Chapter Two: Noblemen
Dusk fell.
I was looking out the window, and I saw a carriage drive onto the premises.
Melty and Filo were off exploring the mansion—apparently they hadn’t seen much of it last time.
Raphtalia was asleep. I woke her and told her to prepare for a fight.
What was happening?
A small, portly man jumped out of the carriage and knocked on the door of the mansion. He was followed by a large group of soldiers.
A few minutes passed. Then came a knock on our bedroom door. It was the noble’s maid.
“What is it?”
“You have to run away from here.”
“I can see why. If you turn us over to them, I’ll kill you.”
I hadn’t completely rid myself of the nagging doubt that Nice Guy had invited us here as a trap.
Depending on how she answered, I’d kick out the window and run.
“A noble family from a neighboring town began to suspect that the Shield Hero was hiding here. They’ve come to investigate.”
“What?”
So that fat guy was a noble? It didn’t look like she was lying.
“Mr. Naofumi.”
Raphtalia was trying to tell me something. I looked out the window.
The fat man had tied up Nice Guy with ropes and was loading him into the carriage.
Yeah. I guess he hadn’t been trying to trick me after all.
He really had stood out. It looked like he had been watched, and now they were carting him off.
What should we do? If I kicked out the window and ran, that would only put Nice Guy in further danger.
“Please, think of my master. Is there no way that you can escape from here without being detected?”
The maid was standing in the doorway, pleading.
She was right. For Nice Guy to stand a chance, we’d have to sneak out without getting caught.
“If you don’t hurry, the soldiers will find you. You can still make it out the back door. Please…”
“Where are Filo and Melty?”
“Both of them are preparing to run.”
“Fine. But if this is a trap of some kind, I’ll make sure that you suffer for it.”
We quickly collected our things, opened the door, and made for the back door the maid was pointing to.
The kitchen was between the door and us.
“Hide in here!”
The maid felt someone approaching, and she stuffed us into to a secret servant room. A second later, and we could hear people talking on the other side of the door. “There you are. Are you hiding something?” A man was speaking, but I didn’t recognize his voice. It was probably one of the soldiers working with the noble from the next town over. “I have a feeling that the Shield Demon is nearby. Get over here!” “Ahh!” The maid screamed. “Please wait! The kitchen is our…” “Shut up! Are you going to stand in the way of our orders?!” The maid screamed, and the soldier laughed. It was disgusting. “Anyway, we have reason to believe the Shield Demon is in this mansion. You will stand aside and let us investigate.” I could hear their footsteps moving off into the distance. It didn’t seem like they were coming back to the kitchen… but still. It would not be good if they found us. Where were Filo and Melty? Even if we found them… We couldn’t run away and leave them here. I prepared for the worst and turned to Raphtalia. She placed her hand on the hilt of the sword at her waist. She was ready. If it were a numbers game, we’d lose. But that didn’t mean we couldn’t win. I didn’t want to get Nice Guy hurt, but…
The door in front of us rattled. Someone grabbed the doorknob and a shaft of light appeared at the doorframe.
“The younger princess is over there!”
I heard someone shout.
“I am the second Princess of Melromarc, Melty Melromarc! What are you doing with all these soldiers?!”
That was Melty. She was speaking with grave authority.
It wasn’t that hysterical voice she used when she spoke with me. I could tell what she was thinking.
I couldn’t hear Filo at all, which meant that they must have split up.
The door clicked shut again.
What should we do? They’d found Melty. Should we jump out of the room and save her?
“Where is the Shield Demon?!”
The soldier was shouting at Melty.
“Silence! Who do you think you are addressing?!”
“I believe it’s the little Princess Melty.”
I heard him shuffle his ankles together.
“Ah…”
Raphtalia had to clamp a hand over her mouth to remain silent.
What was going on? Raphtalia’s face was very pale, and thick globs of sweat were streaming down her shaking face.
“Are you okay?”
I whispered to her, but she just nodded. She was still shaking.
She certainly didn’t look okay.
“Have you been playing hide and seek here? Can you tell me where the Shield Demon is?”
“I’m sorry to tell you that the Shield Hero is not here.”
“What does that mean?”
“I begged him. ‘Please, please,’ I said. ‘Please leave me here and escape.’ I told him that I would stay in Melromarc and clear his name.”
Was she trying to do what she’d talked about earlier? That was too reckless!
“Very well, that makes sense. So, Princess, you are here alone. And the Shield Demon is not here?”
“That’s correct. And I have no idea where he went.”
“Did you all search the mansion?!”
“Y…Yes! We didn’t find them!”
The man who’d been talking to Melty, the noble from the next town, sighed in frustration.
“Then I suppose we have no other choice. Princess Melty, please come with us.”
“Very well.”
They continued speaking, but they had walked away, and I could no longer hear them.
Were they just going to take Melty? Were we just going to leave her?
“Mr. Naofumi.”
“Yeah.”
I reached for the door.
“The Shield Hero is not here!”
Melty exclaimed loudly.
“She must have thought that we were hiding nearby. Had she sensed that we were about jump out of hiding?
Damn... If we jumped out now, did that mean we were going against Melty’s wishes?
“I would very much like to speak with my father to clear all this up. Please bring me to the castle immediately.”
“First I would like you to accompany me to my mansion. Then we will decide how to proceed. Everything is in accordance with God’s plan.”
Melty gasped. The man had explained himself enough. There was nothing left to hold me back!
I went to open the door, only to find that the Maid was standing there to block it.
“Please, you must not ignore the wishes of the princess. If you don’t, my master will only receive a worse punishment.”
