The Rising of the Shield Hero Volume 01 (11 page)

“What about you?”

“I’ll draw its attention. You run!”

“But!”

“That’s all we can do. I can’t fight. All I can do is protect you.”

“I don’t want to run away!”

“Then what will you do? Just die here?”

“… No!”

She fixed her grip on the sword, swung around the side of the dog, and stabbed it.

“Yipe!”

The dog whelped.

“I don’t want you to die!”

“… I won’t die. If I die, that means that I didn’t protect you.”

I had to get stronger to keep from dying. Like I would die in a place like this? Yeah right!

The dog was charging at Raphtalia.

I quickly changed to the Rope Shield.

“Air Strike Shield!”

The shield changed again, and I quickly turned to the dog.

“Argh?!”

The dog turned from Raphtalia and came rushing at me, howling.

One of the heads bit deep into my shoulder.

It hurt, and a spray of blood followed the pain.

“Master?!”

“Calm down! I’m fine!”

If it could overcome my defense rating, it must have been pretty strong. Its fangs were huge and sharp. I hope it wasn’t going to do any permanent damage.

This must be thanks to the shield too. It hurt, but it wasn’t anything I couldn’t handle.

“Yes!”

Raphtalia threw all of her strength into the thrust. She’d found the heart of the beast and stuck her sword into it.

“Rooooaaaaarrrrrrrrr!”

It shouted in pain, and Raphtalia pushed the sword in deeper.

“Arrrrrhhhhhhh!”

The dog was stronger than I thought. It still wriggled in pain. Raphtalia stabbed the heart again and again.

Finally, the dog stopped moving and collapsed.

EXP 340

Raphtalia EXP 430

We were rewarded for the battle with a hefty amount of EXP points. We both leveled up.

Huff… Huff…

“You did it. Good work.”

Both of us were covered in blood.

I rubbed her head.

“Master… Don’t die, please… My… My place…”

She was having trouble saying what she meant. But I think she wanted to keep things as they were.

Life as a slave must have been tough. Of course she didn’t want to return to that cage.

The situation was not bad at all. Is that why she wanted me to praise her?

Well I wasn’t planning on selling her off anytime soon. And all I wanted from her was her attack ability.

“Master… I don’t think I know your name yet…”

“Yeah, you’re right. It’s Naofumi Iwatani.”

“Nao… Fumi? Pleasure to… meet you.”

She looked sheepishly at the floor.

My… name?

Well it was better than being called “Master” or “Hero” all the time.

Time to absorb that monster.

We butchered the beast….

It wasn’t a fun experience… at all.

But we managed to do it.

Two-headed Black Dog Shield: conditions met

Two-headed Black Dog Shield: ability locked:

equip bonus: alert shield

Special Effect: Dog Bite

The shield looked like a two-headed dog. It was made from leather, and so realistic that the heads almost looked alive.

They seemed like pretty good abilities. Not bad.

I wondered what the Alert Shield did.

I also wondered what the special effect, Dog Bite, was all about.

I’d look it up later

I brushed some of the healing medicine over the bite on my shoulder. It stung a little, but I could feel the wound healing instantly.

After we got back to the inn, I’d see if I could find a magic user to heal it for me. I figured I could pay them.

That reminded me, this was the first time I’d felt pain since I arrived in this world. Of course there was pain here.

It’s not like we couldn’t fight… But still… I didn’t like being hurt.

The different parts of the dog didn’t cause the shield to react. Either that, or there wasn’t enough, or my level was too low.

“Well, we defeated the monster. Now let’s try to find some of that ore.”

“Okay!”

She seemed chipper all of a sudden.

I changed to the Pickax Shield for its collection ability 1, and made for the place on the map marked with an X. I swung the pickax, and when I did so a small X appeared on the wall, glowing. What was it? Was I supposed to look there?

“Yah!”

I swung the pickax as hard as I could.

The wall cracked. The cracks spiderwebbed out, and the wall collapsed.

“Woah!”

The thing crumbled so quickly.

I kept an eye on the fragile surroundings and started digging around for ore.

… But it wasn’t very easy.

I kept on swinging though, and eventually I unearthed a piece of shining ore.

“Light Metal?”

A type of ore called Light Metal, apparently.

Would it sell for a lot of money? It looked very pure.

