The Rising of the Shield Hero Volume 02 Page 2

  And would you believe it? Bitch just happens to be the princess too.

  The book I was reading back in my own world, The Records of the Four Holy Weapons, also spoke of a bitchy princess. I was pretty sure that it had been talking about her.

  “The duel was supposed to be one-on-one, and yet the Shield Hero hid monsters under his cape to use against his opponent. This is a clear violation of the rules, and therefore my father, the king, has made a wise ruling.”

  Give me a break. How could he expect me to fight when I wasn’t even capable of attacking! They must have known that when they challenged me to a duel.

  “I understand how you feel, and yet…”

  “You just can’t agree?”

  Itsuki and Ren looked disappointed.

  Bitch was obviously trying to think of another way out of it. Her brain only worked when she was plotting against someone else.

  “Ms. Myne. Even if what you say is true, your own actions also constitute a violation of the rules.”

  “Sure, he hasn’t been working as hard as the rest of us, but from what I could tell the guild hasn’t given him any work either. Doesn’t he need at least a little support, just to survive? Besides, he really did protect the villagers during the wave when the knights didn’t do anything.”

  Bitch’s face twisted up. I could tell she was annoyed.

  What could she do? Sure, she could use her authority as the princess, but she knew she couldn’t get away with obviously manipulating the heroes.

  The burden of proof should be on her. This was different from the time they framed me. There hadn’t been any witnesses back then.

  “Very well then. We will provide him with a small amount of funds. Take them and be gone.”

  The Trash gave his pompous order from on high, and an attendant tossed a bag of money in my direction.

  “Very well then, my liege. We will take our leave. Thank you for your judicious consideration.”

  Raphtalia sounded cheerful, and she led me out of the castle.

  “Running off with his tail between his legs.”

  As if Motoyasu had any room to talk. Ren and Itsuki stood by in silence.

  Who knew? Just acknowledging our mutual hatred made life so much easier.

  Besides, it was starting to seem like Ren and Itsuki were harboring their own doubts about Motoyasu. Even still, they weren’t going to do anything about it. They wouldn’t sacrifice their own position, now would they? Nah… They’d have to stay on my blacklist for now.

  “All right then, let’s head back to the slave trader’s tent and have him reapply the slave curse.”

  “What?”

  Raphtalia said this to me immediately after exiting the castle gates.

  “If we don’t, I don’t think you’ll ever be able to really believe me, from the bottom of your heart.”

  “I don’t… C’mon, you don’t need to be a slave anymore.”

  “I think I do.”

  “What?”

  “Mr. Naofumi, you’ve lost the ability to believe in anyone who is not your slave. Don’t you lie to me about it ether.”

  Had I done a bad job raising her?

  She was right that I couldn’t believe in anyone who wasn’t a slave, but still, I think I could believe in her, even if she wasn’t a slave.

  If Raphtalia had only been thinking of herself, then she would have run to Motoyasu after the duel. That would have been best for her.

  She knew that everyone in the kingdom hated me, and that no one trusted me. And yet she still chose to team up with me. That said something.

  “Hey, Raphtalia…”

  “What is it?”

  “You really don’t need to get the curse.”

  “But I want it.”

  What was wrong with this girl?

  “I want proof that you believe in me.”

  When she said that, I instantly thought that I wanted to protect her.

  Emotion welled up in my chest. I think it was love, but there was something else there too.

  She certainly looked like a full-grown woman, but she’d been a child only a week or two prior. Apparently demi-humans matured by level as opposed to age.

  She had lost her parents in a wave of destruction only recently. Maybe the emotion I was feeling wasn’t romantic love—no, I think it was more like the love of a parent. I must have felt that way because I’d seen her grow up before my own eyes. Yes, that had to be it.

  That must be what it feels like to be a parent. That would be my role. I had to watch over her.

  “C’mon, let’s go.”

  If she was that insistent on it, then I wasn’t going to be able to stop her. She could do whatever she wanted.

  We decided to pay a visit to that tent, the one that was selling slaves.

  Chapter One: Egg Machine

  “Well, well, if it isn’t the Hero! What can I do for you today?”

  We entered the tent, and the courteous slave trader was right there to meet us.

  “Woah…”

  He looked Raphtalia over carefully and grunted in surprise.

  “She’s certainly changed. Who thought she was such a diamond in the rough?”

  He looked over at me and sighed.

  He was the slave trader that had met me at my darkest hour. Just as I had all my possessions stolen and reputation ruined, just when I realized I had to level up without any means of attack, he showed up and asked if I might be interested in a slave.

  He was an older man, plump, and decked out in a suit with coattails. He looked untrustworthy, to say the least.

  But he took a liking to me for some reason and said he would do what he could to help. He was the man who sold me Raphtalia.

  “What?”

  “I thought she was more like us. I hadn’t realized she had so much potential.”

  What the hell was that supposed to mean? I almost blew up at him but managed to control myself.

  I didn’t want to ruin our relationship. Who knew when I might need his services in the future? I’d say something along those lines.

