The Rising of the Shield Hero Volume 05 (25 page)

“What are you talking about? I already told you, Raphtalia is only a child. Plus she’s so serious she’ll drive you crazy. She definitely doesn’t think about stuff like that.”

I guess it was only natural for men to interpret everything from a perverted angle, but they had to learn to separate reality from fantasy.

Besides, you needed to be careful.

What would happen if we were in the middle of fighting the waves and we found out she was pregnant? Then she wouldn’t be able to fight.

Raphtalia lived with purpose. She didn’t have time for things like that. She hated distraction.

I thought it was my job to create an environment where Raphtalia could best focus on her fighting skills.

“Quite stoic, aren’t you?”

“Hey, kiddo, you don’t play for the other team, do you?”

Motoyasu took that as a sign and stepped back from us. L’Arc was twisting his finger into some bizarre gesture.

How was I supposed to understand his sign language?

“Everyone watch out! This one’s after you! Pervert on the loose!”

L’Arc covered his butt with his hands as if to protect it.

What?! Now I knew what he was saying!

“You calling me a gay? Shut up!”

Why did they have to treat me like I was gay just because I wasn’t doing it with Raphtalia?

I couldn’t stand to be around these people anymore.

“I don’t know how you’re going to explain this all to the girls or to the hotel, but that’s up to you. I’m not going to save you.”

“Are you serious? I don’t believe you.”

L’Arc and Motoyasu were stunned. They watched me prepare to leave the baths in silence.

I couldn’t afford to get wrapped up in another scandal, so I needed to avoid it when I saw one coming.

“Alright then, strategy meeting! Do we try and look over the top, or do we try to make a peephole?”

They all huddled and actually started discussing it.

They had gotten other men adventurers in the baths to get in on it too.

There were quite a few people.

If that was charisma I didn’t need it.

I wondered if peeping was treated differently in this world than it was in mine. Back in my Japan, baths in the Edo period apparently had peepholes installed.

This hotel had the baths separated by sex, but a lot of the other hotels had had unisex baths.

Why didn’t they just go to one of those?

Maybe there was no thrill in that. Maybe they only liked it if they were stealing a glimpse in secret.

Idiots.

I didn’t want to get involved, so I left the baths and went back to my room.

“Whew.”

I was cooling off in my room.

Eventually, I heard footsteps approaching. Raphtalia came in, wrapped in a towel.

“Mr. Naofumi!”

“What? Did Motoyasu and L’Arc get caught peeping?”

“Oh, yes! L’Arc and the other heroes are all hanging their heads in shame.”

“Yeah? Good. They deserve it.”

Of course they were going to get caught. The girls weren’t stupid.

If Motoyasu was in the baths anyone could tell what would happen.

“But what about you, Mr. Naofumi?”

“What, do I have to peep too?”

Raphtalia looked disappointed in my answer. She stood there, crestfallen.

Her reaction was not what I would have expected.

“Here I thought maybe you’d come around . . . .”

“Come around?”

What was she talking about?

I’d more than come around. I’d heard enough from the other heroes.

“What’s wrong big sister?”

Filo came tottering into the room and saw Rapthalia looking crestfallen.

“I don’t know.”

What was she so upset about?

I don’t know for sure. I mean, of course she would hate to be peeped on by a guy like me.

Did she . . . did she want me to look?

No. Raphtalia wasn’t like that.

She was just confused because of all the nonsense the other guys had said.

“Are you okay? Are you upset that L’Arc and the others were spying on you?”

“They didn’t see me! Filo spotted them and I covered myself!”

“That’s good.”

She looked exhausted, even though she had just left the baths. I guess it was because of all the crazy excitement on the men’s side.

“Whew . . . Mr. Naofumi?”

“What?”

“Considering what’s going on do you want to go to a private bath? It might be kind of small, but that might be nice too.”

“Um . . . .”

I knit my eyebrows together and made my stance evident.

I mean . . . I‘d just gotten out of the baths. Still, it had been a short soak.

