LN Tate no Yuusha Prolog - CH 4 Vol 13 Bahasa Indonesia

Prologue: Team Assignments

“You ready?”

“Yes.”

“Sheesh. Could you have come from a more inconvenient place?” I grumbled.

Due to a particular string of events, I was currently in the process of getting ready to depart for a certain country. It had all started when . . . When had it started again? I wanted to say it was when I had Raphtalia change into a miko outfit in this world, but I had a feeling it actually went back a lot further than that. Either way, I was going to avoid taking any responsibility and say it wasn’t my fault.

I guess I should start with a little bit of background. My name is Naofumi Iwatani. I was originally a university student living in Japan, but for various reasons I ended up getting summoned to another world to serve as the Shield Hero. That new world functioned a lot like a game. People had levels and could gain experience to level up by defeating monsters. The system made it easy to see the results of one’s hard work.

The reason the people of this world summoned me here was because they wanted me to fight against what they called “waves,” a phenomenon that was threatening to destroy their world. Getting summoned to a parallel universe felt like a dream come true in the beginning. But the country I’d been summoned to was simply rotten and I got caught up in the middle of several big conspiracies. I hate to admit it, but I ended up with a completely warped personality as a result. Just thinking about that stuff made me depressed.

“Can you blame us for coming here? The Seaetto territory here in Melromarc actually welcomed vagrant demi-humans, after all,” Sadeena replied.

“My birth is the real problem here, isn’t it?” Raphtalia said quietly with a hint of regret in her voice.

Raphtalia was the girl who’d become my first companion after I was summoned to this world. In the beginning, I bought her as a slave to make her fight for me, since I had no way of attacking on my own. But we’d been through a lot together since then, and now she was my trusty sidekick. She was also kind of like a daughter to me.

Thinking back, we sure had come a long way. I would have never been able to imagine a future like this back in the beginning, when I was first summoned here. To summarize what had happened without going into too much detail, it all started with a string of conspiracies in Melromarc, which was the country that summoned me. After finally overcoming all of that, we had to deal with enemies who showed up from a different world on the other side of the waves.

The waves that we heroes had been summoned to fight were actually a phenomenon that stemmed from the imminent fusion of different worlds. If two worlds failed to defeat the waves caused by their collision, the worlds would fuse together. As a result, the maximum capacity that a single world could contain would be surpassed. Ultimately, the worlds would be torn apart and destroyed. That was pretty much the extent of our current understanding.

Anyway, we eventually made peace with the enemies that initially crossed over during the waves — Glass, L’Arc, and Therese . Later on, another enemy hijacked the Spirit Tortoise, which was one of the four benevolent animals meant to protect this world. But we defeated him and brought him to justice. For the time being, the Spirit Tortoise’s power had temporarily put a stop to the waves in this world.

For Raphtalia’s sake, I decided to use that time to rebuild the village where she had been born and raised, since it had been destroyed by one of the waves. As part of that, I’d also gone around buying up the villagers who’d been forced into slavery after leaving the village and then brought them back to the village. I did this so that I could train them to fight for me against the waves, of course. I needed more offensive capabilities, and slaves and monsters raised by a hero would be more powerful than usual.

After that, I went about rounding up the other three holy heroes, one by one. I took them into protective custody so that we might actually have a chance against the waves. After being summoned to this world, they ran around fighting like it was all just a game. But they finally came to terms with reality and turned over a new leaf. That was what happened in a nutshell, anyway.

“What do you want us to do? We should go with you, right?” asked Ren.

“Hold on just a sec,” I replied.

That was the Sword Hero that just spoke to me. His name was Ren Amaki. In the beginning, he had been all about maintaining his “cool” persona. But he got a bit wonky after experiencing a big failure. He decided to put his faith in Witch, the bitch who had deceived me and framed me for rape. She betrayed him, and he fell into despair once again. After that, a bunch of stuff happened, and now he was staying in my village under my protection.

After Ren’s reform, among us four holy heroes, his personality actually ended up fitting the hero image the most. He was 16 years old. Honestly, I’d become so warped now that Ren’s innocence could be quite a shock at times. He wasn’t weak, by any means. But he’d been consumed by multiple curses in battle before coming to the village, so he was currently in a weakened state. For now, he was just training and waiting for the effects of the curses to wear off.

That said, I’d relied on the cursed power of the Shield of Wrath to make it out of my own tight spot, so I was in a weakened state too. Apart from my defense, most of my stats were currently just a bit higher than those of the average adventurer. But Ren had implemented the weapon power-up methods I told him about, so he was definitely far stronger than he had been before coming to the village.

I mentioned this earlier too, but Ren had been deceived by Witch. Just like I had. Having a shared enemy had given birth to a growing sense of camaraderie between the two of us. After all he’d been through, Ren had become a serious, level-headed guy. But Witch was one person he could never forgive.

“Where’s Itsuki?” I asked.

“Right here,” said Itsuki.

I looked around and saw him standing with Rishia and raising his hand. Itsuki was the Bow Hero. His full name was Itsuki Kawasumi. He’d come to the village fairly recently.

Just like Ren, Itsuki had been summoned from a different version of Japan than me. He’d originally had a really strong sense of justice. But like Ren, he’d been consumed by a cursed weapon and his personality ended up being corrupted as a result. He had lost practically all sense of identity, not to mention his sense of justice.

We’d found him fighting in the coliseums of Zeltoble — the country of merchants and mercenaries —under the absolutely cringeworthy alias Perfect Hidden Justice. While there, Witch deceived him, stole all of his money, and left him with a massive pile of debt. I’d agreed to shoulder his debts for the time being, but I certainly had no plan of just writing them off.

Itsuki’s sense of justice had once saved Rishia and she subsequently joined his party because of it. But Itsuki eventually tossed her aside in his selfishness. After that, she trained under my guidance for a while before facing Itsuki in battle. By that time, she’d grown enough that she was able to defeat him and show him the meaning of true justice.

Rishia had come from a ruined noble family, apparently. But she was in charge of guiding Itsuki along the path of reform now. She carried a mysterious, semitransparent weapon, and she had become remarkably powerful.

“Oh, I didn’t realize you were here. So yeah, there are several issues at hand here,” I said.

“What do you mean, Naofumi? Sadeena tried to explain earlier, but it’d be nice if you could put it into terms we could understand,” Ren replied.

It all started when L’Arc dressed Raphtalia in a miko outfit. L’Arc was a vassal weapon holder, which was his world’s equivalent of this world’s seven star hero. Anyway, the miko outfit looked so good on Raphtalia that I began plotting ways to have her continue wearing one even after we returned to this world. So I had a miko outfit made for her here. But when I had her try it on, it triggered a whole mess of problems.

Raphtalia had apparently been born into the royal bloodline of a demi-human country named Q’ten Lo, and the official dress reserved for the country’s empress closely resembled the miko outfit. Raphtalia’s parents had no interest in inheriting the throne, so they left the country. But the country’s spies had been keeping tabs on Raphtalia all along.

I didn’t know about any of that when I had her try on the miko outfit. But in their eyes, Raphtalia was wearing the royal garb and associating with the Shield Hero, who was basically the god of the demi-humans. In other words, they took it as a claim to the country’s throne and decided to eliminate her as a result.

On top of that, the spies who were keeping tabs on Raphtalia caused a huge disturbance in my territory. And now assassins were going to just keep coming after her, it seemed. That wasn’t the kind of thing I needed to deal with.

The fact that they had been observing Raphtalia the whole time meant they’d been watching when the village was attacked by the monsters from the wave, when Raphtalia was captured by slave hunters, when she was tortured as a slave, and when she was going through all of the hardships she’d suffered after becoming my slave. And I was certain they were powerful enough to have saved her from pretty much anything. But ultimately, they went so far as to try and kill her when they didn’t like the way things were going.

I didn’t care what I had to do—I was going to make them pay! That pretty much summed up my thoughts on the issue, so I decided to invade the country known as Q’ten Lo. I’d asked Sadeena where the country was, but she still hadn’t answered me.

“Sadeena, you still haven’t given me any more than a general overview, either. We have to stop by Siltvelt, right? Can you explain?” I asked.

“Alright, boys and girls. I’ll tell you everything you need to know,” she replied.

Sadeena was kind of like a big sister to all of the village slaves, including Raphtalia. She was a demi-human, but she also had a killer whale therianthrope form that she could use. She was oddly powerful for not being a hero.

Looks-wise, she was pretty much on par with Raphtalia. She also made no attempt to hide her unwelcome sexual advances on me. She’d apparently publicly declared that she would marry the man who could outdrink her, and since I couldn’t get drunk, she was always hitting on me. She was a real pain in my ass. I’d heard she was born in the same country as Raphtalia’s parents and accompanied them here as something like a bodyguard.

“I want to be sure I have this right. We can’t get to Q’ten Lo without going through Siltvelt, right?” I asked.

The country we were headed to — Q’ten Lo — was even further to the east than Siltvelt. One had to cross the sea to get there, and the country had sealed itself off from the rest of the world too.

“Yes, it’s even further east than Siltvelt. It’s also extremely hard to get into,” Sadeena replied.

“Hard in what way?” I asked.

Sadeena looked like she was reminiscing about the past.

“Well, to start, it’s in the middle of the ocean, so you have to travel by boat. There are several small countries along the way that we can ignore. Q’ten Lo lies beyond all of those. The ocean currents are really chaotic, which makes it practically impossible to get there in the first place,” she explained.

“Oh yeah?”

“And there’s an even bigger problem. There’s a water dragon in the ocean who keeps a protective barrier in place around the country and guards it carefully. Not even I can break through that barrier,” she continued.

“Can’t we just defeat the dragon?” I asked.

If it was being guarded by a monster, then surely we could just defeat the monster.

“The water dragon remains hidden somewhere in the depths of the ocean below Q’ten Lo. If there’s a way to defeat him, I’d like to know too,” she said.

Hmm . . . I guess it was like asking how to attack me directly when I had Shooting Star Shield activated. Protection was my specialty, so I could understand just how difficult that would be. It would be easy if we could break through using brute force, but it didn’t sound like that was likely.

“I guess that means he’s maintaining the country’s barrier from the inside, and while hiding at the bottom of the ocean on top of that,” I said.

Sadeena nodded. That reminded me. The attackers had called her the water dragon’s former miko priestess or something like that. I wondered if that was why she knew so much.

“Thanks to that barrier, invading from the air is impossible too. As far as I know, the only way into the country is on a trading ship from Siltvelt. I found that out while still living there,” she added.

Strange. Q’ten Lo was starting to remind me of Japan from a long time ago. It had isolated itself with extremely limited access to the outside world. I guess that made Siltvelt the equivalent of Portugal or maybe the Netherlands.

“Then what about using the port to smuggle ourselves in?” I asked.

“They’ll be on high alert after what happened with little Raphtalia. Getting in without some serious support from Siltvelt is probably going to be difficult,” Sadeena replied.

I let out a deep sigh. I guess this was going to be a tough one. Under the circumstances, getting into the country secretly would be pretty much impossible. So basically, Sadeena was saying we would have to pry the borders open by force. She did say I should be prepared to crush a country for Raphtalia’s sake, after all. I guess there was no other option. We’d just have to go to Siltvelt and request their help.

“Got it. We’ll go to Siltvelt and have them prepare a boat for us, then,” I said.

I had no idea how much time we would lose going to Siltvelt, but we had no choice. Ren and Itsuki didn’t seem to understand the full scope of what going there meant, but I could see a lightbulb turn on in Rishia’s head.

“So that’s settled. Ren and Itsuki, taking you two to Siltvelt would most likely just complicate matters. In fact, it would probably be downright dangerous,” I said.

Things were complicated between Siltvelt and Melromarc, which is where we were currently based. The two countries had been on bad terms for ages now. That had a lot to do with me getting framed and put through all kinds of hell here.

The four holy heroes were four people with holy weapons who were summoned to this world as its saviors. Because of that, the people of the world worshipped the heroes. But the official religion of Melromarc had originally been the Church of the Three Heroes, which worshipped all of the holy heroes except for the Shield Hero. According to the Church of Three Heroes, the Shield Hero was a demon. But it had been a rotten religion, and when the members showed their true colors and started running rampant, we ultimately ousted them.

It was the opposite in Siltvelt. The official religion there worshipped the Shield Hero. It wouldn’t be unheard of to have related issues arise there. Operating within Melromarc had been easy for the other three heroes, so it was highly likely that the reverse would be true in Siltvelt. Of course, I wanted to think they’d be fine if they were with me. But under the current circumstances, even I was bound to get wrapped up in a mess or two while there. Ren and Itsuki coming would probably just needlessly complicate matters.

“Then what should we do?” Ren asked.

“They don’t worship any heroes in Q’ten Lo, do they?” I asked Sadeena.

“I want to say no. My work limited my exposure to things like that, so I can’t say for certain,” she replied.

She sure was useless. I guess it wasn’t her fault, though.

“Anyway, we’ll use my portal to return to the village at regular intervals, so you guys just be ready to join the fight at any time. If you have any spare time, head to the Cal Mira islands and focus on getting rid of those curses,” I said.

“Got it. If you have any trouble, just call for us any time,” Ren replied.

“Understood,” said Itsuki.

“Fehhh . . . We sure got wrapped up in a big mess,” Rishia muttered.

Yeah, she was right about that.

“Alright, so that means we need to depart for Siltvelt. I wonder where Filo is,” I said.

Filo had been the second companion to join me after I was summoned to this world. She was a young girl that was actually a kind of monster called a filolial. Filolials were bird-type monsters that loved pulling carriages more than anything else. When raised by a hero, they could gain a filolial queen form that allowed them to transform into a human.

In her filolial form, Filo was a white bird with pink highlights on her feathers. When she turned into a human, she was a young girl with blonde hair and blue eyes. She had a childlike innocence. She was kind of like a celebrity in the eyes of the villagers. There was an incident not long ago that resulted in her level dropping drastically, so she had gone out to level up with her close friend Melty—princess of Melromarc—and my precious familiar, Raph-chan.

I wondered if she would come back if I used the monster seal to order her to do so.

“Who knows where they are now,” Raphtalia replied.

