Chapter Nine: Shikigami
It was the next afternoon.
I cooked up the herring that Kizuna caught the previous night, and we had it for breakfast before returning to the castle to meet this person that was supposedly going to help us search for Raphtalia.
“They’ll be here soon.”
“Are you sure?”
Rishia stood there muttering to herself as she read something off of a sheet of paper. I was getting tired of waiting.
But I didn’t have to wait for long. Kizuna shouted to the people in the castle, “Ah, they’re here! Let’s go.”
“Finally. You heard her, Rishia. Let’s go.”
“Alright.”
Studiousness was good and all, but what was she reading? From what I could tell, she was just repeating simple phrases like “good morning, good morning,” over and over.
Rishia and I followed Kizuna to the throne room and found someone there dressed like a black wizard with a circlet on his head.
He looked like a young boy in heavy robes, and he held an ornate staff in his hand. His hair was light, bordering on silver. He had clear, clean skin, and his sharp eyes left a strong impression. They were red or maybe black. It was hard to say.
He was waiting for us, and he seemed to be... floating.
I think I’d seen someone that looked like him in one of Kizuna’s photographs. It was probably the same person.
“It has been a long time, Kizuna. I continued to search for you this whole time. I’m sorry I never found you.”
“What’s done is done. I never worried about it.”
“This one was very lonely without you. Please take him.”
“Thank you. You watched after him for me, didn’t you, Ethnobalt?”
“Yes. Glass took care of him at first, but she became very busy and had to travel to dangerous lands. Therefore, we decided it was best for me to take over.”
Kizuna stopped chatting with the boy, and he passed her something that looked like a wooden ofuda. She shook it lightly, and a column of smoke shot from it. When the smoke cleared, a penguin was standing before her.
It was about as tall as my waist.
I called it a penguin, but it wasn’t exactly a penguin. It had a very expressive face, and it was so happy that it was hopping up and down.
It reminded me a bit of Filo when she had just grown out of her chick stage, before she started talking.
What was it?
“Pen!”
“It’s been a long time. I’m glad to see you, too.”
“Pen!”
The penguin leapt at Kizuna and started rubbing cheeks with her. Filo used to do the same thing.
“That reminds me. This little guy started fussing about six days ago. Had I made the connection, perhaps I could have found you sooner.”
“We were behind enemy lines. It wouldn’t have been safe for you to come. It would have taken you this long to find me, anyway.”
“It’s nice that you’re both reminiscing here, but is anyone going to explain what’s going on?”
No one liked to sit around listening to people talk about things they didn’t understand and couldn’t join in on.
“Oh right. Sorry. This is Ethnobalt. And this guy is my shikigami, Chris.”
“You mentioned those before. How are they different from other monsters?”
“Shikigami are, well... You get them from other people or items, and they aren’t monsters. He’s basically my bodyguard. Since I can’t, you know, fight with other people.
“I still don’t really understand. Go on.”
Was it like anything I was familiar with? I knew there were online games where you could recruit monsters to fight on your behalf. But that was simpler than what she was describing. In those games, you could just send any monster you’d captured out to assist you in battle.
My relationship with Filo was sort of like that.
There were other similar systems, like summons, or the sort of suspicious attacks you could use by working with other players.
Every game was different, so the borders and categories didn’t always line up. It was probably best not to make too many assumptions.
“I’m very pleased to meet you, holder of a holy weapon from another world. I am the holder of the boat of the vassal weapons. My name is Ethnobalt. I trust we will get along.”
“I’m Naofumi Iwatani, the Shield Hero. The girl behind me is Rishia.”
That was it for introductions.
The boy had a look on his face like he understood anything and everything, and... Well, actually, if I let his face annoy me, then we’d never get anything useful out of the conversation.
“Which means that you’re like Glass, and you have a vassal weapon? Where’s this ‘boat’ you mentioned?”
“It’s right here,” Ethnobalt said, pulling his robes up to show me his feet.
He was standing on a round platform of some kind, and it floated a few inches off of the ground.
It looked like a UFO or something that bizarre.
“I’m pleased to make your acquaintance.”
He looked like he might be a demi-human or some other type of person unique to this world.
“Is there something strange about this guy? Am I imagining it?”
