LN Tate no Yuusha Prolog - CH 6 Vol 10 Bahasa Indonesia

Prologue: The Spirit Tortoise’s Barrier

After saying our goodbyes to Kizuna and the others we were transported, and just like when being summoned to a wave, our surroundings instantly changed. We were in . . . Yes, these were familiar fields, along with their view of the Melromarc Castle Town.

“We made it back.”

Raphtalia’s voice was overflowing with emotion. I guess it did feel a bit like a homecoming.

“Looks that way.”

“Fiiinally!”

Filo seemed to feel the same way.

“We’ve returned at long last!”

Even Rishia was getting emotional. Just as I felt a sense of relief begin to settle in, a brilliant light shot out of my shield and high into the sky . . . and then faded away as if it had dissolved into the atmosphere.

“Whoa!”

“Wh . . . what was that?!”

“I’m guessing that was the Spirit Tortoise’s energy returning to this world.”

The whole Spirit Tortoise ordeal hadn’t lasted that long. Even so, there was something deeply emotional about it all. Thinking about it, it seemed short, but it had actually been a long battle.

The Spirit Tortoise was something that existed to create a barrier that would protect the world, but someone seized control of its body, and so Ost reached out to me for help. It turned out it was Kyo that had manipulated the Spirit Tortoise and inflicted great damage upon this world, and we ended up chasing him all the way to another world.

In that other world, we met Kizuna, who was one of the four holy heroes just like me. Kizuna joined us to fight Kyo, and together we made Kyo pay for what he’d done. Then we took back the Spirit Tortoise’s energy and returned to this world.

The Spirit Tortoise was one of the guardian beasts, which were monstrous creatures meant to consume the souls of living things to create a barrier that would halt the fusion of worlds—a phenomenon known as the waves.

Apparently once enough of this energy used to produce the barriers had been collected, it would be possible to make the waves stop. But even if less than the full amount of energy had been collected, it would still be possible to stall the waves for some time . . . or so I had been told.

We had taken back that energy, and now it had been released out into this world to serve its original purpose. It was a magical sight, and I had a feeling it had probably been visible from far off in the distance.

I had been staring at the Spirit Tortoise Heart Shield on my arm and lost in thought when suddenly I realized something. The very last of the light had left the shield. I guess all of the energy that was stored inside had been released. Even the faint glow that had remained for a moment had now faded away.

I noticed that the Energy Blast special effect was at zero percent now. The other stats had fallen a bit, too. It was as if the shield was saying it had served its purpose and its work was done.

“Well then, I suppose we should check up on things here.”

“Agreed, Mr. Naofumi.”

That was Raphtalia.

Raphtalia was a demi-human girl and former slave that had been fighting by my side for so long that I recognized her voice instantly without having to turn around. Even though I considered myself something of a surrogate parent to her, it wasn’t uncommon for me to be the one relying on her in certain situations these days.

She had been chosen by the katana of the vassal weapons to be its owner in the other world, which meant that she could no longer be a slave. She possessed a beauty that felt Japanese somehow, and miko clothes suited her strangely well. Maybe it was because of her tanuki-like ears and tail?

“Alright then, let’s see how long until the next wave.”

I glanced over at the hourglass numbers that hovered in my field of vision. I could see . . . the red hourglass numbers had come to a halt. I also noticed that the blue hourglass icon had become active.

Was that an 8?

I was pretty sure I remembered Ost saying something about a delay before the next guardian beast appeared.

The Phoenix, was it?

That made sense. The blue hourglass was showing how much time we had left before the Phoenix’s seal was broken. It looked like we had around three and a half months before the seal would be broken. Only three and a half months after a battle that intense? Or maybe, should I have been happy that we even had that long?

“Looks like we have three and a half months until the seal is broken on the next guardian beast.”

“Oh . . . I see. Seems like we have less time than expected.”

“Not necessarily. Compared to how it’s been up until now, that should be plenty of time.”

The first wave came one month after I’d been summoned here. The next was a month and a half later. Pretty much right after that was the whole Church of the Three Heroes mess, meeting the other heroes to exchange information, the wave at the Cal Mira islands, and then the Spirit Tortoise incident.

The next Melromarc wave would have been right around the corner, which means . . . it had been right around four months since I’d first arrived in this world.

“That’s just about the same amount of time I’ve been in this world, combined with the month spent fighting in Kizuna’s world.”

“Reeaallyyy?”

“Considering how old you are, Filo, three and a half months should be more than enough.”

Filo was a young girl who was actually a type of monster called a filolial. Filolials were strange bird-like monsters that delighted in nothing more than pulling carriages, but Filo was a certain type of filolial that was considered superior among their kind, and she had the ability to transform into what looked like an angel. If she kept her mouth shut, you might think she was just a cute little girl with blonde hair and blue eyes.

Her actual age was one month less than the total amount of time that had passed since I’d been summoned to this world. In other words, the three and a half months was about the same as the total length of time that Filo had been alive.

“Fehhh . . . No time for a break, I guess.”

That was Rishia that just made that whiny “feh” sound. Rishia’s abilities fluctuated based on her emotional state, but the girl had the potential to be a real heroine. I had to give her credit for contributing more than anyone else in our fight against Kyo.

I took her in after Itsuki, another one of the heroes, tossed her aside for having nothing to offer the team, but her performance had made it clear that she had plenty to offer. She still couldn’t manifest that strength without becoming extremely emotional, but I was sure that would change once her abilities had really blossomed. I figured she was just a late bloomer and her stats would only improve going forward.

“Yeah, not really. We need to figure out how to get stronger before it’s too late. Not to mention, we’ll be fighting the Phoenix next, so we better train hard. Time is limited.”

“Okay!”

“Rafuuu!”

Raph-chan responded along with Rishia.

Oh yeah, Raph-chan was a shikigami that had been created using a lock of Raphtalia’s hair. She was a cute little thing that looked kind of like a tanuki or a raccoon. I imagined it’s what Raphtalia would look like if she were turned into an animal. Raph-chan was surprisingly sharp and had proven useful in all sorts of situations.

I noticed my shield was reacting to something. What’s this? Familiar Shield?

When I checked the flashing shield icon, it indicated that the Familiar Shield had been unlocked. It was pretty much the same as the Shikigami Shield. I must have needed it to use Raph-chan and that’s why it appeared.

I sure was glad that Raph-chan hadn’t disappeared or something due to differences between this world and Kizuna’s world. It seems things that weren’t compatible with both worlds ended up with their names garbled in the status screen and ceased to function after crossing over. I’d thought about how depressing it would be if the Shikigami Shield ended up with some unrecognizable name and Raph-chan turned into a stuffed doll or something, but thankfully nothing like that happened.

“Mr. Naofumi? You’re thinking about something weird, aren’t you?”

“I was just thinking about how happy I am that I can use Raph-chan in this world, too.”

“Oh . . .”

It seemed like Raphtalia wasn’t really sure what to think about Raph-chan.

“Although, it looks like all of the powering up that I did has been reset. I’ll have to do that over again, but this time it will be in a more familiar world. I’ll make you more powerful than you were in Kizuna’s world in no time, Raph-chan!”

“Rafuuu!”

I loved how Raph-chan always knew just how to respond. She was standing up on two legs as if to show a sense of determination.

“Oh, it looks like someone from the castle is coming to pick us up.”

While Raph-chan and I were busy gazing into each other’s eyes, a familiar-looking carriage appeared, heading in our direction from Melromarc Castle Town.

And oh yeah, that was the corpse of the Spirit Tortoise that lay towering behind us. We had ended up right in front of it when we were transported back. A month had passed since we left, so the remains had been cleared away to a certain extent. The flesh and some other portions had been removed, and the flora from the mountainous areas had begun to spread . . . or at least it looked that way.

 Ost . . . we made it back.

For a split second, I thought I could see a soft light radiating from the corpse of the Spirit Tortoise, as if in response to my sentiment . . . but surely it was only my imagination.

“Well then . . . I guess we should start getting caught up on things with whoever it is headed this way.”

“Agreed.”

“We have a lot to discuss, and all kinds of souvenirs, too.”

“You think Mel-chan will be happy?”

“Who knows?”

Filo was wearing pajamas that had been designed to resemble her own filolial form. She wanted to give them to her good friend Melty, the second princess of Melromarc, as a souvenir.

“Things are probably going to get busy from here on out, so be prepared for that, Raphtalia.”

That’s right. Much like Kizuna and her friends, we had all sorts of issues waiting for us that needed to be addressed, like dealing with the other three heroes that had lost to the Spirit Tortoise and been captured, for example. I really wanted to believe that they would finally listen to me after that.

“Understood.”

“Other than that . . . Yeah, I guess we’ll go if we can still manage it, after taking care of what needs to be done before the battle with the Phoenix.”

“Go? Where are you planning on going?”

“That . . . You’ll find out soon enough.”

“Umm . . . okay.”

“Fehhh . . .”

I had winked at Raphtalia suggestively, and for some reason Rishia responded with a frightened whimper. How rude could she be? Was it really so strange for me to wink?

After a few more moments passed, the approaching carriage and the knights escorting it came to a halt before us. The Queen of Melromarc stepped out of the carriage and gave a salutatory bow.

“I’m glad to see you made it back, Mr. Iwatani.”

“Long time no see.”

It had been a month since I’d last seen the queen, but she seemed pretty much the same as before. Her outward appearance hadn’t changed anyway.

“And were you successful?”

“I’m sure you already have a pretty good idea, don’t you?”

“We received confirmation of a bright light dissolving into the sky before heading this way. Am I right to assume that was proof you were able to successfully recover the Spirit Tortoise’s energy?”

“Yeah. It looks like we won’t have another wave for a while, thanks to the Spirit Tortoise’s energy.”

The surrounding knights responded with gasps of excitement.

“We should be safe until the seal is broken on the Phoenix—the next guardian beast of the four benevolent animals.”

“And how long is that?”

“Around three and a half months. That may not seem long, but . . . we’ll just have to make do.”

“Understood. I’m sure you are all exhausted after such an arduous battle in another world—in enemy territory, no less. Please, this way.”

“Sounds good. I’d like to hear how things have been going here, too.”

I nodded, and the queen stepped aside and motioned us toward the carriage she had prepared for us. We boarded the carriage and headed for the castle.

Chapter One: The Seven Star Staff Hero

“Come, Mr. Iwatani. The people of Melromarc are offering you their ungrudging appreciation. Please, give them a wave.”

“Yeah, yeah. Sure.”

Such an exaggerated show of appreciation had the opposite effect. It made it all feel so contrived.

“Thank you, Shield Hero!”

“Hero!”

It was like a real hero’s welcome, with the crowds waving to me as we headed toward the castle in the carriage prepared by the queen.

What a conniving bunch they were!

Then again, stuff like anime and history had taught me that this kind of thing was just a natural part of how the collective consciousness worked. I humored them and waved back as much as I felt comfortable with. But if it had been just two or three months earlier, my welcome would have likely been something like a piece of trash thrown in my face.

I was the Shield Demon, after all.

After we defeated the first wave, there were people glaring at me like I didn’t belong here. I knew I should be happy that I was finally getting my due appreciation, but it still really bothered me.

I wondered how much time had passed in this world since we had crossed over.

“By the way, Queen . . .”

“Yes?”

“How much time has passed here since I left?”

I had made a point of keeping track, but I still wanted to check to make sure. It was always possible that an exceedingly long amount of time had actually passed, like in the tale of Urashima Taro—the Japanese Rip Van Winkle.

“Two and a half weeks.”

“Oh really?”

Strange. Apparently time passed quicker in Kizuna’s world. You could see the surprise on Raphtalia’s and Rishia’s faces when the queen said it had only been two and a half weeks.

“What is it?”

“Around a month had passed in the world we followed the enemy to.”

“I see. To think there would be such a difference . . .”

I wasn’t sure if it was a good thing or a bad thing, but I figured it meant we had saved some time . . . maybe?

We finally arrived at the castle and were taken to the throne room.

“What happened with the coalition army?”

“All of the members are working hard to rebuild their own respective countries.”

The damage done by the Spirit Tortoise had indeed been awful. I had seen the scars left by the battle. We had managed to defeat the Spirit Tortoise here in Melromarc, but its massive corpse was still lying out in the fields with an expansive wasteland of wreckage extending out behind it.

“Let us review the current situation. At present, all of the dragon hourglasses across the world have come to a halt.”

“The red hourglass on my status screen has stopped, too.”

“I see.”

“But the other hourglass shows a time of three and a half months.”

The room took on a somber atmosphere.

“That three and a half months is our cutoff. We need to complete preparations for the battle with the Phoenix before then.”

We already knew that the Phoenix would be reawakened.

