The Rising of the Shield Hero Volume 05 (5 page)

“Mr. Ren, to what do we owe the pleasure?”

“They say they want us heroes to cooperate from now on, so we’re going around introducing our parties.”

“Is that so? Very well! However, I did want to confirm our plans for the coming days. What type of monsters should we focus our attention on?”

“What?”

Itsuki and I both exclaimed our suspicions at the same time.

“Apparently we are heading for the Cal Mira islands. We’ll do our leveling there. See to it that you are all prepared.”

Ren barked out the order as if it were the most obvious thing in the world—but that’s not what had surprised us.

“Wait a second—what are you talking about? I want to hear from you all, not from Ren.”

“Oh, well . . . um . . . We were thinking that we could split up and work on our leveling separately from Mr. Ren.”

Well that should be simple enough, except that I had no idea what they meant.

I got the gist of it, but . . . what did it mean? Was it just another method?

It looked like Itsuki was just as confused by this all as I was, but he chose not to say anything about it because of the incident we’d just been through with his party members.

“What?”

“Um . . . .”

I guess if Ren was okay with it, there wasn’t a problem?

“Do you typically operate separately from Ren?”

Itsuki’s curiosity got the better of him. In response, the whole party nodded.

They went on to explain themselves.

Ren’s plan was to introduce his party members to areas of the map where the monsters were in the ideal power range for effective leveling.

They were to battle monsters and raise their levels, collecting materials, ores, and tools along the way.

Sometimes they would come across monsters that were particularly strong, at which point they would team up with Ren to defeat them.

“Mr. Ren was also quite clear that we were to avoid taking any damage in our fights with monsters.”

I had a fare amount of experience with online RPGs, so I’d seen this kind of thing before. Stronger players in charge of guilds or other organizations would often recruit weaker players like this and let them in on secret leveling spots and rare item drops.

That seemed to be what was going on here.

“You don’t say? So that means that Ren is fighting on his own?”

Itsuki was glaring at Ren, his irritation evident. Ren didn’t seem to notice.

Ren’s party members were clearly interpreting his actions positively, but still—I could sense a lot of distance between them.

It was simple, I guessed. Ren didn’t think it was cool to be tied to a party. He wanted to be on his own.

He might have a lot of experience with online games, but could he have always been a solo player?

It was a play style I’d seen before. People that liked to do what they could on their own—only teaming up with others to take on large-scale events or to battle powerful boss characters.

Or it could be that he was the type that was part of a very small guild and would only recruit people that already knew of it, watching over their growth and managing them as a new style of play. I could understand playing with the system on a game, but would he really do that here in a completely new world?

I’d seen this online before, I knew the type.

Well Itsuki was no different, traveling to appease his own sense of moral superiority. What a bunch of heroes these two were.

“It’s Naofumi’s turn.”

“Sure.”

I could only imagine how they’d react when I introduced Raphtalia and Filo.

I’d thought that Ren and Itsuki would understand, but after meeting their parties I wasn’t so sure anymore.

“Alright, this way.”

I led the two of them over to where Raphtalia was resting.

“Welcome back, Mr. Naofumi. What happened?”

“The queen wants the heroes to cooperate, so we’re introducing our party members.”

“I see, then allow me to introduce myself. My name is Raphtalia.”

“My name is Ren Amaki. I am the Sword Hero.”

“I’m Itsuki Kawasaki, the Bow Hero. I have a feeling we’ll be seeing a lot more of each other. I look forward to it.”

“If you don’t hold us back, we might come to depend on you.”

Raphtalia’s mouth hung open in stupefied shock at Ren’s comment.

The way he said it made his position clear: he obviously assumed that she would only hold him back.

“I don’t think I’ve ever been a burden in a battle.”

“Ren didn’t mean to insult or disparage you. We’ve seen your true power in battle before.”

Itsuki jumped in to cover for Ren. He was only making it more confusing.

“He’s right. You’re stronger than I’d thought.”

“Very much so . . . though that reminds me. Where is the young girl with the small wings on her back? I think she was able to turn into a monster of some kind?”