This Ethnobalt guy looked different from all the other people I’d seen since arriving in the world.
“I thought you might notice. Ethnobalt is descended from a race of great monsters that have protected the world for generations.”
“Really...”
Then I realized who he had reminded me of. Something about the way he carried himself... It was Fitoria. It’s hard to be specific about how he reminded me of her, but he did.
He looked like he was probably highly skilled with magic, but maybe he was actually a melee fighter. He gave Kizuna a penguin, so maybe he was actually... a penguin? If that were the case, maybe all of these worlds were watched over by bird monsters...
“His true form is a cute rabbit.”
“Kizuna, please don’t refer to me as ‘cute.’”
“A rabbit? He’s not a penguin?”
“Why would he be?”
“I don’t know. You’re shikigami was a penguin, so I just...”
“Pen?”
What was up with this penguin? He reminded me of the legend I’d encountered on the Cal Mira islands: the one about Pekkul. I wanted to put a red Santa hat on his head—then he would look just like it.
“Oh, I see. That makes sense. I don’t know why, but when Glass and I formed our shikigami, this is what he looked like.”
“Hm...”
Well, that was fine with me. I didn’t want to see what it really looked like, anyway.
Ethnobalt rubbed his chin for a while, apparently deep in thought, and then, having made up his mind, he transformed with a puff of smoke.
I found myself looking at a rabbit standing up on its hind legs.
The look of him once again reminded me of the islands—of the karma rabbit familiars we fought there. Were it not for his staff and the intelligent look in his eyes, I would have mistaken him for a monster.
But the more I looked at him, the more I was certain that he was this world’s version of Fitoria. I was pretty sure of it.
“Would you prefer I take this form when we speak?”
“How rare! I almost never see you as a rabbit,” Kizuna said.
“For the sake of Mr. Naofumi here... I wouldn’t want him to doubt my words unnecessarily. I’d like him to be comfortable.”
“Oh? Naofumi, do you like animals?”
I remembered how Filo would always hug me, but then again, I was probably just imprinted on her as a parent from a young age.
“Okay. So I hear that you’re good at searching for people?”
“Perhaps, though I wasn’t able to find Kizuna when she was imprisoned in the labyrinth.”
“It’s great that you’re humble, but give me a better idea of what you can do, will you? We’ve been waiting for you this whole time.”
I didn’t want to hear that he couldn’t actually help us—but then again, if he was like Fitoria, then he would be unbelievably powerful. From what he’d said so far, it was safe to assume that he had been able to tell if Kizuna was in this world or not. The never-ending labyrinth must have been a completely separate world.
Whatever. I didn’t know him, so I wasn’t thrilled about having to rely on him for help.
I thought that he might be like Fitoria, but he didn’t seem to be.
“There are many complicated methods. I wonder which is best,” Ethnobalt said, producing item after item from under his robes.
They looked like the sort of things a fortuneteller would use. There were small sticks, crystal balls, and... ofuda? Then came the deck of cards... They must have been tarot cards.
I was starting to trust this rabbit less and less. He looked less reputable by the minute.
He might have been the hero of the boat of the vassal weapons, but I didn’t feel like I could trust him.
“Ethnobalt, I was thinking you could grant Naofumi a shikigami.”
“That is a good idea. A shikigami may prove to be a boon to your search effort.”
“Why is that? What can a shikigami do?”
“Aside from helping with the search, a hero’s shikigami can do a lot of interesting things. They certainly make good bodyguards.”
“Pen?”
I pointed to the penguin in Kizuna’s arms, and it cocked its head in response.
That’s right. I’m talking to you.
Was it really Kizuna’s bodyguard? It didn’t look like it would be much help in a battle.
“But you can’t let them die in battle.”
“Oh...” I sighed. If you had to be so careful with them, what good were they as bodyguards?
I was starting to understand. These shikigami were like the “familiars” in the world I’d come from. I think I’d seen something about them written in one of the magic books. It had said that certain items were necessary to summon your familiar and that if you lost the item you wouldn’t be able to summon them.
I hadn’t paid very much attention because I didn’t have a familiar, but thinking about it now, it did seem like a familiar that could protect me in battle would be a handy thing to have.