“There’s more. We learned something in the world we ended up in after pursuing Kyo, the enemy who stole the Spirit Tortoise’s energy.”

I told the queen what we had found out in Kizuna’s world.

In Kizuna’s world, legends told of the waves as being a phenomenon resulting from the fusion of two worlds. It was said that if the current fusion were to reach completion then the limits of what a single world could contain would be exceeded, ultimately leading to the destruction of the worlds.

To prevent that from happening, heroes known as vassal weapon holders were slipping into other worlds through the dimensional rifts created by the waves and attempting to kill the other worlds’ heroes that possessed the holy weapons, since those heroes were the pillars of the worlds.

A commotion broke out among the queen’s advisers.

“And is all of this a fact?”

“Honestly, I think it’s all pretty questionable,” I went on. “They hadn’t actually pulled it off, and one of the holy weapons over there . . . one of their four heroes lacked the ability to fight against other people. If it really were true, surely the four heroes would need to excel in combat against other people, don’t you think?”

Although, it actually might very well have been true. For some reason, though, Kizuna refused to accept it.

“We did find something in that world that seems to offer a different explanation of the waves. Rishia.”

“Y . . . yes!”

Rishia pulled out the manuscript that Kizuna and the others had given her and showed it to the queen.

“We’re not sure what the text means, but many of the drawings seem to be related to the waves. If we can decipher the text, we might learn something.”

“Understood. I shall request the dispatch of those that decipher such things from all of the other countries so that we commence the task using all available resources.”

“I want you to put Rishia on that team. She’s already learned the language of that world, and she seems to be really good at this kind of thing.”

Frankly, she seemed like she’d be better at it than she was at fighting.

“Fehhh . . .”

“Glass and the others are counting on you. Do your best.”

I had to prepare her to be able to take on any challenge.

“In addition to that manuscript, I also talked with one of the four heroes over there and we worked things out. Glass and L’Arc agreed to a truce, too, albeit a temporary one. So even if we happen to run across them again, the likelihood of us fighting is extremely low.”

“Understood. It does indeed seem that there would be little value in being any more cautious than we already are, in our current situation, with the waves having ceased for the time being.”

“We also brought back several items from the other world. I’m not sure if they’ll function properly here, but there’s quite an assortment.”

I showed the queen the bag of items that we had received from Kizuna and the others. If everything worked out, not only would the items help us deal with the waves, but they were all things we could easily make a fortune off of, too. There was equipment that could emulate the drop function of the legendary weapons, as well as the Scroll of Return, also known as Return Transcript, which was equivalent to a teleport skill and could summon the user to an hourglass just like during the waves.

“Now then, there’s something important I’d like to address before anything else.”

I took a step toward the queen to make a suggestion, or perhaps I should say request.

“During the next three and a half months, it’s imperative that we recover from the curse that came as a toll of our battle.”

That’s right. Right now, Filo, Raphtalia, and I all had drastically reduced stats due to the aftereffects of the All Sacrifice Aura. Even worse, full recovery was still a long way off.

“I had no idea . . .”

To be honest, we were in pretty bad shape. We wouldn’t be able to really push ourselves until we had fully recovered from the curse. Even a normal battle would likely be pretty tough right now.

According to the doctor in Kizuna’s world, full recovery would take around three months. I planned on trying out various methods of recovery on my own, too, but we would still have to get by with reduced stats one way or the other until we had fully recovered.

Still, it was too bad, because I knew that at one point I had become ridiculously strong after meeting with the other heroes to discuss our power-up methods. Luckily my defensive power had been spared from the effects of the curse, so we could probably still manage somehow.

“In three and a half months, the Phoenix’s seal will be broken, and the battles we’ll face after that will probably grow more difficult as well.”

I’d heard that the monsters being stronger in Kizuna’s world had something to do with the waves. The situation was slowly getting worse, so the heroes had to be considered indispensable. There was no way I could handle everything on my own, and Raphtalia couldn’t be expected to take up all of the slack, even if she did possess the katana of the vassal weapons now.

I had given Fitoria my word, too.

At the very least, we needed more solidarity among the four heroes.

“Considering what lies ahead, I think the heroes need to get together and have another discussion. The four heroes and the vassal weapon . . . err, the seven star heroes, I guess?”

I figured that the term “vassal weapon holders” probably corresponded to the seven star heroes in this world. I wanted to talk with them and learn about their power-up methods, if possible.

“. . .”

The queen covered her mouth with her folding fan upon hearing my words.

“I have taken your words into consideration, Mr. Iwatani. As for the meeting with the seven star heroes . . . I will contact Faubrey and the other countries and do my best to make it happen.”

The queen’s response confused me. Just the seven star heroes? What about those three idiots—the remainder of the four heroes?

“Wait a minute. The four heroes . . . what happened to the other three?”

The queen averted her eyes when I asked.

“Hey!”

“I . . . I’m very sorry, but . . . just several days ago . . .”

In addition to myself, the four heroes consisted of the Sword Hero, the Spear Hero, and the Bow Hero—Ren Amaki, Motoyasu Kitamura, and Itsuki Kawasumi, respectively.

The three of them were convinced that they had ended up in some kind of game world and ran wild, relying solely on their knowledge of games from their own worlds. They had confronted the Spirit Tortoise and been defeated, after which they were captured by Kyo and used as a power source to control the Spirit Tortoise. I remembered seeing Eclair and the old Hengen Muso lady carry them off just before we set out for the other world.

Anyway, this is what had happened according to the queen.

The heroes had yet to awaken and remained unconscious at the hospital until several days ago, when there were reports from the hospital that each of them had regained consciousness. According to the examining doctor, each of the heroes was told what had happened and finally came to the realization that they had confronted the Spirit Tortoise and been defeated.

“And then?”

“The same day that they woke up . . . I’ve been told that later that night, all of the heroes suddenly disappeared . . .”

I could feel my cheek twitching.

Those half-wit heroes! They must have run away using their teleport skills! I had no idea why they would run. It wasn’t like they had done anything bad . . . Although it was true they had made themselves look really bad.

“We have implemented an information blockade, but there are still rumors among the people that the defeat of the other three heroes is one of the reasons for the Spirit Tortoise’s increased violence. The heroes’ situation is concerning.”

“Ugh . . . I don’t know where they went, but please try to see to it that they are protected, if possible.”

“I will do my best. However, it is possible that if they feel they’re being blamed for the spread of destruction, they might behave rashly. I have ordered that they be handled with caution.”

Jeez . . . Just how much trouble did they need to cause before they would be satisfied? Those fools!

“We must consider the possibility that another country might attempt to take advantage of the heroes’ emotional vulnerability resulting from defeat to gain their favor and secure the country’s position as the leading world power.”

“Ah, so there are groups that might try something like that after all.”

“Of course, such an act would be criticized harshly. We would not stand by quietly, nor would Faubrey, I am sure.”

“Umm . . . That’s the huge country that first attempted to summon the four heroes, right?”

“Yes. The country is closely involved with the four heroes. If another country were to attempt such a thing without the consent of Faubrey, war would likely be unavoidable.”

I’d thought that war and all of that mess was less of an issue here than in Kizuna’s world, but I guess that kind of thing was always just right around the corner.

So if the heroes were to flee to a country attempting to gain their favor, they would risk being used as political instruments. I had refused such an invitation without even realizing it and so nothing ever came of it, but those guys were definitely liable to fall for something like that. What a bunch of good-for-nothings! Of course, I didn’t really have room to talk since I was part of their group.

So for the time being, all we would be able to do is call together the seven star heroes. I wasn’t sure whether I should consider them friends or foes, but I needed to meet and speak with them either way. It was critical that we shared our power-up methods.

Of course, there was the issue of whether or not they would be willing to talk. There could always be someone like Kyo from Kizuna’s world, so I wasn’t sure if the seven star heroes could be considered allies yet. Still, I had to get them to share their power-up methods somehow to make up for my stats being lowered by the curse.

“Understood about the heroes. Other than that, with the extent of the damage . . . is recovery even possible?”

Upon hearing my question, the expressions of the queen and her advisers grew even grimmer. So it really was that bad, after all.

“The coalition army itself suffered significant losses during the incursion into the Spirit Tortoise’s body and also while distracting it outside.”

“Sorry I couldn’t protect them.”

As the Shield Hero, it was my job to think about how to prevent casualties and act accordingly. And yet, there had still been considerable losses.

“Oh, no . . . They were there because they wanted to be, I am sure. Everyone that participated in the incursion has indicated that it was thanks to the Shield Hero that any of them were able to escape alive.”

“Well, I’m happy to hear that.”

“Our neighboring countries have also been dealt a heavy blow and recovery will likely require quite some time.”

“I see.”

“To be honest, providing you aid will also be a bit more difficult now, Mr. Iwatani.”

I couldn’t argue with that. If they had been able to continue providing massive amounts of aid even after suffering such heavy damages, I would have been suspicious about where the money was coming from.

“We will provide what aid we can, but compared to what we had initially planned . . .”

“Yeah, I understand. If I need money, I’ll work it out on my own.”

On the contrary, I should probably have been helping gather reconstruction funds. I decided to bring up the plan I had been considering.

“Hey, aid doesn’t have to be money, right?”

“Indeed. In fact, other forms of aid would certainly be preferable considering our current situation.”

This was related to an issue I had noticed while leading the coalition army and something that I had been thinking about for a while.

“In that case, how about you grant me a territory?”

That’s right. Seeing Kizuna and the others made me think about how the waves should be dealt with. At the same time, I figured it was the best I could do to show my thanks to Raphtalia. Assuming the world achieved a state of peace, I wasn’t planning on sticking around like some kind of fool. I’d return to my own world without hesitation. But what about Raphtalia?

For Raphtalia, this world was her home. She had believed in me and stuck with me in both good times and bad, so she deserved a place where she could live out a happy life.

“A territory? That’s not a problem, but may I ask why? Until now, you have been . . . Pardon my rudeness, but you seemed indifferent about such things.”

I figured I should give her the official reason.

“The hero in the other world had trained a group of acquaintances to deal with the waves without the assistance of heroes. After careful consideration, I believe it will be necessary for us to do something similar.”

Ultimately, it had been us that defeated the Spirit Tortoise, but since I was limited to defense, it only made sense that the company I kept would become more and more important.

“I believe I understand your reasoning, Mr. Iwatani.”

“Without the coalition army, we would have lost to the Spirit Tortoise. I want to be clear about that. That said, surviving the coming waves will prove difficult with the coalition army as it is now. To be honest, they’re weak.”

“Ugh . . .”

Being a proud bunch, knights could be difficult to deal with.

“I’m saying the overall military power of the army is weak. Considering the Spirit Tortoise’s connection to the waves, there’s a very high possibility that even more powerful monsters will appear going forward. That’s why I want to build a private army that is prepared to deal with the waves. I’ll need money, too, and a territory would provide a basis for all of this.”

“That makes sense. I am beginning to understand your line of thinking, Mr. Iwatani. We needed to reward you anyway, so this is a good chance.”

The queen closed her folding fan and pulled out a map.

“Somewhere close to the castle town would probably be best. Do you have a place in mind?”

“Here.”

Without hesitation, I pointed to a coastal area near the port. The port was the one we had departed from when heading to the Cal Mira islands.

“Wha . . . ?”

Raphtalia had started to say something but held back.

“Hmm . . . That area . . . Yes, that’s where Miss Seaetto is currently serving as governor.”

“You mean Eclair? She’s got more going on than I expected.”

“Yes. I had been planning to assist with the reconstruction of the territories in that area as well, but according to reports, the current situation . . . doesn’t sound very promising.”

“I see . . .”

I’d heard that the area had suffered extensive damage in the first wave, the one that occurred before I had been summoned. I’d passed by it several times. It had been a desolate area filled with abandoned buildings. I wasn’t sure if it was because of the wave, but even the plant life seemed to lack vitality. Reconstruction would be a difficult task.

It had only been two and a half weeks since the most recent disaster, too.

“I would like to recommend another area, if possible. That area suffered extensive damage in the first wave and is in ruins.”

“I’ll be developing the land, anyway. It will be easier to do things my way there than somewhere that’s already been developed, like the areas near the castle. It works out perfectly.”

“Understood. Now, if you are going to have a territory, you will need to be given an appropriate rank.”

“I plan on returning to my own world once the waves have ended anyway. I don’t need a successor. In fact, you should just return the territory to Eclair at that point. Actually . . . If she’ll let me do things my way, I wouldn’t mind if she just stays the governor.”

It’s not like Eclair was a stranger, and I figured she’d do just fine, considering she had shown an exceedingly earnest determination to get along with the demi-humans.

“I cannot allow that. Mr. Iwatani, you are not giving yourself the credit you deserve. If we did not reward you appropriately, we would be giving other countries cause to attack Melromarc.”

