The Rising of the Shield Hero Vol 14 Page 15

“I should start by applying them to everyone here. They are definitely going to need it in the future.”

  “Yeah, good idea.” And so everyone received the blessings of the Heavenly Emperor, through Raphtalia. That should provide us with some means to resist the interference of our enemies. If they put up a barrier, our barrier would apparently nullify it.

  “There is something that concerns me. What’s that back there?” As I asked, I pointed to a place farther inside where the ritual was being performed, beneath a large tree. “Isn’t that a dragon hourglass?”

  “I was wondering the same thing,” Raphtalia said. It definitely looked like a dragon hourglass, buried in the roots of the tree—although it also looked to have a slightly different design. Was it functioning, then?

  “I think that’s what it is. This is where they used it on me, back when I was here,” Sadeena mentioned.

  “So it is, huh?” I remarked.

  Sadeena explained more. “Yes. I received the protection of the Water Dragon and had a special class-up. I never would have returned to that level of strength without the help of you and the others, little Naofumi.” Thinking about it now, Sadeena had past experience with both class-ups and resets, then.

  I see. So this was where it happened.

  “Seriously, if you knew there was a dragon hourglass here, you could have said something,” I grumbled. With this we could use Raphtalia’s Return Dragon Vein to go straight back to Melromarc. “We’ve been away from the village for a while. I’ve been getting a bit concerned.”

  Raphtalia concurred. “Indeed. We’ve captured a lot of Q’ten Lo too, so I’d like to just take a quick trip back and check things out.”

  “Excuse me, Lady Raphtalia, but what exactly are you talking about?” Raluva ventured. He and the other revolutionary leaders clearly had some questions.

  “Of course. That dragon hourglass is used to implement class-ups, right? Well, Raphtalia can also use them to instantly travel to distant lands,” I told them.

  “S-she can? But we really cannot afford to have Lady Raphtalia, the very pillar of our revolution, go off traveling at this point in time,” he went on. I gave Raluva and the others a bit of a glare, eyes narrowed. Raphtalia was also applying a bit of silent pressure. It wasn’t like we were doing this for the sake of the nation, and the revolutionaries were definitely aware of that. Having them come out with this now didn’t sit right with me.

  “We’ll come right back. In either case, we need to spend a few days here, appealing to the new order we’ve created, correct?” I told them. It would be difficult to clash with the Heavenly Emperor’s forces right away. We’d been forced to send Atla and the others out to deal with their silly makeshift attack strategy too. It would be a few days before we were whole again. Taking that time to bolster our strength didn’t seem like a bad idea.

  “What’s this? I see three stone tablets of some kind,” I reported.

  “What could they be? Maybe we can learn some kind of special magic from them?” Raphtalia replied.

  “I wonder.” I approached and took a better look at the text on the tablets surrounding the dragon hourglass.

  “It’s the Hero language,” she asserted.

  “Yeah. It’s got some magic text on it too, meaning only certain people can read it. This is heavy stuff,” I remarked, and as I touched the tablet, text floated into my field of vision. It was the exact same text as back in the Orochi’s stone chamber. I read it out.

  “Holy Shield power-up methods, number one: share the power-up methods from other holy weapons and vassal weapons,” I read aloud.

  “Oh my. We’ve seen that before,” Sadeena said.

  “Is that—” S’yne began.

  “She is asking if that’s true about the vassal weapons,” S’yne’s doll finished. As S’yne traced the text with her finger, she went on. “Apparently, she cannot read it.”

  “Looks like only the Shield Hero can,” I announced and punched the tablet—a bit rashly, perhaps. “Get off my back! Just how many of the same thing do they need to leave lying around?”

  “Mr. Naofumi, calm yourself,” Raphtalia soothed.

  “Itsuki!” He was also with us, so I called him over. I didn’t get a chance after the ruins collapsed last time, but I really needed to see if it said the same thing for Itsuki.

  “Can you read this?” I asked him.

  “Let me see.” With that, Itsuki read the tablet. He’d been studying a bit of magic, so he should be able to handle this by now. Rishia had been training him pretty hard.