“But we can prove our innocence—”
The maid went right on talking.
“Please, at the very least, wait until she’s shown that my master has nothing to do with the Shield Hero.”
Right. If they found out that Nice Guy was harboring us, they’d kill him right on the spot.
We were a small group, so we still had some flexibility. If we pulled Nice Guy and everyone into things, then it would be much harder to act.
So if we wanted to give Nice Guy a good chance of surviving this, we’d have to swing back around later to pick up Melty. That would prove that he hadn’t been involved.
I hated betraying someone as much as I hated being betrayed.
It was easy enough to say it, but I owed him. I didn’t want him to suffer needlessly on my account.
“My master was able to find out some information for you. The Spear Hero is currently looking for the Shield Hero far away from here. The Sword and Bow Heroes are also nowhere nearby.”
Motoyasu wasn’t our only enemy. The nobility scattered around the country was going to be a real problem.
The maid slowly opened the door.
“Where is Filo? Did she go with Melty?”
“The blonde girl who was with the princess? She wasn’t with Melty when she was discovered.”
We went around Nice Guy’s mansion looking for Filo.
I swear—you’d think it was bad enough that Melty was taken away. But now Filo was missing too.
So where did we find her? She was hiding up in the attic.
I called for her but she kept hiding. I didn’t see any other option, so I activated the monster control magic and got her to come out.
At least she hadn’t run far.
“Ouch! Master! You’re the worst!”
“No, YOU are. You should have come when I called.”
“He’s right, Filo! What were you doing?!”
Raphtalia scolded her, but Filo answered with a smile on her face.
“Huh? Where is Mel?”
“You didn’t notice?”
“Huh? After everything got loud and crazy, Mel said we should play hide and seek. So I hid. Mel said that I shouldn’t come out for anyone.”
Filo didn’t understand what had happened…
If we left Melty and made for the border, if we found asylum in another country, then we might be able to find some way to fix all this.
Melty must have known that she’d be killed if the Church got its hands on her.
If she was going to survive, Shadow would have to intervene. From what the nobleman had said, it seemed reasonable to assume that he was connected with the Church.
He’d either kill her himself, or he’d give her to Motoyasu and Bitch, and then they would kill her.
The guy wasn’t a fool. He must have realized that Melty wasn’t being totally honest with him.
He probably wanted to lure us out of hiding. He might torture Nice Guy.
If we left Melty and ran away, our chances of meeting the queen seemed pretty good.
That’s what Melty had done. She’d given us more time to escape.
Now I just had to decide what to do with that time.
Should I tell myself that I wasn’t abandoning her? Should I prioritize our lives over hers?
Melty was Bitch’s sister. Still, she’d never betrayed my trust.
She’d actually put herself in danger to buy us more time, to give us a chance to survive.
There was only one thing to do.
Even if it was dangerous, I had to do what I could for someone who’d believed in me. I had to save her.
“Filo, I need you to listen very carefully.”
“Okay. What?”
“Melty was taken away. She went with them to protect us.”
“What?!”
Filo quickly processed what had happened, turned into her Filolial Queen form, and was ready to run.
“Wait. Where are you going?”
“I’m going to save Mel!”
I turned to Nice Guy’s maid.
“I just want to check. Where did they take her?”
“Probably to the mansion in the next town. It’s not very far away, but I imagine that they have already arrived.”
I was familiar with the area from my peddling days. She was right. The next town was very close. Everyone there had been mean to Raphtalia, and we didn’t sell anything, so we had moved on quickly.
At the time, we’d had a lot of eyes on us when we made our way into the town. They’d been very concerned with our entry—but they made it very easy to leave.
I hadn’t really understood why at the time, but now it all seemed clear enough.
I remembered that, even though demi-humans were treated poorly all over Melromarc, the discrimination had been especially bad in that town.
I didn’t know all that much about Melromarc, but it seemed to be that way.
Another explanation might be the notable difference in power between the nobility in that town versus the nobility in this town.
I remember the neighboring town being much larger.
To be honest, the town we were hiding out in was more of a little village. Looking around at the state of the houses, I nodded to myself. Yeah, this place didn’t have the same authority as the other town.
I’d heard something about the nobility in that town too… There was some sort of legend associated with the place…
What was it? It had something to do with a previous hero defeating a monster and sealing it away…
I remembered that they’d made some kind of attraction out of the site.
“Do you have a sketch of the mansion they took Mel to?”
“We know someone that has been there many times. Maybe you could listen to their description of the place and make a map of sorts?”
That was a good idea. Better to trust those who had already been there.
Shortly afterwards, I had a simple map in my hand.
The mansion was three stories tall, and built around a central courtyard.
They said that Melty was probably being held in a room near the back of the second floor.
“Got it. I’m sorry about all this. We’re leaving now. Filo, Raphtalia, let’s go.”
“Okay!”
“Yes!”
The owner of this mansion, Nice Guy, had been taken too.
I didn’t want to put him in any more danger than he already was. What could I do?
I couldn’t let them know that he had helped us… I’d have to say that we had come to take Melty from him.
I’d have to get them to think that Nice Guy had somehow taken Melty from us.
If I couldn’t convince them, they might torture him to death.
This town had a reputation in Melromarc for being full of demi-humans. I had to do what I could to protect it.
A few moments later, and we were chasing after the carriage that had taken Melty.
“Damn…”
The demi-humans around Nice Guy’s town were out in the streets and agitated. Nice Guy must have meant a lot to them.
If I told them all that I was the Shield Hero, they might have jumped in to help, but at the same time I didn’t want to involve more people than necessary. Besides, if it became common knowledge that Nice Guy had been harboring us, he’d only end up in worse trouble than he already was.