“You mean Filo? She’s probably over there.”

Filo was . . . I think she was over at the buffet counter stuffing her face.

I picked her out of the crowd and called out to her.

“Filo!”

“Hm?”

Hearing me call, she finally abandoned her plate of food and came running over.

“What do you want, master?”

“Yeah well . . . I think you already know these two faces, but I’ve got to formally introduce you.”

“Why?”

Filo looked troubled and took a step back.

“Are they like the spear guy?”

“No, no. Compared to him, these two are upstanding guys.”

“Yes, I feel the same way.”

“Oh? They kind of look like they’d get along.”

We all seemed to be in agreement on that. No one was as crazy over women as he was.

“So go on and introduce yourself.”

“Okay! Filo’s name . . . MY name is Filo!”

She sounded so stupid . . . . Why slip into the third person to introduce yourself?

“My job’s to pull master’s carriage!”

She was very proud of herself for her work. What would a normal person think, hearing a small girl brag about dragging carriages down the street?

Both Ren and Itsuki winced awkwardly as they looked at me.

“My name is Itsuki Kawasaki. Pleased to meet you.”

“I’m Ren Amaki. Try not to hold us back . . . though I can see you won’t.”

“Yeah! Nice to meet you! Bow! Sword!”

After giving their full names, only to be called by their respective weapons, Ren and Itsuki shot me the same awkward wince.

With the introductions finished, the three of us fell to silence.

They might have thought it strange that I treated Raphtalia and Filo as other humans, instead of just treating them like subordinates.

“Raphtalia, weren’t you once a slave?”

“Yes.”

Itsuki’s mouth hung open. What was he implying?

“Is this a master-slave relationship? How do you think of Naofumi?”

“Now that you mention it, I suppose it was that sort of relationship. I never really think about it.”

Hearing Raphtalia’s response, Itsuki continued to look confused.

“Anyway, Mr. Naofumi has never given me any strange or uncomfortable orders. I know that he depends on me, and so I want to do what I can for him.”

“Have you ever thought that you hate fighting? Or that you’d like to be free?”

“I haven’t. If I were free, there’s nowhere for me to go. My old village is gone. All I want is to keep fighting with Mr. Naofumi.”

“Is that so?”

“Why do you only ask questions to get a complaint out of her?”

It’s like they’d taken this introduction as an opportunity to root out my weak points.

“I guess you already had made up your mind about this before Motoyasu challenged Naofumi?”

“Yes, I had . . . . I’m sorry about that.”

He seemed to mostly just let it all go, but something about Itsuki’s face betrayed his true feelings. He looked over at me.

What did he want from me? Raphtalia had been a slave, but now she was a trusted friend.

Was I imagining it? No . . . I could trust what she said.

“Let’s introduce our friends to each other and then go back to speak with the queen.”

“Good idea. Raphtalia, go introduce yourself to Ren and Itsuki’s teammates. We’re going to have to cooperate from now on. I know that it will make you a little uncomfortable, but do your best to avoid a fight.”

“Understood.”

Chapter Two: Meeting of the Heroes

After Ren and Itsuki explained the situation to their parties, we went to visit with the queen.

When we met up with her, she led us all out of the hall and into another room. We went down a hall and then climbed a spiral staircase.

Finally we reached the room, which must have been at the top of a tower, judging by the number of stairs we’d climbed.

It was a simple room, furnished with a large, round table in the center.

It reminded me of
the
round table. There were chairs already set around it for us, and we all took our seats.

“Soon, Mr. Kitamura, the Spear Hero, will join us. Please wait just a moment for his arrival.”

Ren and Itsuki, apparently troubled by all the free time, stared off into the distance—they must have been looking at their gaming menus.

It was a good idea, I opened my own status tree.

I’d sort of neglected it recently, having been too busy. This was a good opportunity to get back up to speed.

Five minutes or so went by.

A disgruntled looking Motoyasu stumbled into the room and made no effort to hide the hatred in his gaze when he glared at us.

“Mr. Kitamura, I trust you’ve gone to see my daughter? This is her punishment for attempting to poison Mr. Iwatani.”

