The Rising of the Shield Hero Volume 05 (24 page)

Extra Chapter: The Cal Mira Hot Springs

It was the fourth night since we’d arrived in the islands.

I went to soak in the hotel’s outdoor bath, thinking that it might help my curse heal faster.

I’d been going there every night.

The tubs were large and Japanese-styled. There were large parasols covering the center of the baths, and a bamboo partition ran down the center to separate the sexes. The best part about it was the unobstructed view of the ocean you had from the baths.

The floor of the baths was made from stone, which also gave it all a very Japanese feel. It made me feel strangely homesick.

“Ah . . . .”

I sunk down into the water and sighed, looking up at the sky.

The water was the perfect temperature. It was a great place to relax.

I’d been visiting the baths every day, so I was starting to feel pretty good.

The sluggish feeling that had been bothering me was going away. A glance at my stats showed that I wasn’t fully healed yet though.

Maybe I had just gotten used to feeling exhausted.

I mulled over such thoughts, barely holding onto them for a moment, as I sunk into the water and relaxed.

“Well, well. If it isn’t Naofumi.”

Motoyasu came walking into the baths.

Where was his spear? I looked closer, and sure enough he still had it. He’d changed it into a very small spear, and it was swinging at his waist.

I couldn't begrudge him that. I’d done the same thing. My shield was very small and slung over my back.

I wasn’t allowed to ever set the shield down, but I could change where I held it—so at least I could relax a little.

Motoyasu poured some of the bath water over himself to warm up before entering the full bath.

“How’s your hangover?”

“How can you even say that to me?”

“I never told you to eat them. I was just eating some fruit, minding my own business.”

“Well you’re obviously from a different Japan than I am. I’ll assume there’s some differences in the way our bodies work.”

“Assume whatever you want.”

I’d never been drunk before. Besides, I’m sure Bitch and the other girls were waiting on him hand and foot. He was probably loving it.

He’s lucky he got out of it with only a hangover to complain about.

“Hey! The water is pretty great!”

Motoyasu was shouting to someone. Who was it?

“I already know that much. How many days have we visited the baths now?”

Itsuki and his crew came shuffling in.

They were followed shortly by Ren and his party.

“Master!”

Filo was in her filolial queen form, and she came jumping over the partition into the men’s baths.

“Huh? What do you want?”

“I want to sit with you!”

“You’re a bird. Go to a different bath. Or just leave the baths and go swimming.”

“I don’t wanna!”

She could be a real brat when she wanted to.

“You better clean any feathers out when you leave.”

“Yay!”

“Stuck in a bath with Filo-chan . . . .”

Motoyasu came sliding over, an intrigued look on his face.

Filo used me as a human shield and hid behind me. She was too large to really hide though.

“Filo-chan. Why don’t you turn into your angel form?”

“I don’t wanna!”

Damn he was persistent. I guess he really had a thing for angels.

But why did Filo insist on sitting in the men’s baths? Sometimes I just didn’t understand her.

Motoyasu started to get excited.

“Hey guys! So out of all the girls in our parties, who do you think is the cutest?”

Oh jeez . . . . They talked about the stupidest things. I sighed loudly.

We weren’t on vacation here. Or is that how Motoyasu was treating his time in this world?

Ren and Itsuki looked annoyed too.

“Hey guys, did you? You know . . . do it? I . . . well . . . heh, heh . . . .”

He was getting really obnoxious. What was he after?

He sounded like a stupid kid, giggling over everything. Was he really a ladies’ man back in his world?

I couldn’t stand his company. I’d just got in the baths, but I was already thinking about leaving.

“So did you do it with Raphtalia?

“Don’t bring me into this.”

We weren’t on such friendly terms, Motoyasu and I.

Wasn’t he the one who believed all the things Bitch was saying about me?

Did the heroes need to be so light-hearted? This guy was an idiot.

“Oh lighten up. Tell us!”

Had he forgotten about Bitch? What was with him?

“I'll start then. Maybe I should start by telling you my ranking of the pretty ladies?”

“No thanks.”

“Unnecessary.”

