as
well. It was a bit annoying. But Kizuna assured us that they would help us
search for Raphtalia.
“That’s right.
Thanks to the efforts of Naofumi, this holy hero from another world, we were
able to escape from the labyrinth that is said to be inescapable.”
The second that she
mentioned I was a holy hero from another world, everyone started looking around
suspiciously.
“Um...”
“Is there a
problem? There is absolutely no question that he sacrificed much to help me. I
suggest you treat him with respect,” Kizuna barked, annoyed by the sudden air
of suspicion in the room.
If I had announced
something similar back in Melromarc, I don’t think anyone would have believed
me. What would happen here?
“You’re absolutely
correct! Forgive us!”
“Fine. But are you
going to explain why you acted that way?” Kizuna asked. The official looked
uncomfortable. She said nothing more but walked closer to him, looking pretty
menacing. She was pretty good at this interrogation stuff. “So? Are you going
to explain?”
“Y... Yes, of
course. This is information known to our holders of the vassal weapons. So of
course, it should be shared with you, Kizuna-sama, as you are a holy hero as
well.” The man who looked like a king cleared his throat and continued to
speak. “The first thing you must understand is that the four holy heroes have a
more fundamental role, a deeper responsibility, than simply protecting the
people of the world in times of crisis.”
“I’ve never heard
anything about it.”
“It is only touched
on briefly in the legends.”
Back in the world
I’d come from, Fitoria had mentioned something similar.
She’d said that the
waves would grow stronger if any of the heroes were missing before the waves
came.
“A phenomenon known
as ‘the waves’ visit this world. Kizuna-sama, I realize that you are familiar
with these.”
“Yeah, there’s
always a countdown until the next one running in my field of vision. That’s for
the waves, yes? But what exactly are the waves?”
“Ancient texts say
that the waves are a phenomenon that occurs when different worlds momentarily
fuse with one another.”
Hm... I’d also
suspected that might be the case, but now that I’d seen Glass’s world with my
own eyes, I knew it was true.
But that’s not what
I wanted to know.
“Next question. Why
are Glass and L’Arc trying to kill Naofumi?”
Exactly. While we
were on the road, I told Kizuna all about our fights with Glass.
“Because there is a
legend that says that if the worlds are allowed to fuse any further, then the
worlds themselves will be destroyed.”
“What? Why would
that happen?”
“I do not know. The
legends do not say.”
“Hm... Okay. So why
try to kill Naofumi?”
“The four holy heroes
are the keystone, or the fulcrum, of the worlds they represent. When the waves
occur and the worlds begin to fuse, the heroes must survive the battle. If all
the heroes of a world are lost, then their world will be destroyed while the
lifespan of the other world will increase.”
“Hmmm...” Kizuna
murmured coldly.
I could hardly
believe what I was hearing. A hero could extend the life of his own world by
killing all the heroes of the opposing world during a wave event? I’d never
heard such a thing—but it would explain why Glass and her friends were trying
to kill me. That was how they could save their world—how they could extend the
life of their world.
I suddenly
remembered L’Arc saying something to a similar effect.
He said that we’d
have to die for the sake of his world... Actually, come to think of it, Kyo had
said something like that, too. When he was controlling the Spirit Tortoise,
he’d said that our world was going to be destroyed, anyway, so he might as well
make use of it. That must have been what he meant.
I wondered if that
was what Keichi, the ancient hero, had been trying to say in the writings we
found on the wall of the temple on the back of the Spirit Tortoise.
It was
unbelievable. This information changed everything. Even if that was all we
ended up learning, coming to this new world was worth it.
“Naofumi, this
isn’t good for us, is it?” Kizuna asked.
“No, it’s not. But
if you and I got in a fight, I don’t know how either of us would defeat the
other.”
“That’s not what I
meant!” she shouted.
I immediately
raised my shield to protect Rishia. Based on all the time we’d spent together,
I didn’t think she would attack us. But that didn’t mean that we were on the
same team.
Did Kizuna
understand what I was thinking? She turned to the kingly character and shouted,
“So we have to survive by sacrificing another world? Is there no other way? Did
you even try?”
“W... Well...”
The man trailed off
and turned his eyes away from Kizuna’s piercing gaze.
“Oh jeez... So
that’s how it is. Did you think I would approve of this?”
“No...”
“Do you really
believe everything written down in the legends? Are you really that stupid?
Could you at least do some real research on the waves first?”
Wow, she was coming
off as really self-righteous. It felt like a cold breeze blew through the room.
“Destroying another
world should be a last resort, don’t you think? It’s not the sort of thing you
should throw yourself into on a hunch! Besides, you know I can’t attack other
people, don’t you?”
“Yes, but... you
see, the four holy heroes exist to defend the world. Killing the heroes of
other worlds is a task that falls to those who wield the vassal weapons.”
Hm... That would
explain why the portal between the worlds normally wouldn’t let holy heroes
pass through. I was only able to be here because of special circumstances.
If that was the
case, then fighting on the front lines in all these battles had been very
reckless. Had any of us heroes been killed, everything would have come crashing
down. Sure, books and manga were more interesting when the protagonist fights
in all the major battles, but reality wasn’t so sentimental.
I recalled that
Glass and her friends had mentioned that they used vassal weapons. That was the
last piece of the puzzle: now everything made sense.
“It doesn’t really
matter either way. Neither Naofumi nor I have many options when it comes to
attacking other people, anyway.”
“It’s true. And
neither of us can really fight on our own very well.”
It wasn’t that I
couldn’t fight against other people at all. It was just that I had strong
defenses, so I would guard the battle line and protect everyone else while they
defeated the enemies. Kizuna must have figured that out, too.
Considering the
circumstances, it meant that Kizuna was actually in a tougher situation than I
was.
There are online
games that include player versus player elements, but the hunter-type
characters normally dedicated themselves to fighting monsters. They were very
skilled at defeating monsters but not very useful when it came to fighting
people. There were a lot of those kind of players in the game I used to play,
but they never showed up for guild battles.
And that’s exactly
the sort of hero that Kizuna was.
Assuming that the
seven star heroes used the vassal weapons in the world I came from, I couldn’t
think of a way that Kizuna would be able to survive an encounter with them.
Even if she were able to fight other people, how would she feel about killing
the otherworldly assassins that came after her?
If this were all a
game, then both Kizuna and I were in a rough spot.
She had access to
other weapons, similar to the Shield of Wrath for me. But that wasn’t the sort
of thing you wanted to rely on.
“Anyway, I think
it’s a little early to decide to destroy an entire world for the sake of your
own. You don’t know all the facts. I’ll tell Glass and the others, so if you
know where they are, you should tell me.”
“Yes, well...
Glass-sama found a revolutionary way to become much stronger than she was. When
the last wave occurred, she took the boy and went to another world...”
Boy? Who was that?
I’m guessing L’Arc?
If I was right, then I’d have to make a point of calling him that since he
always called me Kiddo.
“Matching that up
with what Naofumi told me, that would mean that they met up with Naofumi and his
friends in the other world and then all came back here... right? Regardless,
we’ll have to find Glass before we can do anything else.”
“Understood. But,
Kizuna-sama, I would prefer if you were able to stay in a safe place while this
search is conducted. There is the chance that this other world’s hero may pose
a threat to you.”
“Naofumi wouldn’t
hurt me.”
“Maybe I can get
back to Japan if I kill you.”
“Feh! What are you
saying?!” Rishia shrieked.
She was so
annoying. If I didn’t show some steel from time to time, no one would take us
seriously. Kizuna had been a very nice tour guide up until now, but who knew
what secrets she might have?
“You wouldn’t dare.
I swear, you’re so bad with people...”
“Think whatever you
want.”
“Regardless, I’ll
take care of convincing Glass and others. You take the time to rest up. We
can’t let the vassal weapon holders of this world just do what they want, even
if Glass cooperated with them. It’s barbarism.”
“Sure. I don’t have
the time to sit around arguing with you people, anyway.”
“Right? What’s
better than having a lot of allies?”
I had my own things
to take care of, and yet... I couldn’t ignore the serious problem posed by the
information we just learned. Kizuna must have felt the same way. That was why
she didn’t want to buy into this whole story of heroes from other worlds being
forced to kill each other.
“Fine. I get it. So
what do you want to do?”
Honestly, my
highest priority at the moment was finding Raphtalia and the others. We weren’t
going to get far without them.
“Let’s focus on
finding my other party members first. Then we’ll need to go have a word with
the country that’s harboring the person who wields the book of the vassal
weapons.”
“That’s all? Aren’t
you a little more angry than that?”
“No need to make it
complicated. Anyway, we’ll enlist the citizens to help search the countryside.”
“You think they
might be on the run, like we were?”
Had they ended up
in a country where they couldn’t use Return Transcript, then it would be really
difficult to escape from that country’s borders. I knew that from experience.
But if there were
inescapable labyrinths like the one that we’d been lost in, there was also the
chance that Raphtalia and Glass were stuck in one, too. And if that were the
case, we’d have to save them.
“Remember when I
said I knew someone that was good at looking for people? I’m going to get them
on it, okay? Call for Ethnobalt!” Kizuna said, telling the kingly man to call
for someone.
Did that mean it
was all settled now?
“Great. Thanks,” I
said.
“I believe
Ethnobalt will be here by tomorrow.”
“Hear that,
Naofumi? So what do you want to do until then?”
“If you think this
person can help us find Raphtalia and Glass, then I guess we’ll just have to
wait,” I said, nodding at Kizuna. “We should be prepared to leave at a moment’s
notice.”
“You have to take a
break every once and a while, you know? But I’m all for being prepared,
though.”
Well, at least we
had someone to guide us around this world—that alone made it better than the
one I came from. Still, there was so much I didn’t understand that it was
starting to drive me crazy. Not that I’m the type to be intimidated by new
cities or countries...
Kizuna said this
Ethnobalt person was going to help us with the search, so we had to wait until
the next day before we could leave.
“What should we
do?”
“Good question. I
can use Return Transcript here, which makes getting back easy. Come with me.”
“What is it? Where
are we going?” Rishia asked, cowering.
“Don’t take us
anywhere... weird. I’ll use Portal Shield to escape if this is a trick.”
“Oh, stop worrying.
I can’t believe you still don’t trust me after all this time.”
I guess she had a
point. Maybe I was being overly cautious.
Had Raphtalia been
there with us, she would have had a stern word or two for me.
Raphtalia... Where
could she be? I was getting really worried.
“Anyway, stick with
me.”
“Fine. Lead the
way,” I said, following Kizuna.
We left the town
around the castle and followed the winding road through the countryside. The
scenery reminded me of Melromarc. I found myself reminiscing as we cut down
monsters that attacked us. They didn’t pose a threat, and we made fast
progress.
So we left the town
and made our way down the road for a little while, but soon enough we came upon
another large town. From the look of it, it seemed to be made mostly of
businesses and houses.
Looking back, I
could still see the town around the castle in the distance. I guess this new
town was a sort of satellite city. There were probably a lot of people that
commuted to the castle from this town. It looked like there was a fishing
harbor.
We walked through
the town for a little while before Kizuna stopped, indicating that we had
arrived. We stood before a large mansion built of stone.
“I had this house
built. I wanted it to be large enough so that everyone could live here.”
“Wow...”
The door was
locked, but Kizuna pulled a key from her pocket and opened the door.
It creaked open
slowly, and Kizuna waved us inside.
The interior looked
like what you’d expect from a house built of stone, but it looked very...
cultured.