I was being lectured by the queen for some reason.

“I shall grant you the rank of Count.”

“Wait a minute . . .”

Wouldn’t the fact that my shield had translated her words as Count mean that the rank was hereditary?

I knew about the noble ranks and titles from some manga about nobility that I had read fanatically a long time ago. The manga had been set in the early modern period and not the Middle Ages, but still . . .

Duke, Marquess, Count, Viscount, and Baron.

These were known as the five ranks of nobility and were ordered from the highest rank to the lowest.

Noble titles were generally divided into two categories: hereditary and territorial. In my world . . . In Europe, owning territory usually meant having a title, and those who ruled over territories were collectively referred to as the aristocracy . . . or something like that.

That meant that members of the aristocracy who owned multiple territories would, of course, have multiple titles as well. And having a title meant that you were a member of the aristocracy who owned at least 10,000 acres of land.

I wasn’t sure if all of that held true in this world, though.

“There is always the possibility that you will have a child, Mr. Iwatani. We must keep that in mind. Perhaps, for example . . . with Melty.”

“Not happening.”

Did she really want to have me and Melty get married that bad? That girl was still a child. There’s no way I was going to feel any kind of sexual desire for a 10-year-old kid.

“Just a moment, please. We must perform the conferment of title ceremony.”

“What a pain . . .”

“Perhaps, but the dignity of our country is at stake. The formalities and the reward must be fitting of your performance.”

I couldn’t really argue that just simply handing over some money to the hero, who had defeated the chief villain that had caused so much damage, wouldn’t look too good.

“To think that the Shield Hero—worshipped by the demi-humans—would request the Seaetto territory, which is known for its acceptance of demi-humans even in Melromarc . . . Well, Miss Eclair’s father was quite popular, and a man that I trusted dearly.”

The queen had completely seen through my plan. She kept glancing over at Raphtalia.

“This could be good for publicity, too. I’m counting on you.”

“Don’t get your hopes up.”

The queen handed me a ceremonial sword.

Normally, it would have been rejected by the shield, but that wasn’t a problem as long as I had no intention of fighting. I was supposed to unsheathe the sword and hand it to the queen, who would then tap each of my shoulders with the sword and attest the conferment of title. That would complete the ceremony.

“We hereby commence the conferment of title on the Shield Hero, Naofumi Iwatani!”

The castle knights sounded their bugle-like instruments.

I marched confidently through the doorway and into the throne room toward the waiting queen. I then assumed a blatantly pretentious pose and lowered my head before unsheathing the sword at my side and handing it to the queen.

“In accordance with the customs of this land, I hereby grant you the rank of Count in recognition of your most recent noble efforts.”

The queen returned the sword to me.

“I look forward to your continued success.”

I returned the sword to its sheath and stood up.

“And that’s it. Truthfully, I would prefer to perform the ceremony on a much grander scale, but . . .”

“Too much trouble.”

“I expected that would be your response, so I kept it simple. Regardless, I do plan to make this known to the people.”

“Yeah, yeah.”

I had a feeling that my days of openly roaming the castle town streets were now over.

That reminded me, where was Trash? It felt like I hadn’t seen him in forever. Was he still around?

Trash was the queen’s husband and had been serving as the Crown by proxy in her absence. He’d had another name, but it had been changed to Trash as punishment for his actions. He had been one of the culprits responsible for framing me for religious reasons.

There he was. He was glaring at me with disgust in his eyes.

He couldn’t say anything since the queen was keeping a close eye on him. Or so I thought . . . Looking more closely, I noticed he was wearing a collar.

“—!”

Oh? He was touching the collar like he wanted to say something. It seemed to be tightening. Now this was funny. I laughed at him.

“——!!”

He seemed super mad now, but every time he tried to scream out, the collar tightened and silenced him before he could make a noise. Talk about quality entertainment!

“Mr. Naofumi . . . ?”

Raphtalia called out as if to reprimand me. Apparently she hadn’t noticed Trash’s collar.

“What can I say? It’s funny! Look at that.”

“Sigh . . . That’s just like you, Mr. Naofumi.”

Raphtalia’s voice was tinged with disapproval.

“Ah, yes. Mr. Iwatani, you mentioned that you would like to speak with the seven star heroes.”

“Huh? Yeah, that’s right.”

The queen looked over at Trash, as if to imply something. The knights surrounding Trash dragged him over in front of me and forced him to his knees.

“Allow me to tell you about a certain seven star hero.”

Why was she saying this after dragging Trash over here?

“This hero was an extraordinary character formerly known as Lüge. When Siltvelt made an attempt at world domination twenty-something years ago, it was this hero that attacked them head-on, saving Melromarc and many other countries in the process.”

“Sounds like quite the reputation.”

Twenty-something years ago meant that the hero had to be pretty old now. Thinking about the people I knew, that would probably limit it to the old lady, the slave trader, or the accessory dealer. The last two were out of the question, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it turned out to be the old lady. She’d made a dramatic turnaround and gone on a rampage after I gave her that medicine, after all. Still, something about her didn’t quite fit.

“Despite being the Staff Hero, this hero came to be known instead for his formidable intelligence, and the people referred to him as ‘His Excellency, the Wise’ when telling stories of his deeds.”

“—!!”

Trash was really starting to struggle for some reason.

Hmm . . . His Excellency, the Wise? Must have been a pretty impressive guy. If he was that smart, then . . . I looked over at Rishia.

“Your father?”

“Fehhhh!”

Rishia shook her head emphatically. So it wasn’t her dad, then.

“Do you know who she’s talking about, Rishia?”

“Yes, I do. It’s that man. The king is the Seven Star Staff Hero.”

“Huh?”

Dumbfounded, I pointed a questioning finger at Trash, who was still struggling for some reason.

“It’s thanks to the king that Melromarc and the other countries still exist today.”

Hold on. She was saying that Trash—that this stupid, power-hungry fool—was a seven star hero? No way! I had never seen him holding any kind of staff. And His Excellency, the Wise? Seriously? More like His Foolishness, the Daft!

“Good one, Rishia. You almost had me there for a second.”

“!”

Trash snorted and glared at me.

“It wasn’t a joke. I’m sure that this all must be some kind of strategically planned act. Mom and dad always said that Melromarc would remain peaceful and secure as long as the king were here.”

“And that right there is why your mom and dad ended up ruined nobility.”

“Fehhh . . .”

“Mr. Naofumi!”

Raphtalia reprimanded me again. But it was probably true.

So from what she was saying, if we were talking about my world, was he like some kind of famous military strategist? Was he the kind of character who couldn’t be underestimated because he was always several steps ahead, and even if he acted foolishly, it was sure to be some kind of trap? Yeah, I wasn’t falling for that.

“I get it. The guy exists, but this is some kind of political decoy, right?”

I pointed at Trash defiantly. Unable to stand it any longer, he made a fist and lunged at me.

“I will not allow it! Icicle Prison!”

“!?”

Now encased in a cage of ice, Trash glared at the queen.

“Or maybe the real Trash died, and this is some kind of replacement?”

“Not at all. This is all true. Right, Trash?”

“!”

“Ah, yes. You can’t speak because of that collar. Think about it, Mr. Iwatani. Why do you think I made Bitch my slave but didn’t do the same to Trash?”

She had a point. Trash seemed to have given up relatively quickly and I figured that’s why she had let him be, but now that I thought about it, maybe his punishment had been a bit underwhelming.

“I am sure you already know this, Mr. Iwatani, but it is not possible to enslave a holy hero or a seven star hero.”

“Ah . . . So what you’re saying is that you can’t make Trash a slave and that’s why you’re keeping him quiet with a collar. But does the collar really work?”

“Yes. Of course, he could easily break it if he wanted to, but he doesn’t because he knows he would be punished for doing so.”

As soon as the queen finished her sentence, Trash ripped the collar off.

“I can’t take it anymore! Shield!!”

He was as annoying as ever.

“I will let that slide this time. So there you have it. Aultcra—Trash, I mean. Tell Mr. Iwatani how you power up your staff.”

“I’ll never tell him! I . . . I refuse to accept this! The Shield, a Count?! Absolutely unacceptable!”

“Oh my, what shall we do? I’d like to request that you spare his life at the very least.”

As she said this, the queen delivered repeated blows to Trash’s face. Being my twisted self, I’d begun to enjoy the whole spectacle a bit, but realistically speaking, it would be difficult to get Trash to share his power-up methods. In that case, killing him, waiting for a new staff hero to appear, and asking the new hero would be quicker. But the queen was asking me to show leniency and overlook his behavior. This was proving to be a real predicament.

“Queen. Use every means of torture available to make him speak. A hero that has no intention of fighting for world peace does not deserve to live.”

“Insolence! I’ll—?!”

The queen ordered Trash gagged and quieted.

“Understood.”

“The deadline—”

The queen interrupted me just as I was about to decide how much time to give him.

“My daughter Bitch presents another problem for us.”

Oh? Had there been some kind of development?

The power-up methods were certainly important, but they could wait for Bitch. I had a feeling the queen had purposefully changed the subject, but I could always just bring it back up again later when I got another chance.

“According to the account of events given by Mr. Kitamura upon regaining consciousness, it seems very likely that she survived.”

“That is a problem. You must find and capture her at once.”

According to Kyo, Motoyasu had been abandoned by the rest of his party upon facing the Spirit Tortoise. I had no doubt that she’d survived.

“As you wish.”

I had no idea if she would return to Motoyasu. Then again, maybe she should be executed for deserting him in the face of the enemy?

“I will need to speak with her before anything else. Depending on how that goes, you may find the outcome quite pleasing, Mr. Iwatani.”

“That would be most excellent. Heh heh heh . . .”

The queen and I laughed together as we sneakily probed each other’s true intentions.

“Mr. Naofumi!”

“Yeah, yeah. I know.”

Jeez, was she ever going to let me get away with a bit of mischief? Raph-chan never seemed to mind.

“Rafu fu fu . . .”

Speaking of Raph-chan, she had been imitating me for the past few minutes and had a sinister grin on her face.

“In any case, I have many questions for you, as well, Mr. Iwatani.”

“I know, but I have some things to take care of first.”

We’d just gotten back from the other world, and we needed to get started on preparations.

“Later, Trash of the world. From here on, you shall forever be known as His Foolishness, the Daft, Framer of Heroes. Isn’t that nice? You’re famous!”

“—!!!!”

As we made our way out of the throne room, Trash was pointing at me and struggling violently in an attempt to destroy the cage of ice. I had no doubt he wanted to attack me, but the surrounding soldiers wouldn’t allow it. The queen sure knew how to handle things.

But all of that aside, was that piece of trash seriously a seven star hero?

Chapter Two: Whereabouts of the Slaves

I lay down on the bed in the guest room and rested. Yeah, I really was exhausted. Lying down made it all the clearer. The effects of the curse were heavy, and I could feel them taking their toll on me. In the end, I had spent the whole day discussing future plans with the queen and her advisers.

“That reminds me . . .”

I hesitantly checked my equipment status. Sure enough, my armor’s name was unrecognizable. The Barbaroi Armor had ceased to function.

“Raphtalia? Rishia? Filo? Check your equipment.”

“Ah, yes, I did. The name listed is garbled, and the effects are null.”

Raphtalia had already changed into her previous armor from this world. Damn! She had changed so quickly!

“Why do you look disappointed?”

“Do I?”

 Because it looked so good on you! Because it looked so much better than your old armor!

Raphtalia looked at me suspiciously as childish responses flooded into my head.

“Oh! My breastplate name is unrecognizable now, too.”

“Do you prefer a kigurumi?”

I seemed to remember having another Pekkul Kigurumi left over somewhere. Where did I put that? Had I left it in the castle storeroom?

“Fehhh . . .”

“Now, now, Mr. Naofumi. I’m sure Rishia has outgrown her kigurumi phase.”

“Heeey, Master! Where is Mel-chan? She wasn’t in her room.”

Filo unfolded her pajamas as she asked about Melty, so I inspected them, too. Oh? Apparently the Filo Pajamas were compatible between worlds.

“Melty? I’m pretty sure the queen said she had gone to help Eclair.”

“Oh, really? Will we see her tomorrow, then?”

“Maybe.”

We were planning to head that way, after all.

“That aside, Mr. Naofumi . . .”

Raphtalia suddenly drew near to where I was lying on the bed.

“A territory! And you’re a Count! You’re a real hotshot now!”

“I was already a hero, you know. Doesn’t feel like much of a change.”

“What is it that you’re after, Mr. Naofumi?”

Raphtalia looked at me with uncertainty in her eyes as she asked. That reminded me, she had almost said something when I told the queen which territory I wanted.

