The Rising of the Shield Hero Volume 01 (18 page)

There were a few different versions, but I had them all memorized, so we should be just fine.

Or so I thought. We kept running into dead ends.

Well, that was weird. In the game this had definitely been the right way.

Even still, we made it to the end of the dungeon within the time allotted. The room was filled with cool air. The walls were built of stone but were blue and transparent as if they were made from ice. The place felt mystical and dreamy.

“Wow…”

Myne and the others were amazed as they looked around.

“All right, so there should be a treasure chest, over there.”

I pointed to a large, ornate box way at the back of the room.

“But what’s inside?”

“There’s a Miracle Seed in there that will save the villagers. But first we have to defeat whoever is guarding it.”

“What do you mean?”

“When you get close to it, the bricks fall down from above and turn into a golem. Don’t worry. He’s not that strong. If you all back me up with magic, we’ll be just fine.”

“Yes sir!”

“We’re rooting for you!”

“You can do it, Mr. Motoyasu! It’s like you know everything about everything!”

“I know, I know. Stop embarrassing me.”

We walked closer to the treasure chest. Naturally, I took the lead and let the girls follow.

And just as I expected, the golem fell from above.

“Groowl…”

The stone golem raised his heavy arm to attack me.

“I’ll protect you! Wing Blow!”

“First Aqua Shot!”

“You can do it!”

Under attack from the girls’ magic and my skills, the golem quickly collapsed. From the collapsed stones, the core of the golem floated in the air.

“Haah!”

Before the golem could revive, I quickly cleaved the core in two.

“Ha! Take that!”

“You’re so strong, Mr. Motoyasu!”

“Yes! You really took care of that big golem!”

“You’re amazing!”

They all kept cheering for me.

“Oh well, it really isn’t much… Just kidding! It was pretty amazing! Hahaha!”

Now then, time to open the box and get that seed.

Or so I thought. But then…

There was a sudden and powerful rumble. The floor was shaking.

“Wh… What is this?!”

“An earthquake?!”

“It… It’s…”

I had a very bad feeling.

“This is weird. We didn’t fail…”

“What is it?!”

“When you mess up, the ruins collapse. Of course there is a way out, but then you have to start all over again. And to get out, there is a penalty dungeon.”

There was an item that we could only get at that dungeon, but it wasn’t like we really NEEDED it. Back when I was playing the beta version of the MMORPG, there was a very strong piece of equipment you could get from one of the monsters that appeared during this penalty dungeon event. But right now we needed to focus on lower-level projects.

“What?”

I didn’t understand. We should have had more than ten minutes remaining.

“What makes you fail the test?”

“Remember the candles we lit when we first came in? We just needed to defeat the golem before they burned out. And of course, if they had gone out during the allotted time, we were permitted to go back and relight them. Depending on the difficulty level you set, you could be forced to do so because the fights would take longer.”

“Huh…?”

Myne sounded confused.

“What is it?”

“Well I thought we didn’t need them, so I blew them out.”

“Whaaaaaaat?!”

Just as I screamed, the floor split open, and we all fell through the crack.

“Wooooaaaaahhhh!”

“Yaaaaaaaahhhh””

We’d fallen onto some sort of giant stone slide, and all of us were slipping and sliding down it quickly.

“M…Myne!”

“Mr. Motoyasu!”

I reached out my hand, but before we could find one another we all were split into different directions and partitioned from each other by walls.

“Where is this?”

The slide ended. I lit a torch and investigated my surroundings.

If this was anything like the game, then our paths would meet up…

I pictured the map in my head and started running.

There shouldn’t be any monsters in the dungeon that Myne and the others wouldn’t be able to take care of on their own. Even still, I’d feel better if we were all together.

“You know?”

I heard someone talking.

“That stupid guy needs to explain himself. You know?”

“He only looks at our boobs and butts. It gives me the willies.”

“He drew on my face when I was sleeping! He needs to learn his place.”