If I went with just Raphtalia and Filo, the small size of our group would give us flexibility and speed—both of which were necessary if we wanted to stand a chance of saving Melty.
Soon enough, I was riding on Filo’s back, and we had jumped over the wall and snuck into the neighboring town.
Luckily, thanks to Raphtalia’s magic, we’d been able to deepen the darkness of night and sneak in undetected.
“Think it’s that big mansion over there?”
There was a large hill in the center of town, and a large mansion stood on the top of it. It only seemed natural that the governor would live there.
“Yeah… That’s got to be it.”
Raphtalia silently nodded.
“What’s wrong?”
“It’s nothing.”
Raphtalia was definitely acting strange.
“I didn’t notice the last time we passed through here. But now… now I’m sure.”
“What do you mean, Big Sister?”
We were still perched on the wall around town. Raphtalia was glaring at the mansion. She looked very agitated.
“I’ll make it darker. Then we should hurry up and make our approach. If we don’t hurry, who knows what will happen?”
Raphtalia cast a spell to darken our surroundings, and we made our way to the mansion by jumping from roof to roof. I couldn’t be sure that no one had seen us. But then again, who walks around town at night looking up at the roofs?
“It doesn’t look like any of the town guards have noticed us yet. You think they would be on closer guard, considering the situation with the princess.”
“I think it is because, at nighttime, these nobles do things that they can’t tell others about. Even if they heard that you were approaching, I doubt they’d be able to respond very quickly.”
“What are you talking about? What do you know?”
“Yes… This town is different from other places. The nobility here don’t want the guards to keep too close of a watch.”
“Are you talking about what happened when you were a slave?”
“Yes.”
Raphtalia silently nodded.
This nobleman… He was the one that had tortured her… the one who had finally broken her spirit.
If a guy like that had his hands on Melty… who knows what he was capable of?
“Did you hear that, Filo? If we don’t hurry, Melty will be in trouble.”
“Yeah! Let’s go save her!”
On Filo’s back, we jumped over the mansion’s fence.
“Woof! Woof!”
Monsters that had been raised to guard the premises had noticed a strange smell on the wind. They were basically oversized guard dogs.
They were called Guardia. They were black creatures with fangs like wolves.
There was some kind of device on their backs that emitted a noise like a whistle. Their barking and the whistling were enough to alert the dullest of guards to our presence.
“Shut up!”
“Hawooooo!”
A Guardia came running for us, but Filo reared back and kicked it across the face. It flew through the air, silent.
Filo was taking out monsters quicker than they could bark. It was kind of scary.
“What was that?”
Drawn by the noise, a guard came running.
“What the— hey!”
“I’m sorry! Please be quiet!”
Raphtalia quickly jammed the hilt of her sword into his stomach, knocking him out.
Everyone seemed perfectly accustomed to what they were doing. We were like robbers.
“Master, we have to hurry.”
“We got a quick sketch of the place, but… Raphtalia? Do you know your way around?”
“All I really know is the basement.”
“Do you think they are keeping Melty there?”
Raphtalia said nothing but shook her head.
This nobleman was the kind of person who took joy from the torture of demi-humans.
If he had access to the second princess of Melromarc, would he torture her? The answer seemed clear: yes.
We had to find some way into the building.
I stopped to think. Our immediate goal was rescuing Melty.
There were no other heroes around. Any soldiers of the Crown that happened to be in the area should be easy enough for us to take care of.
Or so I was thinking when the gate of the mansion swung open. A large group of guards came rushing out.
“What’s that?”
“Filo, do you see?”
In response to Raphtalia’s question, Filo rose up onto her toes and turned to the crowd of guards.
Behind us, at the wall surrounding the town, I could see the flickering light of torches, and smoke was rising from the town gate.
“Huh? Are they, um… fighting?”
“Who? Who’s fighting who?”
“Um… The demi-humans and the soldiers?”
So the demi-human adventurers were so upset that Nice Guy had been taken they teamed up and came after him. The soldiers mistakenly believed that I was leading them. I had to find some way to put this situation to use.
“Perfect timing. All the soldiers have come out and are running to the battle at the gate. Before they can come back, we are going straight through the front door and saving Melty!”
“Yeah!”
“Huh? Mr. Naofumi, are you sure we shouldn’t sneak in?”
“We can take these soldiers. They’re weak. You know we can take them.”
Both Raphtalia and Filo were at level 40, and that was the highest level they could get to without going through a class-up ceremony. But I had seen the soldiers fighting during the wave. They were not nearly strong enough to defeat Raphtalia or Filo.
If they came after us, we’d take them out. If they attacked the mansion, we’d take them out.
“We need to have the first move. Think about it. We are running away from the Crown to meet with the queen. If none of the heroes are nearby, we can get away with causing a little fuss.”
“That makes sense.”
“Okay! Let’s go!”
Boing!
At my signal, Filo bounded forward, kicked out a window, and jumped into the house.
“Don’t hold back, Filo! Just keep charging! You can knock down the walls if you have to!”
Still, we needed to go slow enough to make sure we found the room where they were keeping Melty.
The sketch seemed to indicate that she’d been on the second floor—but that could be wrong.
“Filo, you just keep breaking things! Raphtalia and I will keep looking for Melty.”
“Okay!”
Filo turned left and charged down a hallway. I turned to the courtyard, ran through it, and made for the second floor.
On my way through the courtyard, I noticed a strange boulder of sorts.
What was it? Some kind of gravestone?
Who would put a gravestone in their garden? This guy had issues.