  “Bow Hero power-up methods, number one: increase the capabilities and rarity of the weapon itself and find powerful rare weapons.” This was what Itsuki had explained to us before, wasn’t it? Just more information we already knew.

  “Looks like this is a power-up method that you have already used,” I stated.

  “Seems likely. Still, Naofumi, this is the first time we’ve found a clear explanation of sharing power-up methods,” he replied. Yeah, that was a good point. It felt like stumbling over an instruction booklet.

  “Let’s take a look at the other two,” I said. Itsuki and I both read the next one.

  “Holy Shield power-up methods, number two: trusting and being trusted leads to an increase in abilities.” The crystal on my shield glowed.

  Itsuki’s, meanwhile, was an explanation of ore enhancement.

  “This is a power-up method too?” I wondered.

  “Mr. Naofumi, does that ring any bells?” Raphtalia asked.

  “Huh?” At Raphtalia’s question, I took a moment to think back. Had I experienced anything like this? Trust? I believed in Raphtalia and the others, but was that boosting my abilities?

  Raphtalia began, “When we were in Melromarc, fighting the high priest of the Church of the Three Heroes, or when fighting the Spirit Tortoise, you were pretty tough, Mr. Naofumi. But then, in Kizuna’s world, you complained about not improving as much as before.”

  “Yeah, you’re right. I did.” So at the times I was improving better than I expected, maybe that bonus had unknowingly been in effect?

  “I felt far more powerful during that time too. Perhaps being trusted by Mr. Naofumi was providing a bonus to my abilities,” she went on. Yeah. That sounded likely. Back then, Raphtalia had quickly got stronger and stronger. Of course, she was far stronger now.

  “This might also explain why Ren and I were weaker,” Itsuki flatly stated, his voice still lacking all emotion. Those two had started to be hated by their countries and people, after all. Branded as being weaker than expected.

  That said, if you didn’t believe in the sharing of power-up methods, maybe they didn’t work at all? Hmmm. Convoluted.

  “Let’s look at the next one.” I also had a feeling that actual understanding would lead to an enhanced modifier. The sharing of power-up methods was definitely a thing. My abilities had enhanced since checking the text in the Orochi’s stone chamber.

  Giving consideration to all of this, I looked at the third tablet.

  “Holy Shield power-up methods, number three: energy boost.” When I read the explanation text, the item EP was quietly added to status magic. I continued. “The heroes have an energy that they draw out automatically as power from the weapons, and this is always active. Assigning this energy to skills will allow more powerful skills to be used. Anyway, that’s what it says.” Which meant what? We had auto Muso Activation? It sounded like simple possession of a legendary weapon provided a permanent, complete state of Muso Activation. “Energy Boost” was also there now, under Help. So if Muso Activation was already active, it shouldn’t be possible to activate another one and have two running.

  “Energy Boost?” Itsuki followed something with his eyes and then manifested a burst of life force.

  “Feeeeeh! How is Master Itsuki suddenly able to use life force?” Rishia suddenly blurted out. I checked, and the flow of life force from Itsuki had definitely increased—and from me too—although they had a slightly diff
erent quality. Everything seemed to click into place when I considered Hengen Muso Style as the artificial recreation of this power.

  “EP have now appeared, which we can mix into skills, magic, and even attacks. They seem to work in combination with SP and magic, but just being aware of them consumes them too. This is going to require some practice,” Rishia explained. Acquiring this so easily? So what had all that hard work been for? Man, this world could be a real pain.

  Still, it all came down to how it was used. Get that wrong and it would simply chew through the points with no effect. So maybe we’d now achieved easy use of life force, but it still didn’t mean we understood it. That seemed the way to think of it.

  “Raphtalia has a vassal weapon from another world, so they can’t be shared,” I said.

  “That’s right. It would be convenient if we could do that, but I can already use life force, so it isn’t so vital,” she replied. She couldn’t use Muso Activation though. She’d been able to imbue it into skills for a while, having learned it from Glass, if I remember correctly.

  It looked like S’yne could do it too. To be honest, it was a bit annoying that they could do all this stuff as though taking it for granted.

  I didn’t really feel like I’d got much stronger.

