Chapter Text
Naofumi let out a sigh; now how will he get about this…
“Ake!” He said pointedly at the young boy... who was admittedly physically older than him… but hopefully not for long…
“U-Uh, Yes, Ma’am!” Ake sputtered out while quickly standing up and doing a little salute. Naofumi’s ears fell flat that needed to change.
“Firstly, just call me Naofumi no need for anything else,” Naofumi stated, causing the boy to ease up and drop his stiff form.
“Understood, Ma- Naofumi,” Ake said. Sakura quickly leaned into his ear and whispered into his ear.
“Master Naofumi doesn’t like being called feminine terms.”
Ake raised a slight eyebrow but shook his head as Naofumi spoke again.
“Do you know where a quarry or a place where I get a magical stone?” Naofumi asked.
Ake simply shook his head in response.
“N-No not really… but I think the people over at Lute might… and, if I may if they do know… It might take a while, maybe so long that the next wave might happen if we just walk… So, we might want to try and get a carriage too,” Ake spoke, uneasiness in his voice and posture as he talked to Naofumi.
‘A wagon, huh… He’s right, but with that motion sickness this body has, that would be an issue… Wait… can’t you make motion sickness medicine? Maybe I should look into that later,’ Naofumi thought before responding.
“Sure, let’s go check that out,” Naofumi said and began packing their things. Sakura turned back into a filolial which gave Ake a small jump at the suddenness of it. Naofumi just put the items onto her back…though he once and while had help from Ake, who quickly realized that Naofumi didn’t seem to enjoy the help he needed because of his tiny body.
Naofumi arrived at the small town a little while later, his ears flat, prepared to hear the people’s mumbles and grievances towards him, but nothing really came. Passing by the villagers who were working on the house or the small kids running through the street, he arrived at the inn hoping for some answers.
“Stay out here,” Naofumi told Sakura, who was still in her bird form. It didn’t make much sense to constantly turn her back and forth, especially when she had everything.
Sakura gave a short nod, and Naofumi entered the building and quickly approached the counter, which he could barely see over.
“Ake! It’s great to see you! I saw you help the Shield hero with protecting the village! Whatcha want? It’s on the house! Though… where ye little buddies?” The bartender/innkeeper said, looking briefly around… Considering this town was close to the castle, it made sense that these people might know Ake.
‘Maybe he came from here? That and they don’t seem that hostile to me… after I saved the village,’ Naofumi thought to himself.
“U-Uh n-no, I came here f-for a different reason,” Ake said, his voice primmed with nervousness.
“Oh? Realy then? Want to rent a room at this time? It’s a bit early, no?” The man said with an arched brow.
“N-No, not that I-” before Ake could continue, Naofumi interrupted, feeling this would take longer than needed…’ let’s just hope that they don’t try and kick me out,’ he thought quickly as he climbed one of the stools making the bartender’s eyes widen.
“O-Oh Shield Hero, I didn’t see ya-I am not sure if I should serve ya, but the food is an option,” The man said, seemingly nervous… Briefly, Naofumi’s mind went to wonder how alcohol would work with his new body- but he got rid of that thought quickly and focused on the topic on hand.
“Do you know where any magical stones are- or, more accurately, do you know where a quarry is where he can get one?” Naofumi asked with a slightly annoyed tone.
“Q-Quarry? Let me think, missy… “Naofumi’s teeth gritted together at being called missy but listened back to the bartender as he started to talk again.
“Am not sure where you can find one. We usually get all the stone and other materials by the nearby mine, but that doesn’t have magical stone- it does have rare ores which sell for quite a bit… Sadly, we haven’t been able to get any of those ores. There’s been a monster from the first wave that made its home... Been really terrible for our economy… And, being that hit by that wave has hurt us even more…” The man said, his eyes sunken as he looked around the crowded inn; most people here were just trying to get rid of their sorrows.
“I…I see-” Naofumi said, looking a bit down.
“Wait! You can help us!” The bartender yelled out as eyes widened, almost as he just remembered that the little girl he was talking to was the Shield hero.
“P-Please get rid of it! I am not sure what we can do, but I know we’ll all appreciate it!” The bartender said, almost begging. It made Naofumi uncomfortable… He almost wanted to reject the request, but then a light bulb went off, which unknowingly was signified by his ears popping up.