Granted, he tortured people in his basement for fun. There was no use in trying to understand him.
I could hear Filo crashing through the house.
Now we just had to wait and see how the nobleman would respond.
If he noticed the excitement, what would he imagine the cause to be? Sure, he might deduce that it was the Shield Hero coming after him to take back Melty.
If that’s what he thought, he’d probably make a hostage of her.
The other possibility he might think of was that the demi-humans were revolting after he took Nice Guy.
If that’s what he thought, he’d probably make a hostage of Nice Guy.
It was like we were participating in the demi-human revolt. Sure, once he saw Filo he would figure it out soon enough. “Mr. Naofumi! Over here!” Raphtalia had made it through the courtyard and was pointing to a hallway. There was a door at the end of it. “This door leads down to the basement.” “Do you think he’s keeping Melty down there?” “No. But he might be keeping a captured slave down there.” “Do you think we have the time to save them? It will only make more trouble.” “But still… I…” If there was a slave down there, they were definitely demi-human. Before she met me, Raphtalia experienced true horrors down there. I heard about the terrible things he’d done. She must have wanted to save her past self, her old friends. We didn’t have the time. But if we could free them, we might be able to save a life. At least that’s what I thought Raphtalia was thinking. “Fine. But we have to save Melty first. The enemy probably knows that we are here.” “Okay!” There was a loud crash, and a series of explosive booms. What was Filo getting up to? “Melllllllll!!”
Filo’s voice was echoing through the mansion. Yeah, no one was going to give Filo any trouble.
Considering that the other heroes weren’t around, I figured it was safe to assume that Filo could handle herself.
“Take care of the intruders!”
A few guards were running for us. They looked ready for a fight.
“The… The Shield Demon! Tell the governor!”
“Raphtalia!”
“Yes!”
She drew her sword and ran for the guards.
I followed her. The foolish guards drew their swords and came after me.
I was currently using the Chimera Viper Shield.
As the Shield Hero, I didn’t have the ability to attack. But I WAS able to use counter attacks.
The Chimera Viper Shield had a counter effect called Snake Fang (medium).
It meant that whenever successfully blocking an enemy’s attack, the snake on the shield would animate and sink its fangs into the enemy. It also poisoned them.
“Damn! That shield is so hard… Is it… Is it moving?! Argh!”
As I just explained, the snake on my shield lashed out and bit deep into the soldier who’d attacked me.
Once poisoned by Snake Fang (medium), you had to be careful. It you weren’t, the poison could kill you.
“You better get the hell out of here and find yourself some antidote. If you don’t, that’ll kill you.”
That’s what he got for assuming I couldn’t hurt him.
“Ugh…”
“Damn the Shield Demon!”
The other soldiers picked up their poisoned comrade and backed away.
I could have gone after them and taken them down—but our goal was saving Melty, not killing soldiers.
Nice Guy had only been protecting Melty. The Shield Hero had nothing to do with it… but that was getting harder to believe by the minute. Especially now that the demi-humans Nice Guy fought for were revolting.
Still, I had to do what I could.
I turned on the fleeing soldiers and shouted at them like a madman.
“Where is Princess Melty?! And don’t even think about lying to me! I don’t care if she’s here or there, but mark my words: we’re taking her back!”
The soldiers agreed to take us to Melty. When we got there, Filo was locked in a death-stare with the plump nobleman.
The fat guy was holding a knife to Melty’s throat. He held her tight against himself so that Filo couldn’t get any closer. Nice Guy was collapsed on the floor between them.
He looked like he had been tortured. Melty looked like she had been crying.
This guy was evil.
“Governor!”
“You fools! Who told you to bring the Shield Demon here?! You’ve betrayed me!”
“Aren’t you haughty?”
Filo had apparently made it all this way by herself, so he couldn’t have had many guards.
“Mel!”
“Filo! Stay back! I made up my mind! This man… He’s going to take me to meet with my father.”
“Do you think he will really take you there?”
“…”
Melty was silent in response to my question.
Had this guy been a healthy person, he might have kept his promise. But how could I forget that, when he loaded her into his carriage, he said, “Everything was in accordance to God’s plan”? He was probably a fanatic.
The national religion in Melromarc was the Church of the Three Heroes, and they were the ones who’d had me framed.
If I gave Melty’s idea credence for a second and assumed that the king really didn’t know what had been happening, how would he behave when he found out?
And if this guy was part of the Church, then it was doubtful he was really going to take her straight to the castle.
“Ha, ha, ha! I dare you to take a single step! This knife might slip into the princess’s throat!”
“So we’re okay as long as we don’t take a step?”
“What?”
“Air Strike Shield!”
I sent the skill so that the shield appeared between the nobleman and Melty, forming a wall.
“Wh…?!”
“Now!”
“Yes!”
The shield had forcibly separated Melty from the nobleman. Noticing the small gap, Filo immediately ran over to him and planted a firm kick into his groin.
“Ugh!”
The fat man flew backwards and slammed into the wall.
“Raphtalia!”
“Yes!”
In a flash, Raphtalia was at Melty’s side. She checked to make sure that Melty was unharmed.
“Finish the job! Take him out!”
“Mr. Naofumi. I completely understand how you feel, but I believe we should first see to Melty and the other man’s wounds. Filo has taken care of the fat man for now.”
“Has she?”
“Yeah, I held back a little because Mel was so close. But that fat guy is kind of strong.”
He was a nobleman after all. He had probably gone through the class-up ceremony.
I ran to Nice Guy’s side. He had wounds. I immediately began chanting healing spells over him.