“But he’s easy to use because he’s stupid. He’s got money, and he’s a Hero, so we can do whatever we want.”

“I know!”

“Even still, that thing yesterday? No way!”

“My poor tongue. That terrible food from his world was disgusting.”

“I know!”

“How about that girl that tried to team up with us the other day? She was something else!”

“Oh, I know! Do you remember how we sold her off to that shop? I just told her we were going to a spa, and she walked in with handcuffs on and everything! It was so easy! It was so hard to keep from laughing!”

I remembered now. The theme of the dungeon had been betrayal.

There was a 30% chance of meeting a monster called the Voice Fighter, and it impersonated the voices of your party members. It was set up to say things that were too awful to believe.

Of course, in the game you couldn’t hear real voices, but your character would end up confused.

To my ear, it sounded like Myne and the others were saying awful things.

I turned the corner and found myself in a large, open space.

And Myne and the others were there. They had just finished beating up a Voice Fighter that was in the form of a bat.

“Oh! Mr. Motoyasu!”

“Hey, are you girls okay? This place has dangerous monsters that play with your mind.”

“We’re fine!”

Right, they’d finished the monster off before I arrived. Good.

“What should we do now?”

“We’re fine. Follow me.”

I pointed to the hallway that would lead us out. We followed it and found ourselves outside.

We had only been in the dungeon for a short time, but the sun felt blinding.

“Ok, you girls stay in the entrance and guard the candles. I’ll run to the bottom.”

“Ok, Mr. Motoyasu!”

“Yes! We’ll protect the candles with our very lives!

“Leave it to us!”

“Right on!”

I ran back through the dungeon and got the Miracle Seed.

I also let the Spear absorb the golem core and some of the stones there. The Spear it unlocked was just a drop item and wasn’t very good.

The equip bonus was status up. That might come in handy later.

We went back to the village and gave the Miracle Seed to the village chief.

“What is this?”

“It’s a Miracle Seed that produces abundant food when you plant it. It will solve your famine problem, so I assume you want to buy it.”

“This… This Seed?”

“Yeah, it was hidden deep in a nearby dungeon. Take good care of it.”

“But those ruins were supposed to have been sealed by a powerful, evil alchemist.”

“What?”

“Oh, it’s nothing. If the Spear Hero says it, it must be true.”

He smiled, and planted the Seed in a field.

It instantly sprouted, grew, and produced fruit. The village cheered.

“Thank you so much, Spear Hero!”

“Ha, ha ha! That’s what I’m here for, to save the world!

It really did feel good to help people.

“Oh hey? Once you two reach level 40 we should go back to Castle Town to change your class.”

The four Heroes couldn’t change their classes, which was different from the game. But Myne and the others could.

Class changing was a ceremony that you had to undergo to take the level cap off of your character and to improve your stats.

They held the ceremony at the Dragon Hourglass.

Myne was good with magic, so had this been a game she probably would have been a wizard. If so, then I would make her into a high level wizard.

Besides, I knew how the world worked, so my decisions were sure to turn out the best in the end.

“Yes!”

“Wow! It’s already time for rising in class?!”

“Excellent! Now we can do even more things for you! We want to help you, Mr. Motoyasu!”

“Right on!”

I thrust my fist in the air and savored our victory.

Then I reached out for Myne’s butt and gave it a squeeze.

“What was that?! Oh, Mr. Motoyasu, I sure wish you’d control yourself.”

“Ahahaha!”

Man, oh man, this world sure was fun.

I already knew everything I needed to know from the game, and all the girls loved me.

And besides, that vicious woman that killed me was nowhere near here.

It was so much fun! I just couldn’t stop laughing.

The wave would be here in six days. And I was starting to look forward to it.

That was how we spent our days: having fun and leveling up. We did so on the way back to Castle Town.

It was a great place for him, an ideal world full of excitement. He was proud to be there.

In the Records of the Four Holy Weapons it says that the Spear Hero thinks deeply of his friends.

If he continues on without understanding the difference between kindness and naivety, what sort of fate will he meet?