“Do you have a carriage I can get? And…” Naofumi spoke more quietly on this bit so only the bartender could hear it, but Naofumi’s face looked so red that it produced light.
“A recipe to get rid of motion sickness?”
The bartender nodded.
“I got a broken-down carriage in the back that’ll start working on, and I can write you a note to give to the alchemy shopkeeper, and he’ll help. He’s a good friend of mine.”
“Alright then… I’ll help,” Naofumi said, letting out a small huff and jumping down.
“C’mon Ake, let’s go!” he said as he approached the door but noticed the lack of the young man.
“R-Right away!” Ake yelled as he followed after Naofumi.
“Ake, you joined her! That’s amazing! You gotta tell me stories if you come back to this little ol’ town!” The bartender yelled out.
Naofumi let out a sigh.
“Alright, Sakura, we got a mission to do,” Naofumi said as he spotted the mine.
“Huh? Really? We found the magic stone already?”
“No, but we can get a carriage if we help these people kill a monster in that mine,” Naofumi said as he pointed towards said mine.
“Oh! I remember! I tried getting the villagers up there, but they didn’t want to go in, so they stayed outside of the mine in a little building,” Sakura told him.
Naofumi gave a short nod; that did make sense.
After a bit, Naofumi finally arrived at the entrance of the mine. Getting a quick look around, Naofumi found some random junk in the building nearby.
“A pickaxe and a length of rope not too terribly useful, though who knows the pickaxe might be,” Naofumi said before he absorbed the pickaxe.
ACQUIRED PICKAXE SHIELD
Equip Bonus - Mining 1
Naofumi lifted an eyebrow at that but switched to the shield, so he could unlock the equip bonus.
“Alright, Sakura, let’s get all of that off you, then we’ll head in,” Naofumi said as he slowly removed the items off of Sakura with the help of Ake and placed them in the building nearby.
After they did that, the trio went in Ake on the left, Naofumi in the middle, and Sakura in her filolial form on the right. Surprisingly, it wasn’t that much of a tight fit, and though Naofumi was feeling a bit stuffed, he pushed it down as he dredged onward.
“So, do we know what type of monster we’re looking for?” Sakura asked as the trio continued to walk forward.
“Nope,” Naofumi said, a bit deadpan as he even forgot to ask him.
Suddenly, Naofumi stopped and clasped his hand to his mouth.
“Master?” Sakura asked, turning towards him with a frightened expression on her bird face.
“What is that smell!?” Naofumi yelled as his nose twitched.
“Huh? Smell?” Ake said as he sniffed the air but smelt nothing. Sakura did the same.
“It… is really gross- like rotten meat,” Naofumi said, trying not to gag.
Slowly the trio continued to walk only to stop as they found the origin… It was a graphic sight. Bits of meat were on the wall, blood splattered everywhere. There were also scattered bits of leather which most likely once were armor. And, what Naofumi hesitated to call “weapons” were either an iron spear that was crushed and mangled so much you almost couldn’t tell what it had initially been, or sharpened wooden sticks snapped in half… Naofumi felt like vomiting at the sight.
“AHHHHH- URGHK,” but it seemed Ake beat him to it as the poor young boy hunched over as he let out his breakfast.
After a bit, Naofumi was able to beat down the sense of gagging to lightly pat Ake on the back.
It took a while, but Ake finally stopped.
“We are probably gonna see more of that on our journey… If you want to turn back now, Ake, do so,” Naofumi said… His body shook as he stared at the blood… For once, he wasn’t sure if that was him or his body…he had seen a lot of fake blood video games and movies did that and even some real blood, but this wasn’t like a scraped kneecap; it… was… so much worse, and the smell didn’t help either.
“N-No, I am fine, M-Miss Shield Hero,” Ake said, shaking as he tried to get himself together.
Naofumi, for once, didn’t grit his teeth at the remark.
It took a while, but Ake was ready to go on.
“Alright, let’s go.”
As the trio continued onwards, they came across similar scenes to that one after the second one. Ake stopped vomiting either from growing used to it or nothing left to vomit… Though Sakura seemed not to care… only giving a light hug to Naofumi each time.
“Whoa,” Ake let out as he looked at the giant cavern they found themselves in. It was a large expanse with Stalactites hanging from the roof, dripping water into the large pool of water at the bottom. Some rocks were glowing light blue…most likely the rare ores the bartender told them about. Naofumi was tempted to start mining them, but he pushed the thought aside.