Then I held him close and pulled him up, whispering into his ear:
“I’m sorry. We’ve brought you so much trouble. Remember, you had nothing to do with us. If they find out that you helped us, they might torture you further.”
“I’m… sorry for everything. Don't worry… That man, he… he had no intention of letting me live. I am just happy that the demi-humans have this chance for freedom.”
“Oh…”
“I negotiated all that I could. Please… Stop it.”
Good. I wasn’t planning on crying myself to sleep anyway.
Still, once word got out that I’d raised a hand against a Melromarc nobleman… that would only put me in a worse situation than I already was.
I still held out hope that Ren and Itsuki would eventually figure out the truth. In the meantime, I really wasn’t happy about being vilified even further than I already was.
The guards looked over at the fat man and made various expressions of shock.
I finished my first aid work on Nice Guy and helped him to his feet. He turned to Melty and smiled at her.
“Both Princess Melty and the Shield Hero have treated me so kindly. Of course there was nothing to those rumors about you…”
“If you hang out with us, you’ll only get wrapped up in more of these bad situations.”
I didn’t need any other party members. He was clearly not skilled in battle—and it’s not like I was all-powerful. I couldn’t guarantee his safety.
“I understand. I will simply rely on my connections to keep me hidden and safe until all of this blows over.”
“Good idea.”
“Excellent.”
It was a relief to hear him say that. I’d been worried that we had ruined his life.
Raphtalia checked to make sure that both Melty and Nice Guy were okay, and then she turned and glared at the collapsed nobleman. Her tail stood on end, and it was clear to Filo, Melty, and I that she was livid.
“You… How could you do this to me? Torture is not a suitable punishment for your like. I’ll see to it that you pay with your very lives!”
“All the demi-humans who have died at your hands could say the very same thing.”
Raphtalia said it coolly. She slipped her sword from its scabbard.
“Could they? The disgusting creatures, they aren’t even human! They sneak into my town… It’s like they are begging for death!”
“Yes. That’s how it was. That’s the sort of man you were.”
“Huh? Do you… do you know me? That’s right! I remember you. You’re that slave I disposed of.”
“Yes. We spent a lot of time together.”
“Heh, heh… And look at you now. You’ve teamed up with the Shield Demon. I can still remember your crying face, your shouts of pain. They brought me so much satisfaction. Now I see… You’ve come back to me. You wish to taste desperation again!”
“No.”
Raphtalia turned back to look at me. Then she returned her gaze to the nobleman.
Her sword appeared to be softly glowing.
She had an illusion sword. She was able to hide herself, appearing behind the enemy to attack. She had an attack like that anyway… but her sword seemed to be pulsing with another power all together.
“I’m not a strong enough person to help you, Mr. Naofumi. That’s why I… I never rid myself of this need for revenge.”
I had warned her before, but I had never stopped her.
She was always a very kind girl, but I’d known for a while that something wasn’t quite right.
That’s it. I’d completely forgotten. Raphtalia had wanted to get revenge on someone.
If she wanted revenge, I wanted to help her.
I wanted to help.
Even if it wasn’t right, even if it wasn’t the ethical thing to do, I wanted to stand on Raphtalia’s side.
That day—that time when Bitch and Motoyasu and Trash were all against me, when everyone was blaming me and hating me, she’d stood up for me. She’d protected me. She’d saved me.
And now the man that hurt her was right there in front of me. I couldn’t forgive him.
“I… I’m not like you, Mr. Naofumi, I can’t protect anyone. I know that nothing I do will bring back my village. But I…”
She pointed her sword at the fat man.
“If I don’t stop you, right now, then what happened to me and Rifana will happen to other children. I cannot let that happen!”
“Heh… So the demi-human turns her fangs on me? Fine. I’ll make sure you understand your folly!”
The nobleman took a whip from a guard and readied it.
So he fought with a whip?
Something about the whip felt bad… felt wrong.
“Master! I don’t like that whip he’s got!”
Filo and Melty came running to my side.
“Heh, heh… This whip has been absorbing the blood of demi-humans for years. I doubt that even the Shield Demon can stand up to it.”
Wow… so it was like a cursed object?
It seemed like the kind of weapon that would curse you if a hit connected.
“Take this!”
The nobleman swung the whip.
Raphtalia and I ducked under it before it cracked.
The room was too small for Filo to maneuver, so she turned into her human form and protected Melty.
Nice Guy ducked under the swinging whip too.
Damn. The room was small enough that he could cover most of it with that whip.
“Ugh!”
The whip accidentally connected with one of the guards.
His armor warped dramatically before he threw up blood and collapsed to the floor.
It was just a whip, but it seemed to have an enormous attack power. We’d better avoid it.
“G…Governor?”
“What are you doing? Kill the Shield Demon!”
“Y…Yes sir!”
The guards came running at us.
Raphtalia swung her sword wide, and they fell.
“You’re in my way!”
Raphtalia turned and dodged the whip. Then a guard thrust his sword at her. Defending with her own sword, she turned, twisted, and then flicked her wrist.
The guard’s sword went flying and stuck itself into the ceiling.
“Ah…”
While the guard was processing his newly emptied hand, Raphtalia delivered a roundhouse kick to his stomach, and he flew into his master.
“You worthless trash! If this were a war zone, you’d be dead!”
The nobleman was clearly agitated now. He kept swinging his whip and trying to hit Raphtalia.
But she dodged it and turned her sword on him.
“Ugh!”
She’d dodged the whip, but it continued to swing in an arc before getting caught on the leg of a table. It swung there, turning, and the tip flew toward Raphtalia’s back.
He really knew how to use the thing.