“That’s right, you’d mentioned that.”

Ren’s cool gaze fell on Motoyasu and the queen.

“Fearing that Mr. Motoyasu might be angry with the circumstances, I ordered a subordinate of mine to extract a confession directly from my daughter, Bitch.”

Bitch was currently under the slave-sealing spell and was only able to speak the truth.

She was especially unable to lie to either the queen or Motoyasu.

He’d probably gone to see her in the hospital,and heard her confession for himself. Did he believe it? Apparently not.

“Bitch isn’t in the wrong! This is all Naofumi’s fault!”

“I believe my daughter has confessed. And I believe you have been included in the slave-sealing ceremony as a master, so she certainly is unable to lie to you. Were you able to understand the gist of her story?”

“ . . . .”

“Regardless, please understand that this is no longer the time to get into petty arguments over my daughter. If you value her life, you will help us protect this world. Its safety is also her own.”

Motoyasu’s irritation was evident, but he swallowed his protest and took a seat at the table. It was time to get down to business.

With us all seated around the table, the room had taken on a real Arthurian atmosphere.

With both Motoyasu and myself seated there, which of us played the part of the betraying knight?

“Now then, let us begin to share information between the four holy heroes. I, Queen Milleria Q. Melromarc, will moderate the discussion. Let us begin.”

“Sure.”

“Gladly.”

“So we should share information . . . .”

“What is there to talk about?”

The queen was supposed to moderate the conversation, but Motoyasu’s displeasure was clear, and he spat his question with obnoxious spite.

He could have learned to keep his emotions to himself a little more. It was clear that he was upset, but HIS woman was the one at fault here.

“I will be moderating this discussion, so I might as well begin it. I’d like to start by telling you about the opinions of our neighboring nations, as well as our own country’s subjects.”

So the queen had something she wanted to say right from the get-go.

“I will be frank. I have received communications from other diplomats expressing concern regarding the heroes’ ability to survive the coming waves—all the heroes aside from Mr. Iwatani, that is.”

“WHAT?!”

The other three heroes shouted in disbelief.

“What is that supposed to mean?!”

Itsuki was the one who shouted the question, but Motoyasu and Ren nodded along.

“It almost sounds like you’re implying that Iwatani is the strongest one here!”

“Then let me ask you something. Who among you landed the most effective attacks against the high priest of the Church of the Three Heroes? I’ve actually heard that the rest of you were effectively defeated before Mr. Iwatani was able to defeat the high priest himself.”

“Um . . . .”

I liked the way this conversation was going.

The other guys had all played games similar to this world back in their own
worlds, so they seemed to assume that they knew what they needed to do to power up—and yet, they honestly didn’t seem to really be all that strong.

At the very beginning of all this, I had definitely been way behind the rest of them. But these days it seemed like I had made up for that initial difference.

Motoyasu had a pretty hard time defending himself from Filo, and that had been before she’d even leveled up.

I didn’t know what their actual levels were, but from what I had heard, they’d all participated in quite a few battles around the world. I’d lost all that time when I’d traveled around selling items, and so I hadn’t been able to class-up as soon as the others. Yet they had still lost to me in a battle. What did it mean?

And they were heroes too, so at the very least they should have been more powerful than your average, everyday citizen.

Trash had also given them all a substantial amount of money to start their travels, so they shouldn’t have had any trouble in the money department either.

“The citizens of the world wish for the heroes to cooperate. I trust you understand what I am getting at.”

“Very well.”

The three wore expressions of deep disappointment, but they seemed to grasp the point of the meeting.

“Naofumi, why don’t we hear from you first?”

“Why do I need to go first? The queen started this by addressing you.”

“Well to be honest, I find your strength odd, considering the level that you and your teammates currently are. You’re too strong. That ridiculous shield of yours also seems strangely overpowered.”

“Yeah, I want to address that too. The Raphtalia girl, not to mention that monster Filo, are both much stronger than I would have expected. It’s not natural.”

“Yeah. Little Raphtalia-chan and Filo can really hold their own.”