“Are you talking about the territory business? It’s just like I said. Considering that the battles are going to start getting rough, I think it would be best to build a private army like Kizuna, Glass, and L’Arc have done.”

“But why did you choose the area that was damaged by the first wave for your territory?”

I wasn’t sure if I should just be honest with her or if that was a bad idea. I started to feel like it might seem patronizing, so I decided to just gloss over the issue for now.

“It’s an area I’m already familiar with and I should be able to do things my way there. The area has strong ties with Eclair’s father, and it’s unlikely that anyone would have a problem with me getting involved there.”

Raphtalia and I sat there in silence for a few moments. Finally, she let out a sigh of resignation.

“Understood. We’ll just leave it at that.”

“We’ll round up some slaves starting with those that you know, Raphtalia. It will be easier to fight with people you’re already familiar with. After that, we’ll move on to other, ordinary slaves. Once we’ve established a respectable amount of fighting power there, we can consider training the castle soldiers or something.”

I wanted to train the slaves and develop enough fighting power that we would be able to easily defeat Glass and the others should it come to that.

“At the same time . . . muhahaha . . .”

This meant that Raphtalia’s friends would have to join my private army if they wanted to return to their precious village. I was basically holding the territory hostage.

“You’re trying to act all bad again. Let me guess—something about hostages?”

Yikes. She had completely seen through me.

“Hehe . . . You two are like an old married couple.”

Rishia went and dropped a real bombshell. Although, it was true that I had spent more time with Raphtalia than anyone else in this world, so she probably did understand me better than anyone. We were nothing like a married couple, though.

“Wh . . . wh . . . what is that supposed to mean?!”

Raphtalia’s face turned red in embarrassment as she shouted at Rishia. Just like I thought, any talk of love or romance really ruffled Raphtalia’s feathers. Rishia had stepped on a landmine.

Raphtalia may have started out as a child and a slave, but she had an exceptionally kind heart and always looked out for others. She’d lost her family and her village had been taken from her, so it was easy to imagine the sorrow she might have felt. That was why she was fighting—to ensure that no one else would have to end up in a situation like hers.

Driven by such a noble goal, Raphtalia undoubtedly had no interest in things like love and romance. Not to mention that, even though she may have looked like an adult, she was still a child in terms of age. She wasn’t even old enough to be interested in boys yet. I guess since Rishia was in love with Itsuki, for better or worse, her female mind would be sensitive to stuff like that.

“That’s right, Rishia. Raphtalia doesn’t like those kinds of jokes. Best be careful.”

“M . . . Mr. Naofumi . . .”

Raphtalia’s face returned to a normal color as she began to regain her composure. That was much better. I didn’t want Raphtalia getting too upset.

“Oh . . . okay . . .”

Rishia cocked her head to the side in confusion while staring at Raphtalia and me.

“Now then! Tomorrow is going to be a busy day.”

I was going somewhere with that, but thinking about what was to come suddenly reminded me of something.

“That reminds me, Rishia. We were talking about whether or not you should reset your level, right?”

“Yes.”

“I want you to consider going without the reset.”

“Wh . . . why is that?”

“But Mr. Naofumi, didn’t you say that starting over from level one would improve her abilities?”

“I’ve been thinking about that. I observed Rishia’s performance to a certain extent while we were in Kizuna’s world. You know that much, right?”

“Yes.”

I made sure to keep an eye on how Rishia developed while we were there.

“Honestly, there’s not much of a difference between her abilities right now and what they were like over in Kizuna’s world. It’s practically nil.”

“Really?”

“I mean, there is a small difference, but compared to Raphtalia or Filo . . .”

“Fehhh . . .”

“So, Rishia, I estimate that your abilities will likely have a growth spurt coming. Your class-up could be a problem, though.”

Raphtalia and Filo both improved drastically after their class-ups. Fitoria’s feather had made it possible for Filo to have a special class-up that paved the way for a lot of her abilities to really blossom. Depending on the person and their abilities, a class-up could have long-lasting effects. Rishia was a jack-of-all-trades and master of none, but for all I knew the right class-up might make her more adept at a certain kind of magic or something.

“Oh . . . huh?! Ah, I suppose you’re right. But . . . Itsuki chose this path for me. That’s something that I treasure and wouldn’t want to change.”

“I see. Understood.”

She may have been tossed aside by Itsuki, but her heart hadn’t changed. That was all the more reason to make him regret it. That sounded good to me.

We continued to just hang out for a while, resting up for the coming day.

“Okay then.”

After eating breakfast at the castle, we spoke with the queen briefly before getting ready to head out.

“Where are we headed?”

“To visit the slave trader.”

“Mr. Iwatani.”

The queen raised her hand as if there was something she wanted to say.

“Might you be going there to purchase slaves from the same village Raph . . . Miss Raphtalia is from?”

“Yeah, why?”

“Regarding that, we may have complicated matters a bit. I must apologize in advance.”

“. . .”

What was that supposed to mean? I had a really bad feeling about this. My cheek started to twitch. Actually, I didn’t even want to know what it meant. But there was no way around asking.

“What do you mean?”

“Well . . . After the Spirit Tortoise incident, I reinstated Miss Seaetto’s status as nobility and issued a proclamation ordering all Melromarc citizens—including nobility—to release any demi-human slaves from the Seaetto territory immediately.”

“I see . . .”

“Since that would include the others from Miss Raphtalia’s village, I had hoped the proclamation would allow us to quickly find any survivors.”

I had already figured out what the queen was trying to say, but I didn’t want to hear the words, honestly. Even Raphtalia was turning pale.

“Our investigations show that the results have been less than favorable. It would seem that before the emancipation proclamation was even made, the slaves were sold off and their whereabouts largely remain a mystery.”

Shit! Would the filth of this country ever stop dragging me down?! I mean, it’s not like I couldn’t understand their motivations. If I found out an item was going to be nerfed in an online game, I would sell it off in a flash. But come on! Ugh . . . this really sucked.

“Our investigations continue, and the . . . monster trainer . . . that you patronize is currently searching for Miss Raphtalia’s friends.”

In other words, they hadn’t found them. That’s why they were still searching. I steadied Raphtalia, who started to look like her legs might give out on her. And the fact that my plan had already hit a brick wall from the very get-go started to sink in.

“Fortunately, Keel and three others have already returned to the Seaetto territory.”

So there were four in all, counting Keel. That was it? Considering the kind of development I had in mind, we would need a lot more than that. I was left with no other choice.

“For the time being, it looks like we’ll just have to round up some demi-human slaves without being too picky.”

“Mr. Naofumi!”

“We can’t build a territory with four people. We need more.”

There were all kinds of things that needed to be done.

“It is what it is. We’ll just start off by buying some cheap but useable slaves.”

“Un . . . understood.”

“I’m sure they’ll probably end up being children.”

Younger slaves would have more room for growth, among other things. I continued to mull over the situation as we parted ways with the queen and headed for the slave trader’s tent.

We threw on cloaks and made our way through the back alleys toward that oh-so-familiar tent for the first time in a long while.

“Oh?”

There sat the slave trader—a man I would have preferred not to associate with—looking bored, waiting for the next customer. Wasn’t he supposed to be searching for the slaves from Raphtalia’s village? I doffed my hood to show my face and gave him a salutatory wave.

“Well if it isn’t the Shield Hero! It’s been a while. I’ve heard the news of your recent successes.”

“Long time no see.”

“I thought you might have forgotten about me.”

“I doubt anyone could forget someone like you.”

How should I put it? The guy had a unique air about him that would make it difficult to forget him. He seemed far more adept at his trade than your average merchant. This kind of business was all about making sure your customers remembered you, after all.

Come to think of it, we hadn’t been back since we came to buy Filo’s claws. Not since the time we hadn’t been able to class up at the dragon hourglass. The slave trader had coaxed us into heading for Siltvelt or Shieldfreeden back then.

Wait a minute . . . Judging from his earlier comment, could it be that he had secret ties to the queen?

“You’ve played your own little part, too, haven’t you? To think you had secret ties with the monarch . . .”

“I wasn’t lying when I told you I liked you from the moment I saw you.”

“Yeah, yeah. We’ll just leave it at that.”

“And what can I do for you today?”

“I’m here about your actual line of work.”

“Oh!”

The slave trader’s eyes twinkled conspicuously. I wasn’t sure what he was getting so excited about, but I wasn’t going to let things go his way. I could imagine he was probably secretly delighted over the fact that I was still buying slaves even after my rise to fame.

“I’m looking to buy some cheapish demi-human slaves for now. The lower their level, the better.”

“What kind of budget are we looking at?”

I had 5,000 silver pieces that the queen had given me before the Spirit Tortoise incident.

“Around 5,000 silver. Including the slaves you’re currently searching for, too, of course.”

“An investment for a new project, I presume?”

“I’ve told you before—don’t ask me contrived questions you already know the answer to.”

Just how much did this guy know, anyway? I had a feeling I might just believe it if he told me he could see the future or something.

“This way.”

The slave trader motioned us toward the inner depths of his tent. We began to follow behind him, but Filo came to a halt.

“What is it?”

“I don’t wanna go . . .”

She must have picked up on the grim atmosphere and signature stench that lay ahead. I had gotten used to it, but it certainly wasn’t pleasant.

“How about you just stay put, then.”

“Okay!”

Filo nodded as she sniffed at the lottery monster eggs. Did she realize that was where our paths had joined? I warned her not to eat the eggs and then chased after the slave trader. After catching back up to him, we approached the cage where I had met Raphtalia.

“This is the place where my fate was forever changed,” Raphtalia murmured.

It wasn’t that I couldn’t understand her sentiment, but . . . thinking about it now, it had really only been a short amount of time, even though it felt so long. It hadn’t even been six months yet.

“I’ll make you a special deal today.”

“How generous of you.”

“I’m very excited about this intriguing little project you’re starting. You’re going to become a regular customer now, I presume?”

“Yeah, I guess so.”

“Business is good thanks to the Shield Hero!”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“I’m sure you’ll understand if you just think of it as the same phenomenon that occurred with the bird god.”

Ah . . . Raphtalia had played a big part in our success, after all. I’m sure the coalition army held her in high regard, too. If people knew that a slave like that had been purchased from this guy, his business was sure to benefit.

“But that’s pointless if you don’t have any slaves from Raphtalia’s village in stock.”

“Oh, no. That’s a completely different issue. Yes sir.”

“Let’s start with . . .”

I figured I would just pick several slaves that caught my eye.

“This one, this one, and that one. Also, that one over there, that one under the blanket, and that one, too.”

I picked two boys that looked relatively healthy, a couple of trembling slaves that were holding hands like they were friends, another that was wrapped up in a blanket and trembling near the back of the cage, and lastly one who was standing near the cage door, staring at Filo. Eclair already had four slaves at the territory, so that made a total of ten. That seemed just about right to kick things off.

“Oh yeah. I’ll be applying the slave curses at my territory, so we’ll need to take someone who can perform the ceremony with us. It’ll be necessary to enhance their abilities.”

“Such a seemingly random selection, and yet you choose such fine specimens—the Shield Hero has a good eye! My hat’s off to you! Yes sir!”

“Fehhh . . .”

“Mr. Naofumi? Perhaps you should choose a bit more carefully?”

“I just went back and forth between the healthy-looking ones and the ones that looked problematic. Hey, you in the blanket—come over here.”

I was sure this one would be weak and feeble. I could tell it was trembling in fear, too. The slave trader gave an order and a brawny man opened the cage and tore the blanket away from the child.

“No . . . don’t!”

“Oh?”

With the blanket gone, I could see the slave resembled a mole.

“That’s a lumo, a type of therianthrope known for its nimble hands. Their eyes are sensitive to light, which makes them a good choice for nighttime security duties. This one is a child, of course.”

“Ahh!”

The lumo slave was cowering in fear in the corner. Raphtalia looked concerned.

I took a closer look at the appearance of the lumo child. If I had to describe him in one word, I’d have to go with “mole.” He was kind of like the mole version of a werewolf or something. And he was short—only about as tall as my waist. Was that because he was a child?

So it was known for its ability to do detailed work, huh? I had all kinds of work for them in my plans, so that was fine.

“Speaking of detailed work, racoon types—like your associate here—are also quite dexterous, you know.”

I looked at Raphtalia. Now that I thought about it, I’d never taught her to do work like that. I’d had her help tan some monster hides, but that was about it. Maybe the fact that she didn’t express interest in doing that kind of thing meant that she was naturally clumsy.

“You’re thinking about something rude, aren’t you?”

“Not really . . .”

“But yes, lumo types tend to be well suited for delicate work that requires dexterous hands. They also tend to be rather reserved. A good choice. Yes sir.”

I took another look at the trembling lumo slave.

“Is it just me or does this country have a lot of scumbags that are into physical abuse?”