“My question is, where the hell is this thing?” Naofumi said, slightly annoyed as he looked around, not seeing it or other pathways.
“Well, I guess we should just walk around,” Ake said, looking around. Naofumi gave a short nod, and the trio started to walk around the large expanse they found themselves in.
It was a little bit later when...
“GRRRRR” A loud growl echoed throughout the cavern. Quickly turning around, Naofumi’s eyes widened as he stared at the monster. It was a large two-headed black dog with a spear and other weapons sticking out from its body, its body covered in deep red gashes. On one of its heads, there was even a missing eye.
FEAR was the only thing that Naofumi felt as he stared at the beast. Fear encompassed him as he wanted to run, but his body didn’t obey. He didn’t understand why he felt such intense fear at the monster before him-
“I am sorry, Raphtillia,” Dad said. I held my breath. I couldn’t understand it. Why? Why was this happening? I could feel myself shaking as the monster grew closer.
“We just want to you survive. Please find it your heart to forgive our selfishness,” Mom said, her voice full of sadness. Before I knew it, I started to fall. I saw an explosion of blood as I felt my heart clamp. It couldn’t be true, it just-
“Naofumi!” Suddenly a loud yell erupted.
“Naofumi! What should we do?” Naofumi shook his head, trying to clear his head of the weird daydream-
‘No, it wasn’t a daydream.; it was a memory of this body. It was the most real one out of all the ones I’ve had. Nothing was blurry, and it was so clear it felt truly like my own memory…was it? No’ Naofumi shook his head as he tried to focus on the monster in front of him. It was terrifying.
Just looking at the beast made him shake so much. De knew this wasn’t him that made him fear it; it was the body. Every time he looked at it, flashes of that memory appeared.
“Naofumi!” Ake yelled again, his sword drawn as he pointed towards the monster.
Naofumi tried his best to push it down- he needed to kill this thing. He took deep breaths.
“Alright” Naofumi stared at it, which caused a little tag above the monster to appear.
Black Two Headed Dog
Level 24
Naofumi gulped as he tried to think.
“I’ll distract it, drawing its two heads on me, and you’ll attack its side!” He shouted. But as he tried to run forward, his body didn’t obey. It stood still, fear seizing his muscles.
‘Dammit move!’ He yelled inside his mind, trying to make his body move, but it stood rigid like a deer caught in headlights.
“Naofumi!” Naofumi could hear Sakura yell at him.
‘It’s not the same monster that killed mom - this body’s parents it’s a different one it has a different amount of heads. Even if it was the same monster, we’d be able to defeat it. After all, I am the Shield Hero’ Naofumi told himself, trying to get rid of the fear which seemed to work as he ran towards the monster.
“Over here!” He yelled before punching the monster.
“GRRR” The dog thing growled at him before it attempted to bite him. Naofumi quickly moved out of the way of one of the heads, but the other one came down at him and bit him hard, covering his entire arm.
“AHH!” Naofumi screamed in pain, but surprisingly it didn’t hurt as bad he expected. It still hurt like a son of a bitch but less than he thought.
As Naofumi was pinned, the other head came towards him, but suddenly Sakura did a jump kick aiming at its neck.
“CRACK!” a loud crack erupted throughout the cavern.
“GRRRRR!” The beast let out loud grow as the only still operating neck let go of Naofumi and headed towards Sakura.
“ARGH!” Ake yelled as he stabbed his sword into the beast’s side, but as he tried to pull it out, it wouldn’t budge.
The beast once more let out a growl. His head quickly turned to Ake and promptly attempted to bite down on him. Sakura once again tried to jump kick his neck, but suddenly the beast’s sizable black tail was flying toward Sakura.
“Air Strike Shield!” Naofumi yelled out, making the black tail smash into the tall green shield that appeared suddenly while he ran towards Ake, pushing him out of the way and pulling the sword out at the same time, making the beast bite into the air.
“This didn’t exactly go how I expected it to go, but this still works,” Naofumi gritted as he stared at the now mostly empty bar above the monster’s head.
“Well, we got one head down,” Ake said.
“Let’s just hope it doesn’t grow two more,” Naofumi said bitterly. Ake just gave a short nod.