At the time, he was not the true Hero.

He was little more than a clown.

He only heard what he wanted, and ignored what upset him. His belief in his friends was unfounded and led him to great peril later on.

What happened to the town that he saved? The answer is not written as part of his story.

This story was inherited by a sage who delivered a sacred bird.

But even that is not enough to stop the large waves that were to come.

In the end, all is drowned by the waves of the destruction…

Special Extra Chapter Two:

The Flag on the Kid’s Meal

“I’m going out!”

“Make sure you are back for lunch!”

“Okay!”

The weather is amazing today!

After I said bye to my parents I headed for the town square. Keel and the others were waiting for me there.

“Hey, you really came!”

“Sure.”

Keel wiggled his little dog-like ears while he waited for me.

The other kids were already there.

“They said we can’t go to the ocean today because Sadeena isn’t here. I said it would be fine, but still…”

“But Keel, you almost drowned last time.”

“Oh shut up! Anyway, let’s play in the fields today.”

“Okay!”

Everyone nodded in agreement.

“All right, let’s go! You’d better stick with me so you don’t get lost!”

“Who do you think you’re talking to? I’m a fast runner!”

We all raced each other out to the fields.

But really, I was a fast runner. I was probably just as fast as Keel, and everyone said that he was the fastest.

Once I started running, everyone fell into line behind me.

“You really are fast!”

“If you throw your arms out ahead of you and think about running faster, you’ll really increase your speed.”

I was trying to tell one of the slower kids how to run fast, and as we were talking about it we arrived at the field.

My parents had said that we needed to be careful because there were monsters, but we had never run into any real danger.

“What do you want to do today?”

“Ah shoot! I lost. I swear that I’ll beat you next time!”

Keel shot me a nasty look.

Heh, heh. This was going to be a good day.

“Let’s play tag!”

“Sounds good!”

“Yeah!”

Everyone agreed with my plan.

“I’ll be it! I’m going to catch you!”

“You won’t catch me!”

Keel really hated to lose, but that was one of the best things about him.

“Ahahaha!”

“Shoot! Wait up!”

Keel seemed like he was actually upset. He only chased after me.

Eventually we all tired out, and we all decided to take a break.

“What should we do next?”

“Everyone can still play, right?”

“I don’t have to help out at home, so I can still play.”

For whatever reason, there were times when everyone had stuff they had to do at home. I helped my mom cook.

“Let’s play tag again!”

“But I’m so tired. Let me catch my breath.”

Keel had way too much energy. I guess boys are like that.

“Whatever. Then the rest of us will play without you.”

“Yeah!”

All the boys got up and went to play tag.

“They sure are energetic.”

“I know!”

The girl next to me, Rifana, agreed with me. We both sat and watched the boys play.

“Hey, who do you like?”

“Hmmm…”

We were all close to the age where we started to care about love and relationships.

We started talking about who was dating who, and who we thought would get married. Before long we were both talking excitedly.

“Maybe someone like my dad!”

“That’s cheating! He needs to be the same age as you!”

“Hmm…”

I turned to watch the boys playing.

Keel was probably the coolest boy among them. He had a good face. But, and I know I shouldn’t say things like this, I’d never liked the look of my own face in the mirror.

If we went to the nearby town there were a lot of cute girls around, and the older we got the more obvious their beauty became.

And my race wasn’t highly regarded for our beauty…

But my dad was cool, and he was handsome. I wanted to be like my dad.

Everyone said that my mom was cute. She was really nice too, and she knew how to cook…

I wonder… Will I be pretty when I grow up? I’d asked my mom that question before.

She smiled and nodded.

So I was pretty sure I’d be pretty once I grew up.

Another time, I asked her what it was like to fall in love with a man. Is it different from loving your family?

She looked confused.

I guess she loved men differently from the way she loved me.

“I think there are different ways to like people. My mom once said that she liked people differently from the way she liked me.”

“Yeah! I get that. But I want to marry someone like… someone like the Legendary Shield Hero!”

