The Rising of the Shield Hero Volume 05 (16 page)

“See what I mean, kiddo? There’s no mistaking him. See how he just oozes self-satisfaction? His face says he wouldn’t mind killing anyone that got in his way. It’s the kind of face that never doubts itself.”

Give me a break! There WAS a hero there, but it was the wrong one.

“That guy is going to cause trouble at some point or another. Stay on your toes around him.”

“Can’t disagree with you there.”

Come to think of it, Itsuki and his party had been causing trouble pretty much since we left the harbor in Melromarc.

The shadows and soldiers that had come with us all from the castle looked like they were exhausted from dealing with it all.

“To think you’d be confused with someone like that . . . .”

Raphtalia looked almost sickened by the suggestion.

I wanted to tell him how disappointing it was to be put in the same category as Armor, but I was pretty sure L’Arc wasn’t going to be convinced that easily.

“Well that’s enough chitchat, isn’t it? Should we get going?”

“Good thinking.”

I sent them an invitation to join the party, and they accepted.

“We’ve already picked the island we want to head for, but did you have any other suggestions before we leave?”

I really hoped they were going to agree with my choice—if they didn’t we might end up running into other heroes.

“No problem, Shield Kiddo. If you have a place picked out, then that should do fine. We can probably handle ourselves pretty much anywhere.”

“Yes, I agree. The item you made me can’t wait to get into battle.”

The item wanted to fight? Uh . . . okay.

I was a little perturbed by how overly excited Therese was about the bracelet, but I didn’t say anything about it. Instead, I pointed to the island I’d picked out.

“By the way, L’Arc, what level are you guys?”

If they had made it up to level 40 then there shouldn’t be any problems. Actually we’d gone ahead and leveled up pretty far on our own, so even if they were lower than that, we should be able to make up for it.”

But still, no matter how you looked at it, if he was a normal adventurer, then I don’t see how they could have leveled past 40.

“I’m 56 and she’s 52.”

Huh? I guess they’d been through the class-up ceremony. If so, there shouldn’t be any problem.

But they were pretty high level. In a good way, I sort of felt like I’d been betrayed. But it was the sort of betrayal I was happy to accept.

“What about you kiddos?”

“I’m at 63, Raphtalia is 65, Filo is 67.”

“Ha! You guys don’t mess around, do you?”

“Well we leveled a lot over the last two days.”

Filo had shot up 27 levels in that time.

The leveling had been so fast it made my head spin. Sure, the shield helped by keeping the enemies at bay—but still.

“Let’s talk strategy. What kind of fighting style do you use, kiddo?”

“A shield is only good for one thing. I stand at the front and block the monster’s attacks. I keep them at bay. Then my friends jump in when they show their weak points.”

“Ha! You’re really into the Shield Hero thing, aren’t ya? But that’s okay, I like the simple folk.”

“What about you?”

He had an absurdly large scythe hanging at his waist, but did he really fight with it?

What a strange weapon to use. I’d seen scythes in games before. They were normally used by death-type characters. I didn’t really know why though. In the real world they were used for harvesting grain, or something like that.

“Who, me? I use this bad boy right here,” he said, touching the scythe. “Therese mostly sticks to magic.”

“That’s right. I have to say that I’m really excited to see how this new item works in battle.”

So I guess L’Arc was the offensive player while Therese backed him up with magic. We’d work together well—my party was pretty skewed towards offense, so I could use help with supporting the others.

There might be too many people at the front though. Maybe we needed more support in the center.

The center was basically a space between the frontline and the support group. It was populated by characters that could handle both offense and defense when the need arose.

The niche could also be filled by people with ranged weapons, so they could stay in the back line and still deal damage.

Among the four heroes, Motoyasu probably fit the bill most clearly.

If the four of us were fighting together, then Ren and I would be in the front, Motoyasu in the center, and Itsuki would be in the back.

The center was basically there to protect the back row from any enemies that made it through the first line of defense. Either that or it was there to help support the front when the back wasn’t able to.

They could really do anything, which was both a blessing and a curse. Motoyasu’s personality, however, pretty much put him at the front.

“Fine. I’ll stand at the front to stop the enemy attacks. L’Arc and Therese, you help Raphtalia and Filo.”

That pretty much summed it up.

If they came at me with weapons or magic though, it wasn’t going to be pretty.

“Sounds good!”

L’Arc seemed to be in full support.

We climbed out of the boat and stepped out onto the shore before pushing for the interior of the island.

The monsters that we met along the way were not very strong at all, so Filo basically took them out with a single kick the moment that we encountered them.

For the moment, Filo was fighting in human form.

I got the feeling that she was practicing her human fighting tactics on purpose, to make sure that she was always prepared.

“Alright . . . .”

“What should we do with this monster?”