These creeps. We were supposed to be sharing information, but instead they were using this as an opportunity to get me to do all the talking. They had some mixed up priorities.

I guess that meant with all they supposedly knew about the world, they weren’t expecting to run into the curse series, or for Raphtalia and Filo to be as powerful as they were.

Then again, I couldn’t just tell them whatever they wanted to hear.

“And what are you three planning on giving me in exchange for this information?”

“What?”

“Is that such a crazy question? Think back to the beginning of all this. You all sat me down and told me that the shield class was underpowered and weak. You cut me off and left me to my own devices. You didn’t tell me anything. Now you want to know the secret of my power, but how am I supposed to know that you’ll share what you know once you get what you want out of me?”

If I had information that they wanted, that put me at an advantage for any negotiations that were about to start. I didn’t want to give that up.

If they wanted information out of me, they’d have to go first—they had to tell me everything that they knew.

“It’s not like we purposefully kept secrets . . . .”

“Look at your help screen.”

“I suppose we could have been a little more forthcoming with our knowledge, but . . . .”

The three of them all responded pathetically.

“However you spin it, none of you helped me. You might say ‘look at the help screen’ and try to act all cool. But would the help screen tell me the most efficient areas of the map for leveling?”

I had to really read their reactions if I wanted to get any information out of them at all.

Had I forgotten how to get information out of someone?

Sure, we were all trying to manipulate each other. If you wanted success in negotiations, you had to find some way to control the flow of the conversation.

I’d managed to create an atmosphere where they realized they would have to indulge me in information if they wanted to get anything out of me.

If I made one final push, maybe I could secure an advantage.

“Just like the rest of you, I have some secrets of my own. I think it’s finally time we all had a real heart-to-heart.”

“Ha!”

Ren snorted, obviously annoyed.

“And you know what else? You three need to realize that you’ve already lost against the waves once. If you mess up like that again, you’re going to die.”

“What are you talking about? That was a special event battle—you have to lose that one.”

“What?”

“Yeah, if the heroes lose that battle, they just get carried to the hospital and they wake up there. You don’t die. The story is set up that way.”

“Yeah, it’s as good as proven. Just look at what happened once we lost to the high priest—we woke up in the hospital.”

What the hell were they saying? Were they out of their minds?

“What are you three saying? Occasionally I have trouble understanding what Mr. Iwatani is saying, but this is something new altogether!”

The queen exclaimed. She seemed very troubled. I felt the same way.

It’s like the three of them had just claimed immortality in front of us. They thought that they would never die, no matter what they did.

“Well, just so you know . . . I actually defeated that high priest after you lost to him, so . . . .”

The three of them all shouted in unison again.

“There’s no way a shielder could win that fight. It’s because of that weird shield you have.”

Damn, they were getting annoying.

If they lost, they’d just wake up in the hospital? Was that how their game worked? Did they honestly think this was just a game, and that these were only events to advance the plot?

Even though they lost I remembered how they’d condescended to me and my shield. It made me furious just thinking about it.

It . . . It was . . . .

“Anyway, that stuff doesn’t matter. Let’s move on.”

Doesn’t matter? These idiots were still treating everything like a game!

This was absurd—absolutely crazy! Their misunderstanding of the situation needed to be addressed immediately.

“You idiots. You know this isn’t a game, right?! If you die here, it’s all over!”

“Right, but we are protected.”

“Yeah.”

“Exactly.”

There was just no reaching these people.

This conversation was making me very uncomfortable. Even with all the problems I’d run into since arriving in this world, this conversation might have been more dangerous than any of them. I tried to tell them all, but they just wouldn’t listen. So what else could I do? I had to just go along for the ride.

I had to be strong enough to survive after they’d all died. With the way they were talking, that day might not be far off.

But wait . . . no. Fitoria had said that the waves would get more severe if the heroes died.

“So that’s how you think the world works and you guys still tried to kill me? What would have happened if you’d succeeded?”

“What do you mean? You just would have died.”

Itsuki said it like it was nothing.

So they didn’t feel any hesitation at the thought of murder? As long as they got ‘the bad guy’ everything was just fine?