The first floor
seemed to be a parlor for guests. There was a table in the center, and I could
see a kitchen in the back.
“I’m home!”
There was no
answer.
After entering the
building, Kizuna carefully checked to see if anyone was there, and then she
climbed the stairs to the second floor. I thought it might be best to wait for
her downstairs, so I found a chair and sat down to wait. Rishia found a chair
and plopped down, too—she must have been tired from the journey, because she
immediately started nodding off.
After a short
while, Kizuna came back down the stairs.
“We helped
ourselves to some chairs. Hope that was alright.”
“Of course.”
“So? What were you
up to?”
“I guess I should
have known, but... after coming back to my house, after being gone for so long,
it’s strange that everything is just... the same.”
“Is it?”
Her own house... I
had certainly never made a home for myself in any of these worlds, so I didn’t
really understand how it must have felt. But for Kizuna, this building must
have really felt like home.
“There isn’t even
any dust. I was stuck in the prison for so long that I’d started to think this
house would be gone when I got out.”
“Good thing it’s
still here. You think someone came buy and cleaned up for you?”
“Maybe Glass did
it.”
“She looks like
she’d be particular about that sort of thing.”
“Yeah...”
I noticed
photographs on a shelf in the corner of the parlor. Most of them were of Kizuna
and Glass. A lot of them had L’Arc and Therese in them, too. There were other
people that I didn’t recognize as well. Everyone looked cheerful and happy. The
pictures were filled with a palpable sense of friendship.
I didn’t have to
wonder if Kizuna’s bonds with them were still intact—a glance at the well-kept
state of the house was enough to confirm that they were still close.
I felt a little
strange looking at it. It was almost like... envy. I didn’t have many friends
that I could take such joyful pictures with. Sure, I trusted Raphtalia, Filo,
and maybe Melty with my life, but I couldn’t think of anyone else to add to
that list.
Rishia was really
only with us because she didn’t have anywhere else to go. And Eclair, or the
old Hengen Muso lady, had only teamed up with us recently. I wouldn’t consider
them very close. And Raphtalia’s childhood friend Keel clearly didn’t trust me
yet.
Kizuna’s pictures
made me wonder if I would ever have enough trusting relationships to take
pictures of my own. A part of me thought that day would never come—that I’d
never know that many people that would be happy to spend time with me.
I’d always known it
was true, but it was hard to admit to myself.
I can’t trust the
people in these worlds, anyway. I’d made up my mind about that a long time ago
and had given up trying.
When peace returned
to the world and it was time for me to go back to Japan, I couldn’t picture
myself posing with anyone for a commemorative photo. I just didn’t have that
many friends.
“Can I ask some
questions?”
“Sure.”
“You told me a
little bit about your life here, but can you tell me more specifics of how you
came to know Glass and the others and about the life you spend together here?
You don’t have to tell me anything you don’t want to.”
“No, it’s fine.
Glass and I met a very long time ago,” Kizuna said slowly, as if reminiscing on
happier times.
When Kizuna first
found herself in this world, she thought that she had just been teleported into
a game, so she had spent her time leisurely fishing and thinking about leveling
up. The crown had supplied her with plenty of funds, but the government was not
very powerful, as it was in the middle of a battle for succession.
Kizuna met Glass in
a neighboring country. The disciples of a famous martial arts school were in
the middle of a ceremony to decide who would inherent the responsibilities of
the fan of the vassal weapons. Whoever was chosen would have to use the fan to
defeat a dragon that hunted in nearby lands.
Glass had been
denied consideration at first because of her birth. But disciple after disciple
was turned down until Glass was finally selected to wield the vassal weapon.
“What do you mean
she was denied because of her birth?”
Glass looked very
powerful and serious. You’d have to be a fool to not recognize her potential.
Did she come from a strange family of something? Is that why people ignored
her?
I could sympathize
with a predicament like that—after all, I’d been summoned to a country with a
religious prejudice against the Shield Hero.
“That’s Glass’s
issue, and I don’t think I should tell you about it without her permission. So
just pretend you didn’t hear it.”
“Oh... Okay.”
“So anyway... the
disciples that were passed over were pretty resentful about it. So they got
together and decided to cut ties with Glass. They told her not to come back
when she left for her trial.”
“Sounds like there
are a lot of jerks in this world, too.”
How petty can you
get? Cutting ties with someone just because they were chosen over you?
“Well, they
probably thought that Glass would die in the trial, and then one of them would
be chosen to succeed her. They ended up fighting among themselves, anyway.”
“Okay, well enough
of that. So how did you end up meeting Glass?”
“She was fighting
monsters out in the fields of that country, and I happened to walk by. We hit
it off right away and decided to team up. That’s about it.”
It was nothing like
the start of my first partnership.
I was stuck all
alone with no way to deal damage to monsters. I had to buy Raphtalia as a
slave...
We’d had a totally
different experience right from the start.
I felt like I
couldn’t have even-footed relationships with people. Raphtalia and I would
probably never have the sort of relationship that Kizuna and Glass did.
“We ended up
meeting more people, and our party grew. It was a pretty wild ride, but we
always had fun,” Kizuna said, pointing out different people in the photographs.
She ended up
pointing to so many people that I couldn’t help but feel how different we were
and how special this home must have been to her. It must have felt
irreplaceable.
I was a little
jealous. After all, I didn’t have anything like that. But I was fighting to get
back to my own world. Being jealous of what she’d built here didn’t make any
sense.
At least that’s
what I told myself.
We decided to spend
the night in Kizuna’s house.
Luckily for us,
there were a number of empty rooms, so we were able to really relax and get
some rest.
Soon enough, night
was upon us.
I was relaxing on
the terrace of her house, looking out on the lights of the town, when I saw
Kizuna leave. I wondered where she was going.
I looked back
inside, where Rishia was silently writing something.
I guess it was
fine. I could always use Portal Shield to escape if I needed to.
Careful not to make
a sound, I snuck out of the room to follow her.
We made our way
through the unfamiliar town, and soon enough I saw a beach in the distance.
Kizuna held a lamp in one hand and walked toward the ocean. When she got there,
she fit her rod with a new fishing lure and cast it out into the sea.
She was fishing?
I guess she really
did love to fish. She fished whenever she had spare time.
“Hm? Oh, it’s you,
Naofumi.”
“Is this a good
fishing spot?”
“Not really. You
can only catch herring here.”
“Herring, huh? Can
you catch Japanese fish here, too?”
When I was framed
and exiled by the crown, I’d done some fishing. I hadn’t recognized any of the
fish I caught.
“Sometimes. If you
really keep an eye out for them.”
“Heh.”
She finished
reeling in the lure and then recast it.
“Fishing here, in
this spot, really makes me feel like I’m back home.”
“I guess it would.”
“You might feel the
same way when you get back to the world you came from.”
“Maybe. I haven’t
really put down any roots there, though.”
What was closest to
my home? Melromarc castle? I didn’t like being there at all. It was
uncomfortable. Then again, I could always use a portal to return to it, so I
suppose it was convenient in some ways.
I didn’t have a
house like Kizuna did. The closest thing I had was probably Filo’s carriage—I
guess I had spent a lot of time in there.
I decided to stop
comparing myself to Kizuna. It was starting to make me feel bad.
“Hey! I caught
something!” Kizuna shouted, yanking her pole and pulling up a splashing
herring.
Oh jeez. She was
just making it worse. She could do everything.
“So that’s how you
would normally do it. Now let’s try my special method...” she said, attaching a
new lure to the rod. It had a shining green jewel affixed to it. “If this goes
well, I should be able to catch something pretty interesting.”
“I thought you
could only catch herring?”
“Well, let’s just
see what happens when I use the power of the holy weapon...” she muttered,
casting and reeling and casting and reeling until the rod bent down sharply
under the weight of something unseen.
“It’s a hit!” she
shouted, her eyes blazing while she rapidly reeled in the fish. The surface of
the water started churning.
“It’s huge!”
As she continued to
reel it in, I saw that it was an enormous... herring.
She finished
reeling it in.
“What do you think?
Is this a whole new world or what?”
“That thing is a
monster.”
“Can’t argue with
that.”
I had a feeling I’d
be seeing fish again on the breakfast table. The thing was huge, though—too
big. It probably wouldn’t taste very good. Maybe it would be best boiled... Or
maybe as sashimi. Then again, I’ve never heard of herring sashimi...
“So you can catch
these big ones by changing the lure?”
“Yeah.”
“Is it a skill?
“Huh? No—it’s an
accessory. Don’t you add them to your weapons?”
“No.”
“It’s pretty great.
You should try it.”
“To power them up?”
The rationale
behind Kizuna’s power-up methods didn’t seem to apply to my shield, so I didn’t
have much hope for this new idea of attaching accessories to it.
“It is a pretty
broad system. I can’t catch large herring without using this lure, and when I
check on my status, it says that there are changes to my fishing ability.”
Hold on a second.
I’d seen something like that
A long time ago,
the old guy at the weapon shop had given me an accessory to attach to my
shield. When I used it, it formed a barrier similar to Shooting Star Shield,
but then it broke. I wondered... Could I gain access to more
protection—protective abilities that weren’t already innate in the shield—by
attaching accessories to my shield?
It was worth a
shot.
“I can use this
lure in battle, too. I have to say, I really like it.”
“Then maybe I
should try it, too. Maybe I could even make it myself.”
Thinking back on
the accessory the old guy had given me, I hadn’t thought that it was something
I’d be able to make on my own. But I was starting to think it was worth a shot.
It would be ideal
to ask the old guy how he made it, but at least I had Kizuna here to bounce
ideas off of. “Do you need to do something special to make them? Like imbue
them with magic power or something?’
“Hm... For that
kind of thing you’d probably be better off talking to an imbue master or a
professional craftsman. I hear the imbue masters need some sort of base to work
from.”
I guess the skills
of a professional craftsman might come in handy.
“Then again, I hear
that the accessories have unusual effects when used with the holy weapons or
the vassal weapons. It drives the imbue masters crazy.”
Even if I got my
hands on an accessory that worked well here, it might stop working altogether
when I got back to the world I came from. That wouldn’t be good. It would be
like using expensive and rare materials to imbue an item with special effects,
only to have the pieces fail and end up with nothing. Still, it was worth a
shot.
“I think I’ll try
it. I’ll make something and see if it works.”
“You’re going to
make it? You can make accessories? Want to make me a new lure?”
“Why do I have to
make stuff for you?”
“Oh, you know...
because of all we’ve been through together?”
“I guess I could
try it—just for practice, you know? But I think a lure might be more
complicated than anything I’ve done yet. Like working on a complicated plastic
model.”
“There are wooden
ones and metal ones, too.”
Sure, and there
were lots of different shapes. There were sparkling bits of jewelry you could
use to deck everything out like a gaudy person who just inherited a bunch of
money. I didn’t like that sort of thing.
But fish were
attracted to shiny objects, weren’t they? Without even intending to, I was
already thinking hard about how to approach the lure project.
What about my own
accessory?
I could just try to
imitate what the old guy had made for me.
It was a sort of
cover for the jewel in my shield. It had clipped right on top of it.
Besides, I didn’t
have any other compounding projects lined up, so I had the time to try it. I
decided to just give it a whirl and not worry too much about the outcome.
Besides, the view
from Kizuna’s fishing spot was too good to ignore.
It was the next
afternoon.
I cooked up the
herring that Kizuna caught the previous night, and we had it for breakfast
before returning to the castle to meet this person that was supposedly going to
help us search for Raphtalia.