Every slave I’d seen was covered in scars from being whipped.

“This country has a long history of being at war with the demi-humans, so it’s only natural. Yes sir.”

“Meaning people like the nobility that fought in those wars use physical abuse to make themselves feel better about the past?”

The nobleman that Raphtalia had gotten tangled up with had done just that.

“We even have a special low-priced option for borrowing a slave just to physically abuse it a bit before returning it. Yes sir. We require the slave to be purchased outright at a hefty sum when it’s not returned in usable form.”

The shadiness of this country was astounding. Watching on as I reconstructed the demi-human village would probably leave a bitter taste in the mouths of the nobility.

“Physical abuse is punishable by law, of course. Yes sir.”

“So it’s illegal? The way it’s treated sure makes it seem legal.”

I couldn’t help but feel that way thinking about this tent tucked away in a back alley.

“And that’s why my business is thriving. Yes sir.”

Thriving, huh? The slave trader’s way of proudly flaunting it made him seem seriously shady. Tell me then, why was he selling slaves that had been physically abused, anyway?

“Now that you mention it, he does look better than most, I guess.”

Raphtalia’s response was practically a whisper.

Was this really better than most? I looked at the wounds on the lumo slave’s back. They seemed surprisingly deep. It was a blotchy mess of layers upon layers of scars from being whipped repeatedly.

“Zweite Heal!”

I cast some healing magic and the lumo slave’s open wounds began to close. Still, the wounds were deep and far from being fully healed.

“Huh?”

“I hear you’ve got dexterous hands.”

“I don’t know.”

The lumo slave looked away when he answered. That was certainly a better response than claiming he could do something that he couldn’t.

“Will you put them to use if I teach you?”

“If that’s an order then I will. So please, don’t beat me.”

The lumo slave shrunk away, his voice strained as if he were about to cry. I guess I couldn’t blame him, being a slave and all.

“I’m not interested in that kind of thing. If it’s a beating you want, then ask someone else.”

“Huh?”

Okay, now he was starting to get on my nerves.

“I’ll leave you some medicine, so treat their wounds. After that, go ahead and take care of the slave registration.”

“I look forward to seeing how the Shield Hero makes use of the slaves. So very exciting! Yes sir!”

“Enough with that, already! I have to take care of some other preparations in the meantime, and then I’ll be back. Don’t let me down.”

“Heh heh heh . . . Exciting times ahead. Yes sir.”

I left things in the slave trader’s hands and headed back toward the entrance of the tent with Raphtalia in tow. Filo caught sight of me and came running over.

“Finiiiished?”

“Yeah. Still some formalities that need to be taken care of, but we have other things to see to while that gets done.”

I stepped out of the tent. I still had plenty of other places to stop by, after all.

Chapter Three: Acquaintances

We threw our cloaks back on and roamed the town a bit, observing. The damages really had been severe. The scars left by the Spirit Tortoise ran deep, and countless signs of the onslaught of its familiars still remained.

Shortly after, we arrived at the shop that we had been headed for. Oh, thank goodness . . . The shop hadn’t suffered any noticeable damage and was open for business as usual. I stepped into the old guy’s weapon shop.

“Welcome!”

“Glad to see you’re okay.”

“That voice . . . Is that you, kid?!”

I doffed my hood and greeted the old guy. He seemed to be in one piece—not a single scratch to show, thankfully.

“Why are you wearing a cloak?”

“Don’t want to stand out.”

“Ah, that’s right. You’re an overnight sensation, kid.”

That was the real problem. I was no Itsuki, but the happy greetings . . . “Shield Hero!” just gave me the creeps. I suppose I could have basked in feelings of superiority, but being well loved by the riffraff of this country wasn’t really something to be proud of. Not to mention, I had way too many things I needed to take care of now. I didn’t have time to waste on meaningless affairs.

“People tagging along in droves would only cause trouble, right?”

I replied to the old guy while giving the inside of the shop a look-over.

“Doesn’t seem to be any damage of note from what I can see.”

“Yeah, not really. I chased off any monsters that showed up here.”

“That’s good to hear.”

“I guess I had you all wrong. Here I thought you looked disappointed or something when you showed up.”

“You’re so full of it.”

The old guy had done so much for me, but we still went back and forth like this.

“This thing is all covered in dust now since you never came to pick it up, kid.”

The old guy brought a small sword over.

 Pekkul Rapier

 quality: good

 imbued effects: agility up, magic power up, blood clean finish

Oh yeah . . . This must have been the weapon I’d requested for Rishia so long ago.

“Did you come to order something else?”

The rapier seemed just about right for Rishia. Or maybe I should have Eclair use it?

“Support from the castle isn’t going to come so readily anymore. I figured I’d have you put my orders for weapons and gear on hold for now.”

“I guess that’s to be expected. The castle town wasn’t hit that hard, but this has been a major disaster for us and the surrounding countries, too.”

“How’s business been?”

“Having just had a disaster like this, everyone wants a weapon, so they come and buy them here.”

“So business is booming?”

“You could say that. With all the sales, I’m actually a bit worried about stock.”

“That’s booming, alright.”

“Thing is . . . I’m not quite sure how I feel about a bunch of amateurs running around and buying up all of the weapons.”

That couldn’t be helped. Amateurs or not, people would want weapons if they felt like they were in danger. It was that same mindset—just like when there’s a natural disaster people start buying up water and food rations. There had been a battle, so now people wanted weapons. It didn’t seem like there had been any looting as far as I could tell, so the situation could have been worse.

“Is that all for today?”

“Well, there is something . . .”

I was trying to decide whether to have the old guy make a bunch of weapons for the slaves. I had already discussed things with the queen and I knew she could supply some used weapons, but the available resources would make anything more than that tough. I wasn’t sure if we really needed anything more than that, but the fact that they were used meant they would have plenty of issues.

With that in mind, I decided to go ahead and approach the old guy.

“I had the queen give me a territory, and I have a large-scale project in the works.”

It would be useful to have the old guy around to make weapons for the slaves, among other things. I figured it wouldn’t hurt to ask.

“And what does that have to do with me, kid?”

“You could say I came here as a headhunter, if you catch my drift.”

If the old guy set up shop at the territory, that could be a source of income. I had confidence in his skills and I was sure he’d get plenty of business.

“I’ve already got this shop, you know.”

“I know that. I’m not trying to force you to do anything. I just figured . . . maybe you could take an apprentice or two. Think about it.”

“Ah, so that’s what you meant. Sure thing, kid. That said, I don’t really think I’m good enough to be taking on apprentices or anything.”

Alright, he’d given me his word. Now I’d be able to have one of my more dexterous slaves become an apprentice of the old guy and learn his trade. Skill in a trade would mean money. Of course, I didn’t plan to bite the hand that feeds me or anything like that.

“Stop being so modest. I’m confident in your skills.”

“Ha! I’ll do my best not to let you down.”

“Anyway, I’ve got a lot in the works, so spread the word among your associates for me. The location is . . .”

I told the old guy where my territory was and explained how the village would be my base of operations. I figured there would be plenty of people wanting to get in on a new project. If I only chose the ones I could trust from that group, I could expand my operations and that would lead to more profits. My territory was relatively close to the castle town, too.

“Got it. Well, we were all worried about you, kid, and it’s a good opportunity, so there very well may be some takers.”

“I have a debt to pay, so I plan to treat them well. And that’s especially true in your case, so think it over.”

“Got it.”

After a bit of lighthearted conversation, the old guy gave me a long look.

“There’s something else, isn’t there?”

“You can tell?”

“You always show up with a million things at once, kid.”

“I guess so.”

I didn’t really want to show him, but I took off my cloak. With one look, the old guy understood.

“What in the world is that?”

The old guy was staring at my Barbaroi Armor with his head cocked to the side. I took the armor off and put it on the counter.

“I chased the culprit that caused the Spirit Tortoise to go on a rampage to another world. When I got there my Barbarian Armor had ceased to function, so I had a local blacksmith modify and reforge the armor. The result was this Barbaroi Armor, but now that I’m back it has stopped functioning, too.”

The old guy stared at the Barbaroi Armor long and hard. He started poking at different parts of the armor as if to see how it responded.

“There’s no problem with the core, but I can’t say one way or the other about the rest without doing some testing.”

“Can you fix it?”

“It’s possible. Give me some time.”

“Sure. I’m counting on you.”

“This shop is here just for you, right kid? By the way, they’re practically handing out materials from that beast now. If things work out, we might be able to make something out of them.”

There were more Spirit Tortoise materials than anyone could use, after all. I guess if I just thought of it as a thank you from Ost . . . No, I still felt a little bad.

“I’ll go ahead and throw a few things together for you as long as you can pay me later.”

“Would you?”

“If it’s a request from you, kid—the one and only—sure. Besides, working with strange, new materials never gets old. This armor is really something. That blacksmith must have been quite the artisan, no doubt.”

“Oh?”

Such generosity despite my dubious financial circumstances . . . The old guy had a big heart that made me genuinely want to repay his kindness. To be honest, I really did want to recruit him to be my territory blacksmith. I wouldn’t push the issue right now, though, but once I finished developing the territory I’d try approaching him about it again.

“We should probably make the armor our top priority for now. Once that’s finished, I guess we can’t go wrong with making a shield, right kid?”

“Agreed. If nothing else, I can just make a copy of the shield.”

“You understood exactly where I was going with that. Alright then, leave the armor and get out of here.”

“I’m counting on you.”

“Righto!”

The old guy removed the core stone from the armor and handed it to me.

“You hold on to the core stone for now, kid.”

“You sure?”

“I’ll make it so that we can embed the stone afterward. You can pay me when it comes time for that.”

“Thanks.”

“What will you wear in the meantime, kid?”

“I’ll just use some old armor from the castle stores, so you do whatever needs to be done.”

“Righto! What next? There’s more, right?”

I nodded in response to the old guy’s question.

“Next up is . . .”

I laid the Angel Breastplate on the counter along with the miko outfit that Raphtalia had been wearing. I wondered if I should show him the Filo Pajamas, too, but I decided to leave those for later.

“What’s this? A breastplate and . . . a miko outfit?”

“That’s some of the gear we were using in the other world. It stopped functioning just like the armor. Is there anything you can do?”

It was pretty exceptional equipment if only we could make use of it, and considering how well the outfit looked on Raphtalia, I had to ask even if it was unreasonable.

“This one was originally made out of the Filo kigurumi. The Filo Pajamas that Filo has been wearing were, too, but those are functioning fine, so we don’t need to worry about them.”

“You bring me all of the tough ones! Who was wearing a miko outfit, anyway? The little miss?”

I nodded and then whispered to the old man so that Raphtalia couldn’t hear.

“The outfit looks super good on her, so I want to have her wear it in this world, too. Is there any way you could make it seem like she has no other choice for equipment?”

“So that’s your plan?”

Apparently Raphtalia had heard me. I should have asked the old guy when she wasn’t around. Fail!

“Oh, kid. Did you really like the way the miko outfit looked on the little miss that much?”

“Pretty much. I could tell you all about it if you’re interested, but we might be here until midnight.”

“I’ll pass.”

“Regular clothes might have worked great as armor in the world you went to, kid, but they have their limits here. Actually, this is the kind of thing a seamstress or tailor would handle.”

Ah . . . That would be the lady who made Filo’s clothes—the one who looked like she would write doujinshi or something. I bet she was chipper as ever.

“I’ll hold on to it for now, but don’t get your hopes up.”

“Understood. Just do whatever you can.”

“Mr. Naofumi, haven’t you been treating me a bit like a dress-up doll lately?”

“Call it a father’s adoration for his daughter.”

“Mr. Naofumi, what is that supposed to . . .”

I beat around the bush a bit to avoid answering Raphtalia’s questions. I was sure the old man wouldn’t let me down.

“That should do it for now. I’ll be back once I manage to make a bit of money, so see what you can do until then.”

“Righto! Studying this equipment of yours should keep me busy for a while, kid.”

“I’ll be expecting something good.”

We wrapped things up and left the weapon shop.

Chapter Four: E Float Shield

“Now then . . .”

I figured it wouldn’t be a bad idea to talk to the queen about my plans going forward. I was already planning on getting some old equipment from her anyway. We returned to the castle and asked where she was. She had just finished a meeting and was still in the room, wrapping up some paperwork. That’s where we found her, behind a desk with mountains of paperwork piled up on top.

“Queen.”

“Mr. Iwatani. What is it?”

“It’s alright if I take some equipment out of the storeroom, right?”

“Yes, that’s fine. Just be aware that much of it is damaged from the recent battle.”

“I know. I just figured I could use it at my territory if you don’t need it.”

Now we just needed to go and see what was there.

“Alright. Raphtalia. Filo. Rishia.”

“Yes?”