“The monster seal does tell me her general direction. She’d probably come back if I gave her the order.”

It would probably take a while for her to get back, even if I did give the order, though. I was in a bad mood at the moment. Rather than dealing with that headache, I had a feeling it’d be better to just come up with another plan. I gave up on summoning Filo back. She’d finally gotten the chance to go level up, so interfering with that would’ve made me feel bad too.

And then a little red dragon raised his hand.

“Kwa!”

The dragon’s name was Gaelion, and he was the culprit responsible for the recent incident I just mentioned.

Not too long ago, I’d been gifted a bunch of supplies as a show of support — most likely from Siltvelt — and there’d been a dragon egg mixed in among them. I wanted to experiment with the dragon at the village, so I decided to raise it with the help of Rat, an alchemist who had come from this world’s largest country, Faubrey.

Well, I guess it was the villagers that had done the actual raising. There was a girl named Wyndia who I’d tried to nickname “valley girl,” but she’d rejected the idea. She was the one who had taken responsibility for raising the dragon.

Anyway, Gaelion quickly grew to be a good-sized dragon, but then the problems started. He wanted me to play with him, so he started knocking on my door and running off. After scolding him for his mischief, I started making an effort to spend more time playing with him.

But while we were spending time together, the little rascal got the bright idea of eating the dragon core I’d previously used in my armor. The core had been made by combining the dragon zombie core—which we got after fighting the corpse of a dragon Ren had slain—with a demon dragon core from the other world we went to. Gaelion began acting violently as soon as he swallowed the core, ultimately losing control and running away. He fled to the mountain where the dragon zombie had lived before being slain. So we headed that way to try to save our Gaelion.

That was all well and good, but then it turned out that the demon dragon core we’d gotten in the other world had seized control of Gaelion. The Demon Dragon that Kizuna — one of the four holy heroes from that other world — defeated had re-manifested itself using Gaelion’s body. Filo had eaten part of the dragon zombie core too, and that allowed the dragon to steal her experience points. Even worse, she ended up being trapped in the dragon’s body.

Gaelion managed to regain control while we were fighting the Demon Dragon. He escaped from the dragon’s restraints along with Filo, which weakened the Demon Dragon and allowed us to defeat it. Now the original Gaelion — the dragon who raised Wyndia as his own child and who Ren once defeated — coexists with our baby Gaelion inside of his body. Both of their minds reside in the single body now, in other words.

“What is it?” I asked.

“Umm, Gaelion says he’ll let you ride him,” Wyndia replied.

She interpreted for Gaelion, who she was now raising. Wyndia was a demi-human girl with dog-like ears. She had been raised by a dragon and was fond of monsters, so she helped look after the monsters in the village.

“Are you going with them, Wyndia?!” Ren asked.

He ran over to Wyndia with a worried look on his face.

“If Gaelion is going, then of course I am,” she replied.

“If . . . if you go . . .” he stammered.

Wyndia gave Ren a swift kick to the shin. Of course, with Ren’s stat boosts it didn’t seem to have much of an effect.

“Stop trying to act like my guardian!” she shouted.

Ultimately, Ren had killed Wyndia’s father. He was trying to own up to that fact, but it just ended up annoying Wyndia. Regardless, he hadn’t given up and was still searching for a way to make amends.

“Gyao! Gyao!”

Gaelion didn’t like Ren, most likely because of the adult Gaelion inside of him. There was no way he would let Ren ride him. In other words, Gaelion wasn’t going to let Ren come even if he wanted to.

“So? What are you going to do, Shield Hero?” Wyndia asked.

I thought for a moment.

“I guess it’s our only choice without Filo around, although I’m pretty sure we do have another filolial,” I said.

I looked over toward the barn —or monster stable I should have said, I guess. I could see a light-purple filolial looking over at us with a dejected look on its face. That was Filo Underling #1. Generally speaking, filolials couldn’t fly. From a transportation standpoint, that put Gaelion on top at the moment. Actually, competing with Gaelion, who could fly, might have been the whole reason Filo had gone out to level.

“I ——— ”

Another hand went up. This time it was a certain stuffed doll.

“My master has something to say,” the doll said.

“What is it?” I asked.

I looked over at S’yne, who was the stuffed familiar’s master.

S’yne wasn’t from this world or even Kizuna’s world. She was a vassal weapon holder from another world that had apparently been destroyed by the waves. Our first encounter had been as opponents in a fight in Zeltoble’s underground coliseum tournament. She was going by the ring name Murder Pierrot at the time. A lot happened after that, and now she was living here in my territory.

I wasn’t really sure what her true objective was, but her own enemies had invaded this world and were trying to kill the four holy heroes here. She seemed to want to defeat those enemies and protect the holy heroes.

Since the world she’d originally lived in had been destroyed, the translation function of her vassal weapon was damaged. Her speech was always cutting out, so I could never understand what she was saying. By using a stuffed doll as a familiar and having the doll interpret for her, she’d finally found a way to communicate her thoughts to us.

Back when we were trying to take Ren into protective custody, some new enemies showed up. They had a ridiculous ability that allowed them to resurrect even if we somehow managed to kill them. S’yne helped us finally defeat those enemies once and for all. It turned out she’d been searching for a way to do that for a long time.

“My master says that she might be able to transport you to a point along the way. She would like to see a map.”

“Umm, sure.”

I showed S’yne my world map.

“Let’s see. She says she placed a teleportation marking pin on some cargo on a Zeltoble trading ship, so she should be able to transport you part of the way.”

“Oh yeah? That would help.”

S’yne had a skill that allowed her to teleport to the location of anything she attached one of her marking pins to. She could also keep tabs on the pin’s immediate surroundings. She’d rushed to my aid before when I was in trouble, thanks to a pin she’d stuck on my armor.

All things considered, even with Filo’s speed, getting to Siltvelt would take time. The teleportation skills that Ren, Itsuki, and I could use required us to go to a place and save the location before we could teleport back there. Raphtalia had the katana vassal weapon from that other world, but it only had a portal skill that teleported to dragon hourglasses. Those were facilities that notified the people of coming waves. The hourglasses were also used to perform class-up ceremonies, which allowed people and monsters to surpass the initial level cap. On top of that, Raphtalia couldn’t use her teleport unless she’d already been to a dragon hourglass.

But all S’yne had to do was stick one of her marking pins on something and she would be able to teleport to that thing’s location, even if the thing moved. It sure was a convenient skill.

“Alright, so we’ll have S’yne teleport us. In that case, Raphtalia, Sadeena, Gaelion, and Wyndia should do fine,” I said.

“Ahem!”

Oh, dammit. Now she was raising her hand. What a headache. Thoroughly annoyed, I turned my gaze to the girl with her hand held high in the air — Atla.

“Yes, Atla?”

She was a hakuko, which was a race of demi-humans considered to be one of the most powerful among them. Their level caps were higher too. She was a slave that had initially been part of a package deal when I purchased her older brother, Fohl, in Zeltoble. Lately I was starting to think she might actually be stronger than her brother.

I mean, when I first saw her she was a sickly little girl that looked like she might die at any moment. She had an incurable disease that had weakened her and rendered her unable to even walk. But when I gave her some medicine, she began to recover rapidly. And now she’d turned into a slave who was too energetic for her own good.

“I would like to accompany you,” she said.

“What are you thinking, Atla?!” Fohl shouted.

That was the big brother whose reputation was on the decline. Fohl had been leveling up recently, and that had been accompanied by a growth spurt. He was getting rather tall.

“Brother, as Mr. Naofumi’s retainers, we must be prepared to serve by his side at all times. That should go without saying,” she replied.

“But!”

“Brother, are you not aware of our performance, or lack thereof, recently?”

“Ugh . . .”

Actually, it was undeniable that Atla was a prodigy. Ren, Itsuki, and I were all eagerly trying to learn a martial art called the Hengen Muso style, but Atla understood its very essence without even studying. It was thanks to her that we were able to defeat the Demon Dragon recently. Hidden inside of that little body was the potential to rival even an awakened Rishia.

In fact, Atla’s growth had probably been the most remarkable of all the village slaves. Sadeena had just been crazy strong from the start. But Atla just had to watch Rishia fight —well, actually Atla couldn’t see. But just by sensing Rishia’s movements, she was able to reproduce them. Her level still wasn’t very reassuring, but I had no complaints about her ability to fight.

On the contrary, it felt like Fohl was the one who hadn’t really done anything of note.

“I could take you two with us, but you’re hakuko, right?” I said.

The hakuko race of demi-humans was basically royalty in Siltvelt. Long, long ago, Siltvelt had been ruled by a hakuko, but that hakuko started a war, which Siltvelt lost. The hakuko were blamed for that defeat and the race fell into disrepute.

“Brother, we should have some influence in Siltvelt, right? This is our chance to be useful as retainers. That’s our duty. Come, Brother, it’s time to make good use of your connections.”

Atla latched on to Fohl’s arm and entreated him in a manner that almost looked as if she were trying to seduce him. To put it bluntly, Atla was always prepared to do whatever it took to win. When her brother started protesting, she had no qualms about shutting him up with an unexpected sharp jab. She’d been born into a noble warrior family, supposedly, but I would have thought it was a clan of barbarians.

“Ugh . . . It’s not that I don’t have connections, but that was all a long time ago. I don’t know if they’ll be of any help,” he replied.

“Hmm . . .”

So even if their family had fallen into ruin, he might still have some connections we could use.

“S’yne, how far can you take us?” I asked.

“The marking pin that she attached to the cargo seems to be near this port here,” the stuffed doll familiar replied, pointing at the map.

The familiar had been modeled after Keel’s therianthrope form. Keel was a slave at the village who could use a therianthrope form that resembled a Siberian husky. I’d skip the details for now.

The familiar had pointed at a port town near Shieldfreeden. I guess we’d ride Gaelion from there. Or was there a reason to stop by Shieldfreeden too? That would probably just cause even more trouble.

“Sadeena,” I said.

“Yes?”

“What about Shieldfreeden?”

“Shieldfreeden has a relatively short history. They don’t trade with Q’ten Lo. There’s no reason for us to go there. Well, they do have boats that go to Siltvelt, but that’s all I can think of.”

A carriage or boat that went directly to Siltvelt from the port town would make things easier.

“Alright, you two can come. But I’ll be bringing you back to the village at night with my portal,” I told Atla.

“Of course,” she replied.

“Alright, then let’s head out. You’re up, S’yne.”

S’yne nodded. She invited us all to a party and then gripped her weapon and began whispering something. And then whish! We were teleported away pretty much like when I used my portal.

Chapter One: Advance Payment

“This is . . .”

I looked at our surroundings. We seemed to be in a port storehouse. There was a large wooden crate nearby. The marking pin must have been attached to the crate.

“Yeah, that’s definitely a convenient skill. If we had to, we could just attach a pin to Gaelion and send him ahead. That might even be more — ”

I paused mid-sentence when I noticed S’yne peering at her weapon strangely.

“That ——— pretty ——— ”

“She says that was pretty dangerous,” the Keel-like stuffed doll replied.

“What was?” I asked.

“My master says that using her weapon in its weakened state to transport multiple people at once is dangerous. If something went wrong and the teleport failed, it’s hard to say what would happen.”

S’yne was using a vassal weapon that belonged to a world that had been destroyed. Its translation functionality was already failing. The weapon’s other powers were also slowly dwindling away, bit by bit.

“So we just barely made it and another attempt would be dangerous, in other words,” I said.

“Correct. Your idea could work, but it would be a gamble. Would you still like to try?” the doll asked.

“And I’m guessing it would still be dangerous even with less people,” I replied.

S’yne nodded.

“So much for that. Us heroes will be on portal duty for the rest of the trip then,” I said.

Some kind of teleport mishap was not something I could risk at the moment. I’d just be happy with the fact that we’d managed to take this much of a shortcut.

S’yne bowed her head apologetically. I ruffled her hair a bit as a sign that she shouldn’t worry about it. She jerked her head back up quickly and seemed to be blushing slightly.

“Did that bother you?” I asked her.

She shook her head and then smiled really big. I guess that meant she didn’t mind me ruffling her hair, but why was she smiling? I thought she was supposed to be the cool, unaffected type. That smile was out of character. Or was this one of those things where the girl falls in love with the hero when he rubs her on the head? Surely not.

“My master says that she will come running should anything happen, regardless.”

“Thanks. But last time she was asleep and didn’t even notice. Let’s try to avoid that.”

“She says it won’t happen again.”

Just as I finished settling things with S’yne, Atla’s ears began twitching and her tail flicked back and forth a couple times.

“Hm? I sense the arrival of a new enemy,” she said.

“Huh? Where?” I asked.

We were in a port storehouse, after all. It was possible a security guard had mistaken us for thieves or something. I wondered if we should try running. I had a feeling that would be difficult with our numbers.

“Nowhere. It’s just a hunch,” she replied.

“Don’t say misleading things like that!” I snapped.

“You’re being overly cautious, Atla,” said Raphtalia.

“Whatever. Let’s go,” I said.

We all climbed on Gaelion’s back and thus began our journey.

Judging by our progress, riding Gaelion was quicker than traveling by boat or carriage. I guess that was only natural, considering we were flying.

“Kwa . . .”

“Gaelion says we’re heavy. He says we’ll need to travel with less people if we want him to fly for extended periods of time,” said Wyndia.

She was complaining on Gaelion’s behalf. I turned around and counted how many people were riding him. There was me, Raphtalia, Sadeena, Wyndia, S’yne, Atla, and Fohl. Yeah, that did seem like too many people to be riding him, to be honest. Gaelion could transform into a rather large dragon, so we’d all climbed on like it was only natural. But I could definitely see how seven people might be a bit heavy, especially if we wanted to prioritize traveling fast.

“Kwaaaaa . . .”

It was clearly no small effort for Gaelion to continue flying. I could sense him concentrating his magic power into his wings as he flapped them. That reminded me. Rat mentioned that it was difficult for dragons to sustain flight over long periods of time. I looked back at the others again.

“Maybe it should just be me and Wyndia while traveling. I’m already going to be bringing the others to us using my portal, after all,” I said.