I had Raphtalia and Filo with me, though, so I had never felt the need for one.
“I had hoped that with this little guy helping me I’d be able to find you quickly...”
“But because I was thrown into the labyrinth, you had to give up, right?” Kizuna sighed. “Glass and I made this shikigami together, so I think it will help us find her current whereabouts. But that might not necessarily bring us to your friends, Naofumi. It will if they are all together, but there’s no guarantee that they are, is there?”
“... No.”
I had no idea where Raphtalia was. The slave spell couldn’t tell me anything unless we were in the same vicinity. I had to prepare myself for a difficult search.
“Then let us perform the shikigami ceremony. It’s easiest if done by the dragon hourglass, so I suggest we make our way there,” Ethnobalt said. With a puff of smoke, he transformed back into his human form and floated out of the room.
We all went to the guild-like building that housed the dragon hourglass.
Ethnobalt waved his staff and then tapped it loudly on the floor. When he did, a magical geometric pattern appeared on the floor around him. It was formed of a faint phantom-like light.
Because the magic was being performed by a giant rabbit, it made the ceremony feel even more otherworldly than the class-up ceremony back in Melromarc.
“First we will need a suitable medium, as well as some blood from the person who will serve as the shikigami’s master.”
“A medium? You mean like an ofuda or a gemstone or something?”
“Yes, you’ll need something like that to make a familiar... When I made Chris here, I used all sorts of monster parts for the ceremony. Glass and I decided on the ingredients because we wanted to make a shikigami that could be a powerful guard.”
Hm... It sounded like a delicate process. I could sometimes get tunnel vision when working on a complex project. I knew other people like that, too —the sort of people that would freeze up when starting a new game or when they were given a bunch of points to assign when creating a character. Some people never manage to actually start the game, because they spend all their time worrying about the best way to allocate resources to their characters. Honestly, I had those tendencies myself.
Out of all the items and materials I had, which would produce the best result? Materials from the Spirit Tortoise or its familiars? During the battle, I’d managed to pick up quite a few materials. Then again, I’d probably end up with a turtle if I used those.
Sure, Ost had been one of the Spirit Tortoise familiars, too, but no matter what sort of familiar I got, it would probably be more focused on defense than offense. As the Shield Hero, I had the defensive bases covered pretty well as it was, so I didn’t want a defensive shikigami.
“After you make one, you can always adjust it later on, so you don’t need to worry too much about it. For now, just use any medium you have to give yourself a shape to work with.”
“It really doesn’t matter what I pick?”
“Normally it would, but the rules are a little different for heroes like us. I guess there’s a chance that it will work differently for you, since you’re from another world.”
So the heroes played by different rules? Good. I guess I didn’t need to worry about it.
Somehow this kind of made it boring. Still, I was glad—it would have taken me all day to make up my mind otherwise.
“I think it might be best to use something that belonged to the girl you are searching for. That way the shikigami will be able to help guide you back to the item’s owner.”
That was a good idea. I could make it specific to Raphtalia—but did I have anything that had belonged to her? I normally made a point of keeping my items to myself and letting Raphtalia and Filo do the same.
I had given her different pieces of equipment in the past, but I don’t think she had ever returned any of them.
“Don’t forget that you can also use the dragon hourglass. You can use it to produce any drop items you have stored in the shield. Do you have anything that might work?” Ethnobalt waved his staff, and an icon indicating my shield flashed in the air. Then a long list of the items contained within it appeared. My eye fell on one thing in particular.
“This...”
Raphtalia was a raccoon-type demi-human.
I saw that an item I had received from Raphtalia was being stored in the shield, but it was a strange material that never unlocked a new shield.
That’s right... I had some of Raphtalia’s hair from when I had given her a haircut way back when I had first purchased her from the slave trader. It was perfect. I didn’t know if I’d be able to take it out of the shield, but I tried just believing that I could and selected the remove option that appeared. The shield emitted a soft light, and then Raphtalia’s hair was in my hand.
“Let’s try this.”
“Very well. Now then, I will need a little of your blood,” Ethnobalt said, using magic to levitate Raphtalia’s hair before us. Then he used a small knife to prick my fingertip and drip a little of my blood onto a plate.