  “Still, why do you think the shield power-up methods are written here?” she asked.

  “You think maybe it has something to do with that stuff Glass talked about? The fusing of the worlds due to the waves? Siltvelt and Q’ten Lo are both nations of demi-humans, right?” I replied. That made them the territory of the Shield Hero.

  Indeed, looking at a world map, there were many demi-human territories. Taken in that light, it perhaps wasn’t so odd that the power-up method for the shield would be hidden in Q’ten Lo—although here they had the odd name of “spirit implements.”

  “Well, if we bring Ren and have him read these tablets, we might understand more,” I surmised. All sorts of reasons came to mind, such as the order in which the worlds were fusing. We were still at the stage of collecting materials, prior to being able to make a judgment.

  “Yes, good idea. Shall we take a quick trip to Melromarc, then?” Raphtalia suggested.

  “Sounds good.” Ren was currently the only hero there, and that, among other things, had definitely been weighing on my mind. This would all be pointless if the village was taken out while we took Q’ten Lo.

  With that, then, we used the dragon hourglass found in Q’ten Lo and transferred back to Melromarc.

  Chapter Eleven: A Brief Return Trip

  We traveled to the village using Portal Shield.

  “We’re back!”

  “Rafu!” Filo and Raph-chan gave cheerful shouts.

  “It looks like there haven’t been any problems here,” Raphtalia stated.

  “Ah, they’re back! Yay!” Keel spotted us and rushed over. “Welcome home! Have you defeated those bad guys trying to kill Raphtalia?” The last time we’d talked to them it had been the morning before leaving Siltvelt by ship, so a fair while ago. Hearing Keel, Ren also showed up.

  “Naofumi, how’s it going?” he said.

  “We just found a dragon hourglass during our trip, actually, so we came to check in at the village,” I explained.

  “I see.”

  “We’ve made good progress though! What about you?”

  “No more attacks have come at all. I’m thinking it’s since they worked out you’re striking at Q’ten Lo,” he answered. Hmmm. So they didn’t have the leeway to strike here anymore. They’d had issues with things like language already. And bringing in more manpower over such a distance wasn’t going to be easy. Not to mention, with the homeland under attack, they’d need everyone they could gather back at home.

  “One thing, Naofumi. What did you say to Eclair prior to your departure?” he questioned.

  “What do you mean?”

  “Eclair has been complaining about something you said to her. About not having any capacity as a governor? Something like that?”

  Uwah. Yeah, in order to keep Melty happy, I might have told Eclair to back down. I’d only told the truth though, so it couldn’t be helped. It was a fact that Eclair had spent far more time training than she had dealing with paperwork.

  Best to just ignore this topic and carry on.

  “If the village isn’t going to be attacked, Ren, I’m adding you to the invasion party. You’re with us now. No ships involved anymore, so you’ll be fine.”

  “Phew, good thing.” Ren nodded, looking relieved. He really didn’t like swimming, did he? “I admit, it was a bit worrying, watching this place in your absence. Everyone in the village has been quite worried, with S’yne gone as well.” For that reason, having S’yne here had been quite convenient. Even though she wasn’t supposed to go, she went anyway.

  “They have anti-hero techniques and other unique stuff, but honestly, the enemy is so stupid it’s actually getting a bit ridiculous,” I quipped.

  “It’s sad, almost, that I can’t deny that statement at all,” Raphtalia muttered, sounding almost lost for words.

  We proceeded to give Ren a simple breakdown of everything that had happened in Q’ten Lo. Of course, that included having discovered the weapon power-up methods.

  “So this will help make us stronger?” he asked.

  “I want to see Raphtalia’s homeland for myself!” Keel’s eyes were shining, tail wagging, as he asked. “Take me with you! Please, take all of us with you!”

  “Even so, we still don’t know when the village might be attacked. I’m worried about leaving this place too undefended,” I said.

  “So why not take everyone from the village?” Ah. Take everyone here to Q’ten Lo? I looked at Raphtalia, and she was making quite a face.

  “That’s too many people, surely. We’ll take you for a visit once everything there is taken care of. Just hold on until then.”