“That might be a good idea. All of this swaying is starting to make me sick,” Raphtalia replied.

She didn’t look so good. Now that I thought about it, even riding in Filo’s carriage had made her sick in the beginning. Maybe motion sickness was a weakness of hers.

Then Fohl made a retching sound. Him too? I’d never experienced motion sickness myself, so I couldn’t really claim to understand. It sure didn’t seem fun, though.

“Brother, you and Raphtalia lack discipline,” said Atla.

She seemed completely unfazed. If anyone, it should have been her that got sick easily. Her recovery really had been a little bit too successful.

“Wha ——— ?”

S’yne didn’t seem to be particularly bothered.

“Oh my!” Sadeena squealed playfully.

“Sadeena, you better not go transforming into your therianthrope form here,” I said.

If she changed into her big, fat killer whale therianthrope form while we were flying, Gaelion was likely to run out of strength and fall out of the sky.

“Kw-kwa . . .”

“He says he needs to rest,” said Wyndia.

“I guess we’ll just have to take a break,” I replied.

I wasn’t too excited about taking a break since we were in a hurry, but I could understand. We touched down in a meadow to let Gaelion rest.

“It’s not often that you get to experience traveling by flight. This is fun,” Sadeena said.

“It’s going to take more than fun to solve our problems,” I retorted.

After a few moments, a faint rumbling sound came from Gaelion’s direction.

“Kwaaaa . . .”

“Gaelion says he’s hungry.”

“He just ate!” I shouted.

I’d fed him plenty just before we left. What did she mean he was hungry already?!

“I’m sure he used up a lot of magic power flying with seven people on his back. It only makes sense that he would be exhausted and get hungry, don’t you think?” Sadeena suggested.

“I guess that does make sense,” I said.

So by flying, we could ignore troublesome terrain, but fuel efficiency would drop. Yeah, it would probably be best to have Raphtalia and a few of the others stay back at home while we were on the move, although it’s not like there weren’t monsters up in the sky. In fact, Sadeena had already dropped several of them out of the air with her lightning magic.

“Should we return to the village and feed him? Or should we just go kill some random monsters and feed him here?” I asked.

Gaelion was a dragon, right? If I didn’t need to cook the food, then it would probably be quickest to just kill some monsters in the area and he could eat those. If I got lucky, I might even end up getting some new shield materials.

“You want to hunt?” asked Raphtalia.

“Sure, why not?” I replied.

“Then hunting time it is!” Atla shouted. “Do your best, Brother! Let’s give Mr. Naofumi a reason to praise us!”

“A-Atla! Wait! Ugh!” Fohl moaned.

Atla just up and ran off all of a sudden, and Fohl went chasing after her.

“I guess we might as well look for monsters while we’re waiting on Gaelion’s magic power to regenerate,” said Raphtalia.

“Sounds like a plan. Should I go look too?” Sadeena asked.

“I guess it’s settled then, although we could use magic water to forcefully regenerate it,” I said.

I had been making life force water for our training. It restored magic power too, but we needed a lot of it for our training, so I was always worried about my stock. It required more materials to make than one might imagine, and it sold for a pretty good price too. Since I’d taken on Itsuki’s debts, I wanted to avoid being wasteful. It had only been several hours since starting our journey, after all. It probably wouldn’t be good to push too hard right from the start.

“Alright, Gaelion and Wyndia, you two rest and save up energy for the remainder of our flight,” I said.

“Wh ——— ”

“You’re coming too, S’yne. Other than that, we need to think about the weight. From an offensive perspective, I’d like to take Sadeena, but . . .” I trailed off.

“Oh? But?” Sadeena asked.

Hypothetically speaking, if Sadeena lost it and attacked me, I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to restrain her with just Gaelion and Wyndia. Wait, why was I worrying about Sadeena anyway?

“Sadeena, surely you wouldn’t attack Mr. Naofumi at a time like this, right?” asked Raphtalia.

“Of course not!” Sadeena replied playfully while shaking her head.

Yeah, I couldn’t believe a word she said. But messing around could’ve gotten us killed, so I’d like to think even Sadeena wouldn’t do anything like that. To be honest, this flying around thing was more troublesome than I’d expected. We had to deal with people getting sick. Also, flying for long stretches was a problem too.

Hmm . . . Maybe it would be better to bring Filo or her underling and travel by carriage, after all. That’s how we’d gotten around in Zeltoble. I guess getting around was still a headache even with a portal skill. I mulled over our options as we headed out to hunt monsters.

“Hmm . . . The monsters around here are different than the ones in Melromarc,” I commented.

“Yeah, they are,” Raphtalia replied.

We’d just killed a monster that resembled a hedgehog. It had a ridiculously long name: zenith blue needle rat. We’d also seen some indigo lizards and a bunch of other monsters that I’d never seen in Melromarc.

Of course, I’d implemented numerous power-up methods, so none of the monsters we ran into presented much of a challenge. Our current party was kind of like an all-star lineup of my best fighters. It would have been worrisome if we had been struggling. And we were still in the fields, so it wasn’t like this was an area where powerful monsters would show up.

Regardless, even weak monsters could unlock new shields with stat boosts. It would be foolish to ignore that. All of the tiny +1 bonuses added up over time. I had a feeling the time was coming when I would need to just travel around the world gathering new monster materials to raise my stats. But for now, I needed to gather materials whenever I had the chance. I absorbed the monster parts into my shield.

“I should have Ren and Itsuki travel around the world, defeating monsters and gathering materials like this too,” I said.

Heroes couldn’t share experience points, but materials were another story. That was another way we could cooperate to help each other.

“Don’t you think we should probably get this Q’ten Lo business taken care of first?” Sadeena asked.

“I th ——— ”

S’yne said something and nodded.

“I guess so. But we need to make sure to do little stuff like that too, or who knows when we’ll end up regretting it. Time is limited, so we can’t afford to waste what little we have,” I said.

S’yne was clapping now. Whose side was she on anyway?

“Being a hero sure is tough,” Sadeena said.

“Yes, those have been my thoughts exactly, ever since I started to use the katana vassal weapon. Just like Glass said, ‘With great power comes great responsibility,’” Raphtalia replied.

That did sound like something Glass would say. I hated to break it to her, but great power was for making sure you got your way. But if I said something like that, it’d just make Raphtalia angry, so I kept my mouth shut.

“In any case, should we go ahead and take what we’ve gathered back to Gaelion and then some of us can head back home?” she asked.

“I guess so. And then I think I’ll have him take us a bit further today. It’s not like he can’t fight while in the air. I’ll just take Wyndia and continue on with the three of us,” I said.

“Understood . . .” Raphtalia replied with a hint of regret in her voice.

“I’d like to stick around and make sure you’re safe since the enemy is after you, but . . .” I added.

“You leave little Raphtalia to me, little Naofumi,” said Sadeena.

She tapped her hand against her chest in a show of confidence. I probably could trust her to keep Raphtalia safe too. Plus, Ren and Itsuki were still back at the village. Raphtalia would probably be a lot safer there than alone with me.

With that in mind, we took the monsters back and fed Gaelion before continuing on with fewer people to make flying easier on him.

It had been around two days since resuming our journey, and there hadn’t been any attacks on the village so far. We’d made it about two-thirds of the way to Siltvelt. At our current pace, we’d probably end up in Siltvelt by tomorrow. We’d basically managed to squeeze a two-week trip into four days. That was fantastic. Gaelion’s flight speed and our portal skills made for a pretty great combination. Of course, Siltvelt wasn’t our final destination, so it wasn’t like our journey had come to an end.

“Kwa! Kwaaa!”

Gaelion had been in a really good mood lately. According to Wyndia, it was because I was giving him more attention.

“Alright, I guess that’s far enough for today. Let’s go ahead and head back to the vil — ”

Just then, I noticed something stirring up a cloud of dust as it barreled toward us from the rear. What now?

“Kwaaaaa!”

Gaelion got into a defensive stance. I shifted my gaze toward the source of the cloud of dust. I was considering using my portal to flee, depending on how things turned out, but . . .

“Aha! I knew that was you, Masteeerrr! Heeeyyy!”

Filo waved to me as she came running up in her filolial queen form.

“Rafuuu!”

Raph-chan was still riding around on Filo’s head, like usual. Seeing her made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. That’s what I was thinking when all of a sudden —

“As the source of your power, I command you! Let the way of the universe be revealed once more! Wash away the abomination that stands before me!”

“Drifa Aqua Blast!”

A magical attack came flying toward me from just behind Filo. Almost completely by instinct, I threw my shield up and batted the attack right back at the caster.

“Whoa!”

The person who had cast the spell dodged their own spell by a hair’s breadth. I’d figured out who the caster was the moment I heard her voice.

“What are you thinking?!” she screamed.

“That’s my line, Melty,” I replied.

“Do you really think that spell was cast for no reason?!” Melty continued.

“Pretty much. Especially with you being the caster,” I said.

“What does that mean?!” she shouted.

Melty glared at me and went on making an annoying fuss. She was the second princess of Melromarc, and she had gone out to level up with Filo. Anyway, my reaction had been spur-of-the-moment, but I’d actually managed to deflect back a magical attack with my shield. Only being able to block got depressing, so maybe that was something I should practice until I could use it at will.

“What are you three doing here?” I asked.

“Hm?” Filo responded, not quite seeming to understand the question.

Had they gone out leveling and ended up running all this way? They sure had come a long way.

“Umm, aaaactually, we were out leveling somewhere else. Buuut then Fitoria showed up! And then a bunch of stuff happened, and she asked us to go find yoooou,” Filo explained.

“What is ‘a bunch of stuff’?” I asked.

I had a feeling I was about to get tangled up in something really bothersome. I guess I’d hear her out and just refuse depending on what it was.

“Rafu!”

“And theeenn, Raph-chan said we would find you if we came this waaay,” Filo continued.

“Ah, I see. I guess Raph-chan can tell what I’m up to even from far away,” I said.

“Rafuuu!” Raph-chan squeaked and nodded.

So she had guided them to me, it seemed.

“Maaaster, Fitoria said she has a favor to ask of yooou,” Filo went on.

“That can wait. Right now, I have some really annoying business that I have to take care of before anything else,” I replied.

“B-but, Naofumi, Fitoria already did a bunch of stuff as advance payment for your help,” Melty said.

“Well, I’m busy right now so it can wait. And anyway, who the hell pays in advance without asking?! I never accepted any advance payment. Whatever it is, you take care of it, Melty,” I said.

Melty looked really fed up now.

“So what is it? I guess I can at least hear the request out,” I continued.

“I don’t know why you always have to act like you’re so superior, Naofumi, but whatever. It all started shortly after Filo, Raph-chan, and I headed out to level up,” Melty began.

She continued on, explaining everything that had happened up until they had found us.

Soon after Melty and Filo had left to go leveling — around the time of the attack on the village — Melty hit the level 40 cap, so they decided to head back. That night, Fitoria asked Filo to meet up. It had been a while since Melty had seen Fitoria too, so she was really excited.

“Long time no see,” said Fitoria.

“Yes, indeed! Thank you for all of your help stopping the Spirit Tortoise in Melromarc,” Melty replied.

“Don’t mention it. Taking care of that was partially my responsibility from the get-go.”

Melty was overjoyed by Fitoria’s kind attitude and the presence of all the surrounding filolials.

“. . .”

“Rafu!”

Raph-chan was still sitting on Filo’s head. For some reason, Fitoria glared at her for several moments.

“Hmph . . .”

“Rafu, rafu!”

Raph-chan was squeaking as if she were lecturing Fitoria and it left an impression on Melty. So she asked Filo what Raph-chan was saying later, and apparently it was something like:

“It’s only proper to make your request directly instead of trying to get what you want through manipulation that causes others trouble. I’ll make good use of the power you were using to try to manipulate the heroes, so don’t expect me to return it.”

Huh? Did that mean Fitoria had been using Filo to try to manipulate me?

Who knows whether it was actually because Raph-chan had lectured her or not, but Fitoria let out a deep sigh and began talking.

“Fine. The fact that my methods didn’t seem reasonable is a failure on my part, anyway. In that case, allow me to be more direct this time: I’ve come to request your help,” Fitoria stated.

“Umm, what can we do for you?” Melty asked.

Filo responded with a quizzical “hm?” and Fitoria went on to explain the details of her request to Filo, Melty, and Raph-chan.

“And then you came to find me?” I asked.

“Yeah. Fitoria wants you to help,” Melty replied.

“I see. Thanks for the details. But that will have to wait,” I said.

“Even after hearing the explanation, that’s all you have to say?” Melty asked.

“What else would I say? Things need to be handled in order of priority. Tell Fitoria not to come to me with annoying problems that she can’t solve on her own,” I replied.

I was guessing Fitoria had only come to me because she couldn’t solve the problem on her own, and I didn’t feel like obliging a demand like that. Not to mention, Fitoria was ridiculously strong. I couldn’t imagine myself being able to handle a problem that was too much for her.

“And besides, I’m right in the middle of working on improving relations between the four holy heroes, just like Fitoria asked me to do,” I continued.

Ren and Itsuki still had problems, but we’d resolved our differences. And as for Motoyasu, all said and done, I figured he’d be fine left alone. In fact, I preferred not having him around to deal with.

“I’ll take care of it for her once I’m done dealing with my own annoying problem. Until then, she’ll just have to wait,” I said.

“Hm? Okay. She wants to know how long that will take,” said Filo.

She must have received a communication from Fitoria.

“Who knows? I hope to get it over with as quickly as possible, but I have no idea,” I told her.

“She says that’s not helpful,” Filo replied.

“Hell if I care. Tell her to help herself, then,” I said.

“Umm, Naofumi, at least let us finish explaining first,” said Melty.

“I have no desire to hear what the actual request is. I’m sure finding out would just get me tangled up in a bunch of trouble,” I replied.

Melty let out a deep sigh.

“So what’s this advance payment you mentioned? Money?” I asked.

“All you think about is profit, Naofumi. No, it’s not money. Fitoria bestowed several helpful blessings on me and Filo,” Melty replied.

“Blessings?” I asked with a confused look on my face.

Filo and Melty both nodded.