L’Arc was pointing to the corpse at our feet.

“Huh? We could break it down for materials.”

Honestly, most of the monsters we’d run into on the islands were not great for materials. And that went double for all the weaklings we ran into on the path deeper into the island.

“I was actually wondering if I could take it.”

“Hmm . . . .”

The drop would be some usable potion of something, which I guess might be a little useful.

I was considering it, when L’Arc lowered his weapon and pointed it at the corpse.

“We’ll split it then.”

And then, just like I did with my shield, he absorbed it into his scythe.

“What?”

“What’s the matter, kiddo?”

He’d absorbed the corpse so naturally—I was speechless for a minute.

What was going on? I was pretty sure that was an ability only possible with one of the heroes’ legendary weapons.

But L’Arc wasn’t a hero. I knew that he wasn’t, because when we killed the monster I got experience points out of it.

What on earth was going on?”

“Alright, I’m next.”

I held out my shield and absorbed the corpse.

I could barely believe it. The queen hadn’t said anything about this either. This world was full of mysteries.

L’Arc had a weapon that processed abilities I’d thought were only available to the heroes and their legendary weapons.

Actually, now that I thought about it, I didn’t really know very much about normal adventurers.

There was that transformation ability, I guess. I didn’t know very much about it. Melty had said something about it before, something about the reappearance of the heroes’ skills or something . . . .

I’d have to make a point to discuss it with the old guy at the weapon shop the next time I saw him.

If there were weapons that could do THAT, why hadn’t he sold me one?

Anyway, it was clear that I didn’t have enough information to figure out what was going on.

“I think we just met someone very interesting, don’t you think?”

“Maybe so . . . .”

Raphtalia and I whispered. She was motioning towards L’Arc with her eyes.

“Filo, you sure are a tough girl!”

“Hehe! I know I am!”

L’Arc and Therese were talking to Filo, who had her chest puffed up with pride at her victory.

I wanted to find out just how powerful these two really were.

We pushed on further into the interior of the island and encountered a monster called the Karma Rabbit Familia. It was basically a giant black rabbit. If this island was anything like the last one, there would probably be a boss waiting at the end, the Karma Rabbit.

Should we bring L’Arc and Therese all the way back there?

Regardless, I needed to focus on the battles that were happening along the way.

I couldn’t let myself be tricked by the appearance of the cute rabbit.

Rabbit-type enemies always appeared in games in a tricky way—they always sort of betrayed your expectations of them.

The first time you ran into them, they’d be one of the lower level monsters that you ran into at the start of the game—like the usapils back in Melromarc.

But once you got further along in the game, rabbit-type monsters would appear again, but they would normally be way stronger than you would expect from your previous experience.

I’d run into that in games before. They trick you by looking cute, and then when your guard is down they rush in with a killing move.

You’d let your guard down, and they’d kick your head from your shoulders.

The rabbit tensed its powerful hind legs and shot through the air at us.

I anticipated the attack and raised my shield to block my neck. The rabbit connected and produced a shower of sparks.

I figured it would do something like that.

I jumped back and caught the Karma Rabbit Familia as it tried to escape.

“Everyone watch out! These things are way stronger than they look! They’re fast too!”

“Got it!”

“Understood.”

L’Arc and Raphtalia signaled that they understood.

“I’m going in!”

Filo shot forward and ran for the rabbit.

Therese was still hanging back. What was she doing?

“All-encompassing power of the jewel, hear my plea and show yourself. My name is Therese Alexanderite. I am your friend. Lend me the power to destroy them!”

She was chanting a spell.

But it was a phrasing I’d never heard before. As she chanted, her hair began to turn red.

The bracelet on her wrist began to glow, and then a giant ball of flame appeared, hovering before her.

“Shining stone, ball of flame!”

Of all the magic attacks I’d seen before this one was the most beautiful. It shot toward the Karma Rabbit Familia.

But it sucked me into its path of destruction on the way.

“Mr. Naofumi!”

Hey! I’m standing here! Why did they have to hit ME with their magic?

Or so I was thinking, but then something mysterious happened.

The spell didn’t hurt me. It only affected the rabbit, which burst into flames.

And when it passed me by unscathed, I heard a voice.

It was a voice I’d never heard before. I think it said “thank you.”

By the time I realized what was happening, the rabbit was engulfed in flames.

I didn’t even feel any heat. And it wasn’t because of my defense level either. The flames didn’t seem to have any effect on me at all.

To take it one step further, it was almost as if the flames had protected me. The parts of my body that had felt sluggish since the curse suddenly felt lighter, as if they had been purified.

What a strange spell.

The flames finally burned out, and then L’Arc held his scythe aloft before bringing it down hard.

“Flying Circle!”

His scythe transformed into energy and spun rapidly, producing a circle of light that fell on the rabbit, slicing it in two.