“They’ll be here
soon.”
“Are you sure?”
Rishia stood there
muttering to herself as she read something off of a sheet of paper. I was
getting tired of waiting.
But I didn’t have
to wait for long. Kizuna shouted to the people in the castle, “Ah, they’re
here! Let’s go.”
“Finally. You heard
her, Rishia. Let’s go.”
“Alright.”
Studiousness was
good and all, but what was she reading? From what I could tell, she was just
repeating simple phrases like “good morning, good morning,” over and over.
Rishia and I
followed Kizuna to the throne room and found someone there dressed like a black
wizard with a circlet on his head.
He looked like a
young boy in heavy robes, and he held an ornate staff in his hand. His hair was
light, bordering on silver. He had clear, clean skin, and his sharp eyes left a
strong impression. They were red or maybe black. It was hard to say.
He was waiting for
us, and he seemed to be... floating.
I think I’d seen
someone that looked like him in one of Kizuna’s photographs. It was probably
the same person.
“It has been a long
time, Kizuna. I continued to search for you this whole time. I’m sorry I never
found you.”
“What’s done is
done. I never worried about it.”
“This one was very
lonely without you. Please take him.”
“Thank you. You
watched after him for me, didn’t you, Ethnobalt?”
“Yes. Glass took
care of him at first, but she became very busy and had to travel to dangerous
lands. Therefore, we decided it was best for me to take over.”
Kizuna stopped
chatting with the boy, and he passed her something that looked like a wooden
ofuda. She shook it lightly, and a column of smoke shot from it. When the smoke
cleared, a penguin was standing before her.
It was about as
tall as my waist.
I called it a
penguin, but it wasn’t exactly a penguin. It had a very expressive face, and it
was so happy that it was hopping up and down.
It reminded me a
bit of Filo when she had just grown out of her chick stage, before she started
talking.
What was it?
“Pen!”
“It’s been a long
time. I’m glad to see you, too.”
“Pen!”
The penguin leapt
at Kizuna and started rubbing cheeks with her. Filo used to do the same thing.
“That reminds me.
This little guy started fussing about six days ago. Had I made the connection,
perhaps I could have found you sooner.”
“We were behind
enemy lines. It wouldn’t have been safe for you to come. It would have taken
you this long to find me, anyway.”
“It’s nice that
you’re both reminiscing here, but is anyone going to explain what’s going on?”
No one liked to sit
around listening to people talk about things they didn’t understand and
couldn’t join in on.
“Oh right. Sorry.
This is Ethnobalt. And this guy is my shikigami, Chris.”
“You mentioned
those before. How are they different from other monsters?”
“Shikigami are,
well... You get them from other people or items, and they aren’t monsters. He’s
basically my bodyguard. Since I can’t, you know, fight with other people.
“I still don’t
really understand. Go on.”
Was it like
anything I was familiar with? I knew there were online games where you could
recruit monsters to fight on your behalf. But that was simpler than what she
was describing. In those games, you could just send any monster you’d captured
out to assist you in battle.
My relationship
with Filo was sort of like that.
There were other
similar systems, like summons, or the sort of suspicious attacks you could use
by working with other players.
Every game was
different, so the borders and categories didn’t always line up. It was probably
best not to make too many assumptions.
“I’m very pleased
to meet you, holder of a holy weapon from another world. I am the holder of the
boat of the vassal weapons. My name is Ethnobalt. I trust we will get along.”
“I’m Naofumi
Iwatani, the Shield Hero. The girl behind me is Rishia.”
That was it for
introductions.
The boy had a look
on his face like he understood anything and everything, and... Well, actually,
if I let his face annoy me, then we’d never get anything useful out of the
conversation.
“Which means that
you’re like Glass, and you have a vassal weapon? Where’s this ‘boat’ you
mentioned?”
“It’s right here,”
Ethnobalt said, pulling his robes up to show me his feet.
He was standing on
a round platform of some kind, and it floated a few inches off of the ground.
It looked like a
UFO or something that bizarre.
“I’m pleased to
make your acquaintance.”
He looked like he might
be a demi-human or some other type of person unique to this world.
“Is there something
strange about this guy? Am I imagining it?”
This Ethnobalt guy
looked different from all the other people I’d seen since arriving in the
world.
“I thought you
might notice. Ethnobalt is descended from a race of great monsters that have
protected the world for generations.”
“Really...”
Then I realized who
he had reminded me of. Something about the way he carried himself... It was
Fitoria. It’s hard to be specific about how he reminded me of her, but he did.
He looked like he
was probably highly skilled with magic, but maybe he was actually a melee
fighter. He gave Kizuna a penguin, so maybe he was actually... a penguin? If
that were the case, maybe all of these worlds were watched over by bird
monsters...
“His true form is a
cute rabbit.”
“Kizuna, please
don’t refer to me as ‘cute.’”
“A rabbit? He’s not
a penguin?”
“Why would he be?”
“I don’t know.
You’re shikigami was a penguin, so I just...”
“Pen?”
What was up with this
penguin? He reminded me of the legend I’d encountered on the Cal Mira islands:
the one about Pekkul. I wanted to put a red Santa hat on his head—then he would
look just like it.
“Oh, I see. That
makes sense. I don’t know why, but when Glass and I formed our shikigami, this
is what he looked like.”
“Hm...”
Well, that was fine
with me. I didn’t want to see what it really looked like, anyway.
Ethnobalt rubbed
his chin for a while, apparently deep in thought, and then, having made up his
mind, he transformed with a puff of smoke.
I found myself
looking at a rabbit standing up on its hind legs.
The look of him
once again reminded me of the islands—of the karma rabbit familiars we fought
there. Were it not for his staff and the intelligent look in his eyes, I would
have mistaken him for a monster.
But the more I
looked at him, the more I was certain that he was this world’s version of
Fitoria. I was pretty sure of it.
“Would you prefer I
take this form when we speak?”
“How rare! I almost
never see you as a rabbit,” Kizuna said.
“For the sake of
Mr. Naofumi here... I wouldn’t want him to doubt my words unnecessarily. I’d
like him to be comfortable.”
“Oh? Naofumi, do
you like animals?”
I remembered how
Filo would always hug me, but then again, I was probably just imprinted on her
as a parent from a young age.
“Okay. So I hear
that you’re good at searching for people?”
“Perhaps, though I
wasn’t able to find Kizuna when she was imprisoned in the labyrinth.”
“It’s great that
you’re humble, but give me a better idea of what you can do, will you? We’ve
been waiting for you this whole time.”
I didn’t want to
hear that he couldn’t actually help us—but then again, if he was like Fitoria,
then he would be unbelievably powerful. From what he’d said so far, it was safe
to assume that he had been able to tell if Kizuna was in this world or not. The
never-ending labyrinth must have been a completely separate world.
Whatever. I didn’t
know him, so I wasn’t thrilled about having to rely on him for help.
I thought that he
might be like Fitoria, but he didn’t seem to be.
“There are many
complicated methods. I wonder which is best,” Ethnobalt said, producing item
after item from under his robes.
They looked like
the sort of things a fortuneteller would use. There were small sticks, crystal
balls, and... ofuda? Then came the deck of cards... They must have been tarot
cards.
I was starting to
trust this rabbit less and less. He looked less reputable by the minute.
He might have been
the hero of the boat of the vassal weapons, but I didn’t feel like I could
trust him.
“Ethnobalt, I was
thinking you could grant Naofumi a shikigami.”
“That is a good
idea. A shikigami may prove to be a boon to your search effort.”
“Why is that? What
can a shikigami do?”
“Aside from helping
with the search, a hero’s shikigami can do a lot of interesting things. They
certainly make good bodyguards.”
“Pen?”
I pointed to the
penguin in Kizuna’s arms, and it cocked its head in response.
That’s right. I’m
talking to you.
Was it really
Kizuna’s bodyguard? It didn’t look like it would be much help in a battle.
“But you can’t let
them die in battle.”
“Oh...” I sighed.
If you had to be so careful with them, what good were they as bodyguards?
I was starting to
understand. These shikigami were like the “familiars” in the world I’d come
from. I think I’d seen something about them written in one of the magic books.
It had said that certain items were necessary to summon your familiar and that
if you lost the item you wouldn’t be able to summon them.
I hadn’t paid very
much attention because I didn’t have a familiar, but thinking about it now, it
did seem like a familiar that could protect me in battle would be a handy thing
to have.
I had Raphtalia and
Filo with me, though, so I had never felt the need for one.
“I had hoped that
with this little guy helping me I’d be able to find you quickly...”
“But because I was
thrown into the labyrinth, you had to give up, right?” Kizuna sighed. “Glass
and I made this shikigami together, so I think it will help us find her current
whereabouts. But that might not necessarily bring us to your friends, Naofumi.
It will if they are all together, but there’s no guarantee that they are, is
there?”
“... No.”
I had no idea where
Raphtalia was. The slave spell couldn’t tell me anything unless we were in the
same vicinity. I had to prepare myself for a difficult search.
“Then let us
perform the shikigami ceremony. It’s easiest if done by the dragon hourglass,
so I suggest we make our way there,” Ethnobalt said. With a puff of smoke, he
transformed back into his human form and floated out of the room.
We all went to the
guild-like building that housed the dragon hourglass.
Ethnobalt waved his
staff and then tapped it loudly on the floor. When he did, a magical geometric
pattern appeared on the floor around him. It was formed of a faint phantom-like
light.
Because the magic
was being performed by a giant rabbit, it made the ceremony feel even more
otherworldly than the class-up ceremony back in Melromarc.
“First we will need
a suitable medium, as well as some blood from the person who will serve as the
shikigami’s master.”
“A medium? You mean
like an ofuda or a gemstone or something?”
“Yes, you’ll need
something like that to make a familiar... When I made Chris here, I used all
sorts of monster parts for the ceremony. Glass and I decided on the ingredients
because we wanted to make a shikigami that could be a powerful guard.”
Hm... It sounded
like a delicate process. I could sometimes get tunnel vision when working on a
complex project. I knew other people like that, too—the sort of people that
would freeze up when starting a new game or when they were given a bunch of
points to assign when creating a character. Some people never manage to
actually start the game, because they spend all their time worrying about the
best way to allocate resources to their characters. Honestly, I had those
tendencies myself.
Out of all the
items and materials I had, which would produce the best result? Materials from
the Spirit Tortoise or its familiars? During the battle, I’d managed to pick up
quite a few materials. Then again, I’d probably end up with a turtle if I used
those.
Sure, Ost had been
one of the Spirit Tortoise familiars, too, but no matter what sort of familiar
I got, it would probably be more focused on defense than offense. As the Shield
Hero, I had the defensive bases covered pretty well as it was, so I didn’t want
a defensive shikigami.
“After you make
one, you can always adjust it later on, so you don’t need to worry too much
about it. For now, just use any medium you have to give yourself a shape to
work with.”
“It really doesn’t
matter what I pick?”
“Normally it would,
but the rules are a little different for heroes like us. I guess there’s a
chance that it will work differently for you, since you’re from another world.”
So the heroes
played by different rules? Good. I guess I didn’t need to worry about it.
Somehow this kind
of made it boring. Still, I was glad—it would have taken me all day to make up
my mind otherwise.
“I think it might
be best to use something that belonged to the girl you are searching for. That
way the shikigami will be able to help guide you back to the item’s owner.”
That was a good
idea. I could make it specific to Raphtalia—but did I have anything that had
belonged to her? I normally made a point of keeping my items to myself and
letting Raphtalia and Filo do the same.