Memories of my first days with Raphtalia came flooding back into my mind. When I bought her from the slave trader, we had performed a similar ceremony.
“Now then, I will begin the shikigami formation ceremony,” Ethnobalt said, sprinkling a magic powder over the mix of Raphtalia’s hair and my blood.
The boat on which he stood began to glow faintly, as if it were contributing power in addition to Ethnobalt’s own magic.
The air in the room around us began to glow with small points of light, as if we were surrounded by fireflies. It was beautiful—and strange.
Soon I’d have a shikigami... Would it really help us find Raphtalia? We were using her hair to make it. If the thing was going to help us find her, then I couldn’t think of a better material to use in its creation.
“We petition for one who will protect—who will serve. A vassal formed from a part of himself. A servant is born...”
The lights swirling around us gathered around Raphtalia’s hair and engulfed it completely.
It was an amazing sight. It was so impressive to see that I would’ve really lost it if the ceremony had ended in failure.
A shikigami... I looked over to see Kizuna’s shikigami, and it was hugging her. I hoped that mine would be a bit more relaxed and a lot less clingy.
Did this mean that I was going to have another party member?
I wasn’t sure how I wanted to use it. Would it have levels the way that other people did? Or did it grow through an alternate system?
However it worked, it was going to serve as my protector, so I would have to devote some serious thought and energy to its growth.
“It’s...” Ethnobalt murmured, hardly able to speak.
“What? Did we fail?”
“No... It just formed much faster than I was expecting. Just who was the owner of this item?”
The light in the room grew even stronger. It was blinking. I couldn’t see anything, so I instinctively raised my shield to protect myself. Then the shield in my hands started to crackle—it was responding to the light!
“Feh...”
“Calm down! Ethnobalt? Is everything okay?”
“Um... No. No! I can’t control it! Everyone! Run!” he shouted, dropping his staff and quickly backing away.
I still had my shield raised to protect Rishia from whatever was happening. Looking over it, I saw something floating in the space before us.
Shikigami...
Shikigami Shield conditions met!
Shikigami Shield abilities locked; shikigami servant: shikigami power-up
A large puff of smoke appeared with a flash, filling the room with blinding white light.
“Cough! Cough!”
I waved my hand to try to clear the smoke away from my face, but it wasn’t moving. I had no choice but to grit my teeth and breathe it in as I looked at the ground to find the source of the explosion.
“Rafu!”
Something came bounding straight at me out of the smoke.
“Wh... What the... ?”
I caught whatever it was in an instant. I looked down and saw a small creature that looked like a mix between a raccoon and a tanuki.
It was hard to describe it more specifically than that. It was like a cute raccoon character from an anime I’d seen a long time ago—only a little bit different.
It was like a tanuki—it was brown with a fluffy tail and walked on four little legs like a chubby little dog. Its ears, however, were decidedly not dog-like. Finally, it had a strange little face that didn’t exactly look like a tanuki or a raccoon.
Its tail was at least as fat and large as the rest of its body, and it looked like... Well, it looked like the kind of mascot characters that little kids get excited about. Still, I’d never seen mascot modeled on a tanuki.
The mascot-like, raccoon-like tanuki creature stood there with its arms crossed. Then it raised one hand, showing me its puffy little paw, blinked its eyes softly, and barked, “Rafu!”
“Is it safe to assume that this thing is my shikigami?”
I changed my shield into the recently unlocked Shikigami Shield, and just like when I had first registered my slave, a new option had appeared in my menu.
That cleared it up. This thing was definitely a shikigami.
It didn’t seem to have levels like the rest of us did. Its stats also weren’t particularly high.
I selected the shikigami power-up effect, and a menu appeared that seemed to allow me to manipulate the shikigami’s stats using various items. It looked like there were a lot of different possible effects.
It reminded me of the options I’d had when designing the bioplant. But aside from those options, it looked like the shikigami could be powered up with items I had on hand.
“Rafu!” it barked, wagging its puffy tail and looking at me with love in its eyes.
It brushed against me. It didn’t feel so bad. Its fur was a little stiff, but it didn’t bother me. It was warm.
“Feh...” Rishia whimpered, stealing sheepish glances at us. Was she seriously afraid of this little thing?