“You can see Filo’s stats, right? Why don’t you take a look?” Melty said.

Just like she suggested, I checked Filo’s stats. I was at a loss for words. They had all more than doubled. Her stats were now just slightly below what they’d been when we faced the Spirit Tortoise.

“I’m not really sure, but she did something that raised our overall attributes in exchange for lowering our levels. She also took care of my class-up,” Melty explained.

“What do you think, Masteeerrr? There’s no way I’ll let Gaelion get the best of me nooow!” Filo exclaimed.

“Gyao, gyao, gyao!”

Gaelion started growling at Filo threateningly. I sighed. But Filo sure had come back a lot stronger, even though her progress had really just been thanks to the advance payment from Fitoria. I had a feeling it still wouldn’t be nearly enough to offset the hassle of whatever it was she wanted me to do.

“I’m sorry, but if she thinks I’m going to quietly give in because of a huge advance payment like this, she’s a fool. I refuse! I refuse her advance payment!” I shouted.

“I find it hard to understand why you’re giving Fitoria a hard time,” Melty replied.

“Buuuut . . .” Filo moaned.

“Gyao, gyao, gyao!”

Gaelion was laughing at Filo in a ridiculing manner. With an advance payment this big, there was no doubt that the request was going to be a massive headache.

“Either way, it will have to wait! Filo, you understand that certain things take priority, right?” I asked.

“Yeah. Master decides what order things need to be done in,” Filo replied.

“Exactly. I knew you would understand. Good girl,” I said.

“Eh, heh, heh . . . I understand!”

“Seriously? You know what will happen if we refuse, right?” Melty asked Filo.

Melty was starting to panic, but that wasn’t my problem.

“I’ll accept the request, but it will have to wait. We have our own situation to deal with too. Fitoria will have to wait in line,” I said.

It only made sense to prioritize Raphtalia’s problem at the moment.

“If she absolutely can’t wait, then I can send Ren and Itsuki from the village to take care of it. Would that work?” I asked.

“Huh? Umm, she says it has to be you and me,” Filo replied.

I knew it. If she wasn’t willing to ask Ren and Itsuki, that probably meant there was some kind of personal circumstances involved. It might have been something that would benefit from a strong defense, but I was sure Ren and Itsuki would be able to handle pretty much anything with their attack power. Or it could have been something that didn’t require fighting skill at all.

“Then that settles it. I’ll take care of it later, so she’ll just have to wait until then. End of discussion!” I snapped.

I wasn’t going to let myself be taken advantage of by giving in to that selfish bird queen’s strong-arm tactics. I’d keep her waiting a while to make her pay for even trying such a thing.

“Or what? Are you going to say you’ll kill the four holy heroes over something like this too, Fitoria?” I asked.

I almost felt like I could hear her stamping her foot on the ground bitterly somewhere far, far away. Deep down, she might not have been all that different from Filo, after all.

“It seems like she gave in,” Filo said.

“That’s good to hear,” I replied.

“She saaaid, ‘Don’t come complaining to me when you end up regretting this later.’”

Regretting what? I wasn’t going to fall for her lame attempt to provoke me. Besides, if I was going to regret something, I’d much rather regret it after I had finished cleaning up the mess with Raphtalia.

“Rafuuu!”

“You’re such a good girl. Yes you are!” I told Raph-chan.

It had been a while since I’d seen her. I spent a few moments petting her and enjoying the texture of her fur.

“So what are you doing in a place like this, other than putting off helping Fitoria?” Melty asked.

She was watching me pet Raph-chan.

“Oh yeah, that. It turns out we have to go to a little country called Q’ten Lo,” I replied.

I told Melty and Filo about the issues surrounding Raphtalia’s birth. If I didn’t address the problem, the development of the village would most likely suffer.

“We have no choice but to go, and we’re right in the middle of our journey there now,” I explained.

“Soooo in other words, it’s all because Master made big sis wear that miko — ”

“Filo, if you say one more word, I’m going to pet Gaelion,” I threatened, cutting Filo off.

“Kwa!”

“Noooo!”

When that successfully managed to shut Filo up, Melty smacked her palm against her forehead in disbelief.

“Don’t use Gaelion to harass others!” Wyndia snapped.

She sure was annoying.

“Have you told Mother about this?” Melty asked.

“Umm, no,” I replied.

I’d completely forgotten about going to tell the queen. There were diplomatic aspects to the issue as well, so I guess I probably should have.

“Alright, I’ll send you back to the village, so you go tell the queen for me, Melty. This is a good stopping point for today, anyway. Let’s all go back together,” I said.

“Wait a minute! Don’t push your problems off on me!” Melty shouted.

She looked angry, but I just ignored her and teleported everyone back to the village.

Chapter Two: Sending Word of Our Visit

“We’re baaaack!”

“Hey, it’s Filo!”

The slaves all came to welcome Filo back when we arrived at the village.

“Huh? You came back with Bubba Shield?” one of the slaves asked.

“Yuuup, we ran into Master while we were out!” Filo replied.

“I see,” the slave replied.

“Welcome back, Mr. Naofumi. I see Filo is with you for some reason,” Raphtalia said.

“Yeah, she showed up right as we were about to head back, so I brought her with us,” I replied.

“I see . . .” she muttered dubiously.

“She came back a lot stronger than when she left too,” I said.

I told Raphtalia about everything that had just happened a few moments earlier.

“Now then, we should be arriving at Siltvelt sometime tomorrow. Somebody, fetch Sadeena for me. We need to think about what kind of problems we might end up facing there. Also, if we have Filo pull a carriage, we should all be able to enter the country together,” I continued.

“Kwa, kwa, kwa!”

Gaelion starting moaning. I’m sure he was complaining about the fact that I was going to take Filo.

“Gaelion, it’s great that you can fly a small group of people around. But when it comes to large groups of people, Filo has the advantage since she can pull a carriage. You’ll just have to accept that,” I told him.

“Kwa! Kwa!”

“Umm, he says he can pull a carriage too,” Wyndia said.

“Noooo! Pulling carriages is myyyy job!” Filo shouted.

“I’ve been riding on your back for the past two days, so don’t complain about sitting this one out,” I told Gaelion.

“Kwaaa . . .”

His puppy eyes weren’t going to change my mind. Learning self-restraint was important too. And besides, it wasn’t like I’d completely forgiven him for all of the trouble he’d caused recently, although I had to give him credit for doing his best to make up for it.

“Like it or not, it’s Filo’s turn now. I can’t take a carriage using my portal, so we’ll have to get a cheap one there. Is that okay with you, Filo?” I asked.

“Yup!”

“Once we get closer to Siltvelt, we’re likely to receive just the kind of welcome I’d prefer to avoid. If that happens, the more of us there are, the better,” I continued.

Riding Gaelion wasn’t a bad way of getting around, but I’d rather have more people with me if I was going to have to deal with a whole nation. I had to be careful with Siltvelt too. The country worshipped the Shield Hero. But I couldn’t be sure there wouldn’t be extremist elements not all that different from Melromarc. I couldn’t let my guard down.

“Oooh, ooooh, Maaasteeerrrr, can Mel-chan come toooo?” Filo begged.

“It’s probably best if Melty doesn’t come. You’d never guess she was a princess based on how obstinate she is, but she’s still royalty,” I replied.

“What did you say?!” Melty yelped.

“Do you want to go, then?” I asked her.

“. . .”

We were talking about a country that might even be dangerous for the queen to visit on diplomatic business. Anyway, we needed to check with the queen first. It’s not like we actually had business with the country itself.

“Okay, I really don’t want to, but I’ll go speak with Mother. Let’s go, Filo,” Melty said.

“Okay!” Filo replied.

Melty climbed on Filo’s back after she changed into her filolial form and then Filo sprinted off into the distance. There was no time to rest for those two. They sure did get along well, though.

“Mr. Naofumi!” Atla called out.

She came strolling up with Fohl in tow.

“Welcome back,” she said.

“Thanks. We’ll be arriving at Siltvelt around tomorrow or the day after. We’re all going together once Filo gets back,” I told her.

I looked over at Fohl.

“So Fohl, you said you know some people in Siltvelt, right?” I asked him.

“One of the people who used to look after us returned to Siltvelt. That’s all I know. We’ll have to find him,” he said.

“Can we trust this person?” I asked.

Fohl crossed his arms and stood there thinking for a moment.

“I don’t know, honestly. I was just a child at the time, and our parents never told even us about our grandparents in the first place,” he said.

“I see.”

The hakuko were a hot-blooded race that had gone to war with Trash. From what I’d heard, Trash had driven them into a corner and ultimately caused their fall from power. Realistically speaking, taking the siblings might have been dangerous. Even so . . .

“At the very least, I’d like to show Atla the house we grew up in,” Fohl said quietly.

“Is that in Siltvelt?” I asked.

“No.”

Fohl asked me to show him a map and then started to look for the location. He pointed to a spot near the area we had stopped at earlier that evening, just outside of Siltvelt. Making a stop there wouldn’t be out of the question.

“By the way, I’ve been wondering about something, Fohl,” I said.

“What?” he asked.

“Can you speak the language of Siltvelt?”

Raphtalia, Ren, Itsuki, and I all had weapons that would translate for us. But the others wouldn’t be able to communicate if they didn’t know the language. Rishia was smart enough to learn a foreign language in a matter of days, but not everyone was as talented as her.

“Well, yeah . . . I learned to speak several languages during the time we were floating around, before we ended up in Zeltoble,” he said.

“I did too. After all, conversation was about the only thing I could look forward to back when I was sick. I had Brother teach me several languages during that time,” Atla added.

“Oh?”

That was a skill I didn’t expect them to have. In other words, they could speak not only the language of Siltvelt, but other languages from the surrounding areas as well. That could come in handy when I decided to expand our trade routes.

“Little Fohl still makes a fair number of mistakes when speaking the official language of Melromarc,” Sadeena said.

“Yeah,” Fohl replied, nodding.

He glanced over at me with a curious look on his face.

“How’s that work? I wonder what language . . . you hear . . . when I speak,” he said.

He paused randomly several times as he spoke. He was probably switching languages each time.

“Brother, stop trying to make a fool of Mr. Naofumi by speaking in multiple languages,” Atla snapped.

She gave him a quick jab in the back and he groaned in pain. She was as quick as always.

“Ugh . . . I was just testing him, is all, Atla! I want to see what he heard — especially that last part,” Fohl said.

Apparently, “I wonder what language” had been the Siltvelt language, “you hear” had been the Melromarc language, and “when I speak” had been some different language with a really heavy accent. Atla said even she couldn’t understand the last part.

“It was ‘when I speak.’ Isn’t that right, Mr. Naofumi?” Raphtalia asked.

I nodded.

“Conversations get translated by heroes’ weapons. I’m guessing that goes for even the most minor languages too,” I said.

I guess the fact that the weapons couldn’t translate monster speech could’ve been considered a shortcoming. Or was it more of a saving grace? I couldn’t even imagine what a headache it would’ve been if I could communicate with normal monsters. I was much happier leaving that kind of thing to Filo, Rat, and Wyndia.

“That sure is a convenient ability,” Fohl said.

“What was the last language anyway?” I asked.

“It’s a small dialect used on the outskirts of Siltvelt. One of our servants taught it to me a long time ago,” he replied.

So the weapons even translated dialects flawlessly. Amazing. If being a hero wasn’t a job itself, maybe I could have made a living as an interpreter.

“Even the Seaetto territory has its own dialect, you know,” said Sadeena.

“Still, Fohl and Atla being multilingual is an advantage,” I replied.

Keel and the other slaves from Lurolona could generally only speak the official language of Melromarc. I wondered how many languages Raphtalia’s parents knew.

“Hey, Sadeena. What language do they speak in Q’ten Lo?” I asked.

“There are some slight differences, but it’s basically the same as the language spoken in Siltvelt. The same goes for Shieldfreeden, even though they speak it with a really thick accent there,” she explained.

This language they spoke was basically the official language of the demi-humans.

“You probably didn’t notice when you were there, but you can get by with pretty much any major language in Zeltoble. That’s one of the things that makes the country so convenient,” she continued.

“I’m sure different shops cater to different languages,” I said.

Zeltoble had been a real melting pot of different nationalities and races. There was such a mixture that there was no point even trying to discriminate.

“Faubrey has its own official language, by the way. Of the two, that one would be considered the major language,” Sadeena added.

“I see.”

Faubrey was the country of the heroes, so nobility and anyone of high birth would probably want to speak the country’s language. I’d heard that in the United Kingdom it was once possible to discern someone’s social class by the language they spoke. Perhaps the cultural landscape in Faubrey was similar. But none of that really mattered. We’d probably end up going there eventually, but it was Siltvelt that we would be visiting in the next day or two.

“So are we going to make a special stop for Fohl and Atla then, Mr. Naofumi?” Raphtalia asked.

“I wouldn’t mind as long as it’s a quick stop,” I said.

In fact, I was all for it if it would help motivate them. I wanted to go back to my own world, but that was impossible. I could definitely understand the desire to return to one’s home.

“I would like to, if at all possible. I want to show Atla the house,” Fohl replied.

“I’m not interested. Not to mention I’m blind,” Atla said.

The way she walked around so freely sure made it seem like she could see. According to her, it was because she could sense life force.

“. . .”

These siblings were on completely different wavelengths. I was starting to feel sorry for Fohl.

“How about we stop by on the way back, if we have time?” I suggested.

Fohl looked disappointed. I felt really bad for him, so I’d stop by later just for him.

“Awww,” Sadeena swooned.

“You have a really sympathetic look on your face, Mr. Naofumi,” Raphtalia said.

“Brother! Stop trying to make Mr. Naofumi pity you, you coward!” Atla shouted.

Now Atla was scolding him. That just made me feel even sorrier for him.

“Shut up! All of you! Don’t look at me like that!” Fohl shouted.

Hopefully he would get something valuable out of going. But was Atla really that uninterested in the past?

“We can ransack the place if no one is living there,” I suggested.

“What the hell do you want from our house?!” Fohl shouted.

“There might be some good stuff in there, right?” I replied.