The Karma Rabbit Familia was now definitely dead.

“Are you alright?”

“What was that spell you used?”

“Therese’s magic doesn’t hurt her allies!”

“Yeah . . . I’d figured that much out.”

It was a form of magic I had never seen before.

“The bracelet you made me is very powerful, Mr. Naofumi.”

“She’s right. I could tell from the minute the spell activated. We could give you all the money we have and it wouldn’t be enough. Thanks a bunch, kiddo.”

“That’s not really what I meant.”

L’Arc finally seemed to understand what I was trying to ask. He rubbed his chin and answered.

“Therese’s magic works by combining her magic with the power of the jewels she wears.”

“Hm . . . .”

“I’ve never heard of such a thing.”

“Oh well, it’s a pretty common type of magic where I’m from.”

“What are you saying Therese? Your magic is . . . .”

But before he could finish, Therese rushed over and clapped her hand down over L’Arc’s mouth. Then she whispered something in his ear, and he nodded along.

What were they talking about?

“Oh . . . .”

To be fair, I guess we hadn’t been completely upfront with them either, so I couldn't really blame them.

And besides, we were only going to be sticking around for the duration of the activation event. But if they were as powerful as they seemed to be, then it might be worth keeping them around.

“These things give tons of experience!”

“Yeah, they do.”

For such a short battle, the rewards were great. Each time we defeated a monster, L’Arc and I split the drop items and the corpse.

I unlocked a few skills, but only one looked interesting.

Karma Rabbit Familia Shield: abilities locked: equip bonus: alert range (small): usauni status adjustment (small)

Alert range (small), huh? It was probably something similar to the ability I got from the dogs, the sense of smell up (small). Maybe this ability was even better?

“You kiddos sure are powerful.”

“Well . . . .”

If the Shield Hero wasn’t able to block the attacks of enemies, then he really wasn’t good for anything, was he?

“Actually, L’Arc, I’m pretty surprised by how powerful you guys are.”

L’Arc seemed to have just about as much attack power as Raphtalia. He was defeating enemies with one hit.

It seemed like the scythe was normally more portable, but it grew to be really large when it was time for battle.

It wasn’t a hero weapon. And it wasn’t a replica of a legendary weapon like the high priest had used. It must have just been something I’d never heard of, but what?

I recalled something the queen had said. She’d said that the heroes were weaker than she had been expecting.

Maybe this is just what powerful adventurers were like? If so, then what she’d said made sense.

Anyway, I never got an answer to my questions, and we all moved on deeper into the island.

As expected, we found a strange Stonehenge-like structure, and in the center was another mysterious sphere, just like the one we’d seen that was protected by the Karma Dog.

We approached the sphere, and it suddenly warped—just like last time—and a monster appeared. This time it was a Karma Rabbit.

Its ears were very long, and they moved almost as if they were hands.

From the look of it, I had an idea of how the battle was going to go. Just like we’d done when fighting the underlings, I’d have to block the sneak attack that it had—only this time I’d have to find some way to deal with those hand-like ears too.

“Boo!”

In my world, rabbits weren’t known for their voices. But the Karma Rabbit opened its mouth and exhaled sharply, and it certainly seemed to be shouting at us.

At the same time, huge spikes shot up from the ground all around the Karma Rabbit.

So it had earth attacks. That wasn’t good.

“Alright! I’m going to stop that thing in its tracks. Everyone, attack when you get the chance! Got it?!”

“Yes.”

“Yeah!”

“Okay!”

“Let’s do it!”

And so the battle with the Karma Rabbit began.

Throughout the battle, familias kept appearing. They weren’t a significant threat though, and we cut through them pretty quickly.

The Karma Rabbit had a lot of different attacks at its disposal, and it was a violent and crazy thing. But I was able to restrict its movement enough that its agility didn’t do it much good. We were able to defeat it easily compared to the boss we’d taken on the day before.

“Whew.”

“I guess that’s that.”

Raphtalia flicked her sword to knock the blood off of it, but then she stopped to inspect the blade more carefully.

The blade itself was definitely starting to bend. It probably wouldn’t be long before it broke.

“You kiddos are . . . .”

“Huh? What?”

I felt like he looked at me for a second, considering something carefully.

“Never mind, it’s nothing. You kiddos sure are tough!”

“Well I’m pretty impressed with you two as well.”

They were stronger than I’d expected. Suspiciously so.

If they hadn’t been with us, that battle definitely would have been a little tougher.

“Well I’m glad we didn’t disappoint you.”

“Yeah, yeah . . . . Anyway, what should we do with this thing? Want me to take it?”

I wanted to see what sort of drop item the Karma Rabbit had been carrying. The Karma Dog’s drop item had significantly increased Filo’s attack power. And because of that, she had probably done the most damage out of anyone in the fight against the Karma Rabbit.