I had given her
different pieces of equipment in the past, but I don’t think she had ever
returned any of them.
“Don’t forget that
you can also use the dragon hourglass. You can use it to produce any drop items
you have stored in the shield. Do you have anything that might work?” Ethnobalt
waved his staff, and an icon indicating my shield flashed in the air. Then a
long list of the items contained within it appeared. My eye fell on one thing
in particular.
“This...”
Raphtalia was a
raccoon-type demi-human.
I saw that an item
I had received from Raphtalia was being stored in the shield, but it was a
strange material that never unlocked a new shield.
That’s right... I
had some of Raphtalia’s hair from when I had given her a haircut way back when
I had first purchased her from the slave trader. It was perfect. I didn’t know
if I’d be able to take it out of the shield, but I tried just believing that I
could and selected the remove option that appeared. The shield emitted a soft
light, and then Raphtalia’s hair was in my hand.
“Let’s try this.”
“Very well. Now
then, I will need a little of your blood,” Ethnobalt said, using magic to
levitate Raphtalia’s hair before us. Then he used a small knife to prick my
fingertip and drip a little of my blood onto a plate.
Memories of my
first days with Raphtalia came flooding back into my mind. When I bought her
from the slave trader, we had performed a similar ceremony.
“Now then, I will
begin the shikigami formation ceremony,” Ethnobalt said, sprinkling a magic
powder over the mix of Raphtalia’s hair and my blood.
The boat on which
he stood began to glow faintly, as if it were contributing power in addition to
Ethnobalt’s own magic.
The air in the room
around us began to glow with small points of light, as if we were surrounded by
fireflies. It was beautiful—and strange.
Soon I’d have a
shikigami... Would it really help us find Raphtalia? We were using her hair to
make it. If the thing was going to help us find her, then I couldn’t think of a
better material to use in its creation.
“We petition for
one who will protect—who will serve. A vassal formed from a part of himself. A
servant is born...”
The lights swirling
around us gathered around Raphtalia’s hair and engulfed it completely.
It was an amazing
sight. It was so impressive to see that I would’ve really lost it if the
ceremony had ended in failure.
A shikigami... I
looked over to see Kizuna’s shikigami, and it was hugging her. I hoped that
mine would be a bit more relaxed and a lot less clingy.
Did this mean that
I was going to have another party member?
I wasn’t sure how I
wanted to use it. Would it have levels the way that other people did? Or did it
grow through an alternate system?
However it worked,
it was going to serve as my protector, so I would have to devote some serious
thought and energy to its growth.
“It’s...” Ethnobalt
murmured, hardly able to speak.
“What? Did we
fail?”
“No... It just
formed much faster than I was expecting. Just who was the owner of this item?”
The light in the
room grew even stronger. It was blinking. I couldn’t see anything, so I
instinctively raised my shield to protect myself. Then the shield in my hands
started to crackle—it was responding to the light!
“Feh...”
“Calm down!
Ethnobalt? Is everything okay?”
“Um... No. No! I
can’t control it! Everyone! Run!” he shouted, dropping his staff and quickly
backing away.
I still had my
shield raised to protect Rishia from whatever was happening. Looking over it, I
saw something floating in the space before us.
Shikigami...
Shikigami Shield
conditions met!
Shikigami Shield
abilities locked;
shikigami servant: shikigami power-up
A large puff of
smoke appeared with a flash, filling the room with blinding white light.
“Cough! Cough!”
I waved my hand to
try to clear the smoke away from my face, but it wasn’t moving. I had no choice
but to grit my teeth and breathe it in as I looked at the ground to find the
source of the explosion.
“Rafu!”
Something came
bounding straight at me out of the smoke.
“Wh... What the...
?”
I caught whatever
it was in an instant. I looked down and saw a small creature that looked like a
mix between a raccoon and a tanuki.
It was hard to
describe it more specifically than that. It was like a cute raccoon character
from an anime I’d seen a long time ago—only a little bit different.
It was like a
tanuki—it was brown with a fluffy tail and walked on four little legs like a
chubby little dog. Its ears, however, were decidedly not dog-like. Finally, it
had a strange little face that didn’t exactly look like a tanuki or a raccoon.
Its tail was at
least as fat and large as the rest of its body, and it looked like... Well, it
looked like the kind of mascot characters that little kids get excited about. Still,
I’d never seen mascot modeled on a tanuki.
The mascot-like,
raccoon-like tanuki creature stood there with its arms crossed. Then it raised
one hand, showing me its puffy little paw, blinked its eyes softly, and barked,
“Rafu!”
“Is it safe to
assume that this thing is my shikigami?”
I changed my shield
into the recently unlocked Shikigami Shield, and just like when I had first
registered my slave, a new option had appeared in my menu.
That cleared it up.
This thing was definitely a shikigami.
It didn’t seem to
have levels like the rest of us did. Its stats also weren’t particularly high.
I selected the
shikigami power-up effect, and a menu appeared that seemed to allow me to
manipulate the shikigami’s stats using various items. It looked like there were
a lot of different possible effects.
It reminded me of
the options I’d had when designing the bioplant. But aside from those options,
it looked like the shikigami could be powered up with items I had on hand.
“Rafu!” it barked,
wagging its puffy tail and looking at me with love in its eyes.
It brushed against
me. It didn’t feel so bad. Its fur was a little stiff, but it didn’t bother me.
It was warm.
“Feh...” Rishia
whimpered, stealing sheepish glances at us. Was she seriously afraid of this
little thing?
“Pen!”
“For a second
there, I wasn’t sure it was going to work. However, it seems like the ceremony
was a success!” Ethnobalt said, sighing with relief and floating back over in
our direction.
“This is a
shikigami?”
“Rafu!”
The shikigami
jumped up my shield, stood on its hind legs, and raised both of its paws in the
air. It almost looked like it was showing off.
“Yes, it is. Did
your weapon say anything about having items to power up the shikigami?”
“Yeah. There’s an
option for a shikigami power-up.”
“That’s it. I
thought you’d probably enjoy playing with that.”
“I figured you’d be
the sort of person that liked that stuff, too.”
“How could you
tell? I get a little obsessed sometimes.”
“Hm. Guess we have
that in common.”
“Heh heh.”
“Heh heh...”
“Feh... I feel like
a third wheel...” Rishia whined, upset that Kizuna and I were sharing a laugh.
Was there anything that didn’t make her feel threatened? All we were doing was
agreeing with each other, and even that seemed to scare Rishia.
“Well anyway, I
believe that this shikigami will be able to help you find your missing friend.
Let’s leave with Kizuna to look for your friend and for Glass.”
“Sounds good,
doesn’t it?” I said to the shikigami.
“Rafu!” it barked
back, excitedly nodding its head.
The little thing
was going out of its way to get me to like it... and it was kind of working.
Its voice even
reminded me a bit of a young Raphtalia. Just a bit.
“Naofumi, aren’t
you going to give this little critter a name?”
“A name? I guess
you’re right. I shouldn’t just keep calling it shikigami.”
“Rafu!” the little
thing proclaimed, proudly puffing out its chest.
I guess that was
the only sound it could make. What a weird thing to say...
It sort of made me
feel like I was doing something rude, something disrespectful, to Raphtalia—not
that I had any other choice.
I’d chosen Filo’s
name because she was a filolial, so I guess it made sense to name this thing
after Raphtalia.
“Alright, how about
Raph-chan?”
“Rafu!”
“You’re naming it
Raph-chan because of the way it talks? Isn’t that a little lowbrow?”
“Why did you name a
penguin ‘Chris’?”
Chris sounded like
a character straight out of a western fantasy. It certainly didn’t seem like an
appropriate name for a penguin.
“Because, when we
made this guy, I counted back from the day I’d been summoned to this world and
realized that it was Christmas.”
“Ah... so that’s
where you got ‘Chris’.”
I still didn’t
think it was a good name.
But you’re wrong
about why I named it Raph-chan. It’s not because it keeps saying ‘rafu.’ It’s
because I made it with Raphtalia’s hair.”
“... That’s not so
different.”
I wasn’t going to
argue. Besides, it kind of felt like a little too on-the-nose that the thing
kept saying ‘rafu’ to begin with.
“Rafu!”
“Okay, okay. Fine.
You want a different name?”
“Rafu?”
Raph-chan
(tentative name) looked confused and then shook its head. “Rafuuu.”
I guess she liked
the name. If she liked it, then who was I to argue?
“She seems to have
a developed a sense of self, hasn’t she? Normally it takes a little longer for
their bodies and minds to develop this much.”
“Maybe it’s because
the materials came from another world. Could that affect the results like
this?”
Raphtalia wasn’t
from this world, so maybe it was a special case. Not to mention that she had
matured differently than a normal demi-human, because she’d been raised by a
hero—me. She had matured very quickly, so maybe this shikigami was the same.
“Okay then,
Raph-chan. Can you tell us where Raphtalia is?” I asked.
Raph-chan closed
her eyes and puffed up her tail, apparently doing... something.
Was she using magic
or some sort of special shikigami ability?
Kizuna turned to
Chris and addressed him, “Can you tell us were Glass is?”
“Rafu!”
“Pen!”
Both of the
shikigami’s barked and pointed in the same direction.
“Pardon the intrusion.
Perhaps you could indicate the location on this map?” Ethnobalt said, pulling
out a map of the world and opening it before the shikigami. Both of them
immediately pointed to the same spot.
If they were both
pointing to the same spot, then it was probably safe to assume that Raphtalia
and Glass were traveling together, right?
Kizuna and
Ethnobalt sighed and looked upset.
“What? Is something
wrong?”
“They’re pointing
to a country that’s like the place we escaped from—enemy lands. It’s actually
the country where that supposed genius scientist came from.”
“You sure do have a
lot of enemies.”
“I know. These are
troubled times, after all. All those politics are basically what got me thrown
into the labyrinth. What to do...” Kizuna murmured, looking concerned.
I guess you had to
deal with war no matter what world you went to.
Even still, this
world seemed to be less stable than the one I’d come from.
Melromarc and
Siltvelt often went to war with one another, but even they managed to join
forces when the world itself was under threat from the waves. The other
countries I’d heard of were all participating in international talks about the
waves, too.
This world, on the
other hand, didn’t seem so cooperative. Everyone seemed to be at war with
everyone else.
Maybe the relative
peace of the last world was only possible because the queen of Melromarc was so
good at diplomacy.
“But Glass and her
friends are really powerful in this world, right? I mean, they were chosen to
wield the vassal weapons, weren’t they?”
“That’s true,
but... the very fact that they haven’t used a dragon hourglass to teleport back
here makes me think that they must have run into trouble.”
If Glass was having
trouble, how were we supposed to help? From what I’d seen, she was so powerful
it was nearly unbelievable.
A dark, somber
feeling had taken over the room.
Kizuna and I had
had a rough time fighting our way here, but that was only because of the
limitations of our weapons. Without those special limitations, I was sure we
were actually really powerful and wouldn’t have had a problem. Glass and the
others didn’t share the same limitations that we had, so if they were having a
hard time, then things must have been really rough.
“Is that where the
guy with the book of the vassal weapon is from?”
“No, but they are
allies. There’s a chance that Glass and the others have been captured and
turned over to him.”
“Then we better get
going.”
“Agreed—it’s better
than standing around wringing our hands. Let’s go.”
“That settles
that.”
There was no
telling how much help Kizuna could be if we ran into human enemies, but we
didn’t have a choice. We had to get going.