“It doesn’t have much left, just a few more stabs or just one good kick, and it’s dead,” Naofumi stated as he looked at the imposing beast, trying to think of a way to create an opening.
‘The beast’s main focus was on us two, but when Sakura attempted to launch a back attack, it’ll fling its tail at her. If I try to make Sakura the main focus, it will just try to hit us with his tail, so how do we do this… I got it!’
“Same plan! I distract, and you two attack at the same time. Its head will be on me while the tail can only be on one of you, which I’ll Air Strike Shield!” Naofumi yelled as he ran towards the beast once more, getting its attention and running away from Ake and Sakura.
The dog attempted to bite Naofumi, and once more, he rolled away. Ake ran towards the beast, and so did Sakura. Sakura jumped and flew towards the beast, making him fling his tail in her direction.
“Air Strike Shield” Naofumi yelled out as he dodged another attack.
Blocking his attack, which let Ake get an attack in, he quickly stabbed, then brought it out and did it again. The beast finally fell dead.
“Level 22 reached,” Naofumi heard in his head.
“Level 24 reached,” Sakura heard in her head.
“Level 20 reached,” Ake heard in his head.
Naofumi collapsed onto his knees as he let out a deep sigh of relief. He hated this fight on multiple levels, but the one that irked him the most was the rush of memories that this monster provoked.
“Master, are you all right!?” Sakura asked as he put her beak near the giant bite mark that littered his left shoulder.
Naofumi gave a short nod before he got up and walked over the beast and started to absorb the monster into his shield.
“I sorta wish this would give a loot drop like in games!” Naofumi said with a slight chuckle as he absorbed more of the monster, but suddenly a small screen appeared in his face.
NOTICE (1)
Monsters Will drop items and depending on
The rarity of the monster
Level of the monster
Level of the Monster compared to the Hero
Type of Monster
These items will automatically be put into your inventory.
Naofumi’s eyes widened as he reread it before dismissing the notice.
“What?” he said. His voice might have reached a yell if he wasn’t exhausted from the fight.
“I have an inventory?” Naofumi said to himself through gritted teeth,
‘I didn’t need to lug all the items this entire time?- Well, I haven’t Sakura has…though she did seem to enjoy it…’ Naofumi shook his head, getting rid of those thoughts.
“But how do I access my inventory and, by proxy, get things in and out of it?” He mumbled and almost- no, it did hear him another notice appeared
NOTICE (2)
Inventory is the collection of your items!
You can put items into your inventory by simply absorbing them into your Legendary Item. Don’t worry that it’ll absorb it or take it away like monster drops because it can sense your intentions and understand you want to store the item and not use them on your Legendary Item.
If you want to access your inventory, just think of it, and a menu will appear! And if you want to get it out, just think of the item’s name, and it will pop out of your Legendary Item.
If you’re wondering about capacity, don’t worry, it’s near-infinite. The only problem is the size of the item as it might not fit!
Naofumi gritted his teeth and pointed his shield towards him.
“You stupid thing, couldn’t you have told me this earlier!?” Naofumi yelled out but quickly stopped as he took a few deep breaths.
‘Inventory’ He thought Naofumi’s eyes widened as he looked at all the weird and strange loot he had unknowingly collected throughout his journey. Most seemed worthless, but one in practical drew his eyes; the two-headed dog’s item drop.
Black Double-Edged Short Sword
“Come here, Ake. I got something for you,” Naofumi said.
“Coming!” Ake yelled as he ran towards Naofumi.
‘Black Double-Edged Sword,’ Naofumi thought as soon as Ake got close.
A bright light erupted from the shield’s gem as soon as it disappeared. A black hilt with a blood-red ball pommel was poking out of the reddish-pink gem.
“Wha?” Naofumi muttered softly under his breath, but then he noticed it was slowly pushing out
“Ake, go ahead and grab it and pull it out,” Naofumi ordered. Ake seemed surprised but nodded anyway and grabbed the hilt and pulled it. Much like Arthur pulling Excalibur from the Stone, Ake quickly pulled the Black sword out of Naofumi’s shield without much effort.
The sword was short- which fit part of its name. It was barely longer than Ake’s arm, but the most notable feature was not the size but the color, and it was a deep black matching perfectly with the monster that it came from.
