The Rising of the Shield Hero Volume 03 Read online

  Prologue

  “This is going to be a pain. We should have turned it down.”

  Everything happened because of the villagers’ simple request.

  They wanted us to do something about the monsters around town.

  The Dragon Zombie’s rotting corpse had badly polluted the surrounding mountains. Once we took care of that problem, the monsters that had been thriving in the polluted mountains set their sights on the village.

  The idea was that once the monsters learned that the village was a dangerous place for them, they would just stay away. So the village hired us as temporary guards to keep the monsters aware of the threat the town posed.

  Honestly, I’d wanted to turn the job down, but they’d done so much for us that I ended up accepting it out of a sense of obligation. Considering all they were doing to help Raphtalia with her illness, we couldn’t just leave them in the lurch—so we made our way back to the mountains.

  “Oh well, let’s get this over with.”

  My name is Naofumi Iwatani, and I am a twenty-year-old college student from Japan. I’m also a bit of an Otaku.

  I was at the library reading an old book called The Records of the Four Holy Weapons when I passed out. When I woke up, I found myself in the very world the book had described, and I was tasked with the role of the Shield Hero.

  They’d summoned me to their world because they were under threat from a disaster called the waves of destruction. These waves consisted of a rift that opened between dimensions, from which great hordes of monsters appeared. Apparently, they needed the help of the Four Legendary Heroes to overcome the destruction of the waves.

  I was forced to assume the role of the Shield Hero, and I had no choice but to stand against the waves when they appeared.

  At first it all seemed like a dream—too good to be true. But it turned out that the shield I was forced to carry had other properties as well, some of which were really annoying. I was completely unable to deal damage to monsters.

  I put all my strength into my blows, but monsters just brushed them off, like I was nothing but a bothersome insect. I soon discovered that I was unable to attack at all.

  However, I made up for it with my defense rating, which was through the roof. You could say that all I could do was defend.

  Eventually, I managed to get a party together, and we started traveling the world. Along the way we fought many battles—just then, we were in the middle of one.

  “…?!”

  A huge dragonfly flew at me, brandishing its stinger.

  But it bounced off my shield with an ineffectual, hollow clang.

  The shield was able to absorb different monsters and materials, which in turn would unlock new shield forms and abilities. You could say that the shield leveled up with me. That was how I learned new abilities.

  Anyway, there were a lot of difficulties that went along with it, but it was also proving to be a big help.

  It helped me compound difficult medicines, and it improved the quality of my cooking—so I guess it was pretty useful in some ways.

  As for the shield, I’d really love to take it off sometime, but it was cursed or something, and I wasn’t able to remove the shield at all. It was always there, stuck to my arm. So I needed to rely on the rest of my party a lot. I had to leave all attacking up to them.

  “Mr. Naofumi! Are you all right?!”

  The girl with the raccoon ears and tail cut down a Poison Fly and turned to me.

  Her name was Raphtalia. She was a raccoon-type demi-human. After I was framed and chased out of the castle, I bought her as a slave.

  When I first bought her, she looked like she was around ten years old. But demi-humans’ bodies grow as their levels rise. She matured very quickly as we fought different monsters, and now she looked more like a seventeen-year-old girl.

  She was very pretty. Well, she was cute anyway.

  Personality-wise, she was very serious. Watching her, you got the impression that she was constantly evaluating possible routes of action—that she was always trying to determine the “correct” path.

  Before I was summoned to this world, there had been a large wave of destruction, and she had lost her family and village in the ensuing chaos. I think that’s probably why she was so motivated to fight against the waves with me.

  “I’m leaving defense up to you!”

  “I know!”

  Luckily enough, Raphtalia trusted me.

  I had watched her grow up before my eyes, which inspired some parental feelings in me. At only twenty years old, it felt a little weird to nurse those parental instincts, but having seen her grow the way she had, I couldn’t deny that I felt responsible for her. I think she probably felt the same way. She’d been with me since she was a kid, so she probably saw me as some kind of father figure.

  So she trusted me, and I wanted to take care of her.

  That’s when it happened. A shadow appeared before me.

  “Woah!”

  A large bird-monster called a Filolial dashed over to the approaching Poison Tree, leaned back, then let loose a furious barrage of kicks.

  That Filolial was one of my friends, too.

  Her name was Filo, and she was a Filolial that had grown attached to me.

  Filo had a mysterious power: She could turn into a human. When she’s in human form, she is a little girl with blond hair, blue eyes, and little angel wings on her back.

  But her real form… Well, she was a Filolial, but not a normal one. Her filolial form was like a mix between an ostrich and a giant owl.

  Apparently she was actually a Filolial Queen.

  She was strong enough to pull a heavy carriage, and she ate more than enough to compensate for her effort. She was always putting things in her mouth.

  Don’t let her cuteness fool you. She can really pack a punch.

  Her personality was… innocent, free, and pure… pure probably sums it up best. She always had a happy look on her face.