“Not my thing.”

Ren, Itsuki, and I all refused.

“Well if I had to name my top four, it would be Bitch, Raphtalia, Filo-chan, and Rishia.”

“ . . . .”

What kind of girl did he like? Those four were all over the place.

I guess he just needed a pretty face.

“I understand what you mean. Bitch is a princess, after all. Apparently she has some personality issues, but she was always nice to me.”

Itsuki jumped in on the conversation. Armor leaned over and whispered something in his ear.

I could kind of overhear what he was saying. He was telling Itsuki what kind of girls he liked.

The whole lot of them were idiots.

“Well they say the queen isn’t very nice, but that’s never bothered me.”

Now Ren was joining in too. Didn’t he just say these conversations weren’t his thing?

They were all letting Motoyasu control the conversation.

It was easy enough to complain about it, but I really didn’t want to be included.

“Am I cuuuute?”

Filo asked me.

“Whatever.”

“Boooo.”

“I think you’re the cutest! So why don’t you turn into your angel form?”

“I don’t wanna!”

Did Motoyasu really like her that much?

Why didn’t he just raise his own filolial then? He’d get the same results.

“Rishia is cute too, isn’t she? Itsuki, I’m jealous.”

“No . . . She’s, uh . . . .”

Itsuki looked suddenly embarrassed.

“Who’s Rishia?”

Ren had already forgotten about her. She was the one Itsuki’s whole party treated like a slave.

She was quite soft-spoken, so she must not have made an impression on Ren.

“Sounds like you all pretty much agree with me.”

“I guess so. As long as we’re just talking about their faces.”

“ . . . .”

Ren and I stayed silent and refused to contribute.

What were they talking about? I guess this is just what guys were like.

“I’m gonna go back over with big sister!”

“Yeah, you’d better. This bath is full of dangerous wackos.”

“Okay!”

Filo waved and jumped back over the partition.

Motoyasu shuffled over to the partition.

“If we are heroes and men, it’s an understood rule, isn’t it? We’d better have a . . . peek.”

“What are you talking about?!”

“Come on, you know you want to.”

Itsuki, the warrior of justice, didn’t have anything to say about this?

“You mustn’t.”

Said Itsuki, but he didn’t stop Motoyasu. He shuffled over to join him.

Big surprise there. So the heroes were all horn-balls? Give me a break.

Armor and the other men were all getting excited. They all lined up against the partition.

“Damn . . . . It’s a little too tall. Itsuki, give me a boost! If we jump, we’ll give ourselves away.”

“What are you saying? You’re the taller one. You should give me a boost!”

“But then I wouldn’t get a glimpse of paradise!”

Is that the only issue they had to debate? Who was going to boost who?

“Idiots . . . .”

Ren muttered to himself, but he made no motion to leave.

“I’ve had about enough.”

I said, and I climbed out of the water.

I’d only been in for a few minutes, but I didn’t want to get swept up in whatever trouble they were fomenting.

No sense in playing with fire.

Especially not after all I’d been through, with Bitch framing me and all. I didn’t need to give anyone the opportunity to accuse me of character faults.

If I didn’t leave, I was sure to get blamed for the whole thing.

“What’s up with you, Naofumi? Don’t you want to hang out?”

“Not particularly.”

What were we supposed to do, just look at women’s bodies?

I got sick just thinking about Bitch.

I was sure that I’d have a crime pinned on me if I didn’t get out of there fast.

I would just wait for Raphtalia and Filo to meet me back at the room.

“If you want to peep, do it when I’m not around!”

I said, and I tried to leave for the changing room.

But . . . .

“Huh? It’s Shield Kiddo!”

L’Arc came out of the changing room and into the baths.

“Did you come for the baths too, kiddo?”

He had terrible timing. Why did he have to come now?

“I heard these are the best springs on the island. Therese is here too. Are your friends here?”

I cursed myself silently and then, even though he hadn’t asked, started to explain the whole situation.

“We’re staying here.”

“Oh yeah? You must have some serious cash.”