“You don’t have to turn it down so forcefully. I just thought it would be good for your curse.”

“Yeah . . . you might be right.”

I was getting a weird feeling about it. She was right about the curse though.

“Come on, Mr. Naofumi.”

“Sigh . . . alright.”

So I lifted myself up from the bed and decided to go to the baths again. It was good for the curse, after all.

“It’s over here.”

Raphtalia led me down the hall and out to the other side of the hotel, where there was a private room that required a key to get in. It was on the other side of the building from the main baths. It faced the island’s interior, rather than the ocean.

I could see why the hotel didn’t show it off. The scenery wasn’t so great.

It was supposed to be for families, so it was just Raphtalia, Filo, and I.

Raphtalia kept her chest covered with a towel, and Filo was also wrapped in a towel. They beckoned to me from the bath. I couldn’t forget what L’Arc and Motoyasu had said, but they were wrong. Raphtalia wasn’t looking for a sexual relationship with me.

Yeah, she didn’t look embarrassed at all.

They were poisoning my mind.

I pushed their stupid ideas out of my mind and entered the bath.

“The water is very nice.”

“Yeah, it is.”

“How is your curse doing?”

“I think it’s doing a lot better.”

It would probably be a while until it was completely healed. If I kept soaking in hot springs like this, it would clear up eventually.

“Oooh! Master! A star in she sky just sparkled!”

“Huh?”

I looked up just in time to see a shooting star streak by.

“Oh . . . it’s gone . . . .”

But then there came another. And another.

Raphtalia watched the stars streaming through the sky and clasped her hands together as if in prayer.

I guess people in this world liked to wish on shooting stars too.

You know I could see the stars way better in this world than in Japan. I’d been so busy since I got here I never had taken the time to look upwards.

“What did you wish for, Mr. Naofumi?”

“Oh nothing. What about you, Raphtalia? Did you wish for something?”

“Yes.”

“I hope it comes true.”

“Yes. Me too.”

It wasn’t hard to guess what she’d wished for.

It was probably for world peace or to reunite with her friends from the village.

The whole scene was very romantic. I leaned back and watched the stars.

Eventually we left the bath and started walking back to the room.

“Peeping? L’Arc, how old do you think you are? You might get away with that back home, but you need to follow the rules here!”

L’Arc and the other guys were all getting a lecture in the hallway.

Therese was lecturing L’Arc, while Bitch and her retinue were yelling at the other heroes.

They deserved it. How funny that I got to see their punishment.

It wasn’t worth worrying about them. They were going to enjoy life however they wanted.

They would just accept the lecture as a compromise on their part. I’d read about things like this in manga, so I knew how it worked.

Still . . . I wasn’t like them.

“Oh! Kiddo was in a private bath with the girls. Not fair!”

“L’Arc, pay attention!”

He was pointing at me, but Therese wouldn’t take the bait and let him change the subject. She sent on berating him.

So they went on pretending like they caught me in the act, but we ignored them and went straight back to our room.

I was sure there would be plenty of hardship down the road. L’Arc was an idiot, but he was fun. Next time, maybe, I’d join in on their fun—if only a little.

Of course, I’d make sure I had Raphtalia’s permission first to make sure I didn’t end up getting yelled at in the hallway.

The Rising of the Shield Hero Vol. 5

© Aneko Yusagi 2014

First published by KADOKAWA in 2014 in Japan.

English translation rights arranged by One Peace Books

under the license from KADOKAWA CORPORATION, Japan

No part of this may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by storage and retrieval system without the written permission of the publisher. For information contact One Peace Books. Every effort has been made to accurately present the work presented herein. The publisher and authors regret unintentional inaccuracies or omissions, and do not assume responsibility for the accuracy of the translation in this book. Neither the publishers nor the artists and authors of the information presented in herein shall be liable for any loss of profit or any other commercial damages, including but not limited to special, incidental, consequential or other damages.

Written by Aneko Yusagi

Character Design Seira Minami

Cover Design by Yusuke Koyama

English Edition Published by One Peace Books 2016

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