To use it in such a small space, and then to use tricks like that—he obviously had a lot of experience with the whip.
“Nice try! Air Strike Shield!”
I read the trajectory of the whip and deployed an Air Strike Shield to block it before it could hit Raphtalia.
“Move!”
Damn… The whip just wrapped around the shield and kept flying in Raphtalia’s direction.
It moved like a snake.
It wrapped around Raphtalia’s sword, and almost wrapped around her wrists.
But she dropped her sword before it could and jumped back to get some distance.
“Well, you’ve got determination. I’ll give you that. But do you think you can fight me barehanded?”
Barehanded… Raphtalia was very strong. But was she strong enough to take down this nobleman without a weapon? I didn’t think so. I was worried.
The fat man snapped the whip and Raphtalia’s sword flew into his hand. He brandished it against us.
Raphtalia avoided his thrust with a deft backbend then pulled out the other sword at her waist… the magic sword. She held it out at him, but there was no blade there, just an empty hilt.
The magic sword had been a present from the old guy at the weapon shop—it was pure magic fashioned into the shape of a sword.
“I’m not barehanded.”
The nobleman burst into laughter.
“What are you going to do with a toy sword?!”
But he was forgetting something important. I wasn’t just going to sit back and watch them.
“Don’t think it’ll go so smoothly!”
I reached out and grabbed his whip.
My hand felt strange. It was like the whip was burning me. Pain pulsed into my hand.
I knew the thing was cursed.
“You must be a very foolish Shield Hero to reach for my whip!”
“You think? It’s not so bad.”
It was burning me, but I could handle the pain.
“And since you’re focusing on me…”
“I can attack!”
Raphtalia’s magic sword suddenly had a blade, and she quickly directed an overhead swing at him.
“Whoops!”
The nobleman abandoned his whip and jumped back to avoid her thrust.
“You’re pretty quick. Not as quick as I am, though!”
He was small and plump, but he really was pretty powerful.
Judging from how he knocked out that guard with one hit, he should be fighting in the waves by himself.
Melty looked to Nice Guy.
“That man… He fought with my father a long time ago in a war against the demi-humans.”
I was starting to get it. So he used to be a military man. That would explain his strength and resolve.
And if he had been in a war against the demi-humans, he probably knew more about battle than we did—considering that we had only ever really battled with monsters.
“But don’t think that taking care of my whip means you’re going to win this.”
“That’s my line. I might not be able to attack on my own, but Raphtalia here is more than powerful enough.”
“Heh. If you would make a demi-human your party member, then you are obviously not taking this seriously enough.”
“Raphtalia.”
“Yes!”
She nodded deeply then held her hands over the point of her sword. The blade started to glow brighter.
“Filo!”
Raphtalia called for Filo.
“What?”
“To take this guy down, I need both you and Melty to chant magic spells.”
“Okay! C’mon, Mel!”
“But… Oh, all right!”
Confused about something, Melty looked from the nobleman to the rest of us.
Then she nodded, apparently having made some decision, and began to focus on her magic.
“What’s this? The Shield Demon really must have brain washing powers. To think he would use the princess as a pawn!”
“I have not been brain washed. I believe that your behavior is evil, and so I will punish you as the princess.”
“You fool…”
“I am the source of all power. Hear my words and heed them. Shoot him with a ball of water!”
“Zweite Aqua Shot!”
“I am the source of all power. Hear my words and heed them. Cut him with the blade of sky!”
“Zweite Wing Cutter!”
Melty and Filo cast their spells at nearly the same moment.
A ball of water shot from Melty’s hands, and a blade of air shot from Filo’s. Both flew at the nobleman.
“Ha!”
The nobleman dodged Filo’s blade, then produced another whip from somewhere and knocked the ball of water off course.
“Now!”
While he was avoiding the spells he left a weak spot unattended. Raphtalia readied her sword and ran at him.
“You think that will do me in?”
He cracked the whip at her.
I wouldn’t let that happen. I stepped forward and swung the whip I’d taken from him, catching the tip of his new whip in mid-flight.
“What?!”
“Hiyaaaaa!”
Aligning her timing with my own, Raphtalia let out a shout. Using her foot, she flipped a sword that the guard had dropped into the air and caught it. Then she readied her magic sword like a javelin and threw it at the nobleman. It plunged deep into his chest.
The magic sword can nullify its opponent’s magic. She’d used it to knock out Bitch before, so it should have had some kind of effect.
“Ugh… not yet!”
“No, it’s over! HIYAAAAAAAA!”
There was a dull sound, and suddenly Raphtalia’s sword was buried to the hilt in the nobleman’s shoulder.
“Noooooo! Damn you! You think it’s all right for a demi-human to hurt me?! I survived the demi-human war!”
“You fought demi-humans in the war? Then save your complaints for the war. You’re not in a war anymore.”
“I’ll never forgive you! I’ll kill you!”
“You’re a coward! You only attack people weaker than yourself! What were the demi-humans you fought like? The ones I know were all women and children. Disadvantaged people! Don’t talk to me about how you fought them!”
Still incensed, she pushed him to the window, broke it, and pushed him out. As he fell, she let her sword stay in him, but kept her grip on the magic sword and the blade pulled from his falling body.
“AAAAAHHHHHH!”
“NOOOOOOOOOO!”