“Kizuna, aren’t you
going to bring some friends with you?”
She seemed pretty
much ready to leave, but she hadn’t mentioned anything about bringing anyone
with us.
“Ethnobalt doesn’t
like battles. I guess there are some people I could reach out to, if I had
to...” She looked over at Ethnobalt, who awkwardly cleared his throat.
“It would take a
few days to get Kizuna’s companions together. They are all spread out across
the country, engaged in various activities.”
“Something could
happen to Glass while we wait for them to get here. We should go on without
them.”
I didn’t disagree
with her reasoning. Building up a strong party wouldn’t do us any good at all if
Glass and the others were captured while we waited.
And it certainly
seemed likely that Raphtalia was with her. If they were turned over to Kyo
before we could get there, she’d be in real trouble—and I had to protect her.
We were always
right on the edge of disaster.
I sighed. “Aren’t
there at least some soldiers that we could bring along?”
“There are
soldiers, but they are not permitted to leave the country. They need to be here
to protect it.”
Just great.
Everyone was shorthanded.
I’d always felt
like I didn’t have enough people in my party, but it was looking like Kizuna
had the same problem I did.
“Let’s go. Can we
use the dragon hourglass to teleport there?”
“No, but Ethnobalt
should be able to teleport us there.”
“You are correct,
Kizuna. I am able to use the power of my boat to teleport you there—but how
will you return?”
“We could use my
Portal Shield skill.”
“That’s a good
idea. Let’s set a time and place to meet up after the mission. Ethnobalt, you
meet us there, okay? If we don’t make it...”
“Understood. Take a
communication ofuda with you. With any luck, we should be able to stay in
contact through them.”
That was a
convenient item to have on hand. I was almost jealous, but then I remembered
that we had something similar in the world I came from. There were machines at
the guilds (I don’t know how they worked) but they could send messages
instantaneously to each other.
Ethnobalt led us
out of the building and stepped down from the floating platform he had been
riding. The small circular platform then transformed into a boat.
“Everyone, please
climb onboard so I can begin the teleportation process.”
“This thing... It
reminds me a lot of a weapon I saw once,” I said. I was talking about Fitoria’s
carriage.
Skills like
Teleport Shield would only work for people that were in your party. But
Ethnobalt’s boat and Fitoria’s carriage could teleport anyone that happened to
be riding in or on them.
How did they work?
Did they form a portal? I had no idea how people got around in this new world.
I had a lot of questions running through my head, but they would have to wait.
We left to begin
our search for Raphtalia and Glass.
We climbed into
Ethnobalt’s boat. I thought that the boat was going to fly through the sky, but
when it started moving, it was more like a teleportation skill. The scenery
around us quickly vanished and was replaced with a path of pale light, over
which the boat proceeded.
If the boat could
take us anywhere—even locations that we hadn’t registered beforehand—then it
was a really powerful option to have!
“I’m impressed
every time I ride on this thing. It would have taken forever to travel on
foot.”
“How does it work?”
“It works by using
the connections between the dragon hourglasses as currents.”
Hm... So the
hourglasses were all connected by lines, and the boat had the ability to sail
over those lines. Did that mean that the boat could go anywhere in the world,
as long as the currents between the hourglasses went there as well?
The system was more
complicated than I expected.
“You can sail over
things high in the sky and use the boat to get the drop on unexpected enemies.
We’ve done that a few times.”
“So Raphtalia and
Glass are somewhere nearby?”
“Somewhat. There
are many defenses to watch out for, so I can only get you close.”
“It’s a big help”
Depending on how we
used it, the boat could prove very useful. As for Ethnobalt himself, he
apparently wasn’t the strongest in battle.
“So we’ll switch to
flying in the sky from here on out?”
“That’d draw too
much attention.”
She was right.
Sailing slowly through the sky was like asking the enemy to shoot us down.
Maybe we could pull it off if we flew at a very high altitude... but then
again, there were probably a lot of flying monsters in this world. We wouldn’t
want to run into them.
“I could offer some
support fire or bombs, but that would only draw even more attention. It would
be best if you only thought of the boat as a way to escape, not to battle.”
“Okay. Then we will
call for you after we meet up with Glass.”
“Very well. And
good luck,” said Ethnobalt. At nearly the exact same second, the streaming pale
light around us vanished, and we found ourselves standing on unfamiliar ground.
He said that we
might run into trouble and that we couldn’t count on him for backup, either.
“Okay, Raph-chan,
take us to Raphtalia.”
“Rafu!” she barked,
pointing enthusiastically.
Kizuna’s penguin,
Chris, was pointing the same way.
We stood before a
thick forest. It seemed to be mostly composed of pine trees, but there were
tall copses of bamboo here and there, which lent this new country a Japanese
feel, too.
We held open a map
to get a sense of our bearings and began the search in earnest.
“What sort of
country is this, anyway?”
“It borders the
country that you and I just escaped. The two countries share a similar culture.
But this one reminds me more of Japan under the Tokugawa shogunate.”
At first I didn’t
really know what she meant, but it wasn’t long before we came out of the woods
and found a town, and then I understood what she was trying to say.
The houses were all
made of wood, but there were a lot of signs out in the streets, the sort you’d
seen in Showa-era Japan. The language looked like it was written right to left,
and the architecture made the town look like it was in the midst of a
modernization effort.
I even thought I
saw street lamps with electric light bulbs in them. The mishmash of so many
different time periods was unnerving—it didn’t feel natural.
The adventurers
walking in the street were dressed like the Shinsengumi. The rest of the
villagers were also dressed in traditional Japanese clothes. I saw a lot of
hakama.
“Is there some kind
of checkpoint we have to get through?”
“I don’t think it’s
that strict. I think the only checkpoints are on the border. It’s a lot like
the last country, but not quite so secure.”
“You don’t say...”
There certainly
were a variety of countries in this new world.
In comparison, the
countries in the world I’d come from seemed to be based on nobility and the
rule of monarchs. That was at least easy to understand—not that I necessarily
had it all figured out.
“Won’t our clothes
draw attention?”
“I don’t think so.
They aren’t always on the lookout for foreigners here. They’ll just think we
are adventurers passing through. Look around. There are plenty of people
dressed like us,” Kizuna said, pointing.
She was right.
There were plenty of other adventurers wearing armor similar to ours.
“That’s great. We
better find Raphtalia fast. The minute we find the others, we need to get out of
here.”
“I know what you
mean... Chris, where’s Glass?”
“Pen,” the bird
chirped, and pointed in the same direction that Raph-chan was indicating. We
followed their lead and continued the search.
We followed their
lead to a new town and ran into a very long line of people there.
“What’s this?”
“I’ll see,” Kizuna
said. She ran ahead to see what was going on. Then she came jogging back.
“There’s some sort of show going on. Everyone seems really excited.”
“Hm...”
A show? I’d seen
tents set up for a traveling show back in Melromarc, too. The proprietors would
set up tents on the main drag in the marketplace. I never really cared for that
sort of thing, though, so I’d never actually looked inside.
But there were so
many people lined up it was hard not to be curious. There were more people
lined up for this show than had attended my soul-healing water auction. The
line seemed to snake through the whole town.
Could the show
really be that impressive? Were the citizens just starved for entertainment
because there was nothing else to do out here?
“Want to check it
out?”
“I don’t care—and
we don’t have the time.”
“Good point. We
don’t have the time to waste waiting around in line.”
“Rafu, rafu!”
“What is it
Raph-chan? Do you want to see the show?”
She seemed very
interested. She nodded vigorously.
Raph-chan had been
formed out of Raphtalia’s hair—if she wanted to see the show that badly, then I
couldn’t help but be curious.
“What is this
‘show’ you keep mentioning?” Rishia asked.
Kizuna stood on her
tiptoes to try to read the sign by the building.
“It says, ‘A young
angel with wings on her back—literally fell from the sky! See her for only 40
doumon!’ What do you think? A real angel?”
A girl with wings
on her back? That sure sounded like Filo to me.
I was focused on
finding Raphtalia, but I was going to have to find Filo, too.
“Hey Kizuna. Are
there any races in this world that normally have wings on their backs? Does
that sound like anything you’ve seen before?”
“Not particularly,
no. What about in your world, Naofumi?”
“I’ve heard that
there are harpy-type demi-humans, but I’ve never seen one. On the other hand,
one of my party members is a girl with wings on her back. If you just got a
glance at her, you might think she was an angel.”
She did match the
description on the sign.
She certainly
didn’t act like an angel—but you wouldn’t know that just from looking at her.
She could trick you if she managed to keep her mouth shut.
“Rafu!”
“Feh! Do you think
it could be Filo?”
It could be.
And what if it was?
I was about to walk right by the show. I wouldn’t have stopped if Rishia hadn’t
asked Kizuna what was going on. Now what was I supposed to do? Line up on a
hunch?
I walked to the
front of the line and tried to overhear what people were saying inside of the
building.
“Ya! Master!
Mel-chan! Save Me!” I heard shouts of pain amidst the cracking of a whip.
She sounded like
she was in a lot of pain. I’d never heard her voice sound that way.
“See what happens?
Hurry up and cross the rope!”
“I... Ah!”
I could hear the
shouts through the walls.
“What is that angel
saying? I guess she’s pretty upset. I don’t like it...” I heard one of the
customers mutter as they left the building.
That’s right—no one
in this world would be able to understand Filo. Even still, did they really
think it was okay to capture her and treat her like an animal? Sure, she might
look like an angel now, but she was really a giant bird monster.
“Fehhh!”
“Rishia, be quiet!
If they realize that you’re speaking the same language, they’ll probably try to
grab you, too!”
“Feh...” She
clapped her hands over her mouth and nodded silently.
“Is it really your
friend?” Kizuna asked, her face serious. I nodded. “I know you want to help
her, but that’s going to be tough for you and I. Do you think Chris, Raph-chan,
and Rishia can handle it?”
“If they try to
sell her in an auction, we could try to raise the funds to buy her. Or if we
can’t get the money, we can get one of the town’s noblemen to buy her to at
least keep her safe...” I muttered. It was all I could come up with for the
moment.
If a nobleman
bought her, then we might be able to use the soul-healing water as a bargaining
chip to get Filo back. But there was no telling how much he would ask about
where we got it and how we made it, which could cause trouble. There’s also the
chance that they would just use Filo as a hostage to get whatever they wanted
from us.
We couldn’t spend
too long staying in one place, but we couldn’t do anything until we found out
how Filo had been captured. If she had just been captured by normal
adventurers, then we might be able to ingratiate ourselves with a nobleman and
use his authority to get her back. On the other hand, if a nobleman had
captured her to begin with, we’d be out of options. He could force us to do
whatever he wanted in that case.
“What should we do?
Should we hope for an auction?”
“We should avoid
working with the nobility if at all possible. It would take a long time, and
there’s no telling what kind of situation we’d be walking into,” Kizuna said. I
could understand her caution. These people’s allies had thrown her into the
labyrinth, after all.
It was easy to
imagine this country having prejudices at least as strong as Melromarc. I
couldn’t ignore the possibility that we might start conversations with a
noblemen and then find ourselves thrown in a dungeon. We had just caused a
ruckus in the next country over.
Luckily, judging
from the reaction of the nobleman who’d bought the soul-healing water from us,
we didn’t have to worry too much about that side of things. Still, there was no
reason to stick around any longer than necessary.
“Is there any way
we can find out who is running this show? There must be someone in charge.”