Rifana was my best friend from the village. She was more girly than I was, and she liked to talk about love and boys. She especially liked to talk about the
Records of the Four Holy Weapons
, because it said that the Shield Hero was nice to demi-humans.

“Well I…”

But just then…

Up until that point I had never thought that my life would consist of anything other than a succession of peaceful days. I had really believed it.

Ping!

A loud sound echoed over the fields

Just as I started to wonder what it could be, the air started shaking, and a sudden and powerful wind blew.

“Ah!”

“Kyaaah!”

“What the?”

We all fell to the ground and waited for the wind to die down.

A moment later the wind faded. Everything was quiet.

“What was that?!”

“Hey, look at that.”

Keel was pointing to the sky.

I looked to where he was pointing and was stunned to silence.

The sky looked like it had been ripped open with a knife. It was coved in a deep red crack, like a tortoise shell. It was eerie.

“What should we do?”

“My parents said to come back to the village if anything happened.”

“If we don’t check it out now, we might not ever have a chance again.”

“No! Keel!”

The other kids and I all held Keel back, and we went back to the village together.

“Raphtalia!”

“Daddy!”

My father returned from the neighboring town. I rushed over to him.

“Are you okay? I was so worried!”

“I’m okay. You said to come back if anything happened, so I rushed back here.”

“Good girl.”

He rubbed my head.

Hee hee hee…

My dad started talking to all the other adults.

“Everyone listen up. I’ve just gone to see the lord of these lands. He says that those cracks in the sky lead to the ground and that huge crowds of monsters are swarming out of them.”

“Does that mean that we have to fight them?”

“I think it does.”

There was a terrifying howl coming from the cracks in sky.

My tail started swishing aggressively at the sound of the howl. It was so scary.

“Will we be okay?”

“Hm….”

“H…Hey! We’re in trouble! The monsters have already flooded the town! It’s like hell out there!”

An old man from the village ran in and announced the news. His face was pale.

“But… How? How could they have gotten here so fast?!”

“The lord has commanded us to evacuate as quickly as possible! He has already called for support from the castle!”

“What had happened to the lord?”

“I don’t know, but he has left instructions for everyone to evacuate as soon as possible!”

“Ugh…”

The adults looked very upset as they talked.

“And Sadeena is away, and all the hunters are out fishing…”

“There’s a big storm out at sea too. Who knows if they will be able to return safely?”

The sky was looking worse and worse.

Just then there was a large, strange sound. Everyone turned to see what it was.

“What… is that?!”

There was something there, like… like a person made of bones. It was stumbling and dragging its feet as it walked in our direction.”

It was carrying something like a weapon in its bony hands, and it was shining with a dull light.

I was scared. I was scared down to my bones.

It was a monster.

That was the only word that fit, and it described it perfectly.

“Uh… aaaaaahhhhhh!”

The adults all screamed and started to run away.

The rest of the villagers all started to scream too.

My father jumped in front of the monster to head them off.

“I command the very root of power. Light! Slay the beast before me!”

“First Holy!”

A ball of magical, sparkling light flew from my father’s outstretched hands, and the bone monster collapsed.

“Everyone please calm down and listen to me. We need to evacuate here as soon as possible. While our tribe commands great power, we have no hope of standing up to such numbers.”

“You’re right.”

My mother threw a hatchet at a skeleton as she agreed with my father.

But there were still large numbers of skeletons heading for the village.

“We will stay here and buy time. The rest of you…”

“Uh… okay.”

“Y…Yes.”

“All right. If you are sure…”

Everyone caught their breath for a moment before beginning the evacuation.

They decided to head for a town on the harbor. Even in a storm, they still might be able to escape on boats, out into the sea.

“AAAHHHHHH!”

But things didn’t go as planned.

“Damn these monsters!”

A large beast with three heads was running for the village.

My parents were fighting with all their might, but it wasn’t enough. The beast was too fast; it kept dodging my father’s magic and my mother’s hatchet.