I immediately dropped both of the whips and watched the nobleman plunge through the window. That was close. If I’d waited, the whips would have pulled me through the window with him. “The… The governor lost to the Shield Demon!” The remaining guards all quickly ran away. “I’ll get that flag back… the flag from that day…” Raphtalia stood in the window, whispering to the sky. She then recovered herself and ran over to me. “Are you all right?” “Huh? Yeah. No problem.” We still had a little holy water left over from treating Raphtalia’s curse. The curse itself wasn’t so bad. The holy water would be sufficient to heal it. I went to the window and looked down at the courtyard. The nobleman was lying there, face turned to the sky. I think he was… dead? When I thought about the things that Raphtalia had told me... how he’d tortured demi-humans, it seemed like a fitting end. “Okay. If we hang around here we’ll get caught up in the confusion.
We’d better be on our way.”
“But first…”
“Ah… right.”
First we had to save any demi-humans he’d imprisoned.
That was what Raphtalia wanted, so I wanted it too.
I turned to Nice Guy and made a request.
“This man used to buy demi-human slaves and keep them in his basement so that he could torture them.”
“Unfortunately that is not such a rare thing in this country. It could be that…”
“Even if we saved them, we are on the run. I don’t think we will be able to provide the things they need while we are running from the Crown. I know it’s a lot to ask, but…”
I knew that I was asking too much. I was putting him in further danger.
But if I was going to grant Raphtalia’s request, there was no other option.
“I understand your situation. I will do anything I can to help you.”
Nice Guy smiled.
He hadn’t lied to us yet, so I didn’t see any choice but to trust him.
“It will be okay. I have many demi-human allies, and I know that they will help me.”
“That’s good to hear.”
Raphtalia led us to the basement room. The door was locked, but Filo used her powerful legs to kick the door down.
The second we walked in, we were overcome by a powerful stench. It was the same smell that came from the slave-trader’s tent. It was that smell of death and decay that told you to keep your distance. This… this wasn’t good. “I have a bad feeling about this…” Filo looked really worried. Melty was shaking, obviously scared. Then she settled herself and seemed ready to accept whatever we found. “It’s a little further.” “We walked down the stairs in the dark and came to the basement. It was filled with various torture instruments. I saw a skeleton in the corner. How many people had met their ends here? I turned to see Raphtalia praying before a small skeleton in the corner. “This girl was… She was a friend from my village. Her name was Rifana, and…” Raphtalia was looking down at the skeleton. She seemed about to cry, and turned her face away. They must have been close. “Rifana was a bright, happy girl. She liked to talk about legends.” Listening to Raphtalia, Melty looked ready to cry herself. She was the princess of this country. It must have been hard to see this kind of misery happen within her own borders.
So much tragedy could be blamed on the waves, but this was different.
This was nothing more than an evil man taking advantage of the chaos around him. Really, everyone around here seemed rotten to the core. “She was more girly than me… She was so nice…” “I’m sorry.” To think of the end that Raphtalia’s friend had met… It made me sad. Had things been different, we might have met when she was alive. We might have been friends. “She always said that she wanted to marry someone like the Shield Hero.” “…” But her dream never came true. She’d died in this cold basement. Just thinking about it filled me with rage. She probably wanted to live. She probably died wishing for escape. He’d done this to her simply because she was a demi-human. I couldn’t even imagine what went through his mind. I don’t know what kind of person I was in comparison to the children that died here. But I could say one thing: We avenged them. “What should we do with them? Should we take them?” We could take their bones and give them a proper funeral somewhere. “Yes… It’s too cold and sad here.” “You’re right.” We silently picked up the bones and put them into a bag. “Were there any slaves?”
“Yes.”
Nice Guy answered from the back of the room.
After we’d gathered the bones, we made our way to the back of the room.
The slave was covered with bruises and cuts. It looked like he’d been badly tortured.
His eyes were devoid of life.
He looked to be around 10 years old, and he had dog-like ears.
Despite being a boy, he was kind of cute. You know how some guys are like girls when they are only 10 years old?
“Who are you?”
“That voice…”
“Who’s that?”
“Do you know him?”
“Yes. Keel, that’s you, isn’t it?”
“Who are you? How do you know my name?”
“Did you forget me? I’ve grown a little since we last saw each other. It’s me, Raphtalia.”
“What?!”
Keel raised his head in surprise.
“It can’t be. Raphtalia is shorter than me. She’s not some tall beautiful woman. I mean, she was cute and all…”
Keel was muttering to himself like a dead man.
“You’d pretend to be a friend?! Why? How are you trying to trick me?!”
His eyes filled with tears. He was overcome with despair. He was just like Raphtalia when I’d met her.
“I’ll prove it to you then. Two months before the wave came, you went to the beach looking for a pretty shell. You wanted to surprise your dad for his birthday. But you nearly drowned, and Sadeena had to jump in and save you…”
He seemed to smile, like the memory brought him joy.
It did seem like the sort of thing that only the real Raphtalia would know.
“Could it be?! Raphtalia…”
He was looking her over very carefully.
“It’s me… Do you remember eating that poisonous mushroom out in the field? You got sick and hid so that no one would know! I found you that day, and you told me to keep it a secret. You were shaking…”
“Ahhh! Yes! I believe you! It’s you! Raphtalia!”
Finally, the slave, Keel, recognized Raphtalia.
“Raphtalia… Why are you so big? Why are you so pretty?”
Even if you knew that demi-humans grew as they leveled up, seeing it with your own eyes was another thing.
Raphtalia had been so small when I found her. I was shocked when she grew up before my eyes.
Had I grown up with her myself, it would have been all the more surprising.
“I’m actually Mr. Naofumi… The Shield Hero’s slave right now.”
“What?!”
Keel, the demi-human slave, looked at me.
But he was so weak that he couldn’t lock his sight onto one thing. I must have looked blurry to him.
I reached into my pocket for some ointment and made to treat his wounds.