“Pen!”
“For a second there, I wasn’t sure it was going to work. However, it seems like the ceremony was a success!” Ethnobalt said, sighing with relief and floating back over in our direction.
“This is a shikigami?”
“Rafu!”
The shikigami jumped up my shield, stood on its hind legs, and raised both of its paws in the air. It almost looked like it was showing off.
“Yes, it is. Did your weapon say anything about having items to power up the shikigami?”
“Yeah. There’s an option for a shikigami power-up.”
“That’s it. I thought you’d probably enjoy playing with that.”
“I figured you’d be the sort of person that liked that stuff, too.”
“How could you tell? I get a little obsessed sometimes.”
“Hm. Guess we have that in common.”
“Heh heh.”
“Heh heh...”
“Feh... I feel like a third wheel...” Rishia whined, upset that Kizuna and I were sharing a laugh. Was there anything that didn’t make her feel threatened? All we were doing was agreeing with each other, and even that seemed to scare Rishia.
“Well anyway, I believe that this shikigami will be able to help you find your missing friend. Let’s leave with Kizuna to look for your friend and for Glass.”
“Sounds good, doesn’t it?” I said to the shikigami.
“Rafu!” it barked back, excitedly nodding its head.
The little thing was going out of its way to get me to like it... and it was kind of working.
Its voice even reminded me a bit of a young Raphtalia. Just a bit.
“Naofumi, aren’t you going to give this little critter a name?”
“A name? I guess you’re right. I shouldn’t just keep calling it shikigami.”
“Rafu!” the little thing proclaimed, proudly puffing out its chest.
I guess that was the only sound it could make. What a weird thing to say...
It sort of made me feel like I was doing something rude, something disrespectful, to Raphtalia—not that I had any other choice.
I’d chosen Filo’s name because she was a filolial, so I guess it made sense to name this thing after Raphtalia.
“Alright, how about Raph-chan?”
“Rafu!”
“You’re naming it Raph-chan because of the way it talks? Isn’t that a little lowbrow?”
“Why did you name a penguin ‘Chris’?”
Chris sounded like a character straight out of a western fantasy. It certainly didn’t seem like an appropriate name for a penguin.
“Because, when we made this guy, I counted back from the day I’d been summoned to this world and realized that it was Christmas.”
“Ah... so that’s where you got ‘Chris’.”
I still didn’t think it was a good name.
But you’re wrong about why I named it Raph-chan. It’s not because it keeps saying ‘rafu.’ It’s because I made it with Raphtalia’s hair.”
“... That’s not so different.”
I wasn’t going to argue. Besides, it kind of felt like a little too on-the¬nose that the thing kept saying ‘rafu’ to begin with.
“Rafu!”
“Okay, okay. Fine. You want a different name?”
“Rafu?”
Raph-chan (tentative name) looked confused and then shook its head. “Rafuuu.”
I guess she liked the name. If she liked it, then who was I to argue?
“She seems to have a developed a sense of self, hasn’t she? Normally it takes a little longer for their bodies and minds to develop this much.”
“Maybe it’s because the materials came from another world. Could that affect the results like this?”
Raphtalia wasn’t from this world, so maybe it was a special case. Not to mention that she had matured differently than a normal demi-human, because she’d been raised by a hero—me. She had matured very quickly, so maybe this shikigami was the same.
“Okay then, Raph-chan. Can you tell us where Raphtalia is?” I asked.
Raph-chan closed her eyes and puffed up her tail, apparently doing... something.
Was she using magic or some sort of special shikigami ability?
Kizuna turned to Chris and addressed him, “Can you tell us were Glass is?”
“Rafu!”
“Pen!”
Both of the shikigami’s barked and pointed in the same direction.
“Pardon the intrusion. Perhaps you could indicate the location on this map?” Ethnobalt said, pulling out a map of the world and opening it before the shikigami. Both of them immediately pointed to the same spot.
If they were both pointing to the same spot, then it was probably safe to assume that Raphtalia and Glass were traveling together, right?
Kizuna and Ethnobalt sighed and looked upset.
“What? Is something wrong?”