The other most notable part of the sword was the lack of a guard, making the sword dangerous to wield.
“Whoa!” Ake let his eyes wide.
Plu-tunk! Suddenly, a rather dull-looking sheath flew out of the shield and bonked Ake right in the middle of his face.
“OW!” Ake yelled as he rubbed his face.
Naofumi and Sakura, meanwhile, were letting out chuckles at the sight, but it didn’t last long as Sakura spoke next.
“No fair you got him something,” She said with a slight pout…which was kinda weird to see on a bird.
“There’s nothing really in here for you, sorry,” Naofumi said, rubbing the back of his head, looking a tad saddened.
Sakura let out a huff and, in a pouting voice, said, “It’s alright, we’re getting a Wagon that’s good enough.”
“Huh?” Naofumi said, a tad confused.
“I guess it really is true. Filolial’s enjoy drawing wagons,” Ake told Naofumi, who just raised an eyebrow before he shook his head.
“Whatever, let’s just get out of here and tell the bartender,” Naoufmi told them.
It didn’t take long to get back to the entrance, the still decaying bodies were the only obstacle in their way
‘I’ll get Ake something to drink and eat…if he’s old enough’ Naofumi thought as he passed by another one of the corpses he could hear Ake trying and nearly failing to hold in his most likely stomach acid as any food as long been ejected
As soon as he left the mine Naofumi went over to the pile of items they left in the small building and started to absorb them, he had no really large items so all of them just went into his shield it was truly impressive
“So it really does work huh” he muttered before heading off into town
“Ah! Miss Hero, was the monster defeated?” The bartender asked as Naofumi entered with Ake and Sakura who was in her human form in tow
Naofumi gave a short nod
“Yes it was, now I think you owe me something?” Naofumi told him as they got closer to the counter
“Oh yes of course, but first why don’t you both have a drink and some food, it’s on the house,” The man said before each giving them a menu and a Tankard. Before he could say anything the bartender poured something into Naofumi’s tankard
“I bought some apple juice so when you returned I could sever you something to drink,” The man said with a thin smile
Naofumi’s ears dropped at the sight he didn’t mind getting severed apple juice, in all honesty, he probably would go with something similar, he never liked alcohol since he never could get drunk, but the reason why the man gave him apple juice irritated him slightly but he pushed it down and simply nodded and looked at the menu…before not understanding a word on, he needed to learn this worlds langue still
‘Maybe Ake knows? I’ll ask him if he can teach later’
“I don’t care, Ake you can choose for us, you know this place right?” Naofumi told Ake who gave a short nod before looking at his menu and quickly ordering
“Alright, so the carriage should be repaired? And you got the other thing?” Naofumi asked as he pushed his food away finished it with it,
The bartender gave a short nod before getting a piece of yellowed parchment and a quill and started to write on it before handing it to Naofumi
“There you go miss, and yes the wagon is repaired,” The man said with a wide smile
Taking the parchment, The Trio headed out and walked to the back where the man said he had the wagon after a bit of trial and error, Naofumi and Ake had hooked up Sakura to the wagon,
“Now, let’s head back to the capital get what I need, then head out!”
The…ride was interesting, Naofumi tried to remember all the tricks he heard over his time on the internet but nothing fully seemed to work and they need to make somewhat frequent stops, but it didn’t really impact their speed as they reached the castle much faster than they ever did by foot.