“Yeah, we can
probably find out at the guild. With a line this long, it should be pretty
simple to find out who is running it.”
So we went to the
guild and looked into the proprietor of the show—that was enough to cancel our
plans of ingratiating ourselves with the nobility.
That’s right. The
nobility was already involved with the show’s management. That didn’t leave us
with many options.
I motioned for
Kizuna to come close, and I whispered in her ear, “Let’s wait until nighttime,
when everyone is asleep, and then try to sneak in.”
Filo sounded like
she was in a lot of pain, so there was no time to waste rescuing her. If we
pulled it off, that would be that. If it didn’t work, we’d just have to move on
to the next plan.
“Okay.”
“We need to secure
an escape route. Better get moving.”
“Alright!”
We had to get
started on our preparations to free Filo. We might end up in a tough battle, so
I decided I’d better figure out my shield plan. I’d need to start with one of
the stronger shields that I already had and then use whatever materials I had
to power it up.
There was the Nue
Shield... It wasn’t quite as powerful as the Chimera Viper Shield, so I would
probably be able to use it. Out of the shields I could currently use, it was
probably the best option.
Nue Shield (awakened)
0/35 C
abilities unlocked;
equip bonus: defense 3
special effect
lightning resistance; night terror; lightning shield (medium)
I decided to power
up the Nue Shield and use it.
I thought the nue
was a Japanese monster, and luckily the shield was still usable in this world.
Also, when I powered it up, Lightning Shield (medium) became available. Before
that, it was (very slight), which wasn’t really good for anything.
I still didn’t know
what “Night Terror” was. It also appeared when I powered up the shield.
Regardless,
rescuing Filo was now our highest priority.
We waited for night
to fall over the town before making our way back to the marketplace.
Kizuna and I crept
lightly over the rooftops and approached the building where they were holding
the show. I had to keep an eye on Rishia the whole time. I didn’t want her
stumbling and screwing up the whole plan. On the other hand, Raph-chan was
quite a bit more dexterous than I’d expected. I didn’t have to worry about her
at all. She was just as light on her feet as Raphtalia.
“In this country,
and in the next one over, there’s a law that you have to carry a light if you
go out after dark.”
“It really feels
like Edo-period Japan, doesn’t it?” It was strange, because the town and the
people in it looked like they were in the midst of a modernization movement.
Everything was all mixed up. Not that I was particularly nostalgic for the Edo
era. The townsfolk made it feel like an imitation version of Edo.
It was like
foreigners had built it, wanting to make it really EDO-PERIOD JAPAN! For a
Japanese person, though, it was clear that something was off.
“Running over the
roofs like this makes me feel like we’re going to run into a ninja or
something.”
“I have a friend
that’s a ninja, actually. I think you might have seen them in one of my
pictures.”
I didn’t recall
having seen any ninja. This girl had way too many weird friends—and that
includes Glass and L’Arc. As for Therese, I hadn’t made up my mind yet.
“Really?”
“Yeah, I’ll
introduce you some day.”
“I’ll pass.”
I couldn’t stop
picturing the shadows from Melromarc and their strange, annoying way of
speaking. You’d think they would try not to stand out, but the shadows had a
very distinct way of speaking. They were like lazy ninja.
“Alright, that’s
enough chat for now...” I said. We were getting close to the building. “You think
she’s in there?”
“There’s no way to
know for sure. Anyway, it looks like there are some rooms built over the
showroom. If she’s here, that’s probably where she’ll be.”
That reminded me—if
I was this close to Filo, shouldn’t I be able to use the monster spell to find
out where she is? I tried using it to get an idea of where to go next. It
hadn’t worked when we were in the labyrinth, and it hadn’t worked when I tried
it after we escaped. That had led me to mostly give up on it, but now... it was
working.
I turned around to
make sure I was getting an accurate sense of where it was indicating, and sure
enough, it looked like Filo was inside.
“Okay, great. I’ll
use a skill to make us hard to see,” Kizuna said, pulling out her fishing rod
and whispering.
“Invisible Hunter!”
There was a soft
humming sound, and we were all suddenly covered in a thin film that made us
invisible. I had nearly forgotten that Kizuna was the Hunting Hero. I’d assumed
that she’d been able to sneak up on monsters and beasts, but I hadn’t expected
her to have such a useful skill.
Maybe it was
because of the type of monsters I’d fought up until that point, but I had never
learned a skill that could make me invisible.
Where would I even
learn a skill like that? A Cloaking Shield? A Hiding Shield?
Raphtalia could
probably do it.
“Raph-chan, can you
use any stealthy magic?”
“Rafu?”
I guess not. She
cocked her head to the side and looked confused. Still, she was made from
Raphtalia, so I thought there might be a chance. I’d have to make a point of
teaching her as many skills and techniques as possible.
“Should we get
going?”
“Yeah. But how does
this skill of yours work?”
“They won’t be able
to see us unless they use magic to search us out. You have to be in our party
to hear our voices and footsteps.”
“That’s great.”
“It took a long
time to learn the ranged version of it, but I learned the simpler single-person
version of it when I was still pretty low level.”
“I wouldn’t
complain too much.”
“Should I cast a
spell, too?” Rishia asked hesitantly.
She probably could
cast it, technically. Too bad she was so bad at everything she tried.
“Maybe if you were
Raphtalia, but it’s probably better that we leave it to someone who knows what
they are doing.”
“But I...”
“I know how you
feel, but let’s just leave it up to Kizuna’s for now.”
Kizuna hopped off
of the roof and snuck off toward the building where Filo was imprisoned.
We jumped down
after her and followed her to the building's back door.
“It’s locked. I
should have known.”
“I don’t know how
to pick locks...”
“Yeah, and this
lock... It will set off an alarm if you break it.”
“They take security
pretty seriously, don’t they?”
“A craftsman might
be able to disable the alarm...”
She had mentioned
that there were times when you needed a good craftsman on your side.
I reached out and
touched the lock. It looked very old. It would trigger an alarm if we tried to
pick it. I focused my magic power and touched it again, and I was able to get
an idea of how the device worked. It was clear that something would happen if
you were to just start fiddling with it.
But I had an idea.
It looked like it
would just make a noise, not necessarily send a notification to anyone. If it
was like a burglar alarm, then I might be able to find a way to disconnect it.
“If I can destroy
the alarm it’s rigged to, do you think you can break the lock?”
“Hm... Yeah,
probably. But can you do that?”
I focused my magic
power into my hands and sent it all flowing into what looked like the most
important part of the alarm.
“Beeeee...”
Just before the
alarm could sound, the lock started sparking. The alarm sounded very quiet and
low, like a rumbling hum in my hand, unable to make any more noise. Because I
was holding the lock in my hands, the noise was concealed by Kizuna’s skill.
“See?”
“Wow! Okay...”
Kizuna said. She whipped out her tuna knife and quickly sliced the lock in two.
Everything happened in complete silence. If I covered the pieces with dirt, it
would probably take care of any noise.
“You said that you
made accessories, didn’t you? You’re quite the craftsman, aren’t you?”
“Back in the world
I came from, maybe so. I can handle some simple magic-imbuing and that kind of
thing. It’s not difficult.”
It wasn’t
difficult, but it had taken a while to really get a handle on the feeling that
goes along with drawing power out of gemstones and things like that. I’d failed
quite a few times before I got the hang of it.
On the other hand,
breaking things was much easier.
For this alarm, all
I did was focus on the part that emitted the sound and then poured my magic
power onto it. It was sort of like dumping water on a computer motherboard. Had
it been very sophisticated, it might not have worked. Luckily, it was a simple
little thing, and it broke easily.
“And you can cook,
too! You’re very talented.”
That’s enough of
that. Let’s get going.”
“Raphtalia was very
complimentary of you in that way. She always said that you were skilled with
your hands, so she wanted to have you make her some accessories.”
That wasn’t a bad
idea, actually—I could help Rishia out by giving her accessories with abilities
imbued in them to make up for her poor battle skills.
Now that she
mentioned it, I remembered having that conversation with Raphtalia. With all of
the training, the searching for the other heroes, and the battles with the
Spirit Tortoise... I’d completely forgotten.
We snuck inside and
took in our surroundings. The interior looked like an old row house, and there
was a stove near the back entrance. There was a place to remove your shoes and
a staircase leading up to the second floor. At the back of the room there were
a number of empty cages. They must have had a few different things to use for
their show, but for the moment, it looked like they were focusing on Filo.
“That’s not the
way,” I said, stopping Kizuna from continuing toward the front room.
“How do you know?
She could be this way.”
“Now that she’s
nearby, I can see what direction she’s in.”
An indicator in my
field of vision pointed the way to Filo’s location, so the fastest way to find
her was simply to follow it. The original use of the spell was probably to help
owners track down escaped slaves—or monsters.
Either way, at
least I could see where she was now. That made the search much easier.
We kept our shoes
on and crept up the stairs to the second floor, where there was a hallway with
a few rooms on either side. There were a few merchants, or maybe noblemen (I
couldn’t tell), standing in the hallway watching over the rooms. They had drunk
themselves to sleep and looked like they were passed out cold.
There weren’t very
many rooms, so finding Filo should be a pretty simple matter.
I looked over at
the drunk, sleeping guards. I guess there were drunks no matter what world you
went to. It was pretty dark, but luckily I’d acquired an ability to see in dark
places a long time ago.
“Feh... Naofumi.
Please don’t let go of my hand!” Rishia murmured. It must have been too dark
for her to make out her surroundings.
Kizuna, on the
other hand, moved forward through the dark without hesitation.
As the Hunting
Hero, she probably had no trouble at all seeing in the dark.
“Which way is she?”
The arrow in my
field of view was pointing to the right, so I waved toward the closest door and
we quietly slipped inside. Inside we found a futon laid out on the floor. There
was a well-off-looking man sleeping in it.
Behind him, I could
just make out... a sack of money?
He must have been
making a pretty profit off of Filo’s show.
Seeing the money
really pissed me off. I’d raised Filo from an egg—she was like my daughter! Hearing
her pained shouts earlier that day had been bad enough.
I would have to
make sure this creep paid for his crimes... but first we needed to free Filo. I
turned back to the search, but I couldn’t see her. I looked around the room,
but she wasn’t there.
I thought that I’d
find her sleeping in her human form, maybe locked in a cage or something. I
must have been wrong. Was she in her filolial form? I wasn’t sure the floor
would be able to support her in that form. She was a very large filolial, and
the floor would probably have broken under her weight.
The only other
thing I saw was a small birdcage in the corner... and the arrow in my vision
was pointing directly at it.
“Pii?!”
The little chick in
the cage noticed us and started to chirp and fly around the cage.
Damn... Wasn’t
there any way to get this monster—or wild animal—to stay quiet?! The man would
wake up if the bird kept making a racket.
“Naofumi! This guy
is going to wake up!” Kizuna said, pulling out her tuna knife and pointing it
at the birdcage. She wanted my confirmation before she killed the monster
inside.
But...
“Kizuna, wait a
second. Why is that little thing causing my monster spell to react as if Filo
is here?”
“I don’t know, but
that’s just a little chick. I think they call them humming fairies.”
A humming fairy,
eh?
But why was my
spell reacting to it?
“Pii! Pii!”
The humming fairy
chick threw itself against the bars of the cage, extending its wings at me. The
way it held its wings out... It reminded me of how Filo used to try to hug me when
she first turned into a human.
“Could it be? Are
you... Filo?”
The humming fairy
chick nodded. That settles that.