“Gaahhhh!”

The beast violently swung its clawed paw, and my father and another villager went flying through the air. They both fell to the ground, their joints twisted.

Huh? What?

I couldn’t believe it…

“Wh… WHAAAAAAAAA!!”

“AAAAAHHH!”

The villagers started panicking and running as fast as they could.

They ignored my father’s shouts for order and ran for the ocean.

The panicking villagers pushed by me, and I fell to the ground.

“Everyone, wait just a second!”

“Are you okay?”

My mother was there, hugging me.

But her face was pale.

A three-headed dog was chasing down the villagers, attacking them with its fangs and claws.

“I’m… scared…”

My mother ran her fingers through my hair.

“It’s okay. We’ll be just fine, don’t you worry.”

“Um…Um…”

If my mother said we would be okay… we would be… right?

“We’re going.”

My father started running off after the other fleeing villagers. My mother and I followed close behind.

The villagers arrived at a cliff by the sea and started jumping into the ocean.

The dog was chasing after them. And then, I couldn’t believe it! The dog jumped into the ocean after them and started eating the swimming villagers.

The ocean turned red.

“Wahhhhhhh!”

“Dammit, we were too late!”

My father was screaming. He and my mother ran off to attack the dog and defend the remaining villagers. I hid behind them.

“Aaaaah!”

The huge, three-headed dog leapt out of the ocean and turned to face us. It howled. It cornered us against the cliff, so that we had nowhere to run.

“Grrr…”

The three-headed dog leapt at us, its claws out.

My father managed to bat away the claws with his magic, but then a shower of blood sprayed from his shoulder.

Huh?

“Dear, are you all right?”

“I’m fine… But…”

We were up against the cliff. The other villagers were all already in the ocean, but more than half of them had been… had been…

“Ahhh…”

“I was so scared. I held onto my mother’s back.

Everyone below was swimming to save their own lives, but the current was strong, and they kept getting pulled further out to sea. They were going to drown.

“If we don’t take care of this thing, he’ll follow the villagers into the sea and kill them all.”

“I know…”

“‘I’m sorry, honey…”

“I was prepared.”

They finished talking and both turned to me.

“Raphtalia.”

“Wh…What?”

She was rubbing my back, trying to calm me down.

“Don’t forget to smile. Be nice to the others.”

“She’s right. When you smile, everyone smiles.”

Father rubbed my head.

“Raphtalia… Things will be hard for you. If you aren’t careful, you might even die.”

“But still… Even still, Raphtalia, we want you to live. So please, forgive us for our selfishness.”

My heart started pounding… It was like… It was like I wasn’t ever going to see them again.

“Nooo! Mommy! Daddy!”

I didn’t want to leave them.

My mother pushed me, hard, and I flew from the cliff, through the air, and fell into the ocean.

All I could see were bubbles popping violently here and there. I hurried to get my head above water.

And then… I saw it. I saw the exact second that the three-headed dog leapt at my parents.

“NOOOOOOOOOOO!!”

The current took me, but I kicked the whole way.

When I finally found myself on the shore, the sky was already dark.

Huff… Huff…

There were other survivors from the village there too. But some of the dead villagers had washed up as well.

The sky had already returned to its normal color.

I had no idea what had happened.

But I wanted to see my parents again, more than anything. I hurried back to the cliff where I had left them.

There were bones lying all around. It looked like reinforcements had arrived from the castle to drive the monsters off.

When I arrived, I found strips of flesh, and the skeleton of that monster. Knights and adventurers were carrying it off.

I was able to piece together what had happened.

“Well, good thing it had already taken a beating…”

“Yeah, otherwise we probably couldn’t have beaten it.”

The adventurers and knight were bantering when they noticed me there

“What’s with the brat? Should we grab her?”

“Wait. We are in demi-human territory.”

“What are you talking about? The area lord is dead, didn’t you hear?”

“Oh yeah?”

“Anyway, leave her alone. You know what would happen.”