Hakuko royalty had lived there. Or maybe it had been a vacation home or something. But there could have been family treasures still hidden somewhere in there.

“More than likely there’s someone else living there now,” I added.

I had to admit I was interested in finding out what kind of place it was too. But we’d just have to wait and see what happened.

“I guess you’re right. There might have been something in there that could help the heroes,” Fohl said after nodding.

The next day arrived. Before heading out, I dropped by the mansion in the neighboring town where Melty and Eclair were staying. Eclair was in the courtyard. It was still morning and she already looked exhausted. Maybe it was just my imagination. She and Ren had just started practicing swinging their swords when Eclair let out a sigh of relief.

“Nothing makes me feel more at peace than practicing swings,” she said.

“This makes you feel at peace? Is that some kind of chivalry thing?” Ren asked.

Eclair always looked the most alive when she was training swordsmanship with Ren. But even he looked confused now. The whole thing was pretty surreal.

“Alright, you wait here for the others to arrive, Raphtalia. You’re in charge while I’m gone,” I said.

“Okay, understood. In that case, I guess I’ll practice swings with Eclair and Ren while I wait for you to get back,” she replied.

“I understand the desire to practice, but I think you should be doing some more advanced training. I suggest we engage in a mock battle,” Atla said.

“It’s still morning. I just want to work up a light sweat. I wouldn’t last until evening if we started going all out this early in the day,” Raphtalia replied.

“That’s your problem, Raphtalia. It’s no wonder you still can’t understand the essence of the style that these people are working so hard to grasp,” Atla said.

“Atla, you really are something,” Raphtalia replied.

The two started arguing, but I just pretended not to notice. I headed into the mansion to look for Melty. It was still early morning, but I found her in a room where she was sorting through a huge pile of paperwork.

“Oh, it’s you, Naofumi,” she said.

“I heard you and Filo were here. I came to get Filo,” I replied.

“Oh, so that’s why you’re here.”

I don’t know if it was because she was worn out, but she plopped down and slouched in her chair. On the contrary, Filo was looking around like she was full of energy.

“So? Did you talk to the queen, Melty?” I asked.

“Yes, I spoke with Mother,” she replied.

After they discussed it, the queen had decided that Melty should stay behind to avoid potentially stirring up even more trouble. Melty said she planned on assisting — oh, sorry, “supervising”—Eclair in her role as the acting governor. That’s why she was only sorting the paperwork and not filling it out.

“Well, that’s probably for the best,” I said.

“Yeah. If I went it would make things a lot more complicated, I’m sure. There’s something else too. You were planning on getting a carriage after teleporting there, right?” she asked.

“Yeah.”

“Mother said that she notified Siltvelt of your visit and asked for a messenger to be sent to your initial location with a carriage for you to use.”

“Oh, that’ll be a big help,” I said.

Whether we bought a carriage or just rented one when we got there, I was expecting to have to spend some money. I sure didn’t want to build one, so that worked out perfectly.

“The only thing is . . . Going to Siltvelt will likely cause quite a few problems, diplomatically speaking. You need to be careful,” Melty continued.

“I know that. But do you really think we could convince them to help us if we sent any of the other heroes?” I asked.

“Probably not. In fact, it’s doubtful whether they would even consider listening to anyone other than you,” she replied.

She was probably right. To be honest, even though Siltvelt was kind of like the Shield Hero’s home field, going would mean having to deal with some really annoying political issues.

I’d been using the rebuilding of Raphtalia’s village as an excuse to avoid going, but that wouldn’t work anymore. If possible, I’d wait until the world had been saved before going there, but I had no choice but to give up on that now.

Running away wasn’t going to accomplish anything. I’d just have to smash through this annoying obstacle for Raphtalia’s sake.

“Of course, Mother and I have already coordinated with the more powerful nobles to address any issues here in Melromarc. All of the major issues have been resolved, officially speaking,” Melty added.

“You mean other than your big sister and the Church of the Three Heroes members, right?” I said.

Melty nodded.

“The extent of my sister’s foolishness amazes me. To think she would cause so much trouble . . .” she said.

“You’re telling me,” I grumbled.

She was still missing, along with Itsuki’s other companions. Not to mention, I’d heard that the one who was always wearing the gaudy armor was actually Melromarc nobility. Who knew what kind of shady business they might have secretly been up to. But they hadn’t caused any new problems yet. I hoped not, anyway. It wouldn’t have surprised me one bit if they tried to pull something off while I was gone.

“You plan on coming back regularly, right?” Melty asked.

“That’s the plan. You should keep an eye out and be prepared to protect yourself from attackers too,” I said.

There was no guarantee that attacks would be limited to the village. Melty and I might have argued a lot, but I was rather fond of her. She was reasonable, unlike her sister, and she had a strong sense of duty. She had a bit of a temper when interacting with me, but that was only natural considering her age. In fact, it would’ve been hard for me to come up with something I really disliked about her. So I certainly didn’t want to see her getting hurt as a result of one of my problems.

“I know that,” she replied.

“I’m counting on you to take care of scheduling while I’m gone too. We need to have Ren and Itsuki go to the Cal Mira islands soon so that they can work on getting their curses healed.”

“Yeah.”

“Hey, I was thinking. Why don’t we demote Eclair and make you the governor of this town instead?” I suggested.

“You can’t be serious.”

“Really. Eclair might be useful in battle, but she’s still stuck in the mindset of being a knight. I don’t have time to wait for her to grow up. I’d feel a lot better having someone in charge that I can already trust to manage the place. You, in other words.”

“Y-you really think that?”

Melty blushed. I’d only stated the facts. I guess she might not have been used to being complimented. Her mom was the queen, after all. She’d probably received a really strict upbringing too, since her sister had turned out so rotten.

Now that I thought about it, Melty was still just a child, even though I treated her like I would a close friend around my own age. Praising her a little bit every now and then might have been good for her motivation.

“I do. I figure you could even succeed the queen and manage to make things work somehow,” I told her.

“Well, then. I had no idea you thought of me that way, Naofumi,” she replied.

Melty seemed to be in a better mood now. I guess she was the type that benefitted from a little praise after all. Then again, Melty would probably do just fine being scolded too, but that was just because she was the kind of person who never gave up. It would probably be best to just give her plenty of compliments to keep her motivation high. She wasn’t the type to let it go to her head, after all.

“That settles it then. You’re in charge while I’m gone,” I said.

“Understood!” Melty replied.

She was full of enthusiasm all of a sudden. It was hard to believe she was the same person who had fired off that magical attack at me just yesterday.

In any case, the territory would probably be fine while I was gone now. At the very least, it would be a lot better off than if I’d left it in the hands of Eclair, who had yet to achieve anything at all as governor. There’s probably no need to mention that Eclair gave me a really nasty look when I saw her afterward.

“Alright, we should probably head out soon. I can expect a carriage to be waiting for us there, right?” I asked.

“That’s what we discussed, but that was only yesterday. Whether it’s actually there or not, you’ll have to see for yourself once you get there,” Melty replied.

“Alright. Filo, let’s head out.”

“Okaaay!”

Filo nodded cheerfully. She was going to be pulling the carriage in her top condition. Raphtalia had gotten used to it, but I was worried about the others.

“Alright, Filo, they have a carriage ready for us where we’re going. I’m going to take everyone and then you’ll transport us, just like I mentioned before,” I said.

“Okay! A carriaaaage!” she exclaimed.

Yeah, I’d made her a promise. Thankfully we’d decided it could be a cheap carriage.

Filo looked up at me abruptly.

“Is that supposed to be the carriage you promised?” she asked.

I had a feeling she was going to start whining if I nodded, but whatever.

“That’s right. It’s a cheap one, but just deal with it,” I said.

“Nooo! I want a better carriaaaage! I want a better one than befoooore! Get me a neeeew one!” she cried.

Filo hadn’t had a carriage she really liked ever since Motoyasu stole her old one.

“Stop complaining. If you do a good job I’ll get you a good one,” I said.

“Ugh . . . I’ll do my beeeessst!” she shouted.

Filo had had a string of misfortunes lately, so I’d been thinking about doing something nice for her anyway. I’d get her a better carriage after we took care of this mess.

That’s what I was thinking as I walked back to where I’d left Raphtalia, but when I got there . . .

“Imitation Hengen Muso Secret Technique! First Form! Sun!” Atla shouted.

“Oh hey, Mr. Naofumi,” Raphtalia said.

She called out to me despite being in the midst of a fierce battle with Atla. Rishia had shown up out of nowhere and was watching the two fight, along with Eclair, Ren, and Fohl. They all had looks of shock on their faces.

“Fehhh . . . Why are you able to do that, Atla?” Rishia asked.

“The old lady said she was a natural, right?” I replied.

“Ugh . . . The rest of us are putting everything we have into our training, yet all she has to do is be close and she can do it?” Fohl grumbled.

He shouldn’t be so bitter! Hers was just an imitation of the real technique, so there was a good possibility that she hadn’t learned it perfectly. Actually, Raphtalia was able to deal with the attacks successfully. But she had been sparring with Atla for quite some time now, so she’d probably improved quite a bit. I wanted to be able to see life force too. I was ready for enlightenment to hit me any time now.

“Oh?” said Sadeena.

I wondered when she had shown up.

“Something like this? That one’s a bit complicated. I think I’d have to rely on magic to mimic that technique,” she continued.

That reminded me. Sadeena could use magic to buff herself. Drifa Lightning Speed, was it? She could use Descent of the Thunder God too. If this were a manga, someone that used electricity like that could probably master the use of life force by thinking of it as electrical currents within the body or something. Sadeena could probably get the hang of it in no time.

“That’s enough practice for now. Let’s head out,” I said.

“Understood! Make haste, Raphtalia! Just how long do you intend to continue practicing?” Atla said.

“You’re one to speak! You’re the one that turned our practice into an all-out battle!” Raphtalia snapped.

She sure had it tough. I really wished Fohl would keep Atla under control.

“Fohl, don’t just let your little sister run amok. That only makes things hard on Raphtalia,” I said.

“Ugh . . .” Fohl grumbled.

Groaning wasn’t going to help anything.

“If anything happens, you’re in charge of helping Raphtalia stop her. Surely the two of you together can restrain her,” I continued.

“I will overcome any obstacle that stands in my way!” Atla declared.

A commotion ensued when I told her to feel free to not overcome this obstacle.

“Anyway, it’s probably best if I take demi-humans with me since we’re going to Siltvelt. Raphtalia goes without saying. Then Sadeena . . . Filo is coming too, of course,” I said.

I thought about who else to take.

“I guess I’ll take Atla and Fohl too. But if it causes any kind of diplomatic issues, I want you to notify me of the situation immediately,” I continued.

I figured having them there could be useful.

“Of course we will! Right, Brother?” Atla said.

“Yeah. Putting one’s employer at a disadvantage after being paid is one thing a mercenary doesn’t do. Well, I guess it depends on the employer too, but I have no reason to feel differently as of now,” Fohl replied.

All said and done, Fohl seemed to actually understand how things were supposed to work. I guess it was just because of his sister that he was always on edge.

“I’m not sure taking a huge crowd would be a good idea, so that will probably do,” I said.

“Rafu?”

“Of course I’m taking Raph-chan too,” I added.

I picked Raph-chan up and hugged her. She’d finally gotten down off of Filo’s head.

“Hmph!”

Atla glared at Raph-chan for some reason.

“Don’t tell me you’re even jealous of Raph-chan. I’m sorry, but that’s crossing the line,” I told her.

Acting out against Raph-chan was unforgivable. I could accept her fighting with Raphtalia, since they were sparring opponents, but this was different.

“The power emanating from her has grown denser. She’s stronger than before,” Atla said.

“Raaafuuu!”

“Oh really?” I asked.

Raph-chan did seem to be doing something while she was up there on top of Filo’s head. Maybe the effects of raising her mutability were starting to show. I checked her stats.

“Oh? She has a level icon now,” I said.

“Rafuuu!”

Apparently there had been some kind of mutation that caused the leveling system to apply to Raph-chan too. That was fantastic! Forget about Filo — I wanted to level Raph-chan up and make her really powerful!

“Mr. Naofumi?” Raphtalia muttered.

“Anyway, standing around here talking isn’t going to get anything accomplished. We’ll be arriving in Siltvelt within the day, so I want all of you to be on your guard,” I said.

“Understood!” Atla exclaimed.

Her energy sure was impressive.

Chapter Three: Arrival in Siltvelt

After I finally got everyone teleported using my portal skill, we made our way to a nearby village, where we found a couple of therianthropes dressed in what looked like holy garb. They were standing in front of a covered carriage and looking around nervously. Could they have been the messengers sent for us? They were quick!

“I-it’s been a while,” one of them stammered.

He bowed his head when he saw me, but I just stood there confused. “Been a while”? Since what? I stood there looking at him and trying to figure out who he was. He must have realized I didn’t recognize him, because he stepped back with an air of humility and let the other therianthrope speak.

“You probably don’t remember us, but we approached you and invited you to come to Siltvelt with us several days after you first arrived in this world, Shield Hero,” he said.

“Ohhh . . .”

That was a time when I still considered anyone that approached me to be an enemy and didn’t really pay much attention to them. I guess these guys had approached me back then. I seemed to remember badmouthing them and refusing their offer.

“We received word from Melromarc that you needed a carriage. We hastily prepared this one for you on behalf of Siltvelt, but I offer my sincere apologies if the information we received was mistaken,” he continued.

“There’s no mistake. I’m just surprised you were able to prepare one so quickly,” I replied.

That was crazy fast. We’d only informed the queen yesterday. I’d have to ask what kind of communication channels they used later.

“Shall we provide you with protection during your journey?” the therianthrope asked.

“We’ve already decided our route, but you’re welcome to tag along,” I said.

“Understood,” he replied.

There was something about his demeanor, kind of like he’d sworn an oath of absolute allegiance to me. It made me feel uneasy.

“Alright, Filo, you’re going to pull this carriage,” I said.

“Okaaay!”

Filo seemed to be in a pretty good mood. She came forward to pull the carriage.

“Everyone else hurry up and get in the carriage—once we’ve checked it for traps, that is,” I continued.