  “Whether they live or die, the proper way to use a slave is the way that raises the quality of the product.”

  I responded in a threatening tone:

  “I guess all the slaves you know of are disposable?”

  “N…Naofumi?”

  She was looking at me, worried that I wasn’t showing proper respect to authority.

  I was aware of it myself, that I was a little out of control. But I was feeling better than I had the last time I met him.

  “Heh, heh, heh… I suppose so. You’ve got me trembling.”

  I couldn’t tell if he liked my answer or not, but he was smiling.

  “Now then, as for the appraisal. She certainly has become a beauty, but if she’s not a virgin then I would say… 20 pieces of gold?”

  “Why are you assuming he’s here to sell me?! And besides, I AM a virgin!”

  He jumped back at the force of her exclamation.

  “Now we’re talking! How does 30 pieces of gold sound? Naturally, I’ll have to confirm your virginity.”

  “Mr. Naofumi!”

  I could get 30 pieces of gold for Raphtalia?

  “Mr. Naofumi! Please say something!”

  If I had 30 pieces of gold, I could easily buy that level 75 Wolf Man!

  I was thinking it over when Raphtalia shot me a terrified look before grabbing onto my shoulders.

  “Mr. Naofumi, if you don’t stop playing around, I’ll get angry!”

  “What is it? Why are you so upset?”

  “This guy is sizing me up, and you aren’t saying anything about it.”

  “We have to look nonchalant or we’ll lose face.”

  That’s all I could think of to get her off of my back. If I didn’t hide my thoughts better, Raphtalia would figure out what I was thinking. And besides, it’s not like I would sell off the only person that believed in me.

  And yet…

  “30 pie
ces of gold…?”

  I caught myself muttering, and Raphtalia gripped my shoulders even harder.

  “Ouch! Ouch!”

  It looked like Raphtalia’s attack power was now stronger than my own defense.

  That was good. I could depend on that in battle.

  “You want me to just run away? Right now?”

  “I’m just kidding. I was just surprised that you are worth that much.”

  “But… But Mr. Naofumi…”

  She relaxed her grip and looked embarrassed.

  “Anyway, Slave Trader, I’ve already decided not to sell her. Who would sell off their own daughter?”

  “Daughter?”

  “Don’t worry about it.”

  “Huh…?”

  “Even if I behaved like her father, she really only had two actual parents. If I just started behaving like her father, she was sure to hate it.

  “Well, that is too bad. Too bad indeed… Now then, what can I do for you?”

  “Haven’t you heard all the commotion at the castle?”

  He smiled at the question.

  “I’ve heard of it. The slave curse has been lifted, yes?”

  “If you already know then that makes things easier. And if you already know, then don’t waste our time appraising her worth.”

  I’d been on the verge of losing my good graces with her.

  “That king’s rash remarks are not going to get rid of slavery in this kingdom. No sir.”

  The previous night the king was so upset that I was keeping Raphtalia as a slave that he was going bend the laws to confiscate her. Apparently the only justification was that Motoyasu didn’t like the idea of it.

  “Huh? But the royal family doesn’t keep slaves, do they?”

  “Ha! The royals buy more slaves than anyone. They find all sorts of ways to put them to use. Yes sir.”

  “That idiot Motoyasu! The stupid Spear Hero, did he think that he could say all those things and not end up a hypocrite against the Crown?”

  Come to think of it, that really would be hilarious, and it would probably be better for the country in the end.

  “Yes, the country is not monolithic. There are many different voices to be heard. If the Crown were to speak out against it, they would be the first ones to suffer from the proclamation. Yes sir.”

  “Does the fool really have that much power?”

  Yes, the monarchy exercised absolute authority—but that doesn't mean it can do whatever it wants. If the Crown acts against the wishes of the people, there will be riots. Under such circumstances, the royal family may not be able to hold on to power for very long. His little princess wouldn’t be too happy about losing her shot at the throne.

  “Yes well, there are people with more power than the king…”

  “Um… What about the slave curse? Did we forget about that?”

  “Oh, yes, right away.”

  The conversation got derailed a little. And besides, if we weren’t going to see the Trash anymore, who cared?

  “Yes, so you’ve come to have the curse reapplied, correct?”

  “Yeah, can you do it?”

  “Naturally.”

  He snapped his fingers, and a servant appeared with the same jar that we had used for the ceremony the last time.

  Raphtalia looked ashamed as she removed her breastplate and exposed her chest.

  “H…How is it?”

  “What?”

  “Sigh.”

  Huh? Why did she look so upset?

  And why was she sighing? Did I do something wrong?

  Just like the last time, they mixed my blood with some ink and painted the curse seal onto Raphtalia’s chest. The pattern began to shine and glow.

  “Ugh…”

  She grit her teeth in pain.

  The slave icon reappeared in my field of vision. A window also appeared detailing the rules of use.

  I suppose I didn’t need to read it as thoroughly as I had the last time. Raphtalia had become a slave once again to earn my trust. I needed to believe in her too. Honestly, she really didn’t need to bother with the whole ceremony. It was just a show.