  The slave-trader who had sold me Raphtalia had also been selling eggs, so I found her there. I won her in an egg lottery kind of game. The eggs all looked the same, and a ticket cost 100 pieces of silver. I picked one I liked, and when it hatched, Filo came out.

  She was… two weeks old now. She didn’t look it though—she looked much older. I’d raised her too.

  “Looks like we’re almost done here, Mr. Naofumi.”

  “But I want to keep fighting!”

  Once we started fighting, the plan worked within an hour. Most of the monsters had fled to the mountains and learned to keep their distance.

  “You all right, Raphtalia?”

  She was moving slower than normal, thanks to the curse. The curse had been very strong.

  The curse that hurt her was from yesterday. We were fighting a Dragon Zombie out here and I… I used a curse.

  But if you really think about it, it was THEIR fault—the three other heroes. They’d started this mess.

  When we were fighting the Dragon Zombie, the Shield of Rage from the “Curse Series” unlocked itself, and I used it. The curse was strong and unwieldy, and it turned its fangs on Raphtalia, my friend.

  The curse had swallowed me completely, and she had to sacrifice herself to save me from its grasp. She was seriously hurt in the process.

  So even though I couldn’t attack on my own, I’d started standing at the front of the battle line to protect Raphtalia.

  “As for my wounds, they really aren’t so bad, Mr. Naofumi.”

  “Good.”

  “Heh, heh… It’s kind of nice to have you worrying about me.”

  “I’m really sorry.”

  “Promise you won’t say
that anymore.”

  She smiled to show that she didn’t care, but it only made me feel even guiltier.

  “Are you okay, Big-Sister?”

  “Yes, I’m fine. Aren’t I, Mr. Naofumi?”

  “Yeah, sure… but don’t overdo it.”

  “You don’t have to…. Anyway… thanks for caring.”

  Apparently she wasn’t hurt too badly, which was good.

  “Well, that’s the end of our work for the day. Tomorrow we are heading back to the castle in Melromarc so that Raphtalia can get some real treatment.”

  We set off down the road back to town. When we left the mountains, there was a road that ran over rolling fields back to the village.

  “Master! What’s that?!”

  A wild Filolial A appeared!

  A wild Filolial B appeared!

  A wild Filolial C appeared!

  A blue-haired girl appeared by the Filolials!

  Dammit…what was a girl doing with wild Filolials?!

  I cursed under my breath and watched closely. But she just looked like a normal little girl.

  “Hey you! Are you from the village?!”

  I thought I’d ask, just to be sure, but the Filolials responded before she did.

  “Gah?!”

  The Filolials looked at Filo. They were astonished!

  Filolials A, B, and C took off running!

  “Ahh…”

  The girl stretched her hand out after the fleeing Filolials.

  What was with that girl? Was she playing with the Filolials?

  Well, after spending all this time with Filo, I had a pretty good idea of how you could expect Filolials to behave. She was probably feeding them or something, since they liked to eat so much.

  At first glance, the girl seemed to be pretty well off. Maybe she was the daughter of a rich merchant?

  “What was that?”

  The Filolials ran off and left her alone, so I guess she didn’t own them.

  I guess they were wild.

  If the monsters ran away the minute you approached, they might have been the kind of rare monster that leaves behind valuable items and lots of experience points. Still, taking down a random Filolial probably wouldn’t yield a ton of experience.

  They probably ran because they caught sight of Filo, our Filolial Queen.

  “Boy, those birds sure look yummy! I think so every time I pass one of them on the road.”

  “Those are the same species as you.”

  Filo was licking her beak in slobbery anticipation.

  I guess everything looked like food to her. So she’d go cannibal that quickly, huh? Creepy.

  “If we chase them now, we can get them! Master!”

  “Leave them alone.”

  She really knew how to take the tension out of a scene.

  As for experience, I guess I hadn’t checked our levels after we fought the Dragon Zombie.

  Naofumi LV 38 ★

  Raphtalia LV 40 ★

  Filo LV 40 ★

  What was the star?

  “Hey, there’s a star next to my level indicator. Does anyone know what that means?”

  What could it be? I had a bad feeling.

  “Um…”

  “I dunno!”

  I decided to check the help screen.

  I still didn’t get it. The information might have been buried in there somewhere, but I wasn’t able to find an explanation for the star.

  I guess we’d just have to come back to it later.

  Huh? The little girl that had been with the Filolials had noticed us, and now she was walking in our direction.

  “Wow, is that a Filolial?”

  “You mean Filo?”

  “Can she talk?”

  The girl and Filo were looking deep into each other’s eyes.

  “Yes.”

  “It’s always been my dream to talk with Filolials! I hope we can talk a lot!”

  The girl, apparently very interested, kept talking to Filo.

  She looked around ten years old. Her hair was blue, but it was all a bit faded. Maybe it was actually navy blue? She had pigtails and gave off an eccentric, powerful impression. You could tell she came from a good family.

  “Master, what should we do?”