Putting down Sakura’s leads Naofumi jumped down and out of the carriage, patted at Sakura, and turned towards the Alchemy Store…Naofumi let out a sigh before he spoke
“Alright, I am gonna head in Ake stay near the carriage,” Naofumi said then walked into the store
A soft bell rung as the door closed and Naofumi found himself among the isles of different ingredients and tools, walking towards the counter Naofumi looked up at the wizened old man inspecting something but as soon as he saw Naofumi approach
“Ah…welcome Shield hero, what makes you come to my little shop?” he said his voice a low croak,
Naofumi felt a tad embarrassed but he pushed through it and handed the man the piece of parchment
“Hmm, I see, give me a minute to head to the back,” The man said before walking away from the counter and towards the selves behind him
“Hm no not that one” he mumbled to himself as he looked at one then moved to another one and said something similar and kept repeating
“Ah here,” He said as he picked something and propped it in his arm and continued to look for items before finally he got all he need and carefully put it onto the counter
“Alright then, let’s see…” He said before he showed Naofumi each step required to make what he needed and how to get all the ingredients
“There you go,” He said before handing him it plus a piece of parchment with the steps written on it that Naofumi didn’t really need as the status notified him that he could just instantly make the potion if he had the mats and knew the recipe
“Thank you,” Naofumi said as he was about to turn around but the man stopped him with a simple
“Wait, before you go here have these…it’s the least I can do,” He said as he handed Naofumi a couple of small bags and a worn-down set of tools
“I have family that lives in that village…so as thanks take these”
Naofumi was confused, him teaching him was all the payback he wanted
“I thank you for killing that beast…and for saving the village in the wave”
Seeing it now Naofumi gave a simple nod took the medicine and left
“Alright let’s go find that magic stone!” he yelled out as soon as he saw Ake and Sakura
They both gave a shout of approval, and Naofumi hopped onto his carriage
‘It’s gonna take a while till we find that magic stone, so best if we made some money’ Naofumi thought as he looked at the goods at the back of his carriage it had been a few days since he left off on his journey to get the magic stone and still no luck though some other things been happening recently when he woke up his boy hurt in certain places, it mostly reminded him of growing pains when he was younger,
‘Is this body finally growing up? At level 22? How screwed up is that, and why does it need to be painful, and that’s not even the worse of it, my…my…. B-B no I can’t think of them it just brings me closer to this weird reality… I refuse to acknowledge them,’ he thought one day when woke up,
Naofumi shook his head got back to reality, he got another few levels recently bringing him up to 25 which made the pain and other….symptoms feel worse but he pushed through it
“Naofumi, there’s a man running towards us!” Ake yelled out from the front of the kart
“Huh?” Naofumi said as he walked to the front of the kart and saw an exhausted-looking man having in his hands a small brown bag of most likely gold, seeing the carriage the man slowed down and heaved in and out as he tried to catch his breath before speaking
“P-Please, Sir, give me a ride in your carriage!” He yelled at Ake, seemingly not seeing Naofumi, something he was used to by now and he wasn’t really sure if he preferred it or not
“Huh?” Ake said briefly confused
“I-I need to buy some medicine for my mother in a town that direction,” He said as he pointed at the town behind the carriage where Naofumi just came from
“Then I need to head back to my village to give my mother the medicine,” He said in between breaths
Naofumi seemed to think before he spoke
“Sakura, how long will it take for you to do the full trip at top speed?” Naofumi asked, the exhausted man looked at Naofumi before a glint of recognition happened in his eyes, the man knew who he was, even with transforming his Shield into a book hoping that would hide his identity he recognized him it was most likely because of rumors of the “Demi-Human Shield Hero” and all the details about this weird case have been spread like wildfire
“Not long, though it would be a lot faster if I didn’t have the carriage, especially turning around”
“I’ll take you for two silver,” Naofumi said
“But…this money is all for my mother’s medicine…”
“You don’t need to pay me in money goods will also work and you can do that later”
The man’s eye light up in happiness hearing this
“Yes, please just help me!” the man yelled
“Ake give me the reigns,” Naofumi said extending his hand towards Ake, who just gave a nod and handed them to him
Quickly Naofumi hopped onto Sakura gave a slight gulp as he remembered the last time what happened but put it away as he yelled to the man
“C’mon!” Naofumi yelled, the man quickly got on Sakura too
“Thank you,” The man said
“I don’t need your gratitude I just need your payment”
without warning, Naofumi took off, leaving only the screams of the man in its wake
As Naofumi came close to the gate of the village he prepared some money in his hand, he really hated this, constantly having to pay to get into a village as he grew closer he threw the money at the guards and jumped over the fence, even with the medicine this amount of quick movement made him feel queasy but he kept pushing it down
Naofumi slowed down near the shop, the man quickly hopped off Sakura and ran in, after a few minutes later he came out with a potion bottle, and got on
Naofumi then did the same trip back to the carriage and down the mountain road, once more preparing some money and throwing at the guards before landing near the man’s house
Entering Naofumi followed the man to his mother’s bed, she was indeed sickly coughing and barely moving around in her bed
“You go boil some water, I’ll give her the medicine,” Naofumi told the man seemed ready to put up some resistance at the idea but seeing the harsh glare the little girl beside him was giving him he complied
‘I can see if this works…’ Naofumi thought as he remember that he recently unlocked a shield that gave buffs to the potion, he hasn’t yet tested it
Looking at the potion he saw a small pop up, giving a short nod he propped the old woman up and gave her the bottle it was a bit difficult trying to do it but after a few tries it worked
“Urgh…thank you, sweety I feel so much better,” the old woman said looking down at him, Naofumi gave a short nod quickly the man returned and had a face of amazement as he looked at his mother finding the situation done Naofumi left the building,
“Give me a minute while I find your payment,” The man yelled out
It was a bit later when the man came towards Naofumi and handed him a small bag full of crops,
Naofumi gave a stiff nod and rode away on Sakura…with a thought in his head
‘Maybe doing some sort of Taxi service will provide a good stream of income’
It was a few days later, Naofumi after he helped the man save his mother. He decided to ride in front of the carriage as he realized, that hiding his shield wasn’t enough to hide his identity, people quickly figured it out, after all, he was probably one of the few raccoon demi-human who acted as the human driving was an equal or a subordinate to them in Melcomarc. So Naofumi decided to take up driving and try to stay quite something which Sakura didn’t always follow, though she definitely tried.