  “Now then.”

  I started mulling over the next steps to take when I noticed the pot of ink,

  I reached out to touch it, and my shield began to react.

  “Hey, can I buy some of this ink off of you?”

  “Certainly.”

  I poured the remaining ink onto the shield.

  The shield absorbed the ink.

  Slave User Shield: conditions met

  Slave User Shield II: conditions met

  Slave User Shield: ability locked:

  equip bonus: slave maturation adjustment (small)

  Slave User Shield II: ability locked:

  equip bonus: slave status adjustment (small)

  A Slave User Shield? Hm… well, I guess it only made sense.

  I looked at the tree, and it appeared on its own, branching out from the very first small shield. Because of that, it wasn’t very strong. But its equip bonuses seemed promising.

  Maturation adjustment…

  And hey, I’d only dumped a little ink on it, but I still ended up with two new shields.

  So all I needed to do was equip the shield for a while to unlock the ability, and then I’d be able to use those equip bonuses forever. It was a great system. The Legendary Shield allowed me to equip all these different shield types, learn their abilities, and then keep the abilities as I moved on through the levels. That was why us heroes could grow stronger than just normal people: our skill tree continued to grow.

  I think I had a pretty good handle on the skills, abilities, status boosts, and equip bonuses that the shield had accrued so far. But there were still so many things I didn’t understand, and I was beginning to feel that my mastery of the shield would decide whether or not I survived.

  I quietly looked over at Raphtalia.

  “What is it?”

  That reminds me, I’d let the shield absorb some of her hair. At the time I’d seen something about a raccoon shield, but this must have completed another requirement. That must be what unlocked the Slave User Shield II. At least, that was my best guess.

  Which would mean that…

  “Raphtalia, can I use a little of your blood?”

  “What is it?”

  “I want to try something.”

  She tilted her head and looked confused but poked the end of her finger with a penknife anyway. She dripped the blood into the ink pot, mixed it, and poured a little onto my shield.

  Slave User Shield III: conditions met

  Slave User Shield III: ability locked:

  equip bonus: slave maturation adjustment (medium)

  Nice! I was right!

  “Mr. Naofumi? You look like you’re having a lot of fun over there.”

  “Yeah, well, I just unlocked an interesting looking shield.”

  “Excellent.”

  I changed my shield into the Slave User Shield and decided to wait for the ability to unlock.

  “Now then… Hm?”

  We were finished there, so I turned to leave when I noticed a large wooden crate in the corner of the tent. It was filled with eggs.

  I’d never seen it before. What could it be?

  “What is that?”

  I asked the slave trader.

  “Oh, that’s a product for our cover business.”

  “And what IS your cover business?”

  “We deal in monsters.”

  His eyes shined when he answered.

  “Monsters? You mean there are monster trainers around here?”

  ` “You are a very clever man. Have you heard of them?”

  “I don’t think I’ve ever met one, but…”

  “Mr. Naofumi.”

  Raphtalia raised her hand.

  “What is it?”

  “Filolials are monsters raised by monster trainers.”

  I’d never even heard of a Filolial. I didn’t know what
she was talking about.

  “What’s that?”

  “Those giant birds around town. The ones that pull carriages instead of horses.”

  “Oh, yeah. Okay.”

  I’d seen them in town. They were giant birds that were used like horses. I thought they were some kind of animal that existed in this world, but I guess they were technically monsters.

  “There was a monster trainer in my village. He had a ranch where he raised different monsters for their meat.”

  “Really…”

  I guess in this world, farmers and ranch herders, anyone that worked with creatures like that were considered monster trainers. Maybe they just didn’t have the idea of “animal,” and everything that wasn’t human was called a monster.

  “So what are those eggs?”

  “If the monsters aren’t raised from the egg, they won’t take to human masters well. That is why we sell them as eggs. Yes sir.”

  “Okay.”

  “Would you like to see the monster cages?”

  He’d sell anything you wanted. This slave trader was quite the capitalist.

  “Nah, I’m good for now. But hey, what is that sign that’s leaning on the egg crate?”

  I couldn’t read what was written on it, but there was an arrow pointing to the box, and it appeared to be scrawled with numbers.

  “It’s a lottery! One try for 100 pieces of silver, and if you win, you get an egg!”

  “That’s one expensive ticket.”

  At the moment, we had 508 pieces of silver, which was quite a lot of money.

  “Well, they are very valuable monsters.”

  “I’m just asking to get an idea, but what were they called? Filolials? How much do you normally sell one of those for?”

  “For an adult? Typically around 200 pieces, but that can go up or down depending on the quality. Yes sir.”

  “If you charge 200 pieces for an adult, then I’m guessing a chick is cheaper? And the eggs must be even cheaper yet... Well, I suppose you have to account for the cost of raising the thing, but still. I’m wondering if it’s a good deal.”

  “Well it’s not like that, you see. The real egg is mixed in with other eggs.”