“Well, be quiet. If
you make too much noise, this guy will wake up.”
Filo (?) nodded and
stopped making noise. She jumped up onto a perch and sat quietly.
What was going on?
Why was Filo a different kind of monster? Why was she in a little birdcage?
There was an ofuda
stuck on her back, and she looked gloomy and depressed.
Maybe the ofuda
turned her into a different monster so this guy could keep her in a little
cage.
“Should I break the
birdcage?”
“Just a second. We
don’t know if it’s rigged with an alarm.”
“Let’s check it
out.”
I focused my magic
power and reached out to touch the cage. It felt like there was some kind of
amplifier inside, and it was resonating with the ofuda on Filo’s back.
“What does that
ofuda do?
“It’s a servant
ofuda. People use them to control monsters and use them as servants. When the
monsters aren’t being used, the ofuda can be used to hold them prisoner, too.
But this one is strange. Normally, the ofuda fuses with the monster’s skin.”
“Maybe because I
already own her. The ofuda might not work the way it should, because I already
have a monster spell cast on her.”
These people were
real creeps. Based on how upset she’d sounded earlier in the day, I assumed
that they were treating her terribly. But they were people, so neither Kizuna
nor I were going to be able to attack them. That left us with Chris, Rishia,
and Raph-chan to rely on.
“Rishia, do you
think you can take him out while he sleeps?”
“Feh... I can try,
but I don’t know if I’ll be able to.”
Damn it... We
didn’t have any way to make this guy pay! I didn’t think it was a good idea to
trust Rishia with the job. And Raph-chan wasn’t strong enough to attack a person
on her own.
“There are some
things we could do to raise Rishia’s attack power, but it’s probably not worth
the risk of being discovered. Let’s focus on escaping while we still can.”
“What about Chris?
If he’s strong enough to handle it, we should let him.”
“Pen?”
“If we let Chris do
it... he won’t just hurt the guy. He’ll probably kill him.”
How strong was this
shikigami of hers?!
“If we take the
ofuda off of her back, will she be free?”
“It won’t be so
easy to get it off. Many ofuda have special magic applied to them...”
“This one doesn’t
seem to be working properly, though, so hopefully we can just rip it off.”
“Pii...”
“If it has a lot of
different settings and effects, then it could cause trouble.”
It might kill her
if she got too far away from her master—or it might tell him where we were. We
were right in front of him.
I looked into the
optional effects of the magic spell I had applied on Filo to see if there
wasn’t something I could do to make escape easier. The magic spell itself was a
very powerful one. I decided to try to activate it.
“Filo, this may
hurt a little bit. Bear with me.”
I activated the
monster spell and checked to see if it was working properly. A magic circle
appeared in the air over Filo’s stomach, and she began to writhe in pain.
And then the ofuda
peeled up and twisted on her feathers.
When she realized
the ofuda was loose, she cocked her head to the side and started pulling at it
with her beak.
I guess a little
strip of paper and a powerfully applied monster spell weren’t in the same
league.
“Piii!”
“Kizuna, Filo is
about to pull the ofuda off. The birdcage seems to be connected to it, so we’d
better destroy it.”
“Are you ready?”
“Yeah. I don’t see
any alarms on it. Even if there was one, we don’t really have a choice here.”
“Okay,” she said.
Then she drew her tuna knife and quickly sliced the cage to pieces.
The cage clattered
loudly to the floor in chunks. At nearly the same moment, the monster spell
circle on Filo’s chest sparked, and the ofuda peeled off completely.
I immediately
deactivated the monster spell. Filo transformed into a human and threw her arms
around me.
“Master!” she
shouted, raising her head to look up at me. “You’re here! You’re really here!
This isn’t a dream, is it?!”
“I’m really here.
It’s not a dream.”
Filo was on the
verge of tears. She was finally standing right before my eyes.
“Rafu?”
Raph-chan poked her
head out and barked at Filo.
“Hm?”
“Rafu!”
“Master, what’s
this thing? It kind of smells like Raphtalia!”
Her sense of smell
was as good as ever.
“Her name is
Raph-chan. She’s a creature called a shikigami. We made her out of Raphtalia’s
hair, so that’s probably why she smells like her.”
“Oh wow! Nice to
meetcha, little, big sister!”
“Rafu!”
They smiled at each
other. I started to smile, too, when...
“What the hell?!”
The sleeping man
jumped to his feet—very awake. He clearly knew that he was about to lose
Filo—the goose that laid his golden eggs.
“Who are you?! Show
yourselves!” he said, pulling a katana out from under his pillow. “That bird is
mine! I’ll take her back now!”
“Damn...”
Kizuna’s skill must
have stopped working, because once the man noticed us, we quickly came back
into full view.
“Boo!”
“How did you manage
to get the servant ofuda off of her? No matter—I’ll cut you down and take her
back!”
I felt something
snap, like a string pulled too tight. It must have been the limits of my
patience. Was I letting this guy get away with too much?
“Okay... So you
beat up my friend here, and now you’re going to act all tough?”
I didn’t feel like
holding back anymore. Making this guy suffer was my highest priority.
“Rishia, Kizuna, I
want to give this guy a taste of hell—any problem with that?”
“We’re not going to
run away?”
“Run away? Ha! Not
until I torture this guy and destroy his soul.”
“Ra! Fu!”
What’s that now?
Raph-chan understood how I felt? She was smiling devilishly.
But that’s not the
way that Raphtalia would have responded, so that made it clear that they had
very different personalities. Raph-chan was an individual.
I took slow steps
toward the creep that had captured and profited off of Filo. He had to pay. He
had to pay for what he’d done.
“Stay away! Hya!”
The man swung his
sword, but at nearly the exact same second, the Nue Shield’s Night Terror
effect activated.
A low rumbling
emanated from the shield and echoed through the room. Is that all it did?
A split second
later the man yelled, “Stay away...”
“Kyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!”
A shrieking, high-pitched, nearly supersonic voice split through the room. It
sounded like nails on a chalkboard, only much louder and longer.
Kizuna, Chris,
Rishia, and Filo all immediately covered their ears.
“Feh...”
“What’s that
sound?”
“Ah... Ugh...” The
man who owned the show tent started shaking.
“Ahhhhhh...” His
face quickly twisted into one of extreme terror.
“No! Stop! Stay
away!” he shouted, shaking his arms and running over into the cover of the
room.
The shield must
have had a powerful effect on the enemy—he looked like he was crippled with
fear. It must have dug deep into his subconscious fears and brought them to
life in his mind.
“Rafu!” Raph-chan
puffed up her tail and a started to cast a spell. It looked like she could use
the same kind of magic that Raphtalia could—illusion magic.
I squinted in the
dark and could just make out the owner of the show, cowering and running from
something. It looked like a ghost or something... Was the skill using his past
traumas to torture him?
“How can you turn
against me? How can it be?!”
It looked like he
might have been having hallucinations—like maybe all the poor things he
tortured for his business had risen up to exact revenge on him.
“Someone! Someone
please!”
No good. I couldn’t
have him yelling for help.
I walked over to
the cowering businessman. He was terrified and randomly swinging his sword, so
I grabbed him by the shoulders to stop him.
“What do you
want?!” he yelled and swung the sword at me. I stopped the blade.
There was a loud
clang when it hit my shoulder.
Then Lightning
Shield (medium) activated and electrocuted the man. He twitched violently in
front of me.
“But how... You...
You monster!”
“Calm down... The
terror has only just begun.”
“Naofumi... you
sound so villainous,” Kizuna said.
“You’ll pay for
what you did to my friend. Shield Prison!”
I wouldn’t take
damage either way, so I enclosed myself in the prison with him. Then I shoved
the Nue Shield against his ears and blasted him with Night Terror. That’s when
I realized I could control the volume of the shrieks.
“Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!”
The man’s screams
echoed through the prison. They were loud—and annoying.
“Fine then... Maybe
you’d rather answer some questions. Where, and how, did you get your hands on
Filo—I mean, on this angel?”
“Why would I tell
you?!”
“Don’t want to
talk?”
I raised the Night
Terror volume even higher.
“Gyaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhh!”
I turned the volume
back down and told him, “I suggest you start talking soon. Personally, I’ve got
no problem with watching you suffer all day long.”
“Whh... I...”
I smiled, and the
man’s eyes filled with terrified tears. He must have been leaking everywhere, because
a liquid seemed to be running down his legs.
But that wasn’t
nearly enough to make up for all he’d done to Filo. She must have been
terrified! I don’t think any of the creatures whose misery he’d profited from
would be close to satisfied yet.
“See?”
“My parents gave
her to me! They said they found her unconscious!”
“Who are your
parents?”
“They’re nobility
in the town!”
So they found Filo
when she was unconscious, thought they could make money by showing her off, and
captured her. What creeps!
“Who else is
helping you run your show?”
“I’m nobody! I was
just tasked with the running the show, as a representative of a local family!”
So there were clans
that basically ran the town here? The place was organized like the Edo period,
so maybe they were magistrates. It sounded like people were in positions of
power strictly because of their families. I decided to ask Kizuna about it
later.
I’d probably gotten
all the information I could out of this disgusting businessman.
“Thanks for the
information. As a reward, I’ll provide you with supreme terror. Did you think
it was already over?”
“Rafuuuuu...”
Raph-chan cooed, seemingly enjoying the sight. That’s it, Raph-chan. We can
enjoy his misery together!
“Ah...
Ahhhhhhhhhh!”
You know, there’s
really nothing better than watching someone you hate suffer. It was such a
relief to watch this piece of trash howl in fear. If only I could make Trash
and Bitch suffer like this, back in Melromarc.
“Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!”
He was leaking
liquid from all the holes in his body and vomiting, but I kept on dealing him
more terror. I liked watching him writhe and struggle.
Finally, like a
switch had been flipped, his eyes rolled back into his head, he foamed at the
mouth, and then he fainted.
“Don’t think that
passing out will save you.”
“Rafu, rafu!”
I pressed my shield
against the man’s ears and continued to use Night Terror.
Even though he was
unconscious, it still seemed to be working. His limp body started to twitch. He
might have been asleep, but I was injecting terror into his dreams.
I liked this skill.
I could use it to torture people. I’d have to remember to use it the next time
I came across a jerk like this.
It was a
psychological attack, so there might be people that it wouldn’t work on.
No matter—I
continued using Night Terror to fill the man’s dreams with fear while I waited
for the Shield Prison around us to disappear.
“Ew...” Kizuna
muttered, looking down at the unconscious man.
He had leaked all
manner of things from every part of his body, and his face was still twisted in
terror, like he was being tortured in his dreams. He looked like someone that
had seen one of those videos that would kill you if you watched it. He had an
unbelievably violent and pained expression on his face.
Humans were
actually pretty tough. They could go through all of this and still not die.
“Feh...” Rishia was
scared of the man’s pained expression.
If I used Night
Terror on Rishia, she’d probably lose her mind in a heartbeat.
Not that I would do
that...
“Alright, we got
our revenge. Now let’s split.”
“Right... Remind me
never to piss you off. But you know, saying ‘let’s split’ like that makes you
sound like a criminal.”
We had just
committed a crime, hadn’t we? This was illegally breaking and entering—even if
we were rescuing a hostage.
“Thank you,
master!”
“Yeah, yeah.”
A loud beeping
sound rang out through the night outside.
I opened the wooden
shutters to look outside, and I didn’t like what I saw. The building was
surrounded by scowling men.
“You think they’re
out to expose the crimes of the show?”