“Sure, it’s all yours. You guys did most of the work anyway.”

“Thanks.”

I absorbed the corpse into my shield.

Then I checked the drop item.

“Karma Rabbit Sword?”

I pulled the sword out of my shield. The hilt was black, and it was engraved with a rabbit pattern. It looked like it was part of the same weapon series as Filo’s claws had been.

Karma Rabbit Sword

quality: excellent

special effects: agility up, magic down, attack up, defense down

It seemed to be a very powerful weapon. It must have been just like Filo’s new claws.

“Raphtalia, try this thing out.”

“Oh, okay.”

“What’s up? You got a new weapon?’

“Yeah.”

Raphtalia gripped the hilt and gave the sword a few light swings.

“It seems to be an excellent sword. I think I can use it for the time being.”

We spent a little more time leveling up with L’Arc and Therese in the interior of the island.

By the time we thought about finishing up, we had all gained quite a few levels.

I had grown to level 70, Raphtalia was at 72, and Filo was at 73.

We’d leveled up, but it was definitely less efficient than it had been yesterday. I wonder why? Did it mean that we were approaching the appropriate level for where we were?

There was still so much I didn’t understand about this world.

It seemed like you could power level if you wanted, but it also sort of seemed like there were level caps on areas.

Those sorts of systems were different depending on the game you were playing.

There were MMOs that made it so that you couldn’t level past a certain point if you were battling weaker enemies.

They called it appropriate leveling, and basically you were only awarded experience points for the battle if your level and the enemy’s level were within a certain range of one another.

If the system was set up that way, then you couldn’t put characters in your party that were substantially weaker than you were and still expect to be able to level them in difficult areas.

But when we were raising Filo after she hatched, I never got the feeling that there was a system like that in place here. Just what was going on?

“Raphtalia, how’s that new sword working out for you?”

“It’s very light and easy to wield, but I haven’t gotten used to its nuances yet.”

So apparently it was powerful, but nuanced, and easy to use.

I wondered if the old guy at the weapon shop could make something like it, if I mentioned that it was part of the “karma series” of weapons. I’m sure he’d need the materials though.

It seemed like I could count on the series for serious attack power though—which was great.

Still, they didn’t have a blood clean coating, so we wouldn't be able to use them for very long, which was not so great.

I could always use the whetstone shield on them at night when we were back at the inn. But I had so many shield abilities that I still needed to unlock. I’d have to prioritize that over the sharpening. Maybe I could bring the weapons to the old guy in Melromarc and he could apply a coating to them. Regardless, I’d have to pay him a visit before the next wave.

Anyway, we leveled up so much so quickly that I hadn’t really figured it all out yet.

It had all happened so fast that it almost made me anxious.

I was working to unlock the new shields the whole time, but there were still so many monsters that I hadn’t collected yet, it made me anxious to think that I was going to miss out on something important.

I had to ignore that feeling. I would just have to wait until the next wave was over, then I could go out in search of new leveling grounds.

I could probably count on the queen for her assistance too, so I didn’t think that money was going to be an issue.

But first things first, I’d have to power up as much as I could in the meantime—Raphtalia and Filo too.

“Had about enough for today?”

The sun had started to sink low when L’Arc suggested we head back.

“Huh? Yeah, I guess so. I think it was a pretty good day, all in all. What are you doing tomorrow?”

The Karma Rabbits were not offering us much in the way of a challenge anymore.

It would have been an easy enough area with just Raphtalia and Filo, never mind L’Arc and Therese.

I wanted to make sure that we weren’t wasting their time.

“Oh boy, I think we’ve done just about enough, but it was a great time. I think you guys can handle yourselves tomorrow.”

“Oh . . . .”

That was kind of a disappointment. But then again, adventurers typically valued their freedom.

When it was time to leave the island, I would have to think about inviting them to join the party.

“Let’s head back then.”

“Alright.”

And so we left and went back to the main island. We arrived before sunset was over.

While we were still in the boat, there were moments of silence where L’Arc and Therese seemed to be ruminating over something.

What was it all about? Had they realized that I really was the Shield Hero, but they didn’t want to say it?

I didn’t think so. L’Arc didn’t seem like the kind of guy to hold back from saying whatever he wants.

“Later, Shield Kiddo. Hope to fight with you again someday.”

“Yeah. And if you run into any spare cash before you leave the islands, come pay me!”

We parted ways. It had been an enjoyable time we’d spent together.

“That’s the first time we’ve fought on the same side with anyone since we were traveling with Melty.”

“You’re right.”

“They were very experienced and powerful.”

They were. I nodded.

They had been surprisingly strong. They were just as strong as we were.

If I got the chance, I wanted them in my party.