There wasn’t very much, but we kept digging until early evening and eventually ended up with around ten pieces.

It wasn’t very efficient.

I let the shield absorb one.

It said that it needed more. I offered it another.

Light Metal Shield: conditions met

Light Metal Shield: ability locked:

equip bonus: defense 1

Special Effect: Magic Defense up

The defense rating was the highest one yet.

If I was going to fight strong monsters, this was the shield to use.

“What do you think?”

“Not much.”

“Right. Okay then, let’s head back, Mr. Naofumi.”

Raphtalia took my hand in hers and started walking.

“We have to stay alive.”

“Yeah.”

I thought that much was obvious. I need to survive and get back to my own world. I didn’t want to die in a world as shitty as this one.

We went back to Riyute and sold the ore.

We got a good price for it. It should support our activities and equipment needs for a while.

Chapter Seventeen: Preparing for the Wave

PikyuPikyu Shield: conditions met

Wood Shield: conditions met

Butterfly Shield: conditions met

Pipe Shield: conditions met

etc…

PikyuPikyu Shield: abilities locked:

equip bonus: simple weapon restoration 1

Wood Shield: abilities locked:

equip bonus: collection skill 1

Butterfly Shield: abilities locked:

equip bonus: paralysis resistance 1 (small)

Pipe Shield: abilities locked:

equip bonus: skill: Shield Prison

etc…

It had been a week and a day.

I’d learned a great number of skills by hunting the monsters, collecting medicines and ore, and allowing the shield to absorb them all in turn. There were so many new things appearing on my status screen that it was hard to keep up with it all.

“Wait!”

Noticing us, a prickled, needle-covered thing, which looked like a porcupine of some kind, ran off. Raphtalia and I ran after it.

The both of us had been leveling up steadily. Raphtalia had reached level 25, and I was at level 20.

Raphtalia had grown up very quickly.

… And I was still fighting in tattered rags.

I was amazed that I was able to come this far without taking any damage. Was I that strong, or were they all that weak?

But I had been hurt.

I’d been overconfident in my abilities. I was fighting against the porcupine with a weak shield and suddenly felt a sharp pain. Due to my carelessness, he’d gotten a hit on me, and it had damaged me a little.

Even though I’d been using the Alert Shield, he still managed to stick me.

Oh, by the way, the Alert Shield would send out an alarm if an enemy came within twenty meters of me. So it would warn me if anything came near.

It was not actually all that useful.

It would tell you if there was a monster nearby, but it wouldn’t tell you where that monster was.

“Geez, that kind of hurt.”

I painted some medicine over the spurting wound.

Of course it would hurt to get stuck with a needle. That’s normal.

I’d gotten so used to not feeling any pain since I’d come to this place that I had started to forget what it was like.

“That’s what I was saying, Mr. Naofumi. It’s really about time you got some better equipment for yourself.”

“Nah, it’s because I was using a weak shield.”

Somehow, my shield managed to protect my entire body, despite appearing as a normal shield. So I didn’t really need to change the rest of my equipment. I mean, the center of the shield still seemed to be the strongest, but the rest of my body was protected too, so I hadn’t been hurt yet.

The Sharpening Shield really was proving useful. Just like we’d thought, it would keep Raphtalia’s weapon sharp automatically.

It would sharpen for eight hours. If you took the sword out beforehand, it wouldn’t do anything. But the major problem was that it ate up my SP the whole time.

Whatever. Time to practice some of the other skills I’d learned.

“Air Strike Shield!”

The skill formed a giant shield in the air, with a range of about five meters.

It was mostly good for getting some distance from your opponent. The longer you left it deployed, the weaker it got.

But it got stronger if you screamed for it.

The porcupine reacted with surprise to the Air Strike Shield. But it immediately jumped to its feet and kept running.

Damn… If it had stayed within five meters, I could have chased it down, but the little bugger was fast.

Oh well.

“Shield Prison!”

The skill formed a large cage around the battlefield, with a diameter of about six meters.

This time, I called for it, keeping the porcupine set as my target.

The skill could be used to protect a target, or to restrain a target.

But they were both defensive, so it couldn’t be used to deal damage directly.

“Yipe!”

The porcupine had nowhere to run and started to spin in circles within the cage.