“Start loading up some things onto a carriage. We’ll be using it at the territory, so look for lighter equipment, preferably. Filo, I’ll be counting on you to make regular trips to transport the stuff by carriage.”

“Okaaay!”

Raphtalia and the others nodded and headed for the storeroom, leaving me behind. Filo was still in a weakened state due to the effects of the curse, so I wasn’t actually sure if she could carry anything too heavy. That made me think that maybe I should raise another filolial.

“Ah, yes. I was actually just about to summon for you, Mr. Iwatani. I’ve had the Spirit Tortoise materials rounded up at the training grounds in front of the storeroom, so please take what you need.”

“Understood.”

I left the queen and headed to the grounds in front of the castle storeroom. When I got there, I started going through the mountain of Spirit Tortoise materials that literally did cover the entire training grounds.

“Oh, come on!”

Eyeballs and brains came tumbling out of the pile, startling me. I mean, this had basically been a friend of mine, so . . . it just felt wrong. And then, all of a sudden . . .

“Wh . . . what?!”

A pale light emanated from the Spirit Tortoise materials before they were absorbed into my shield, seemingly of their own accord.

 Spirit Tortoise Carapace Shield conditions met!

 Spirit Tortoise Skin Shield conditions met!

 Spirit Tortoise Flesh Shield conditions met!

 Spirit Tortoise Bone Shield conditions met!

 Spirit Tortoise Blood Shield conditions met!

 Spirit Tortoise Body Fluid Shield conditions met!

 Spirit Tortoise Immune Cell Shield conditions met!

 Spirit Tortoise Muscle Shield conditions met!

 Spirit Tortoise Cardiac Shield conditions met!

 Spirit Tortoise Myocardium Shield conditions met!

 Spirit Tortoise Blood Vessel Shield conditions met!

 Spirit Tortoise Eye Shield conditions met!

 Spirit Tortoise Pupil Shield conditions met!

 Spirit Tortoise Sacred Tree Shield conditions met!

 Spirit Tortoise Familiar (Bat Type) Shield conditions met!

 Spirit Tortoise Familiar (Yeti Type) Shield conditions met!

 Etc. . . .

 Merging with Spirit Tortoise Heart Shield!

 Forcibly unlocked!

An absurd number of shields scrolled by—probably enough to complete the Spirit Tortoise series. They all had high defense ratings. Wait a second . . . The Spirit Tortoise shields had all unlocked on their own . . . That Spirit Tortoise Heart shield was really something. An image of the Spirit Tortoise appeared as a backdrop to the Spirit Tortoise series listing on the status screen floating in my field of vision.

Now to check their stats . . . Oh? I noticed a shield that had been unlocked had a usable skill.

 Spirit Tortoise Carapace Shield 0/40 C

  equip bonus: skill “E Float Shield”

 equip effects: gravity field, C soul recovery, magic defense up (large)

 mastery level: 0

E Float Shield, huh? Was that related to the Air Strike Shield? What kind of skill was it? I tried changing to the new shield and called out the skill.

“E Float Shield!”

The letters “ON” showed up in my field of vision and a shield appeared in mid-air. So it was something like Air Strike Shield, after all? Thinking so, I walked toward the shield, but it moved away the same distance that I had walked.

Huh? Was it a shield that appeared with me as its axis? Distance-wise, the skill seemed to place somewhere between Air Strike Shield and Shooting Star Shield. I was timing how long the skill lasted while I analyzed it, and it still hadn’t disappeared. It lasted a long time.

Hmm . . . As I stood there, deep in thought, the E Float Shield started to spin around right in front of my face. What was going on? And why was it in my face? Get away!

The instant the thought crossed my mind, the shield moved away. So it was a magical shield that moved wherever I wanted it to? Now that would be convenient. It would be even more convenient than Chain Shield. That one had a restraining aspect that differentiated it from this skill, but still . . .

The effect’s range was around one meter. Considering it could be turned on and off, it would classify as a semi-passive skill. As for my SP . . . It was dropping a small amount every thirty seconds. Not bad fuel efficiency at all. As long as I didn’t use any other skills, it wouldn’t even outpace my natural SP regeneration. I guess I should have expected as much from a shield that came from Spirit Tortoise materials.

“Change Shield!”

I used Change Shield and the E Float Shield changed its form to match. Oh! This was a convenient skill, for sure. Only being able to produce one would be the limiting factor.

As for the other shields . . . They were all good, numbers-wise, but most of them just increased stats or resistances. Being linked to the Spirit Tortoise Heart Shield seemed to have upgraded all of their stats. On the other hand, the stats of the Spirit Tortoise Heart Shield itself had dropped a bit, as if to say it had served its purpose and was finished. Then again, I couldn’t complain after all it had done for us.

“Mr. Naofumi.”

Raphtalia and the others came running over to where I was taking a break after I finished experimenting with the shield.

“You get everything ready?”

“Yes. All that’s left is to stop by the slave trader’s place.”

“Alright then. Let’s head out.”

“Okaaay!”

Filo joyfully pulled the cart while in her filolial form. I could tell she was struggling just a tiny bit. Her reduced stats probably did make the carriage feel heavy, after all.

“Oh? Finished already?”

The queen wandered over as if she had just been out for a walk.

“For now, yeah. Can you have what’s left delivered to my territory? I’ll use the meat to feed us for the time being.”

Food expenses would skyrocket for a while once the slaves started leveling up. It wasn’t like I had no other ideas for securing provisions, but I had a lot of things to take care of and I wanted to start with getting the territory set up.

“I’ll have some of the soldiers sent over to help out, then. Feel free to use them as you see fit.”

“Will do. Thanks. We’re going out for a bit to take care of some other things.”

“Let me know if you need anything. I’ll do whatever I can to help.”

“Understood. We’ll start with gathering building materials and implementing security measures to take care of thieves. We’ll be heading over tonight, so have things ready on your end by then.”

Having rumors circulate about a hero loading up a bunch of slaves into a carriage and taking them away somewhere would be bad, so it made sense to leave during the night. I originally thought Filo might have trouble seeing in the dark, but her vision worked just fine at night, so there would be no problem with making our move then.

“Understood.”

I nodded to the queen upon hearing her response and we headed out of the castle and toward the slave trader’s tent.

The slave curse preparations had been completed and the slaves were trembling with apprehension. I figured now was a good time to be stern with my orders. Raphtalia had started out cowardly in the beginning, and Filo had been selfishly obstinate. I was getting a whole bunch of new slaves all at once, so I planned on making good use of my past experiences.

“From now on, you’re all my slaves. But don’t worry. I won’t do anything terrible to you—as long as you do what you’re told. That said . . .”

I couldn’t make it sound like I was too lenient or they would take advantage of me.

“I can’t stand laziness. If you’re not a hard worker, I’ll sell you off without a second thought. Don’t you forget that!”

The slave trader gave an order to his assistant, who then rang something that looked like a gong just as I finished my little spiel. No one asked for that! Look, now the slaves were cowering in fear. No, wait . . . That was probably my fault.

“Ahhh!”

Nice! There’s the trepidation I was looking for!

“Oh, jeez. There you go again, causing misunderstandings . . .”

“Fehhh . . .”

“Also, I plan to continue peddling, so I’ll need some monsters that can be used for transport.”

“I’d be happy to give you some filolials! Yes sir!”

“No, not just filolials. I’ll take one of those, but I want some different kinds of monsters, too.”

“You don’t like filolials?”

“I want monsters that are easier to handle so that the slaves can use them, too. Also, something that can work the land.”

Aside from the usual horses and filolials, I had seen plenty of monsters that resembled cows and caterpillars pulling carts around the town. Besides, if I raised a bunch of filolials, I might very well end up with a whole crowd of Filos. I could hear the chorus of Filos all shouting . . .

“Maaasteerrr! We’re hungry!”

Just the thought of it sent shivers down my spine. Oh god, spare me!

Supposing I were going to raise more filolials, it’d have to be one at a time. I had to be especially careful when dealing with filolials. It might have made sense from a fighting power perspective, but we were still just laying the foundations. With that monstrous appetite, raising more than one filolial at a time would be difficult. Even if we did have the Spirit Tortoise meat, it’s not like we could just hang around the castle town all day feeding it to them.

I had to start with what I could handle and build up from there or things would get out of control and I’d end up buried in debt. It was a future all too easy to imagine.

“I see. In that case, leave it to me.”

“Will do.”

“Would you prefer eggs? Or would you rather purchase adult monsters? The eggs would be cheaper, by the way.”

“Eggs should be fine for now.”

“Understood. Yes sir.”

The slave trader walked off toward the tent where he conducted the monster side of his business. I opened up the slave curse settings. Oh? Looking carefully, I noticed you could set work-related rules, too. I’d have to think about what work I’d have them doing later. Looking out of the tent, I could see the sun beginning to set.

“Rishia, I have a job for you.”

“Huh? What job is that?”

“I want you—along with Raphtalia and Filo—to help raise the slaves and monsters I just bought.”

“Umm, okay.”

“And I want you to take the lead.”

A jack-of-all-trades and master of none like Rishia would excel at a leadership position once she’d gotten used to analyzing the situation. Raphtalia and Filo would probably tag along as protection, but I wasn’t planning on just creating a bunch of high-level slaves that didn’t know how to fight. There was value in simply experiencing battle, so I’d gradually move Raphtalia and Filo away from the front lines. It was the perfect chance to have Rishia experience a strength of her own that couldn’t be measured by levels.

“Of course, you’ll still be continuing your Hengen Muso Style training with the old lady.”

“Okay! I’ll do my besht!”

There she went again with the weird pronunciation! Jeez . . . This girl was hopeless.

“I’ve selected some eggs that should satisfy the Shield Hero’s requirements. Yes sir.”

The slave trader returned with several eggs in hand.

“You have my thanks. Now then . . .”

Hmm . . . I guess there was no avoiding it.

“First things first . . .”

I looked back at the slave trader, who was rubbing his hands together, and made an announcement.

“I’m going to cook us a meal.”

I used the Spirit Tortoise meat that Filo had brought to prepare and serve several dishes in the tent. There was your standard grilled meat, as well as a soup and a stew. Having been made using Spirit Tortoise meat, the dishes tasted a bit strange.

“Oh! This is good!”

“What is this?! It’s better than my mom’s cooking!”

“Yeah, what is this?!”

“Mr. Naofumi is an excellent cook.”

“Yup! I love Master’s cooking!”

The slaves were all getting along and devouring their food.

“This is superb! The Shield Hero’s cooking is simply delectable! Yes sir!”

During the commotion of getting everything ready, the slave trader and his assistant had slipped in with the slaves and were helping themselves to the food. I couldn’t let it get to me. It wasn’t my intention to feed them, but they had provided the space, after all, so I decided to let it go.

“Do as you’re told, and this won’t be the last time I cook for you. I expect you all to work like you mean it!”

The slaves continued eating and nodded in response. They could just consider it celebration in advance, since things were going to get busy from here on out. They needed to be well-nourished or they wouldn’t last.

After finishing our meal, we set out into the night with the slaves, the slave trader, and his assistant in tow, making our way through the castle town and then departing for the territory.

Chapter Five: The Seaetto Territory

We made our leisurely march through the night with Filo pulling the carriage, and we reached the part of the territory near Raphtalia’s village by morning.

“Master, we’re heeere!”

According to the queen, Eclair and the others were not staying in the village that Raphtalia had lived in, but rather in a neighboring town. We kept going, and after a short while, we arrived at a town that looked a bit run-down.

“Oh!”

A Melromarc solider . . . The same young soldier that had asked to join me during the second wave, actually, was standing near the entrance to the town.

“Shield Hero!”

“Long time no see.”

“Indeed! I was there during the Spirit Tortoise incident but didn’t get a chance to talk to you.”

I had to give him some serious props for making it out of that alive. It was a close fight with heavy losses, so the fact that he had been there made me shudder.

“We received word that you would be coming. I assume you want to meet with Lady Eclair and Princess Melty?”

“Yeah. I figured I should at least say hello before anything else.”

“This way, then.”

We followed the soldier into the town. It had been reduced to ruins. The streets were lined with a variety of buildings, including houses that had been destroyed—perhaps by the wave—as well as others that still looked usable. It didn’t seem like it had been a very big town. Even the town mansion looked pretty average and wasn’t as big as the ones I’d seen in other towns.

The young soldier said something to the gatekeeper, who then opened the gate without hesitation.

“Ya! Hiya!”

I could hear some kind of shouting coming from the mansion courtyard. I climbed down from the carriage and made my way in that direction. Eclair, the old lady, Keel, and three other kids that I didn’t recognize were training in the courtyard.

“Mr. Iwatani!”

Noticing she had guests, Eclair stopped the training and waved to us.