“They’re pointing to a country that’s like the place we escaped from— enemy lands. It’s actually the country where that supposed genius scientist came from.”
“You sure do have a lot of enemies.”
“I know. These are troubled times, after all. All those politics are basically what got me thrown into the labyrinth. What to do...” Kizuna murmured, looking concerned.
I guess you had to deal with war no matter what world you went to.
Even still, this world seemed to be less stable than the one I’d come from.
Melromarc and Siltvelt often went to war with one another, but even they managed to join forces when the world itself was under threat from the waves. The other countries I’d heard of were all participating in international talks about the waves, too.
This world, on the other hand, didn’t seem so cooperative. Everyone seemed to be at war with everyone else.
Maybe the relative peace of the last world was only possible because the queen of Melromarc was so good at diplomacy.
“But Glass and her friends are really powerful in this world, right? I mean, they were chosen to wield the vassal weapons, weren’t they?”
“That’s true, but... the very fact that they haven’t used a dragon hourglass to teleport back here makes me think that they must have run into trouble.”
If Glass was having trouble, how were we supposed to help? From what I’d seen, she was so powerful it was nearly unbelievable.
A dark, somber feeling had taken over the room.
Kizuna and I had had a rough time fighting our way here, but that was only because of the limitations of our weapons. Without those special limitations, I was sure we were actually really powerful and wouldn’t have had a problem. Glass and the others didn’t share the same limitations that we had, so if they were having a hard time, then things must have been really rough.
“Is that where the guy with the book of the vassal weapon is from?”
“No, but they are allies. There’s a chance that Glass and the others have been captured and turned over to him.”
“Then we better get going.”
“Agreed—it’s better than standing around wringing our hands. Let’s go.”
“That settles that.”
There was no telling how much help Kizuna could be if we ran into human enemies, but we didn’t have a choice. We had to get going.
“Kizuna, aren’t you going to bring some friends with you?”
She seemed pretty much ready to leave, but she hadn’t mentioned anything about bringing anyone with us.
“Ethnobalt doesn’t like battles. I guess there are some people I could reach out to, if I had to...” She looked over at Ethnobalt, who awkwardly cleared his throat.
“It would take a few days to get Kizuna’s companions together. They are all spread out across the country, engaged in various activities.”
“Something could happen to Glass while we wait for them to get here. We should go on without them.”
I didn’t disagree with her reasoning. Building up a strong party wouldn’t do us any good at all if Glass and the others were captured while we waited.
And it certainly seemed likely that Raphtalia was with her. If they were turned over to Kyo before we could get there, she’d be in real trouble—and I had to protect her.
We were always right on the edge of disaster.
I sighed. “Aren’t there at least some soldiers that we could bring along?”
“There are soldiers, but they are not permitted to leave the country. They need to be here to protect it.”
Just great. Everyone was shorthanded.
I’d always felt like I didn’t have enough people in my party, but it was looking like Kizuna had the same problem I did.
“Let’s go. Can we use the dragon hourglass to teleport there?”
“No, but Ethnobalt should be able to teleport us there.”
“You are correct, Kizuna. I am able to use the power of my boat to teleport you there—but how will you return?”
“We could use my Portal Shield skill.”
“That’s a good idea. Let’s set a time and place to meet up after the mission. Ethnobalt, you meet us there, okay? If we don’t make it...”
“Understood. Take a communication ofuda with you. With any luck, we should be able to stay in contact through them.”
That was a convenient item to have on hand. I was almost jealous, but then I remembered that we had something similar in the world I came from. There were machines at the guilds (I don’t know how they worked) but they could send messages instantaneously to each other.
Ethnobalt led us out of the building and stepped down from the floating platform he had been riding. The small circular platform then transformed into a boat.
“Everyone, please climb onboard so I can begin the teleportation process.”
“This thing... It reminds me a lot of a weapon I saw once,” I said. I was talking about Fitoria’s carriage.
Skills like Teleport Shield would only work for people that were in your party. But Ethnobalt’s boat and Fitoria’s carriage could teleport anyone that happened to be riding in or on them.
How did they work? Did they form a portal? I had no idea how people got around in this new world. I had a lot of questions running through my
head, but they would have to wait. We left to begin our search for Raphtalia and Glass.
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