“Because you can never be too careful, right? Impressive, as always, Mr. Naofumi! You never forget to keep your guard up when dealing with others, no matter how friendly they may seem!” Atla exclaimed.

What was with her? I’d started getting the urge to do exactly the opposite of whatever I’d just said when she made comments like that lately. I couldn’t help but feel like there was actually something wrong with what I was doing for her to respond like that.

“Well, being vigilant is indeed important,” Raphtalia agreed.

Good. I guess I wasn’t mistaken, after all.

“I’ll help check too,” Sadeena said.

“I’ll see to the checking. I’d appreciate if you’d stay out of my way, Sadeena,” Atla snapped.

“Oh my,” Sadeena replied.

Those two could detect objects using life force or ultrasonic waves, so they were handy to have around, I guess. I let them go on arguing and went ahead and checked the carriage myself.

Yeah, there didn’t seem to be much of anything inside. They probably figured I might get upset if they put anything unnecessary in the carriage. There didn’t seem to be anything fishy about the cover, either. All that was left was to check for magical trickery and make sure there was nothing strange hidden between the floorboards.

I was finishing up the check when Atla and Sadeena called out to me.

“I don’t sense anything particularly fishy,” Atla said.

“Neither do I,” added Sadeena.

“Got it. Alright, everyone in. Let’s get going and take care of our business in Siltvelt as quickly as possible,” I said.

Carriages sure were convenient for transporting large groups of people. Gaelion had insisted that he could pull a carriage, but I had to give Filo some love too — for a couple of days, at least.

Everyone started piling into the carriage. The Siltvelt emissaries raised an eyebrow when they saw Fohl and Atla, but I decided not to worry about it.

“Alright, let’s go!” I said.

“Oookaaay! Blast offff!” Filo shouted.

She gave a spirited nod and began pulling the carriage. She was moving pretty quickly.

“Ugh . . .”

Filo gripped the carriage shafts and groaned.

“What is it?” I asked.

I wondered if there was something odd that maybe only she could detect. We would need to be careful if it was a trap.

“Something is different about this woood,” she replied.

“It’s probably just a regional thing, don’t you think? I’m sure the carriage was made with trees from around here, after all,” I said.

“I think sooo,” she replied.

“Is Melromarc wood better or something?” I asked.

“Hm? They’re just different. It’s fine!”

“I see.”

And so our journey by carriage began. Everything was going fine for a while, but more and more people began gathering around the carriage as we got closer to Siltvelt. It started to look like a feudal lord’s procession or something.

Were they supposed to be protecting us? Why did it only look like they were gathering around us to keep us from getting away? Regardless, it probably would have been easy enough to escape using my portal. And then even the Siltvelt army showed up. It was clear they were taking this quite seriously.

“Maaasteeerrr, it’s getting hard to waaalk,” Filo complained.

“I bet it is. Just how big of a parade do they plan on turning this into?” I grumbled.

“Hey, that says ‘a very warm welcome,’” Fohl said.

He was reading a message written on a flag being carried by some townspeople walking along the road. Ugh . . . To be honest, a welcome of this magnitude just made me feel sick. I probably would have been delighted if I’d come here just after being summoned. But after having been put through the wringer here in this world, it just made my flesh crawl.

“Way to go, Siltvelt! I can tell this is a magnificent country by the way they worship you, Mr. Naofumi,” said Atla.

“We seem to have another adherent right here in the carriage,” I mumbled.

“A reception like this is only natural,” she replied.

Fohl looked at Atla with a really dubious look on his face. I’m sure I had the same expression on my face. Had we come to a country full of mass-produced Atla clones?

“Do we really have to go through this place, Sadeena?” asked Raphtalia.

“Even I wasn’t expecting this much. I guess you really are a hero after all, little Naofumi,” Sadeena replied.

I was surprised too. I was finally seeing with my own eyes just how much influence the heroes had. All of a sudden, I recalled something the queen had told me.

“First the princess and noble daughters would all demand audiences with you. The demi-human women would form a harem around you.”

With a welcome this enthusiastic, I had no doubt something like that might happen. Ugh, even the thought of it made me want to vomit.

Actually, I seemed to remember hearing something about a knight commander and several other adventurers—who’d picked fights with me—getting murdered even within Melromarc. And then, like a stud that had outlived its use . . .

“Poor Mr. Iwatani, stricken so suddenly by such a grave illness . . .”

I wanted to avoid that if at all possible. I should just let them know I had no plans of doing anything special in Siltvelt. I would just take care of my business and get out of there as soon as possible. Yeah, that’s what I would do.

“Let’s do our best to get out of this country as quickly as possible,” I said.

We’d just have to do what we could for now, and that included addressing their objectives too. Filo carried on pulling the carriage, and we arrived at the Siltvelt castle the following day.

At a glance, the castle had a Chinese feel to it, but with elements of Western-style stone architecture thrown in here and there. I wanted to say the contrast was almost excessive.

From an overall-size perspective, there wasn’t much difference between it and the Melromarc castle. But something about it . . . Maybe it was because of a difference in stature of the demi-humans and therianthropes, but the doors, bridges, and flags all seemed larger.

On top of that, it was covered in ivy and gave off an impression of wildness. There was a crude, slightly barbaric atmosphere to it. It was just like you’d expect from a castle that served as a stronghold for demi-humans and therianthropes in a fantasy novel or something.

Still in the carriage, I looked behind us. The Siltvelt castle town was organized similar to the Melromarc castle town, but the area outside of the walls looked like forest or jungle. The buildings themselves also seemed a bit sloppy, and there were areas of the ground that were a mixture of dirt and grass rather than being paved with stone.

I wondered if it had to do with the races living there. Maybe it was because I’d gotten used to seeing Melromarc, but something about it felt slightly uncivilized. The weapons for sale, selection of foods, and overall atmosphere of the shops seemed at least on par with Melromarc.

And then there was a large, outdoor stage facing the town square. Was that the church? There was a huge shield symbol on display there.

“We have arrived, Shield Hero!” exclaimed the emissary.

“Oh, umm, okay . . .” I replied.

“What should I do with the carriaaage?” Filo asked.

“Just leave it there and I’m sure someone will park it where it belongs,” I said.

A therianthrope approached, clearly intent on taking over pulling the carriage for Filo. He was a burly therianthrope who looked kind of like a bull or maybe a minotaur. He definitely looked like he could pull a carriage.

“Okaaay!” Filo replied.

We got out of the carriage. I looked up at the Siltvelt castle and gulped. This was supposed to be the castle of a country that worshipped me, but for some reason it felt like a sinister castle full of demons and monsters. I’m sure I was just getting caught up in the moment. I couldn’t let it get to me. That’s right. I would just confidently strut in there like it was the Melromarc castle.

“Let’s go,” I said.

“U-understood,” Raphtalia replied.

“I’ve only been inside the castle a couple times. I’m nervous,” Fohl said.

“We must carry ourselves with pride, Brother! This country basically belongs to Mr. Naofumi, after all,” Atla replied.

This country didn’t belong to me! That’s what I wanted to think, anyway. But what she said did make sense, considering they worshiped the Shield Hero. So I couldn’t really argue with her either. Still, the country may have belonged to the Shield Hero, but it sure didn’t belong to me. Anyway, maybe I would be able to relax if I just thought of the citizens like they were my villagers.

We went inside the castle. Someone who must have been the castle porter called out to us and then took us to the throne room surprisingly quickly.

“Well, well, if it isn’t the Shield Hero! You must be exhausted after such a long journey.”

Once we arrived at the throne room, we were welcomed by a man with flashy red feathers on his arms and shoulders. Unlike Filo’s angelic form, his hands and feet seemed somehow birdlike. He must have been a bird-type demi-human or therianthrope. I was guessing he was in his twenties. He might have just looked younger than he actually was, though.

“My name is Werner. I serve as representative of the shusaku race. I’m pleased to make your acquaintance,” the man said.

“Shusaku?” I asked.

Shusaku . . . Maybe that was supposed to be from “susaku,” which was the name of the Vermilion Bird in Japanese. Fohl and Atla were hakuko, so I guess it wasn’t all that strange. The Black Tortoise was “genbu” in Japanese, so maybe they called the race “kuromu” or something here. I wondered if they looked like they were chrome-plated. The name might have been different, but I probably wasn’t far off. The races basically looked like human-type forms of the four holy beasts, so it wasn’t hard to imagine.

“My name is Naofumi Iwatani. I’m the Shield Hero. These are my companions. This is Raphtalia. That’s my familiar, Raph-chan. Filo there is a filolial. And that’s Sadeena, Atla, and Fohl.”

Giving long introductions was a hassle, so I decided to just keep it short.

“Pleased to meet you,” said Werner.

He bowed and then shot a glance over at Atla and Fohl. I decided to be extra careful to avoid any kind of diplomatic issues.

“Those two are slaves that I bought in Zeltoble. I’ve been told they’re not pure hakuko. I’m sure they’re not interested in making any claims to authority. Is that going to be a problem?” I asked.

My comment must have been effective, because Werner quickly returned his gaze and bowed his head.

“Is that so? No problem at all!” he replied.

I wasn’t sure how much of an effect it’d actually had, though.

“Umm . . . Hey, Maaasteer, are you going to be talking here for looong?” Filo asked.

“Probably. I’m sure you’re bored, but just be patient,” I said.

“Okaaay.”

It looked like the conversation was going to move along smoothly thanks to Filo’s restlessness. She came in handy when I least expected it.

“Alright, I guess I’ll get straight to the point,” I said.

“As you wish!” Werner replied.

He stood up straight and looked at me without moving, like he was standing at attention. It wasn’t quite the same as staring. His attitude made it seem like he was waiting to be given orders. Something about it bothered me.

“I’m not interested in ruling over Siltvelt or anything like that. Accomplishing an objective of mine required me to stop by. That’s all. I promise not to do anything that would cause problems for those in charge of Siltvelt. I just want you to arrange a trading ship to Q’ten Lo for us. We plan to leave Siltvelt as soon as possible,” I said.

The queen had mentioned that my coming to Siltvelt would cause problems for those in charge of the country, so I decided to squash any concern about that right from the start. But Werner seemed to be at a loss for words and just stood there looking befuddled for a moment.

“I see. There seems to have been a misunderstanding, Shield Hero,” he finally replied.

“Huh?” I asked.

“Please take some time first to refresh yourselves after such a long journey. We would like you to join us for a party this evening, and then we can discuss business matters after that, if it pleases you,” Werner continued.

“We’re in a hurry . . .” I replied.

Frankly speaking, putting an end to the Q’ten Lo assassins was my top priority. I had absolutely zero intention of getting held up in Siltvelt.

“Besides, being here will only cause trouble for those in charge of Siltvelt, right?” I asked.

“I can’t deny that your presence might be problematic for some. However, I also believe eliminating such corruption is necessary, should it exist,” Werner replied.

He continued to voice his objection with polite assertiveness.

“But even more importantly, it is imperative that we demonstrate our devotion to the Shield Hero before anything else. Please think of it as a rite of passage,” he added.

What a headache! The whole thing stunk of a sneaky attempt to lay claim to the Shield Hero as their own. I couldn’t help but feel like agreeing would gradually lead me further and further into a trap. But I was also sure that they would probably refuse to cooperate if I rejected his offer.

I looked over at Sadeena, but she just shrugged, as if to say, “What can you do?”

“Magnificent! A demonstration of devotion to Mr. Naofumi!” Atla exclaimed.

I decided to ignore the single, completely clueless bonehead that had been impressed by Werner’s proposal.

“Come, then! Please relax and make yourselves at home. Business discussions can wait until after you have rested,” said Werner.

His attitude made it clear that he had no intention of compromising. I was pissed off already. This feeling of only pretending to have a conversation really got on my nerves. It reminded me of dealing with Motoyasu lately or Ren and Itsuki from before we’d taken them in.

“Fine. But you know what’s going to happen if you try to ignore my request, right?” I said.

Siltvelt was supposed to be a country that worshipped the Shield Hero. So what would happen if I teleported out of the castle and started publicly badmouthing them? Because that’s what I was going to do if they tried to mess with me. I made that clear with a threatening gaze.

“Of course!” Werner replied.

He gave an exaggerated bow.

“Now then, Shield Hero, allow me to show you and your companions to the guest rooms we have prepared for you. Please make yourselves at home there,” he continued.

“Separate rooms are going to be a problem,” I said.

I wanted to avoid getting split up and left by myself if at all possible. I mean, I wanted to think there was no one who could stop me from handling the situation, even if they did try something, but just in case . . .

“I’m afraid we cannot treat others as your equal. To do such a thing would be a desecration of our country’s religion,” Werner replied.

Hmm . . . I guess I could understand that. It would be like having to entertain a CEO and several low-ranking employees and being told to treat them all the same. I think that’s what he wanted to say. I could see how that might be difficult, but since it was the CEO making the request in our case, I also wanted to say they should be more flexible and oblige.

“Can you provide us a room next to the one Mr. Naofumi will be staying in?” Atla took a step forward and asked.

Werner glanced over at me and stood there thinking for a moment. I wasn’t going to compromise any further if he wasn’t even willing to do that. He must have realized that, because he nodded.

“Certainly. We shall prepare the room at once,” he said.

Hmph. That was a nice move on Atla’s part. I guess the save went to her this time. I’m sure by their reasoning I should’ve been given the presidential suite, while Raphtalia and the others belonged in standard rooms. Or even worse, maybe they would have tried to throw them out of the castle without me noticing. Then again, there was no way I could see that happening with the lineup I’d brought.

And so Werner took us to the castle guest rooms where we were supposed to relax, but . . .

Chapter Four: Shield of the Beast King

“This seems more like one of the royal family’s bedrooms than a guest room,” I muttered.

Werner had brought us to a huge room prepared solely for me. I t was on the top floor of the castle and had a terrace with an amazing view.

I got the impression that the room that had been prepared for Raphtalia and the others was something like a waiting room intended for servants—allowing them to quickly come running when a member of the royal family called. There was nothing but a bed in the room, like it was just meant for naps or something. There were supposedly other rooms available, but they were all located further away.