The cage would remain on the battlefield for fifteen seconds.

As we waited, Raphtalia ran over to the cage, and waited for it to disappear. When it did, she stabbed the porcupine.

“Yipe!”

“Got him!”

Raphtalia picked up the porcupine and came back over to where I was standing.

“Nice!”

EXP 48

Raphtalia EXP 48

Those numbers weren’t bad.

The monsters could be absorbed into the shield directly, and that would unlock new forms, but it was better to divide up the haul. I hadn’t known that before, but I figured it out during the last week. Balloons, Mush, and Eggugs could all be used as materials. I was lucky to figure it out as fast as I did.

We broke down the Porcupine into needles, meat, skin, and bones. Any of them could be used for materials, so it was pretty useful. I let the shield absorb them separately.

The bones could be used for all kinds of things. The skins gave you a status boost, but only if the skill tree and level were appropriate.

The meat was for cooking. Eventually, it all started to come naturally.

I was excited about the needles, because I already had a Porcupine Shield.

Animal Needle Shield: conditions met

Animal Needle Shield… A Needle Shield would probably have cool abilities.

Animal Needle Shield: abilities locked:

equip bonus: attack 1

Special Effect: Needle Shield (small)

Finally! Now I could ataaaaaaaaaaaack!

But yes, I realize that it was only level one.

The special effect, Needle Shield (small), could have been anything, but I didn’t care because I’d stumbled on the shield tree for the attack statistic.

Now all I really needed to find were some items that had a connection to the statistic, and I could finally start working on my attack level.

The defense level was slightly lower than that of the Ore Shield, but I’m sure I could survive.

“What do you think?

“It looks like it will raise my attack stats.”

“Excellent! But what about its defense rating?”

Raphtalia looked concerned about the possibility of my injury.

“It’s all right.”

“Well, that’s good. Um… About my sword… It’s getting a little dull, and I…”

“Fine. Let’s take a break from hunting and head back to town,”

“Yay!”

I changed to the Sharpening Shield and stuck Raphtalia’s sword into it.

Sharpening…

We’d been working hard, so our levels were rising quickly, and we’d made a good amount of money. Would you believe it… 230 pieces of silver! It was thanks to the Light Metals.

Also the medicine was selling well, and the various collecting and fabrications skills that the shields gave me were definitely helping us make a decent profit.

The main issue was that my life here was taking on the very same character that I used when I played online games. I guess that is only to be expected, considering that I was devoting so much of my time to making money.

Not that money would make me any stronger… But I still needed it to survive.

“All right, let’s head back to town and get you some new equipment.”

“… Mr. Naofumi?”

Huh? She was smiling at me, somehow tense, kind of worried.

“I really do appreciate your offer to buy me new equipment, but before you do, shouldn’t you think a bit more about your own appearance?”

“What, do I look weird?”

“Aside from your Shield, you look just like a normal villager.”

“Yeah well… I don’t really need much else. Can’t I get by with just a change of clothes?”

She grabbed my shoulders and smiled at me.

“Didn’t that porcupine hurt you?”

“I told you, I was using a weak shield… It’s not a big deal. If we use our funds on your equipment, it’s better in the long run.”

“But, Mr. Naofumi… If you don’t take care of yourself, you’ll end up dead.”

“Dead?!”

She had a grip on her sword, and she was getting forceful. I mean, the slave spell should keep her from actually hurting me…

“It’s time. It’s time that you took another look at yourself. You’ve taken this as far as you can.”

“Well…”

She was right. And come to think of it, the wave of destruction would probably come sometime in the next few days. I needed to be as strong as I could when it arrived.

So, I guess that dressing like a villager would not inspire confidence in the public.

The goal and the means were flipped around backwards.

“Geez…”

I had wanted to raise my attack level more…

“Forget about me for now. Let’s focus on getting you some better equipment, Mr. Naofumi.”

“Fine. We’ll buy some stuff and then use the leftover money on you.”

“Okay.”

She was more comfortable with me than she had been, but she was getting cheeky.

I wanted to remind her that she worked for ME, but she had learned the limits of her slave spell, and was now careful not to cross any lines.

To put it simply, she was becoming a pain. But if she was capable of pointing out my shortfalls, that was something I needed too. If I thought about the future, I’d need someone like her around.