“I doubt it. I
think they must know we’re here.”
We’d used Kizuna’s
skill to stay hidden, and we hadn’t run into any guards on the way in, but
there was still a chance that we’d been noticed without knowing it.
“Come out and
surrender!”
Yup... There was no
doubt what they were after.
The townspeople had
gathered around the building to find out what all the trouble was about.
“What should we do?
How are we going to get away with all those people out there?”
“Rishia, I’m sure
you know the answer to that. Think back on all the time you spent with
Itsuki...”
“Feh? We would all
proclaim Itsuki the Bow Hero and fight on his behalf.”
That’s what Itsuki
did? What an idiot.
Well, I guess the
Bow Hero was a pretty famous person back in Melromarc. He could probably use
his notoriety to get out of a tough spot. He might not have had to escape all
the time.
“So how do we
escape?” Kizuna asked while Filo threw her arms around me.
Before answering, I
invited Filo into our party and waited for her to accept.
“Here’s the plan:
Portal Shield!”
I chose a location
outside of town that I’d registered before we snuck in to save Filo.
In a flash, our
surroundings completely changed, and we were safely out of trouble.
I hadn’t known if
we were going to be successful in our attempt to free Filo, but I had always
planned on using Portal Shield to escape.
“Wow!” Kizuna
yelled, quickly looking around to get an idea of where we were. “That’s totally
different than Return Transcript!”
“You mean the rules
are different?”
“I guess? This skill
of yours is great for getting away from a pursuer.”
“Let’s hope it
worked.”
It was the middle
of the night and very dark outside, so I would be surprised if anyone could
figure out where we’d vanished to. We’d be in trouble if anyone recognized
us—you could never be too careful.
“Anyway, we’re done
here, so let’s split.”
“Okay!”
“Alright!”
“Oh jeez, I guess
we still have to run for it.”
So after
teleporting to the edge of town, we took off running into the night.
We traveled through
the night, putting plenty of distance between the town and us. By morning, we
had reached the next town down the road.
“These criminals
are wanted for crimes committed in the area. If seen, report them to the
authorities immediately!” read a wanted poster pasted to a board in the new
town. There were rough sketches of us, apparently drawn from eyewitness
reports.
Good thing they’d
only seen us in the dark. The sketches had very few details that could be used
to identify us. Then I saw it... The poster included a sketch of Raph-chan.
That would give us away in a heartbeat, so we’d have to hide her.
“Raph-chan. Sorry,
but if anyone sees you then they’ll know that we’re the ones that freed Filo.”
“Rafu!” she barked.
With a puff of smoke, she transformed into an ofuda that fit in my hand. The
design on the slip of paper moved back and forth. I guess I could call for
Raph-chan at any time.
Kizuna did the same
thing with Chris.
As for Filo...
Unfortunately she’d spent more time in the show, so the drawing of her was
actually very accurate. No one would mistake her—she was a young girl with
wings on her back, after all. Kizuna read the poster and said that it included
information about how we had stolen Filo.
“Pii!”
Filo turned into
her humming fairy form and hid inside of my armor.
“They say that news
travels fast, but it’s kind of amazing that the news beat us here.”
“They made quick
work of it, didn’t they?”
We could probably
escape without too much trouble, but how long would we be able to keep it up?
“What did they do?”
I heard a passerby comment on the poster. I decided to listen in on the gossip.
“They kidnapped
that angel girl from the next town over—the one you could pay to see.”
“Are you sure a
real angel didn’t come and take her? I heard she vanished.”
They were making it
sound like Kaguya-Hime.
Considering how
Japanese the country looked, I guess that sort of story fit with the scenery.
But maybe without
even meaning it to be, the townsfolks’ gossip was pretty close to the truth.
We’d better keep
moving.
“What should we do
about leveling her up?”
Filo was at level
1, just like I’d been.
Man... What if we
were all returned to level 1 when we crossed between the worlds?
“She’s like Rishia.
If I’m with Kizuna then we won’t level up, but Rishia and Filo should get
experience, so there shouldn’t be too much trouble. At least we got over the
first hurdle.”
My own levels had
progressed well, and I had managed to power up my weapons a fair bit, too.
But...
“The real question
is what happened to Filo. Why isn’t she a filolial anymore?”
That’s right. Filo
had been turned into something called a humming fairy instead.
She could still
transform into her human form, but that would get us noticed by the
authorities.
“Filo, I’m sure you
already know this, but don’t transform into human form. They’ll catch you again
if you do.”
“Pii!” she chirped
from the space between my plates of armor. She didn’t seem very worried.
“I was hoping we
could use Filo to pull a carriage for us. How are we supposed to get around
now?” If we had Filo in her filolial form to help, we could have covered a lot
of distance very quickly. I’d been counting on it, but it’s not what we got.
Instead she was stuck as some other monster, something from this world.
“We could call for
a human-powered rickshaw. We have enough money for it. What do you think?”
“... Who’s going to
pull it?”
“Considering what
we’ve got to work with, probably you, Naofumi. You probably have some skill
that would make it easier, don’t you?”
“Ha! Don’t make me
laugh!”
How awful would
that be? Rishia, Kizuna, and Filo all lounging inside while I tugged at a
rickshaw? But as for Filo, I could just have her pull it in her human form. We
could go on a journey, pulled along by a little girl.
It sounded crazy,
but Filo actually had pulled a carriage while she was in human form before. It
wouldn’t look good, though—it wouldn’t look good at all. Plus, we’d really
stand out in a crowd.
“Filo, do you want
to pull a carriage?”
“Pii!” she shook
her head no.
I had no idea what
sort of creature a humming fairy was, but it seems they didn’t like to pull
carriages.
For the moment, we
needed to focus on keeping up our momentum. We didn’t need anything in the
town, so we just walked right through it and kept on going. Once we were out of
town, I took Filo out of my pocket.
She quickly turned
into her human form and jumped in front of me.
“Whew!”
“We better not let
anyone see you in human form, at least until we make it out of this country.”
“It was so scary!”
“I bet it was. You
sounded really scared.”
“Thank you,
master!” Her stomach grumbled loudly. “Master, I’m hungry!”
“Yeah, I bet you
are,” I said, handing her some dried fruit we’d bought at the market.
She greedily
stuffed them into her cheeks.
“I want...”
“Don’t talk with
your mouth full.”
“I want more!”
Her stomach was
actually rumbling as she ate. It was a pretty impressive feat. I wondered if it
had something to do with the fact that her monster form was still a chick.
Maybe she was still growing.
When she was in
human form, she used magic to form her shape. But maybe when she crossed over
to this world, her monster form was returned to a baby. I would have to find an
authority on the subject to ask them about it.
“Kizuna and I won’t
get experience from it, but we should probably take a road that will lead us to
lots of monsters.”
“We could go
fishing, too!” Kizuna said, grabbing her fishing rod and flashing a smile.
What was the deal
with her? Did she really like fishing that much?
“Fishing huh... If
you can get food for Filo we could do some—as long as it doesn’t take very
long.”
“I can catch more
fish here than I can in Japan, but it can take longer to get a bite.”
“No fishing then.
Either that or break the rules and catch them with your hands or something.”
“I would never!
There is a code of honor among us fishermen! I cannot break it!”
Kizuna was even
more into fishing than I thought. But there must have been “illegal” ways to
catch fish in a world like this. Maybe she could use thunder magic to hit a
river with a lightning bolt, and then all the fish would just float to the
surface. Seemed like a good idea to me.
Why did she have to
be so particular about it? Is that what qualified her to be a hero?
. . . Yeah right.
“Well, hunting is
easy enough, so I could always do that. You’ve got some more friends on your
side, too. Just don’t forget what we came here for.”
“How could I? I’m
here to find Raphtalia,” I said, touching Raph-chan’s ofuda. I seriously could
not relax without Raphtalia nearby. I was almost thankful to Raph-chan for
being there, because she was the closest I could get to Raphtalia for the
moment.
Having her there
made me feel a little better.
“Hey, master?”
“What?”
“Who is this lady?”
Filo certainly
waited long enough to ask about Kizuna... They’d already spent the whole night
together.
“I’m Kizuna
Kazayama. Naofumi and I have been traveling together. I’m one of the four holy
heroes from this world.”
“Oh wow! Nice to
meet you, fishing lady!”
Filo had a tendency
to refer to people by whatever they happened to be holding.
“Sorry, Filo, but
Kizuna’s weapon isn’t actually that fishing rod.”
“That’s right,”
Kizuna said, changing her weapon into all sorts of different things before
Filo’s sparkling eyes.
“What? What? What?
Wow!” Filo shouted while she followed the rapidly changing weapon with her
eyes.
“So, Filo, what do
you think I am?”
“Um...” For
possibly the first time ever, Filo didn’t seem to know what to say.
Kizuna looked like
she was really enjoying herself.
“Though I have to
say, I don’t mind being called ‘fishing lady.’ I kind of think of myself that
way.”
“Then stop playing
with Filo.”
“I was just having
a good time.”
“Okay, I’ll call
you... Kizuna ne-chan.”
What? Filo actually
learned her name?
But “ne-chan”? That
felt kind of weird, considering how much Kizuna looked like a barely legal
loli-girl.
“Naofumi, you look
like you’re thinking about something nasty.”
She noticed! I
looked away.
“Why are you
looking away?”
“Do you care?”
“Maybe a little.”
“I just thought it
was funny that she called you ne-chan, even though you look like an underage
loli-girl.”
“Hey now!” Kizuna
snapped.
Filo ignored our
conversation and interjected, “I shouldn’t call you Kizuna ne-chan?”
“No, that’s just
fine. Nice to meet you, Filo-chan.”
“Yay!”
“Shouldn’t you be
Kizuna-chan?”
“Naofumi.”
I looked away
again.
Kizuna and Filo
shook hands, and then Kizuna changed the subject. “Okay, so how about we look
for Glass while doing some monster hunting to help Filo-chan level up?”
“Good idea. I’m
worried about her levels, but we can focus on them once we get somewhere safe.”
We had to focus on
finding Raphtalia for now.
I activated the
slave magic again to see if it worked. Just like last time, it didn’t.
We were going to
have to depend on Raph-chan to find her.
What if she had
been captured and abused like Filo had been? I don’t even know what I would do
if that were the case.
If Filo was
Kaguya-Hime, then Raphtalia... Raph-chan... was Bunbuku Chagama.
I just hoped it
wasn’t Kachi-Kachi Yama.
“We’re going to
stop in the towns we pass through, right?”
“Do we need to?
We’ve got the shikigami to lead us.”
I guess that was
true. But we should still try to gather whatever information we could. Who knew
when we might need it?
“The demi-humans in
this world are mostly elves and dwarves, right? People with beast ears and
tails are sort of rare, right?”
“Yeah, I don’t see
them very often.”
That didn’t bode
well for Raphtalia. Someone might have tried to capture her.
I hoped she was
alright, but I was starting to worry that she’d been captured just like Filo
had. Hopefully, she was still with Glass and the others. Glass could probably
protect her—she was strong enough to defeat the other three heroes without
breaking a sweat.
We kept pressing
onwards, helping Rishia and Filo gain some levels along the way.
Hi. I’m Designer of Blog Magic. I’m CEO/Founder of ThemeXpose. I’m Creative Art Director, Web Designer, UI/UX Designer, Interaction Designer, Industrial Designer, Web Developer, Business Enthusiast, StartUp Enthusiast, Speaker, Writer and Photographer. Inspired to make things looks better.
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