“Yeah . . . It does seem that way,” Raphtalia replied in a whisper.

She was carefully checking the interior of the room.

“Surely this room can sleep several people,” I said.

“I’m afraid we cannot allow that. I hope your companions understand,” Werner replied.

He had adopted an attitude of humility that made it difficult for anyone to argue.

“We do understand, but . . .” Raphtalia mumbled.

“As long as we can stay in the adjacent room, it’s no problem at all!” Atla exclaimed.

“Atla!” I snapped.

“The bed looks so sooooft! Huh? I can’t lie on it?” Filo asked.

She’d tried to get on the bed, but some lady that looked like a maid had stopped her. The atmosphere in the room grew really tense. It seemed like Siltvelt was going to be a real headache, after all.

“Now then, allow me to take the rest of you to your room. Please follow me,” Werner said.

I tried to go with them but was stopped by one of the maids.

“Please stay here and rest, Shield Hero. You will have an audience with the leadership shortly. After that we will have the evening party, followed by your bath, and then it will be bedtime,” the maid said.

“Okay, and when do I get some discretionary time?” I asked.

“You are always free to act at your own discretion,” the maid replied.

“In that case, the audience can wait. I need to talk with my companions,” I said.

“I’m afraid that would be problematic. Your patience is appreciated,” the maid replied.

What the hell was free about that?! I started to get upset and Raphtalia got a frantic look on her face.

“Please be patient, Mr. Naofumi. Getting angry right now will solve nothing,” she said.

“No, if they’ve upset Mr. Naofumi, then we should punish them!” Atla shouted.

Her overly extreme response helped my anger subside a bit. What was with that little tyrant, anyway? I was fully aware that I acted like a dictator, but at least I wasn’t a tyrant . . . yet.

I needed to calm down. It was true that compromising a bit now would be best if I wanted negotiations to go smoothly later.

“Fine. It’s just for today, after all. But . . .” I said before turning to Raph-chan and beckoning her over.

“Rafu?”

Raph-chan came over to me and I picked her up in my arms.

“I demand that you allow Raph-chan to stay with me. She’s my beloved pet,” I announced.

“U-understood,” the maid said.

The Siltvelt maids glanced at each other and seemed to think it would be okay if it was a pet. I reluctantly trudged over to the bed and waved goodbye to Raphtalia and the others.

“Raafuuu!”

“You know what to do if anything happens, Raph-chan,” Raphtalia said.

“Rafu! Rafu, rafu!”

Raph-chan stood up on her hind legs and slapped her hand against her chest, as if to say, “Leave it to me!” Aww, she was so cute. But just like Raph-chan was linked to me, she also had some kind of magical connection with Raphtalia that would allow her to send a distress signal. She could probably act as an alarm if anything happened.

“Okay then . . .” said Raphtalia.

“I’ll wait in the adjacent room,” Atla proclaimed.

“I understand how you feel, but they’re going to show us to the guest rooms first,” Raphtalia replied.

“Come on, Atla! Let’s go! Our kind don’t belong with this guy. He’s on a completely different level,” Fohl snorted.

“But, Mr. Naofumi!” Atla called out.

Fohl was clearly doing his best to be sarcastic. He grabbed Atla and dragged her away. That little bastard. I’d started to feel bad for Fohl, but that attitude was crossing a line.

“Alright, little Naofumi, I’ll drop in to say hi later, okay?” Sadeena said.

“Sure,” I replied.

I still felt a bit uneasy about it all, but I went ahead and saw Raphtalia and the others off.

“Rafuuu!”

I was standing on the terrace and enjoying watching Raph-chan explore the room. I looked out over the castle town below. The sun had begun its decline toward the horizon, but it wasn’t quite to the point of what I would’ve called setting yet.

I’d noticed on our way in that the Siltvelt townscape was a lot wilder than what I was used to seeing in Melromarc, but it was even more apparent when looking at things from up above. There was a lot of variation in demi-human builds too. Some were huge, and others were tiny. It made for an interesting sight from afar. And with a mixture of demi-humans and therianthropes, there was tons of diversity among the residents. There were probably quite a few races in all.

That went for the buildings too. Some had really primitive designs, while others were more ordinary wooden buildings. There were elements of Chinese style too. Siltvelt was a real hodgepodge of peoples and cultures when compared to Melromarc.

“Rafu?”

“Hm? What is it, Raph-chan?” I asked.

Raph-chan had her eyes fixed on a shield that hung decoratively above the fireplace. I’d figured it was some kind of ceremonial prop. It had a really extravagant design, but it also looked a bit beat up in several spots. It was hard to describe. The covering had clearly been made using a number of different tanned hides.

I wondered if I should try using my weapon copy on it. I took it off the wall and held it in my hand.

Weapon copy system activated.

Shield of the Beast King conditions unlocked.

Shield of the Beast King 0/80 C

equip bonus: therianthrope abilities up (large), demi-human abilities up (large), skill “Beast Transformation Assist” “Territorial Reform”

special equip effect: power of devotion

Whoa! So it wasn’t just decoration! King of the beasts, huh? Did that mean the Shield Hero was the king of the beasts? Images of filolials, dragons, and Raph-chan appeared in the back of my mind. I wasn’t really sure how to feel about that.

“Rafu?”

I must have made a strange face, because Raph-chan looked up at me with an expression of concern. I smiled to let her know there was nothing to worry about and then checked the shield description one more time.

“Beast Transformation Assist?”

I tried testing the skill, but it just gave me a message saying it couldn’t be used. Maybe certain conditions had to be met first or something. I had a good idea of what the “ability up” bonuses were. I tried checking the stats. That was strange. The values seemed unstable. They kept changing every time I looked at them. I couldn’t tell if they were high or low. What a strange shield.

Anyway, it seemed like a good idea to go ahead and unlock the abilities. This country worshipped the Shield Hero, so the weapon shop was probably full of shields I’d never seen too. There was a possibility I could increase my stats or pick up some new abilities, so I figured maybe I should drop in for a peek later.

“I wonder what ‘Territorial Reform’ is.”

I tried testing that one too, but a map just popped up on my screen and I had no idea what I was supposed to do. My territory in Melromarc seemed to be highlighted on the map, but it told me I was out of range when I tried to choose it. I guess I would try again later after I returned to the village.

“I wonder if I’m allowed to take a look around the castle.”

I knew I was a guest and was supposed to make myself at home, but maybe there were things they didn’t want anyone to see. There were places like that in the Melromarc castle, after all. Even I had enough sense to not go rummaging around in someone else’s castle.

But in RPGs, there was always stuff like treasure in castles, so I couldn’t help but wonder if I might find some here too. Even if I couldn’t keep the stuff, it’d be nice if I came across a shield. All I had to do was copy it and I might end up a bit stronger.

When I really thought about it, there might be other countries that would present Ren or Itsuki with similar opportunities. If we had some time to spare later, maybe I would have them go look for countries that worshipped only the sword or only the bow and have them sneak in. It wouldn’t be fair if I was the only one that got a chance like this.

“The Siltvelt leadership has gathered and is ready to receive you, Shield Hero,” a maid called out.

“Alright, I’m coming,” I replied.

I guess it was time for me to get to work.

“Rafu!”

I hugged Raph-chan in my arms and followed the maid down the hallway.

I was brought to what looked like a roundtable conference room. It was far bigger than any of the conference rooms I’d seen in Melromarc. That was the first thought that crossed my mind, but when I saw the members of the leadership, I understood why.

The demi-humans weren’t that bad. They were still big, but nothing crazy. Some of the therianthropes were just massive, though. When I really thought about it, I guess Sadeena was pretty big too when she was in her therianthrope form.

“The Shield Hero has arrived!”

Everyone stood up, and as soon as I entered the room they all bowed and began praying to me. Ugh . . . Talk about awkward.

“Rafu!”

I’d unconsciously tightened my hold on Raph-chan a bit too much.

“We are truly delighted that you have finally returned home to Siltvelt,” said one of the members who seemed to be the chairman for today.

“‘Returned home’? I don’t live here, you know,” I replied.

“Of course not. But the Shield Hero is Siltvelt’s hero. Even if you were summoned by another country, your time abroad is but a temporary expedition,” the chairman explained.

Ah, so basically, the Shield Hero belonged in Siltvelt to begin with. So in their eyes I had just been out visiting another country. I would’ve been lying if I said I wasn’t already fed up. It sure was nice being able to leave all the politics and annoying formalities like this to the queen and Melty back in Melromarc!

“Now then, let us begin with a round of self-introductions. Would that please the Shield Hero?” the chairman asked.

“Can we get on with the discussion if I say no?” I replied.

The chairman seemed to be at a loss for words.

“M-my sincere apologies! Please don’t be angry!” he pleaded.

Oh hell, was he really going to act like a single remark of mine was going to spell the end of his life? I let out a long, heavy sigh.

“I’m not angry. Just hurry up and continue,” I said.

“As you wish!” he shouted.

He bowed to me again. All of this was way too formal. I was getting fed up already. I wanted to hurry up and talk with Raphtalia and the others. Well, I wanted to escape from this place, anyway.

“Allow me . . .”

They began introducing themselves, one by one. I counted ten of them in all. I’d really expected there to be more of them. Maybe these were just the high-ranking representatives.

They were all demi-humans and therianthropes, so there was a lion and all kinds of other beasts. One of the therianthropes looked like a mammoth. The guy was absolutely massive, so it only made sense they’d need the room to be big too. Whenever I stared at any of them, they would get an embarrassed look on their faces and avert their eyes. I think they might have been misunderstanding.

“So what now? I mean, it’s nice to have an audience and all, but are we going to discuss something? I came to this country for a reason, so should I just go ahead and explain what that reason is?” I asked.

“No, we will discuss that at a later time. First, we would like to hear an account of your activities in Melromarc from your own mouth, Shield Hero,” the chairman replied.

Who cared about that? Hearsay was more than enough! Well, that was how I felt, but I guess hearing it directly from me might’ve had some kind of special meaning for them. Something like that.

“After that, we would like to give you a demonstration of the strength of our soldiers and then better acquaint you with our country’s past, present, and future,” the chairman continued.

“Oh, come on! Waste someone else’s time with that stuff,” I said.

“But, Shield Hero, you must be prepared for the coming waves. It would be problematic if we did not familiarize you with such matters,” the chairman replied.

“Oh . . .”

Normally I would have been in charge of this whole region. Thanks to the queen pulling some strings, I’d gotten away with only having to deal with my little territory in Melromarc. And the waves had only stopped temporarily because of the Spirit Tortoise incident. But still, didn’t Siltvelt already have another hero? Didn’t they have their own seven star hero?

“By the way, where is the other hero that oversees this country?” I asked.

They all quickly looked away when I asked. Why would they look away? They knew I’d asked for the seven star heroes to come to Melromarc, right? Not to mention, I’d made the request by way of the queen and had her explicitly communicate the fact that there was a group of people out there who was trying to kill heroes.

“The thing is, the seven star hero that protects Siltvelt is quite devoted to his training. His appearances tend to be limited to times when his assistance is required,” the chairman replied.

“So what you mean is his whereabouts are unknown?” I asked.

“He usually comes when he is summoned. However, following the recent Spirit Tortoise incident, he departed on a journey to train and become stronger,” the chairman said.

If the heroes would just get together to share and implement all of the power-up methods, they would become a lot stronger almost instantly. What a headache. Then again, if any of the seven star heroes were good-for-nothings like some of the heroes in Kizuna’s world, telling them about the power-up methods would be suicide. I’d have to determine whether or not we could trust them first. We already had hero-killing assassins on our hands, after all.

“Whatever. I want you to search every nook and cranny. Find him and bring him back here. Even if we’re only considering what lies ahead, his presence is needed,” I said.

“As you wish!” the chairman replied.

Sheesh . . .

“I want him to come see me before the Phoenix shows up,” I added.

I had a feeling there were a million other things that needed to be addressed, but I decided to go ahead and move on.

“You all know why I came to Siltvelt, right?” I asked.

“Umm . . .”

“We are currently in the process of verifying that information.”

“Siltvelt shall spare no effort in celebrating the glorious return of the Shield Hero!”

They all responded at once with completely different answers. And what the hell was with that last one?! Was that guy listening to what I’d asked at all?

A loud clap thundered out. The therianthrope resembling a lion had clapped his hands to draw the attention of the others.

“Everyone! The Shield Hero’s word is law! As citizens of Siltvelt, we must prioritize his wishes above all else, must we not?” the lion roared.

They all thundered out in agreement. Nice! This lion guy really seemed to understand how things should be.

“The Shield Hero wishes to leave our country at once and act on behalf of the world! This is a sign of his intention as a hero to make the world a better place! As such, it is Siltvelt’s duty to eliminate war from this world, is it not?!” he continued.

“Umm, what is that supposed to mean?” I interjected.

He was completely twisting my words!

“Who said — ”

“To do that, we must expand our military operations! We shall acquire new strength with the assistance of the Shield Hero and form an army that is invincible! This is the task at hand, is it not?! Just like the residents of the Shield Hero’s territory have been doing!” the lion roared on, completely drowning out my attempt to object.

Everyone applauded in agreement.

“Hey! Stop ignoring me!” I shouted.

“Rafu?”

Raph-chan covered her ears in an attempt to drown out the cacophony of clapping and shouting.

“Shield Hero! We, the people of Siltvelt, look forward to having your blessing bestowed upon us!” the lion roared.

Was he telling me to make them my slaves? It was either that or he wanted me to form a party and use it to organize and lead an army.

“Now then, we must reconvene in a fresh meeting to refine the details of the Shield Hero’s plan. Come, we must move on to the next meeting quickly!” the lion continued.

“Huh? Who said —”

Before I could finish speaking, the lion asked an assistant to rush me out of the room. Shit! These bastards had zero intention of listening to anything I said! Dammit! There was no way I was leaving!

“Of course! We cannot expect the Shield Hero to leave! We should be the ones to move elsewhere to continue this discussion! We respectfully take our leave,” the lion said.

When they realized I wasn’t going to let them push me out, everyone stood up from the roundtable and began to leave the room. They almost looked like they were fleeing for their lives.

“Hey!” I shouted.