“Don’t touch me!”
“It’s okay. Relax. This is medicine.”
Next he would need some nutritional medicine. I knew that I really shouldn’t use it in situations like this, but I couldn’t ignore a crisis right before my eyes. I had to help him.
Not that I was actually a holy saint with a beautiful heart or anything, but this was Raphtalia’s friend.
“Ugh…”
He resisted at first, but he realized I wasn’t trying to hurt him, and he slowly drank the medicine. My shield had many strange powers. One of them increased the efficacy of medicines. In times like this, I was grateful for how useful it was.
He looked a little better already. A little color returned to his cheeks.
I wasn’t very good with recovery magic. I had been able to treat his wounds, but he hadn’t recovered any energy. Realizing that he was safe, he suddenly fell forward, exhausted, and began to snore.
“I cannot believe that my country allowed this to happen.”
Melty whispered to herself.
“I’d watched my mother work in other countries, so I thought that I understood demi-humans and humans. But this… I… I cannot forgive this.”
“You have to be a little more hysterical. Why not scream, ‘I CAN NEVER FORGIVE THIS!’ That would be more like you.”
“That’s not who I really am! Just what kind of person do you take me for?!”
Melty suddenly realized what she was doing and clamped her hands over her mouth.
“Sometimes you get hysterically angry, and your face gets all red. That’s you, Melty.”
“What was that?!”
“Okay. We can’t stay here forever. Let’s get going.”
Nice Guy picked Keel up and held him over his shoulder. We turned and left the basement.
We talked as we climbed the stairs.
“First we need to focus on getting out of town. It’s not like we can all fit on Filo’s back.”
It was hard enough to fit three of us on there, much less five.
“Why don’t we have Filo take the nobleman, Keel, and Melty out of here first?”
“Good idea.”
They could jump over the wall and get out easily.
The town entrance still seemed to be embroiled in an uproar. What was going on?
I was wondering that when I noticed blood pooling on the stairs. I followed it up and saw that it was coming from the courtyard, and the blood continued out to…
“What?!”
“What is it?”
I was silently pointing to the courtyard. Raphtalia understood and nodded.
“Ah, ha, ha, ha! Now I finally have a way to kill you!”
The nobleman who’d fallen from the second floor, the nobleman we thought was dead, was standing there, laughing.
Dammit! What’s next?
The nobleman’s shoulder was bleeding profusely. He was facing the gravestone-like boulder, chanting some kind of spell.
This wasn’t good. Keel was still that man’s slave—which meant he could use the slave seal to kill him.
What should we do? We’d just managed to save Raphtalia’s friend. If he died now then it was all for nothing
But the slave curse didn’t need a spell to work. He could just order him to die, or choose to do so from his status magic.
So was he… doing something else?
“He’s… We have to stop him!”
Nice Guy turned to me and shouted.
“What is it?”
“Shield Hero, do you know the legend of this town?”
“I heard they chased something away and then sealed it up. It’s still here.”
I was getting a bad feeling about this.
“It couldn’t be…”
“It’s true. The sealing stone has been watched over by this town’s nobility for generations. And now…”
I could tell where the story was going. The fat man was attempting to break the seal.
“Back up.”
“Okay.”
Nice Guy took Keel and ran while the rest of us approached the fat man as he chanted at the sealing stone.
“You’ve finally come, Shield Demon!”
He was screaming like an insane person now.
“I don’t know what’s sealed inside that thing, but you better stop that right now.”
Raphtalia and Filo readied themselves for battle.
Now that we were outside, it would be easier to fight than it had been in that small room.
“You’re too late. If only you hadn’t shown up, this town would still be peaceful!”
“Peaceful, ha! If you hadn’t stolen Melty and dragged her here, none of this would be happening!”
“It’s all your fault, Shield Demon!”
“I don’t have time to listen to the complaints of a coward who gets his kicks from torturing children.”
I didn’t know what was sealed away in there, but I had to find some way to stop him.
The longer we waited, the worse things were going to get.
The other heroes would probably look on with relish. They would want to fight a monster to get its rare items and experience. But I say it’s better to let sleeping dogs lie.
“I am not a coward! I am purging the world of its lower life forms! I am a righteous man!”
Dammit… there was no reasoning with him.
I knew how it felt to find joy in the misery of people you hated, so I’d thought that maybe we could come to an understanding. But I was wrong. I never truly wished for the death of anyone, ever.
Even if it was about a specific person, maybe that was understandable, but to hate an entire class of people made no sense at all!
Anyway, who knew what this guy was up to?
Looking at the sealing stone made me very nervous. We had to stop him.
I stepped forward and began to prepare a skill that would restrain the nobleman.
But before I could use it, the stone cracked and fell to pieces.
“It is finished. If I can kill the Shield Demon, my place in God’s heaven will be secure! Ah, ha, ha!”
The nobleman let out a laugh like a broken toy. The ground began to shake. Cracks appeared in the earth.
“What’s happening?”
“Yes! Destroy it all! The sealed monster will destroy the Shield Demon!”
The sky over the mansion was filled with purple light.
I looked up to see cracks appearing in the sky, like a tortoise shell. It was at that very moment that the sealed monster appeared.
“Master!”
All of Filo’s feathers stood on end. She was staring at the sky.
“What is it?!”
Large reptilian feet, tipped with large, sharp claws, slowly stepped through the crack. They were followed by a large, muscular body, then an enormous eyeball, and finally a massive jaw appeared, rimmed with teeth so large and sharp they could shred metal. I saw what the monster was.
It was a 20-meter tall, carnivorous… dinosaur.
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