Currently, the trio was escorting a wealthy merchant, Naofumi could hear the whispers and gossip that the merchant spoke to Ake, Naofumi’s presumed owner
“The Heavenly Fowl, truly it’s been interesting to hear the new tales of this hero helping the weak” Naofumi heard him whisper, he could also hear Ake’s uncomfortable shifting as his armor lightly clanking as he did obviously, Ake wasn’t used to be in a high position just a boy in the army meant to follow orders and not question them
“Also, may I add that you have a beautiful Demi-Human, though it seems her clothing though higher quality than most definitely is at the end of its life span…if I may I recommend this tailor…” though Naofumi couldn’t see the man he would bet there was a glint in his eyes as he tried to swindle Ake into visiting one of his many businesses or at least that was Naofumi’s assumption, but he had to agree with the merchant. Recently he’s been getting level ups making him suddenly grow, leading to some issues with his wardrobe if his…more feminine areas were hurting having his now tighter and smaller clothes strangling him didn’t help with it
‘I should visit a tailor sooner or later just until I get back to the capital to get new armor- wait what was that sound?’ Naofumi thought were interrupted as heard running in the bushes nearby, normally this wouldn’t make Naofumi get off his thought process as normally it was just a balloon or some other random monster but the sound was more like heavy footsteps that a human would make, as discreetly as he could he began to slow down, and within a few seconds, his suspicions were proven correct.
A group of men with dirty clothes and weapons stood in the middle of the road blocking Naofumi’s path
“How bout'chou hand over the merchant and we’ll at least spare your lives at least,” a scraggly man said, seemingly the leader, or maybe he was just orator Naofumi wasn’t sure
Naofumi's passive eyes went into a harsh glare
'Roadway thugs..they also seemed to be aware of our passenger…possibly hired thugs from his competitors?’ Naofumi thought to himself
“I would strongly advise just handing him over, we got a level 40 with us,” The scraggly man said moving aside to show off the said man
‘Is that supposed to be a threat?’ Naofumi thought before he spoke next
“You mean you’ll leave only our lives?”
The thugs had a smile
“You’re a smart one girlie, I am not a fan of the smart ones but it still seems we’ll have fun tonight though it’s a bit on the younger-looking side, but that’s not an issue,” An oafish one said with a wide smile and short gawk which might be considered a laugh before the others soon joined in with his sensitive ears he could hear the murmurings of the other thugs
“I want to go second” “Why do we need to take turns, why not all have fun at the same time?” and more like that
Naofumi felt shivers go down his spine as he heard that, he knew that they wouldn’t be able to carry out any of their threats but still the idea… it brought a flash in his mind of a dark and damp cell quickly he shook his head to get that idea out of his head.