“We shall meet again soon!”

The door slammed shut, and it was just me and the maid who had brought me. Shit. I guess they were going to be surprisingly brazen about their attempts to control me. I wondered if I should just keep my mouth shut and flee the country. But if I did that, there was no way they would help us get to Q’ten Lo.

I’d expected there to be demi-humans or therianthropes that resembled the four holy beasts in a meeting of the top brass, but I hadn’t seen anyone like that. It was like they were all doing their best to make sure I didn’t get to say I just wanted to get my business taken care of and leave Siltvelt as soon as possible. So they started talking over me and then just ran off somewhere.

It didn’t get any more annoying than this. I wondered if I should just completely ignore all of this and force my demands on them. Then again, I’m sure they would choose to interpret the whole thing in a way that would only cause diplomatic issues for Melromarc. Fine. Then I’d just force my demands on them in a way that didn’t draw attention.

I was lost in thought when I realized that it was already getting dark outside. I remembered they had mentioned there would be a party that evening to celebrate my “return.” I wondered if I would be able to talk with Raphtalia and the others there.

“What are Raphtalia and the others up to, anyway?” I asked Raph-chan.

“Rafu?”

She began gesturing with her hands in an attempt to answer my question.

“Umm . . . Small room? Training? No? Discussion? Me? Book?” I guessed at the answer.

I couldn’t help but smile at the way Raph-chan was pointing at different things around the room and posing in certain ways.

“So if I put all that together, they’re in a room somewhere talking about episodes involving me. Is that about right?” I asked.

“Rafu!”

Raph-chan nodded excitedly. I got it. So they hadn’t been brought to this area of the castle.

“Rafuuu!”

“Hm? Does that mean they finished talking?” I asked.

“Rafuu!”

After that, Raph-chan began pretending like she was eating a meal. Ah, that must have meant they had gone to the hall where the party was being held.

“Shield Hero, preparations for the evening’s party have been completed. Your presence is requested,” the maid said.

“Alright.”

“Before you attend, we shall dress you in the appropriate attire. Please forgive our boldness.”

Several maids suddenly surrounded me and began grasping at me in an attempt to change my clothes for me.

“I can change my clothes by myself! I’m a hero, not a noble! At least let me change my own clothes!” I shouted.

“A-as you wish! Please forgive us!”

I sighed.

“It’s not like I’m mad at you or dislike you,” I said.

Sheesh . . . It was just one headache after another here. I wondered if Motoyasu or the other heroes had experienced this kind of thing in Melromarc. Maybe I would ask Ren and Itsuki about it later. At the very least, the queen wasn’t so uptight about that kind of stuff. Or rather, she treated me well while avoiding things that annoyed me.

Anyway, what was up with these clothes they’d prepared for me? Was this supposed to be a punk rock fashion choice or something? The shirt collar was lined with fur. I felt like a wannabe punk rock vocalist. Even worse, the headdress was made out of some carnivorous animal. Did I seriously have to wear this outfit?

“. . .”

They were probably going to gripe if I didn’t put it on. But there was just no way I could accept fashion sense like this.

“Rafu?”

“Alright, I’ll just use you in place of the headdress, Raph-chan,” I said.

“Rafu . . .”

The thought of being used as a fashion accessory seemed to embarrass Raph-chan, but I went ahead and put her on my head after I finished changing and then headed out of the room.

“Ladies and gentlemen, the Shield Hero has arrived!”

Trumpets erupted into fanfare, accompanied by an instrumental performance that sounded like the roar of a beast. I was taken to a stage at the front of the hall. It was ridiculous how many attendees had shown up! And since this was a country of demi-humans and therianthropes, they were all different sizes. There was a massive therianthrope way off in the distance, but I could still hear his shouting and applause clearly.

“Rafuuu!”

“Sorry, Raph-chan,” I apologized.

Raph-chan seemed a bit bothered by all of the loud noise.

“Let us offer a prayer to the Shield Hero,” said the emcee.

And then almost everyone in the hall put their hands together and began praying. Oh, come on! I mean, even back in Melromarc I’d been called the saint of the bird god, but no one had ever taken it this far!

“And that concludes our audience with the Shield Hero. Please, enjoy the food!” the emcee announced.

Umm, was it just me or had they not even tried to give me a chance to speak? Surely they had originally planned to have me say a word or two. I guess it would have been troublesome for them if I had started talking about wanting to go to Q’ten Lo at an event like this. But I wasn’t going to let them have their way. I figured something like this might happen, so I already had a plan. I switched to my Voice Ganger Shield and spoke into the megaphone.

“Ahem! Test! Test! So yeah, apparently you don’t want me to speak, but after everything I had to overcome to succeed in Melromarc, do you really think stopping me is going to be that easy?”

Oh? I caught sight of Raphtalia and the others. Atla was clasping her hands together and had a smitten look on her face, but I decided to just ignore her.

“Let me start by saying that I understand what it is you’re trying to do. But right now I need to prioritize acting on behalf of the whole world. I want you to know it’s not because I haven’t considered the people of Siltvelt,” I continued.

After all, focusing solely on one’s own demands wouldn’t be a negotiation at all. Refusing to accept the other party’s demands to some extent wasn’t going to open any doors. I understood that fact.

“But I have no intention of telling anyone to go to war with Melromarc. Otherwise, why even talk about peace? Does the Seaetto territory and its friendly ties with the demi-humans mean nothing? I want you to think about that,” I said.

I could hear the faint sound of applause. I glanced over at Werner to warn him. But next time something like this happened, he was going to get a lot more than a warning.

“Now then, I don’t want to be a party pooper. How about I provide a bit of entertainment for all of you too? It is a party, after all!”

I beckoned to Filo. She pointed at herself quizzically and I nodded. No, not you, Atla! I motioned for Fohl and Raphtalia to restrain Atla. Filo skipped over to the stage cheerfully.

“Whaaat?” she asked.

“I want you to sing a song. Your job as a companion of the Shield Hero is to liven up this party,” I told her.

Filo was standing with me on the stage. She turned around to look at the audience and began trembling. That reaction . . . Had she still not gotten over being put on display in Kizuna’s world? She had no problem singing at the taverns, so why couldn’t she do it here? Or was it because of Motoyasu?

“Don’t worry, Motoyasu isn’t going to show up. And if anything happens, I promise I’ll protect you,” I told her.

“Buuut you didn’t protect me from the spear guuuuy,” she complained.

“That’s because you acted on your own that time,” I replied.

I was ordering her to sing this time, so I’d take responsibility if something happened.

“Okaaay, then I’ll do my beeessst,” Filo said.

“Sing something that will get stuck in their heads,” I said.

“Okaaay!”

Filo started to sing into the megaphone on my shield. Her singing was always a real crowd-pleaser, even at the taverns.

Would the people of Siltvelt be able to retain their ability to think rationally after hearing Filo’s bewitching song? I’d have her sing something addictive and then crush their strong-arm tactics and force them to agree to have a trading ship sent to Q’ten Lo. Of course, there was always the possibility that the song could be too effective. If things went downhill, I’d give Raphtalia and the others a signal before barging into the crowd and taking advantage of the confusion to escape.

Filo was singing her heart out. When she really got into it, she always entered a kind of trance-like state. It was obvious that she was incredibly focused. Her voice rang out through the hall.

The people in the audience who had the best hearing began to stagger over and gather in front of the stage, mesmerized by the song. That meant things were going well, right? She must have been singing a brainwashing song. It probably applied some kind of seduction-type status effect or something. I could just imagine Motoyasu showing up out of nowhere. The thought of it scared me.

Filo finally finished singing her song. Several people in the audience started clapping, and before long the roar of cheers filled the hall.

“And there you have it. A little something to liven this party up, courtesy of the Shield Hero. Now enjoy yourselves, unless you try anything sneaky. Then don’t expect to enjoy yourselves. Alright, later,” I said.

I told Filo to go back to the others. As she made her way back, the audience crowded around her. I could hear them all showering her in praise.

“Our sincere gratitude to the Shield Hero for his gracious words!” the emcee shouted.

“Rafuuu!”

Raph-chan squeaked, almost as if she were greeting the crowd. The Siltvelt leadership must have thought they would piss me off if they tried to get in the way, because they backed off. I got down off the stage and headed toward Raphtalia and the others. People crowded around, trying to get a better look at me, but they were held back by a rope that blocked them from actually getting in my way. Good, that was how it should’ve been.

I finally came to where Raphtalia and the others were standing.

“How’s it going? Have they caused you any trouble?” I asked.

“Nothing so far. But it’s scary not knowing what they may try next,” Raphtalia replied.

“Raph-chan told me they were asking about your adventures with me,” I said.

“Yes. They made me explain how we met and recount everything we’ve been through so far. They did pretty much the same thing with everyone else too,” she replied.

“I see.”

“Sadeena and Atla apparently made it sound like they had physical relations with you and ended up getting treated really suspiciously.”

What the hell were those two trying to do? Atla, especially — she still looked like a little girl, for goodness sake! Then again, there were people in this country who were convinced I had a thing for little girls, apparently.

“Do you think they’ll let us return to the village after this?” I asked.

“Do you want to go back?” Raphtalia replied.

Honestly, I wanted to leave immediately. How the hell was I supposed to relax in a situation like this?

“Well, all we’re going to do after this is sleep anyway. We need to ask them to arrange for the ship to Q’ten Lo tomorrow for sure, so I guess it doesn’t hurt to stay the night here. Just don’t let your guard down even for a second,” I said.

“Understood.”

Now then . . . I wondered what was next as I turned around and looked behind me. The Siltvelt leadership was watching me like I was a dangerous animal that required extreme caution. I could tell they were worried about me saying something that might cause them trouble. If that were the case, they should have just given in to my demands and sent me away already.

I was eating food off of the buffet while thinking about their stupidity. They had prepared a special meal just for me, but I just ignored that.

“So this is Siltvelt food, huh?” I muttered.

A lot of the flavors lacked refinement. You might even say there was something foul about the taste, but you could also argue that it was a chance to enjoy some unusual food.

“Hmm . . . I’d have to adjust the seasoning if I were going to serve this to the villagers. Coming up with a recipe shouldn’t be too difficult, though,” I said.

I analyzed each dish as I ate the food. I figured the villagers would make a fuss about wanting to try the food when I told them about it. It’d be best to go ahead and think about how to recreate it to some extent.

“You really think so? This is some really strange fare,” Raphtalia said.

There was something shaped like a little pouch that seemed like a fruit. I slit it open to analyze it. Maybe it was just me, but something about it seemed really raunchy.

“Making something that looks similar shouldn’t be too much of a problem. The ingredients themselves seem to be contributing to the flavoring a lot, though,” I replied.

There weren’t many dishes that had really been given a distinct added flavor. But the natural flavors of the ingredients themselves, on the other hand, were pretty peculiar. I could make something similar but still different for the villagers.

“They have something that resembles ratatouille too,” I said.

“What is that?” Raphtalia asked.

“It’s a dish from back in my world. It’s more of a country home cooking dish where I come from. But it’s common in prisons and stuff, since it’s cheap to make. The dish has some pretty tasteless nicknames like ‘stinky slop,’” I explained.

I could imagine Keel looking disgusted right about now, if she’d been listening. She’d gotten really picky about smells ever since she started transforming into a dog. Honestly, someone who was used to Melromarc’s food probably would think it stunk and might not be able to eat it.

“And that’s something you eat?” Raphtalia asked.

“That it is. If you use quality ingredients, it can actually be pretty good. There’s another similar dish known as caponata too.”

“I noticed this a long time ago, but you sure seem to know a lot about cooking, Mr. Naofumi.”

“You think so?”

“Remember that time when the village children made something and they were so proud of it? You took just one bite and then made several adjustments that really improved it.”

“Oh yeah. And then the slave that had been in charge of cooking got all depressed.”

I’d just made a couple of tiny adjustments that I figured would make the dish taste better. But doing so apparently hurt the pride of the slave who’d been in charge of cooking. Even I realized maybe I’d gone too far. I felt bad about it, so I hadn’t meddled with the slaves’ cooking since. They deserved to do things their way, if they were going to do the cooking. But honestly, that kid glared at me like I’d killed her parents every time I cooked now.

“I should probably avoid doing any of the cooking, but they keep making requests. That kid who was handling the cooking that time will probably hate me until she dies,” I said.

“Hate you?” Raphtalia asked.

“Well, yeah. Haven’t you noticed she glares at me nonstop every time I’m cooking?”

“That’s just her way of making sure she doesn’t miss anything you’re doing!”

“Ah, I see. So she just wants to see me make a mistake.”

“That’s not it. She’s doing her best to learn from you so that she can improve.”

“Then she doesn’t hate me?”

“On the contrary, she has the utmost respect for you!”

Raphtalia seemed completely sure of herself. It did feel nice to hear that, but I couldn’t really trust Raphtalia to be objective.

“Impressive as always, Mr. Naofumi! Why waste time capturing the hearts of the slaves when you can control them by capturing their stomachs instead?!” Atla exclaimed.

She sure knew how to make things sound bad. I’d heard people saying similar things in the village and the neighboring town. There seemed to be rumors that I made the slaves do whatever I wanted by feeding them food that was addictive.

“I know you like to cook too, Raphtalia. You should cook more often,” I said.

“Umm, Mr. Naofumi . . . Would you really want to cook for someone who is a far better cook than yourself?” she replied.

Huh? Was that supposed to mean that she had reservations about me eating her cooking because I was a good cook?

“That’s nothing you should worry about. Have I ever criticized someone else’s cooking like I was a food snob?” I asked.

“I guess you don’t really criticize others when it comes to food,” Raphtalia replied.

“I notice you made sure to specify food there . . .”

I suddenly recalled picking apart the way a crooked merchant was doing business on the Cal Mira islands once.

“Whatever. I’ll make sure to check out some of the dishes that Siltvelt is famous for later. Otherwise, I’ll never hear the end of it from Keel,” I said.

“Hm?” Filo muttered.

She started stuffing her face with food. It wasn’t going to last long now that she’d gotten going. The night wore on and the banquet ultimately ended without incident.

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Siti Dara

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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