“Ah! I smell Mel-chan!”

Filo let go of the carriage and ran off into the mansion.

“How is everything?”

“Bubba Shield! Long time no see! I heard all about it! You went to another world and defeated the bad guy, right?”

“Yeah, we took him out. I’ll tell you all about how he died later.”

“Ugh . . . I wanted to be there, too!”

Keel stamped his foot in regret. The reason he couldn’t come with us was because he’d fought recklessly and had to get his injuries treated.

“Keel, are your injuries all healed up?”

“I’m all good! They weren’t that bad thanks to you, bubba!”

“It’s been a while, Keel.”

Raphtalia smiled as she approached Keel. The other kids that had been standing at Keel’s side backed away several steps, speechless.

“Surprised, right? That’s Raphtalia!”

“No way . . .”

“Is that really Raphtalia?”

“She looks completely different!”

“Rafu!”

Just then, Raph-chan jumped up onto Raphtalia’s shoulder and howled.

“Ah! That was Raphtalia’s voice!”

“This little thing?”

“What is that? It sounds like your voice, Raphtalia.”

“Umm . . . Just ignore this little thing.”

“It’s a shikigami that was made using a lock of Raphtalia’s hair. They’re known as familiars here. Her name is Raph-chan. Be nice to her!”

“Oh? So she’s kind of like Raphtalia’s alter ego?”

“Keel! Don’t say that!”

I left Raphtalia and the others to rekindle old friendships and went to talk with Eclair and the old Hengen Muso lady.

“How have things been progressing? You’re working on rebuilding the territory, right?”

“Umm . . . About that . . .”

Eclair’s mood suddenly darkened.

“My student Eclair here has been training quite hard. The reconstruction, on the other hand, has not seen much progress,” interjected the old Hengen Muso lady.

“Oh?”

So it was so bad even the old lady could tell. Hadn’t the queen said that Melty was helping out?

“I fully intend to follow in the footsteps of my late father and rebuild the territory, but . . . I haven’t been able to find much help. It seems it will take quite some time,” Eclair explained.

“Well, your father’s connections can only take you so far, I’m sure. The Church of the Three Heroes made things a lot worse, too, from what I hear.”

“. . .”

Raphtalia’s family had died along with many of the villagers. On top of that, I’d heard that many of the survivors had been captured and sold into slavery.

“After all, you can’t expect the people that originally lived here to return if most of them are dead. Not to mention, the residents that were made slaves were all sold off before the queen could secure them. You’re trying to locate them now, right?”

“That’s right. We’re working behind the scenes to do everything we can to bring them back.”

“And what happens when you do? Let’s say you find ten, maybe twenty of them. Are you just going to throw them into the ruins of a town and say, ‘Alright! Rebuild your town!’ Is that your plan?”

“. . .”

Eclair fell silent. So that was seriously her plan? Try thinking ahead a bit! I couldn’t help but sigh. Eclair had an overly serious personality that made her an excellent knight, but she lacked the qualities that made for a good governor.

“Hey, where is Nice Guy, the guy that was taking care of Keel? Or even one of the country’s leaders will do. We need someone to drill you in the basics of reconstruction!”

I pointed at Eclair and spoke bluntly.

“How dare you!” she snapped.

Just then, Filo came running up, pulling Melty along behind her.

“Mel-chan, Master is over here!”

“I know! Calm down, Filo!”

“Melty! Perfect timing. What were you thinking letting this knucklehead govern a territory? Are you stupid?”

“We meet again after all this time and that’s what you have to say to me?!”

“Just what do you think makes me unfit to govern?!”

Eclair’s furrowed brow made it clear she was upset.

“Seriously? I’m sure Melty has noticed this, too, but Eclair . . . You obviously understand absolutely nothing about what governing a territory entails.”

“What?!”

“I’m certainly no expert, but I still understand what’s necessary to manage a territory and make it livable.”

I looked at Eclair and pointed to a chair. Melty subtly instructed her to sit down for me. Raphtalia and the others . . . I’d just leave them to getting caught up for now. We were going to be busy with other things soon, after all.

“First of all, governing a territory is about more than just owning the land. The people that live on that land are important.”

“I understand that much. That’s why I’m trying to bring the people that lived here back.”

“I’m saying that just bringing them back isn’t enough!”

I drew a picture of some people on the ground. That would represent the population.

“To rebuild the territory, you’ll need people, clothes, food, and housing.”

Securing food would come first. In a world like this, hunting monsters and using them for food would be quickest. Next would be a base of operations for daily life—housing and the like. And then there would be clothing. That would include equipment, too, in this world.

“As for the people, I totally get wanting to prioritize the people that originally lived here—those that were lost. But it’s not realistic. It’s not about how much we can prioritize them. There simply aren’t enough of them.”

“I . . . I know that! Princess Melty is working on that.”

“I am, but there haven’t been many people interested in taking part in the reconstruction. My mother seems to believe that your involvement, Naofumi, will make residents of Siltvelt and elsewhere want to cooperate, though.”

“That may very well work in our favor, but let’s be realistic. Time is limited. We need to be snatching people up greedily.”

Sigh . . . Of course, this wasn’t Raphtalia’s village, so it’s not like I needed to say anything, but still . . .

“I don’t really know what being nobility in this country entails, but establishing a safe living environment is what you need to be focusing on right now. Oh, but isn’t it just horrible to be stuck with rebuilding some ruined territory with no future?”

Eclair hung her head upon hearing my words.

“What were you doing during the two and a half weeks I was gone? Training?”

“I’d say that’s pretty accurate,” said Melty.

“No! I was working with Keel and the others to gather more people!”

“We did make some suggestions to my mother. She also sent one of her best to help out here at the mansion. We’ve made some progress with repairing the buildings, too.”

Melty gave me a quick report of the situation. I guess they were doing something, at least.

“And I guess you planned on moving on to the neighboring village once you finish rebuilding this town?”

Melty and Eclair nodded in response. I sighed.

“Well, do whatever you want. I’m technically the governor now, but I’ll leave the reconstruction of the town to you two.”

“Huh? Are you not going to help us, Naofumi?”

“I plan on rebuilding the neighboring village as I see fit. I’ll need to coordinate with you to do that, so it’s not like I’m just leaving everything to you and disappearing.”

There was no need for me to play boss and order Melty or Eclair around. We could all go about our own projects simultaneously. If my reconstruction plans went well, then people would naturally begin to gather here in this town, too.

“Now that that’s decided . . .”

I snapped my fingers, and the slave trader and his assistant climbed out of the carriage, came over, and grabbed the three kids standing near Keel.

“Wh . . . What are you doing?!”

“No! Stop!”

“Ah, I thought they might remember you.”

They had been slaves before, after all.

“Bubba Shield! Don’t tell me . . .”

“Yeah, you’ve already been through this, haven’t you, Keel? That’s right. You kids are going rebuild your village, and the best way to do that is by becoming my slaves so that we can improve your abilities.”

“I . . . I know that, but still . . .”

“Mr. Naofumi! I’m not sure that forcing them is . . .”

Raphtalia voiced her doubts with a worried look on her face.

“Don’t worry. It’s just a formality.”

“No! I never want to be a slave again!”

The little brats were struggling with all their might, but the slave trader’s assistant showed no sign of letting go.

“Mr. Iwatani!”

“You think you can rely on charity alone to bring back the village? Are you all just going to wait on Eclair and Melty to rebuild it for you? Do you really think you’ll get your village back that way? Seriously?”

The brats groaned in response to my questions. That’s right. I’m sure they had already figured it out long ago. The villagers that had been lost weren’t coming back. And it was clear that things weren’t going to get any better if they relied on Eclair.

“If you become my slaves, you can become strong like Raphtalia here. She played a big role in the battle against the Spirit Tortoise.”

“I’ve heard rumors, but . . . is that really true?”

“Keel has gotten a fair bit stronger, too, hasn’t he?” I added.

“Now that he mentions it, you do seem a lot stronger now, even though not much time passed before we were reunited, Keel.”

“Really? I mean, right?! Bubba Shield made me his slave and leveled me up.”

Keel looked proud of himself.

“Although he did rush into battle recklessly and end up in the hospital. Next time don’t be so rash.”

“I won’t! I got left behind because of my recklessness. I definitely won’t let it happen again!”

“So there you have it. To put it another way, you’ve all been chosen by the Shield Hero, so why resist? Become a slave . . . Become a hero’s disciple and join me in my quest to rebuild the village!”

“You changed your wording this time, huh?”

“Am I a hero’s disciple, too, Master?”

Maintaining a hierarchy was important. Too many of the people in this world were slackers. I couldn’t ignore the possibility that they actually believed that peace would come even if they just sat back quietly and waited.

“It’s not like I can’t find someone else to help me. But do you really plan on doing nothing? Will you just surrender without a fight and end up back on the slave market again when disaster strikes?”

“Bubba Shield . . . You’ve sold me! I’m sticking with you!”

Keel came over and stood in front of me. I’m not really one to speak, but this kid was always getting swept up in the heat of the moment.

“I’m going to make it our village again!”

“Good answer! What about the rest of you?”

The other kids from Raphtalia’s village exchanged glances with each other.

“Naofumi may sound scary, but he’s actually a very caring person.”

Melty interjected with what seemed to be her idea of a show of support.

“To be honest . . . we won’t be able to take care of you here forever. I think it would be best if you went with Naofumi and learned to take care of yourselves, if possible.”

“Princess Melty . . .”

Eclair nodded as if Melty had said something deeply profound.

“I don’t see why not. Naofumi has taken it upon himself to come help out, so why don’t we all do what we can to work together and rebuild this territory?” added Melty.

“Understood. Friends of Raphtalia, the decision is yours! We’ll do everything we can to assist with the reconstruction, too.”

After Eclair had finished making her declaration, Raphtalia stepped forward and offered her friends her own take.

“I think . . . Instead of just standing by and watching, I think we should take it upon ourselves to get this done. Right?”

Raphtalia looked over in the direction of the village and then pointed at the flag flying on the mansion grounds.

“That flag that we lost back then . . . It’s finally within our reach. I want all of us to take back that place . . . to take back that flag together. So please, work with us to make that happen!”

Raphtalia’s friends seemed to be thinking about her words for a few moments, and then . . .

“Okay! I’ll do it!”

“You may look different, but you’re the same old Raphtalia!”

“Yeah, you said the same thing back when we were still living in the village.”

“Yes, I did. Everyone, let’s take back that flag!”

“Yeah!”

The slave trader was starting to look a bit uncomfortable. He obviously wasn’t okay with this kind of atmosphere.

“Now then, let us perform the slave curse ceremony. Yes sir.”

“I’m going to work them like horses. I can’t wait! Muhahaha!” I whispered to the slave trader and he perked up instantly.

“I feel a sudden surge of motivation! Yes sir! Sowing the seeds of hope and then reaping those benefits for yourself! My hat’s off to you! Yes sir!”

Was this guy really that simple or did he just revel in the suffering of others?! Whatever . . . I’d now officially received the territory from Eclair, and so we set off for the village.

Chapter Six: Feeding the Herd

Aside from Raphtalia and Rishia, I set tight restrictions on all of the slaves so that the slave curse would punish them right away if they didn’t take things seriously. On our first day in the village, I went out with the slaves to start cleaning up the wreckage of the buildings that had been destroyed.

“This house is important to me! It’s my home!”

That was Keel screaming. We’d come to the location where his house had been, apparently. But all that was left now was rubble in our way.

“There’s nothing wrong with cherishing your home, but the roof has collapsed, and the walls are destroyed beyond repair. I’m sorry, but you have to understand that there will be houses we can repair and others that we can’t.”

I looked through the debris to see if there were any valuables or items that we could use, but everything I found was either covered in rust or wasn’t anything we could use. Luckily the well was still usable. It would take a bit of work, but we could probably use the garden, too.

“I can understand wanting to preserve the memory, but if we’re going to rebuild the village, then we need to get rid of anything that’s just getting in the way.”

“But—”

“Keel! Stop being selfish.”

Raphtalia reprimanded Keel. I wasn’t going to stop her.

“This used to be your house, right?”

“Yeah!”

“Alright, then the new house that we build here will be yours. Only it will be a communal house that you will manage. More people will be joining us, so I’m counting on you to manage it properly.”

“Al . . . alright.”

Keel mumbled and nodded.

“That’s settled. Now, Filo!”

“Okaaay!”

The instant Keel let his guard down, Filo charged into the skeleton of a house and kicked down the supports, destroying the building.

“Ahhhhhhh!”

I left Keel standing there dazed and moved on to our next task. The building materials and castle soldiers sent by the queen arrived before noon. There was stone, lumber, and . . . plaster?

“Is this the village you are rebuilding, Shield Hero?”