  Good question. What should we do? It almost sounded like this rich girl wanted to take Filo.

  If I managed to get along well with her family, then maybe I could steer this in a more profitable direction. That wouldn’t be so bad.

  I did not introduce myself as the Shield Hero but rather as a holy man with a bird-god drawn carriage. People had approached me many times to see if they could buy Filo from us.

  Of course, I wasn’t planning on selling her. But I used that as a starting point and steered the conversation in such a way that I could usually get the customer to walk away with some new (expensive) accessory.

  And because I hid the fact that I was the Shield Hero, most people were very friendly when I approached them. From that perspective, it might be smart to try and arrange my business to keep the public on my side. It couldn’t hurt to have some people that owed me favors.

  And yet, this girl could tell that Filo was a Filolial. She knew it from a single glance!

  “A talking Filolial, right? What’s your name?”

  “Filo.”

  “Filo, right? My name is Mel!”

  “Nice to meet you, Mel.”

  “Yay! Hey Filo, want to eat this?”

  The girl called Mel pulled some kind of jerky from her pocket and offered it to Filo.

  She must have known how much Filolials like to eat.

  “Yay! Thanks!”

  Filo greedily stuffed the jerky into her mouth.

  Heh, heh, heh.

  Mel giggled happily at the sight of Filo’s puffed cheeks. She started to pet them softly.

  She liked Filolials. I could tell that much. I could tell that she was different from those other people that had been interested in Filo—THEY only cared because Filo was rare.

  She looked like she actually wanted to be friends with Filo. Honestly it couldn’t hurt to network a little, so I’d encourage Filo to be friends with her if I could.

  “Filo, we still have some work to do in the village, so you can just hang out here for a while if you want. Have fun.”

  “Okay! You want to come?”

  “Yes!”

  So Filo and Mel ran out into the fields to play.

  We went back to the village and kept doing all we could to wipe out the sickness there.

  I asked the doctor if he needed any help, and he set me to work compounding medicines. Setting out my materials, I got to work. The work went faster than I’d expected, and pretty soon I was finished. There was a part of me that genuinely wished I could ease the villagers’ suffering. Hopefully the village would return to its peaceful ways before long.

  I looked out at the fields and could see Filo playing with kids out there.

  “Um… Your Holiness… could you…”

  The village chief appeared at my elbow and handed me a bag of money.

  “Your Holiness, thank you for your help. Please accept our thanks.”

  That reminded me: these people still didn’t know who I was. To them, I wasn’t the fearsome and criminal Shield Hero, no. I was just a traveling saint with a bird-god companion.

  “Um…”

  I took the bag, opened it, and began to count the contents.

  Then I removed half the money and put it into a separate bag.

  “What?”

  “I didn’t do all of this. The doctor did most of it. Give this to him.”

  “Oh, yes…”

  If the doctor hadn’t been there, we would have been in trouble. Alone, I don’t think I could have stopped the spread of the disease. So it was really all thanks to him.

  “All right.”

  To get Raphtalia’s wounds properly healed, we’d have to visit a large church, but it was already late in the afternoon.

  W
e’d have to stay one night in town before setting off.

  We were relaxing in the village when Filo came running back.

  “Hey! I made a new friend!”

  “That’s great. Was it that girl we met on our way back from the mountains?”

  Wait. Did she have any friends to begin with? Shouldn’t this girl be her first friend, not her NEW friend?

  Raphtalia was less of a friend and more like a mother, or at least an older sister.

  “Yeah! That girl, you know? She’s been traveling to the same places that we have!”

  “Really? So she’s a traveler, huh? She sure was dressed nicely for a traveler.”

  Maybe she was a rich merchant’s daughter, and she had just been passing through the village when the sickness came upon it.

  Anyway, Filo was the type to be popular with kids, I guess. I mean, she was really popular with everyone.

  And besides, apparently that girl didn’t care so much when Filo turned into a human. So I suppose she was a pretty adaptable girl.

  “And you know what? She taught me all kinds of stuff I never knew before! Like what kind of monsters Filolials are, and what kind of legends there are!”

  “Wow.”

  I just needed to chime in from time to time to keep her satisfied. Filo wasn’t the best conversationalist, so it was hard to get a handle on what she wanted to say sometimes.

  Here’s an example—when I asked her how to use magic she said something random, like, “You just pwwwweeeep it out!”

  “But when she was playing with the other Filolials, out in the fields, she got separated and lost. That’s when we found her!”

  “Wow.”

  “Um… Mr. Naofumi? Are you listening to her story?”

  “Huh?”

  Honestly I hadn’t been paying attention. But I could probably remember what she said if I needed to.

  Filo became friends with that girl who’d introduced herself as Mel. And that girl had been separated from her companions? It sounded like a creepy story, and so I went to look at Filo, only to see that the girl was there too, standing right next to her.

  “I’m sorry to trouble you at this hour. I was…. I was wondering if you wouldn’t mind… I’d like to travel with you.”