“I’m about to leave. Those guys are all about to start peeping on the girls. If you don’t want to end up in trouble, you’d better leave too.”

I explained it all to L’Arc and prepared to make my exit. But something about the way he was listening made me nervous.

“Hold on a second. Did you say peeping?”

L’Arc grabbed my hand.

Why? Was he angry?

He seemed like he had a sense of justice and was stubborn enough to stick too it. Was he going to try and stop them?

“And you’re not going to participate in something that fun?”

We apparently had another horn-ball to deal with.

He looked over at Motoyasu, who was trying to position himself to see over the wall.

“I guess they’re my comrades!”

“What?!”

“Come on!”

I could hardly believe my eyes. He was siding with them?

“Come on, kiddo!”

“No thanks.”

“Don’t bother with him! He’s as stubborn as they come!”

“But . . . but this is man’s highest calling? What are we for, if not to worship a woman’s naked body?”

They were so rude! Did they even think about how the women might feel being peeped on?

L’Arc and Motoyasu were so excited that their perspective was the only one being heard.

I liked L’Arc, but I’ll have to knock him down a few ranks.

“Hey Naofumi, how far have you gotten with Raphtalia? Certainly you’ve thought about it?”

“That girl he’s with? I bet he’s gone pretty far!”

It’s like I had two Motoyasu’s to deal with. I slapped my hand to my forehead and sighed.

“How many times do I have to tell you that it’s not like that?”

“Yeah, well you know that she’s thinking about it.”

“Nice . . . . I’ve been trying to get Therese into that kind of mood . . . .”

I’d thought they were an item this whole time.

They seemed so close, that I had just assumed they were dating or something.

But if he was trying to peep, then I guess not.

And here they were trying to peep on each other’s party members. It’s like they were trying to ruin my reputation even further than they already had.

“Nonsense. This is all nonsense!”

“So there’s no action at all? Maybe L’Arc could tell us something?”

“Nothing good.”

“No, I mean like . . . hasn’t Raphtalia tried to instigate anything?”

“Instigate? No. She’s only a child.”

“Are you dense? You mean she’s never taken her clothes off or anything? It’s hard to tell with all those clothes and armor on, but she’s stylish under all that, right? I can feel how attractive and classy she is under those clothes. I can’t ignore it!”

If I didn’t tell them something, I’d never get them to leave me alone.

What a pain.

“Sigh . . . well actually, a while back . . . .”

It was when we were traveling around as merchants.

We were in a village that was pretty famous for its springs.

The hotel had baths attached, so I soaked in them.

“Mr. Naofumi . . . .”

I was back at the room working on accessories, when Raphtalia came in from the pools.

She was wrapped in a towel, and I remember that she looked very embarrassed.

I don’t know what she was thinking, but she stood there and untied the towel. She dropped it, showing off her body.

“What do you think?”

Her body was kept up well. I’d known that her breasts were large from a time we’d hugged, but they were larger than I’d even thought. They must have gotten in the way during battle.

Her whole body was soft though. It was hard to believe she was capable of such power in a fight.

Her hair was wet, and the scars that had been on her back had faded away.

She’d shown me her scars before, and I’d applied medicine to them.

But now she was standing there before me, naked, looking embarrassed.

So I said, “They look much better than before. Compared to when we met, the scars are like night and day—I can’t even really see them.”

“Oh? Is that, um . . . all?”

“Was there something else?”

Her jaw dropped like she couldn’t believe my reaction.

“If you don’t get dressed, you’ll catch a cold.”

“Hey! Big-sister is naaaaaaked!”

Filo ran into the room and started shouting.

Then she pulled off her dress, becoming naked herself, and charged at me.

“I wanna play too!”

“No! We’re not playing!”

They wrestled a little, but that was all.

“So that happened.”

“You idiot!”

L’Arc and Motoyasu were so disappointed they acted like they wanted to beat me up.

I caught their fists and pushed them back.

“What’s wrong with you two?”

“How can you ignore such brazen appeal? What a waste!”

“Yeah, yeah! If a woman shows you her body, you can’t just turn it down! That’s rude!”