I was sure they had already heard from Eclair and Melty, but the soldiers asked anyway.

“Yeah. I’d like to at least get something with a roof up by sundown. I know it’s a lot to ask, but I’m counting on you.”

“Leave it to us.”

“Thanks. So for now, we’ll leave the building to you soldiers. As for Raphtalia, Rishia, and Filo . . .”

“Yes?”

“Yeeees?”

“What is it?”

The three responded when I called their names.

“I’m going to make lunch now. Once you three have finished eating, I want you to take the slaves and go hunt monsters with them.”

“Understood.”

“Okay!”

“I’ll do my best.”

“I’ll leave it up to you to form parties. I’m guessing the experience probably won’t be very good if you all hunt in one big group.”

I’d never actually tried measuring it. How did experience points work when everyone fought together? Were they distributed somehow, or were they shared by everyone? I wasn’t really sure how it worked.

“Does anyone know how experience works in groups?”

“Umm . . .”

Rishia raised her hand embarrassedly.

“I knew it. You can always count on Rishia at times like these. So?”

“Umm . . . All members of a party receive experience points. The amount differs depending on abilities and level, but the distribution is unbiased. Six people is the limit. Any more than that and the amount of experience begins to drop.”

 Aha, so that’s why Itsuki and his group always left you out!

I didn’t actually say that, because all I’d get is a loud “fehhhh!” And I’d had enough of those. So as long as we split up into parties when going out in a big group, there shouldn’t be any problem. We’d just form parties of six and that should take care of it.

“If there’s still room and they’re free, you might try inviting Eclair and the old lady, too.”

“Understood. I’ll take care of assigning everyone.”

I made Raphtalia the group leader and had her create the parties. We currently had a total of ten slaves, so I had her assign four to Rishia and three each to Filo and herself. She put Keel with Rishia since he had already gotten stronger to a certain degree.

“Alright, I’m going to make lunch now, so give me a hand.”

“Okay!”

The three of them got busy doing what they could to help with the preparations.

“You’re not going to help cook, Raphtalia?” Keel calmly asked Raphtalia, glaring at me as I prepped the food. He had already recovered from his state of shock. That was quicker than I expected. Maybe it was because he was a kid?

“You were always a good cook, Raphtalia!”

“Rafu!”

“Umm . . .”

Raphtalia glanced over at me with a look of uncertainty on her face. What? Was she expecting me to say something? I guess she wanted to show off a bit in front of her friends or something, because she finally said something after hesitating for a moment.

“How about I give you a hand?”

“Oh? That’s unusual. You don’t have to if you don’t want to.”

“That’s not it. You just work so efficiently that there was never really anything for me to do.”

“Oh? In that case, why don’t you cut this meat up for me? It might end up tasting better being cut by the katana vassal weapon instead of a normal kitchen knife.”

“Understood.”

Now that Raphtalia was helping, what should I make? I guess you could never go wrong with grilling up meat.

“Make sure you cut against the grain or the texture will be off. I know you’re not Kizuna, but if you have some kind of skill to break down monsters or animals, then it should show you where to cut.”

“Okay.”

Other than that, I guess I could make a stew, maybe. I’d have to skim off the foam, though, and that always made preparing stews annoying. We didn’t have many ingredients, so we were naturally limited in what we could make. Something with vegetables could work, but I didn’t want to get too fancy since the slaves would just devour anything I made in an instant anyway. Oh, why not? It felt like a bit of a waste, but since Raphtalia was helping out and all, I figured I’d grill up another dish with cilantro, too.

“That smells good, doesn’t it?”

“Yeah, not bad. Should we make a soup, too?”

“Sure.”

We could just simmer some of this meat and turn it into a soup.

“Raphtalia.”

“Yes?”

“I’m going to throw some Hamburg steaks together, too, so help me mince this meat.”

“Un . . . understood.”

We worked quickly, cooking up all of the dishes. Raphtalia had mentioned that her parents taught her how to cook, and I could tell she knew what she was doing more than most. But now that I thought about it, I’d hardly ever cooked with her.

“Do you have a special family recipe or anything like that?”

“I guess you could say that. I couldn’t make it with the ingredients we have, though.”

“Well, maybe I’ll have you make it once we get the ingredients you need, then.”

Having a female friend cook for me had always been a dream of mine, actually. None of my friends had ever really been the cooking type, though. Now I could look forward to finding out what Raphtalia’s family recipe tasted like.

“I . . . I’m afraid of all of the mistakes you’d point out if I tried making it for you.”

Huh? That wasn’t the response I was expecting to hear from Raphtalia.

“You think I’m some kind of food snob?”

“Aren’t you?”

“No way.”

It wasn’t like I had ever complained about anyone else’s cooking. Just what kind of person did Raphtalia think I was? I wanted to live up to her expectations as much as possible, but a food snob? That was unexpected. If any of us was a food snob, it would have to be Filo or Raphtalia. Filo was especially picky about flavor.

“Okay then. I’ll make it for you sometime.”

“Good. I’m looking forward to it.”

“Rafu!”

I loved how Raph-chan hopped up onto Raphtalia’s shoulder and started chirping.

“Hey, everyone! Raphtalia and I cooked lunch for you. Hurry up and eat, and then off you go!”

“It’s super good this time, too!”

“Yeah! It’s so good!”

The slaves all dug in with big smiles on their faces. I went ahead and served the soldiers that were building houses for us, too.

“This . . . This might be the most delicious grilled meat I’ve ever had!”

“You’re kidding, right? This can’t be that same turtle meat! They served the same thing at the castle, but it was nowhere near this good!”

My shield’s cooking enhancement really was something. There was probably a synergistic effect with the enhancement from Raphtalia’s katana that made everything that much better. Maybe rubbing the meat with salt and spices during prep made a difference, too. The Hamburg steaks were gone in the blink of an eye.

The slaves all had their share of my cooking. Considering how they would be when they got back from leveling up . . . Yeah, I’d have to prepare even more food or there wouldn’t be enough.

“Okay everyone, I’m going to give each of you a weapon, so get out there and fight!”

I gave the slaves their orders and they began to panic. I handed each of them one of the old weapons that I had gotten from the castle storeroom. Most of them were short swords meant for beginners. One of the young female slaves was standing there completely pale with her blade in hand, looking just like Raphtalia had at first.

“If you refuse to fight, you’ll feel a burning in your chest, so be prepared. Remember, you’ll never get your village back that way.”

“We get it, Bubba Shield! We’re ready to fight, so you just wait!”

At least someone was showing some enthusiasm.

“It’s not like I can’t find someone else to replace you all. I’m just trying to turn this place into a territory again. But since Raphtalia has always done as I asked without arguing, I decided to reward her by inviting you all to take part. Don’t get the wrong idea.”

I had gotten used to playing the bad guy since coming to this world. It’s not like I was here to do charity work. I would be going back to my own world eventually, anyway, so it’s not like I needed to worry about this place. I just wanted to create a place where Raphtalia could live her life in peace.

“He has a sharp tongue, but he’s a good person, so don’t hold it against him.”

Raphtalia added some uncalled-for words of support. I was supposed to be the villain here.

“Okay then . . . Filo, you load the defeated monsters onto that cart and bring them back. We have plenty of uses for them.”

“Okaaay!”

They would be our food for the time being.

“Maaaster, what kind of monsters do you want?”

“Ones with plenty of meat, if possible. If you get some of those sheep-looking monsters, then I can make sausages.”

“Okaaay! I’ll see if I can find some!”

I pointed to Filo’s carriage and ordered the slaves inside. They hesitantly climbed aboard, and Filo set off to take them hunting.

“Watch your speed!”

“Okaaay!”

Filo’s carriage rattled off into the distance. Of course, she couldn’t actually go all that fast while still suffering from the effects of the curse.

“Now then . . . I’ll leave the construction up to you guys.”

“Huh? Of course!”

I left the construction to the soldiers, set my shield to take care of some compounding, and got started on the preparations for our next meal. It would still be a while before the monster eggs were ready to hatch. I’d have to come up with a way to secure more food before we ran out of Spirit Tortoise meat.

The slaves that had gone out hunting with Raphtalia and the others were back by nightfall. They were all completely worn out. The cart that I had attached to the carriage was loaded up with slain monsters. It looked like they had found some sheep-type monsters, too, just like I’d requested.

“Ugh . . .”

Grooowwwwl. Grumble, grumble. Rummmmble, rumble, rumble . . .

“So hungry . . .”

The growling of their stomachs sounded like thunder. Their bodies were growing rapidly and needed nutrition, and that made them ravenous.

“Glad to see you all made it back. Did they put up a good fight?”

“Yes, they all did their best.”

“Fehhh . . . I’m exhausted.”

“Well, if they did their best, then that’s good enough. Let’s eat.”

I brought out the stew and steaks that I had prepared in advance using the Spirit Tortoise meat and placed them on the table. I figured it would turn out like this, so I’d made a ridiculous amount of food. It was a ton of food, but it would still probably disappear in a heartbeat.

“Woooow!”

Filled with excitement, the slaves gathered around the table and started eating.

“Maaaster, what about meeee?”

“Yours is right here.”

I gave Filo her portion. She got about fifty percent more than the growing slaves.

“Is that all? I want more!”

“If you want more, then go hunt something yourself and eat that.”

“Boo . . .”

Filo was sulking. That’s too bad. I had already made a ton of food. I couldn’t manage any more than this on my own.

“Thank you for the meal!”

What?! They had already finished while Filo and I were talking?! I knew that children were supposed to have fierce appetites, but come on! I hope they were satisfied, at least.

“Alright, brats, tomorrow will be here in no time. Get to bed!”

“Okay!”

We herded the slaves into one of the houses that had been repaired by the soldiers from the castle. The rest of us would stay in the other house that was still being patched up. The windows were broken, so the wind blew right through, but the roof would shield us from rain.

“I’ll sleep with the others.”

“Yeah, see if you can help them get settled in a bit.”

“I will!”

Raphtalia left to go sleep with her old friends. Filo was already half asleep and nodding off. Rishia was busy deciphering the manuscripts that she had received from Kizuna and the others. She had more stamina than you would have guessed.

I got to work compounding in preparation for the next part of my plans. I checked the levels of the slaves while I waited. It looked like they had all reached around level 15, on average. Their stats had increased across the board, too. Judging from my experience with Raphtalia’s growth, I’d want them to reach level 30 at the very least, and that included the ones that weren’t suited for battle, too.

After some time had passed, I heard a knock on the door.

“Umm . . .”

It was Raphtalia and . . . she had brought several young female slaves with her.

“What is it?”

“Well . . .”

Raphtalia seemed like she wanted to ask me to do something, but she was mumbling. Spit it out! Did she expect me to figure it out on my own or something?

“Did they wet the bed?”

“That’s not it. Go on, ask Mr. Naofumi yourself.”

“Umm . . . well . . .”

Their stomachs growled, and the slave girls hung their heads in shame.

“Ah, I get it. I should probably make enough to feed the other brats too, right?”

“Thank you.”

I headed out to the cooking area outside and started preparing a meal. Jeez. They had gotten hungry again quick. I cut up the monsters they had brought back from hunting and decided to make some simple skewers. Cutting the meat into small chunks was too much trouble, so I just roasted the prepped monsters whole. Once we got things going, we’d need to form a cooking crew as soon as possible, or I’d have no time for myself.

And so the next day arrived.

“Alright, listen up, everyone. I’m sure you enjoyed your midnight snack, but our food supplies are growing scarcer by the day. We need to make up for losses with hunting. In other words, I’ll be deciding what to cook based on what you bring back. Got it?”

“Yeah!”

They were almost too submissive. It weirded me out a little bit, but I guess it was fine if they were showing initiative.

“I’ll have dinner ready tonight, but the next meal isn’t guaranteed. You’ve been warned!”

“Okay!”

Last night was rough. They kept asking for more no matter how much I cooked, and they had been genuinely hungry as far as I could tell. I felt like I had been cooking nonstop since we got here. I wasn’t their mother after all! Once they had finished growing to a certain degree, I planned to train them to handle a variety of different tasks. I’d just have to hold out until then.

“Thank you for the meal!”

“You’re welcome. Now get out there and hunt, and don’t come back until evening!”

“Okay!”

Everyone looked more cheerful than they had yesterday as they climbed into Filo’s carriage. I wasn’t letting Filo go crazy with the speed, so I hoped that the slaves wouldn’t get the usual motion sickness common with her carriage rides. It would be good if they reached around level 20, on average, by the time they got back.

Securing food supplies would need to be our immediate focus. There was always that . . . But if I used it and it mutated again, who knew what might happen. Even so, it had helped us out of tight spots before, and it looked like the time to rely on it had come once again.

SHARE

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.

• 
• 
• 
• 
•