  “I thought it was a pretty good idea,” Ren said.

  “If we all go into battle, leaving the village empty, what happens if thieves show up?” I cautioned. We had gold and other valuables here, in no small number.

  “We could leave Melty in charge. How about that?” Hmmm. That was an option.

  “Mr. Naofumi.” Raphtalia still wasn’t convinced.

  “Look at it this way, Keel. We’re in Q’ten Lo, essentially fighting a war. I’m not raising you all to fight on the battlefield, so just have a little more patience,” I explained. We couldn’t afford to get distracted from our true goal—to rebuild and prepare for the waves.

  “I see. Too bad,” he groaned.

  “Once all the problems there are cleared up, I’ll take you.” It was a good place for a bit of sightseeing. I’d definitely give it some thought.

  “Maaaster! Can I go and see Mel-chan?” Filo was clearly glad to be visiting.

  “Yeah, off you go. Just stay in the village and we’ll get you later, so have some fun.”

  “Yaaay! Mel-chan!” Filo was gone in the blink of an eye.

  “One other thing. They have hot springs over there that are effective on curses. Seeing as we didn’t get a portal to the Cal Mira islands sorted out, maybe we can use them to heal ourselves,” I surmised. We were suffering from a number of cursed heroes, including myself, and it was about time we took care of that. We were definitely at a disadvantage in battle due to the weakening they caused.

  “Rafu.” Raph-chan went to greet the monsters in the village. We should probably go about recovering Rat and Wyndia from Siltvelt too.

  “I have to say it again, this teleportation is really convenient,” I commented. A distance it would take weeks to cover on Filo or Gaelion, traveled in an instant. “Normally it should be available at all times, but there are too many regions we can’t use it now. It’s a real pain.”

  “Yeah,” Ren mumbled.

  “So? Ren, have you learned to swim?”

  “Bubba Sword can now swim about fifteen meters! I taught him!”

  “Hmmm.
” I looked at Ren, and he looked away. All of this time, various techniques, and he could only swim fifteen meters?

  “Don’t be too hard on him, Mr. Naofumi,” Raphtalia reprimanded.

  And that was how we ended up taking Ren to Q’ten Lo.

  Rat and Wyndia had made good progress with their ecology research in Siltvelt. It was a perfect jumping-off point to bring them with us. When I showed a branch of sakura lumina to Rat, her eyes had sparkled as she investigated it. Her curiosity in Q’ten Lo was definitely increasing.

  “Oh! That looks like an interesting ecosystem! Count us in!” she exclaimed.

  “Where’s Gaelion?” Wyndia asked.

  “On a separate operation, providing transport to Atla and her group. We’ll meet up again with them soon.”

  “Okay.”

  “Right, we’re going to go and check out the vicinity.”

  “Go ahead. There might still be enemies around here, so be careful.”

  “I know the drill.” With that, the two of them headed out. They were going to be joining the rear support but bringing them with us looked to definitely advance their research.

  After that, I also checked in with Imiya’s uncle, who was running the weapon shop.

  “Master and Erhard are here?” he asked.

  Seeing as he wouldn’t be gone for long, I had him close up shop and led him to Motoyasu II’s workshop in Q’ten Lo.

  “Yeah. They should have arrived at the workshop by now. Let’s go and see them. Come with me.”

  “Sure.” Imiya’s uncle, if I remembered correctly, had his training as a blacksmith interrupted by family issues. He’d filled in a few gaps by helping the old guy out, but this was a good opportunity for him to get some proper experience.

  As another plus, it wouldn’t hurt to have another pair of eyes on Motoyasu II.

  All of those factors in play, I took Imiya’s uncle to the old guy and his master.

  “Oh? It’s Tolly! Kid, what’s going on here?” the old guy asked. We’d arrived at Motoyasu II’s workshop to find an incredibly large forge. Everything was well tended to, and it even included an ironworks. The furnace was always lit, and the smokestack on the roof always belched smoke. It even had magical facilities. Just from that perspective, the old guy’s store couldn’t hold a candle to all this. Of particular note was a device that looked to have some real magical properties, an oven that looked like it might bake bread connected to some kind of handle.