“I thought it was a little weird. I figured we wouldn’t be able to kill you.”

“I just figured you’d end up back in your own world. Crazy.”

“Motoyasu—I should send YOU back to your own world!”

Why did he even think that would happen? What an idiot!

“Anyway, enough with thinking of everything like a game. Enough is enough! It's a miracle that you three are still alive at all!”

The three of them let my words blow by without comment. They didn’t even respond. They wouldn’t understand until the truth waltzed over and slapped them in the face—but by then it would be too late.

I sighed. “Anyway. You all better start talking. Tell me everything you know, right from the beginning. If you don’t, then I don’t have anything to tell you either.”

“Well there’s no avoiding it then, is there? It’s a pain, but if you insist . . . .”

“Yes, and the heroes must also stop interfering with one another’s successes.”

“Whatever. Nothing will change in the end. Nothing at all.”

They better start talking, and fast. I needed to know what I needed to do to get stronger.

They’d wrested control of the conversation through sheer idiocy, but it was time for me to take the controls back.

“And Itsuki,” I started. “Certainly a hero that fights for justice would never take the side of liar to appease his sense of balance . . . would he?”

“Lies? I do not lie!”

“I wonder. What’s less cool than lying, eh Ren?”

“Who knows?”

“And women don’t like liars at all, do they Motoyasu?”

“No, they don’t.”

Was that enough? I hoped I’d sealed off the possibility of their continued lies before the conversation started moving again.

I imagined that Ren was very concerned with looking as cool as possible.

Motoyasu wanted the ladies to like him.

Itsuki was all about justice. Sure, he could define that however was convenient at the time—that’s why I made sure he associated it with lying at the table. With that in his head, he’d find it hard to lie straight out.

With all the pieces in place, the three of them were more likely to tell the truth.

“Alright, Itsuki, you go first. Tell me everything right from the beginning.”

“Why are you in charge?”

Itsuki knit his eyebrows together in annoyance but turned to the rest of the table and started talking.

“The heroes’ weapons are unlocked by the materials that are absorbed into them. This also expands the skill tree that is available. The system is very similar to the game I used to play,
Dimension Wave
, but there are differences here and there.”

“Huh? It’s not the exact same?”

“No—but it’s very similar. There are a lot of weapons here that I’ve never seen.”

That would mean that he didn’t know all there was to know about the different weapons in this world.

That made sense. If he had known all about the different weapons and their skills, then he should have known about the slave and monster shields as well.

“The biggest difference is probably that, in this world, when you change to a new weapon, the other weapons you have used remain available to you.”

Ren and Motoyasu nodded along. So this place wasn’t exactly like the games they were used to? That was kind of worrisome.

“I’ll go next.”

Ren raised his hand and started to speak.

“I’ll take over where Itsuki left off. When a weapon is unlocked, certain equip bonuses become available to you.”

I knew that I could trust that information, because I already knew it to be true.

“Still, the equip bonus system is a little different than what I’m used to from
Brave Star Online
.”

“How so?”

“In my game, you normally learned skills by earning skill points through skills you already knew.”

That made sense to me too. In games that I had played in the past there were skill points available to the player, and they could assign them however they wanted to customize their character.

I felt like . . . like if I could just unlock the skill tree of this one shield, then all the skills would suddenly be available.

Anyway, what really surprised me was that, despite all these differences, the three of them still seemed confident that they were in the same game as the one they were familiar with from their own worlds.

“You’re right. It was just like that.”

“Yeah.”

“But I think that only the heroes are able to unlock the entire skill tree.”

I was starting to understand. Normal adventurers could only unlock certain portions of the skill tree, depending on the conditions that open up to them in their growth. Only the heroes, because of their legendary weapons, could unlock everything.

“My turn. If you hold a weapon type that you specialize in, you can copy them. I think they have a ‘weapon copy system.’”

“What?”

What was that? I’d never heard of anything like that!

“Yeah, that’s a lot different from the game I was used to, but I was able to get a really strong weapon for free, so it ended up being a big help.”