Before Naofumi could act Ake jumped out of the carriage drawing his new sword in the process, Sakura got off reigns and puffed up like an animal trying to look bigger to scare away predators, which was apt in this situation though it was a different type of predator then the one in nature
“Now now I wouldn’t be so cocky we got a class-upgraded bodyguard on our side, we’re counting on you sensei!” The first man said showing off the person they were talking about
‘Class Upgrade what’s that?’ Naofumi thought to himself before reading his shield but before he could do anything his two companions rushed at the group, Ake was fighting a few dudes while Sakura cast “Fast Tornado” quickly putting them all on their asses, quickly Ake pulled out some rope and began tying them up
“Some other trader told us to mug the guy riding with you, because he was carrying a lot of nice stuff!” The main thug yelled out in a ferocious tone
“One of my own sold me out?” The trader who came out after the group tied the thugs out
“So what do we do to these guys?” Naofumi asked lightly scratching his head
“Usually you hand them over to the local guards,” The merchant turning over to Naofumi
The thugs let out a short chuckle before speaking
“You’re the Shield Beast aren't ya? It’s pretty obvious since you had no weapon, only a shield and you’re filthy demi”
Naofumi started to put together what they were thinking, it was no secret this kingdoms disdain for demi-humans,
‘They could easily claim that I attacked them first, that I also have a discharged knight on my side, I can see that ending pretty bad’ Naofumi thought before echoing his thoughts out loud
“We’re unlucky adventurers who were attacked by the crazed Shield Beast with the help of a deranged knight! Is that what you’ll tell the guards?”
The thug nodded, smiled then spoke
“Exactly They’ll surely take our words over you filth”
Naofumi had to begin thinking of what to do to them…
‘Maybe I should roleplay a bit and act like the vile beast they expect of me, and take everything but their lives like they threatened me, seems a bit cruel but then again they did threaten to have “fun” with me, I don’t think they really deserve mercy,’
“You’ll have to die,” Naofumi said stoically and surprisingly Ake readied his sword getting at their neck
‘I guess he feels the same way? He’s not normally this violence prone’ Naofumi thought before returning to the thugs.
The thugs straightened up their back in surprise
“Hey Sakura, are you hungry?” He asked Sakura quickly took on a surprised face before nodding
“I am! Food” She said looking down at the group
“You see she’s an omnivore you see, and she’ll gulp down anything in a down gulp,” Naofumi said smiling surprisingly finding it a bit fun to act the villain but sadly his own high pitch voice kinda ruins it but it still sounds threatening enough
“Aren’t you Our Savior of the Heavenly Fowl!? Do you really want to commit murder!?” The man yelled out in fear
Naofumi let out a small “tch” at that
“I thought I was a filthy beast which you guys could have fun with? Now I am some sort of savior, as a filthy beast, I’ve got to look after my best interest, you must have killed plenty of people so far, just consider this your turn and just give up” Naofumi said with a harsh glare that seemed as powerful as Medusa's
The thugs were stunned but quickly began to stutter and beg
“W-Wait, please! Anything but our lives!” The man yelled out at that Naofumi had a smirk on his face
“Got it, I’ll spare your lives, at least” Naofumi began, and believing it to be over the men let out a sigh of relief
“However…” Naofumi began to explain to them that they must hand over everything they own, including goods they stole, the men complied and soon they lead Naofumi to their base, which soon they began lining up and giving the goods to Naofumi who put in the wagon, leaving Sakura to watch them and Ake with the Merchant once more
“We’re looting the bandits. I am not sure how I feel about that but they did threaten Naofumi with…” Ake said to himself before quickly cutting himself off
“It’s just simple business, I truly respect Miss Naofumi with how she did it, though I have heard Tanuki’s and Raccoons in some places represent trickery and greed sometimes , so maybe it’s in her blood?” The merchant said rubbing his chin, Ake simply raised an eyebrow at this
“Simple business explains how this is simple business?” Ake asked
“Miss Naofumi is simply selling a very in-demand item; their lives, and so they have to buy it, and the price is everything they own, truly it’s wonderful to see the trader spirit in this young girl!” The merchant gushed
Hearing those two talk about him Naofumi turned towards the merchant
“I need to ask how are you gonna compensate me for all of this trouble?”
“I will offer all my knowledge and connection I have to you” The merchant offered
“Knowledge and connections?” Naofumi asked
The merchant simply nodded
“As you might have heard, I’ve taken a great liking to you miss”
Naofumi nodded,
‘That is great compensation, I can use all the help I can, also that means he’ll know that gem I need for the store owner, so after he gives the details the next stop is castle town to get the old lady and…new clothes..’ Naofumi thought