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Tate no Yuusha no Nariagari (LN) - Volume 20 - Chapter 13




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Chapter Thirteen: Online Trolling 

It was the following morning and the sun was almost completely over the horizon. 

“Check it out. It looks like Mamoru was telling the truth,” I said. We had reached a small hill with an excellent view out over the surrounding terrain, and I looked toward the front lines. A veritable horde of dragons was seething forward across the ground and through the air. There were some massive dragons among them too. It looked like the latest dinosaur park gone wrong again. This many of them was stomach-turning, to be honest. I was also immediately starting to see the advantages of a dragon battalion. It even made me want to increase the number of dragons among my forces. 

There came some more dragon roars and a responding shout from a lone figure. Ren, swinging his sword alone against the dragons—without even using any skills—looked like the protagonist of his own heroic story. He certainly didn’t look like the guy who had been convalescing in the village after collapsing from too much stress. Eclair also appeared. She seemed to be warning him about pushing himself too hard. Then Fohl and Keel pushed forward themselves, providing some support for Ren to ensure he didn’t overextend himself. They weren’t having the easiest time of it though; I could tell. When I asked them about it afterward, they explained that something was definitely different when compared to fighting normal monsters. In any case, everyone from the village—starting with Fohl—was receiving hero blessings from Ren and me so they could put up a good fight. The fighting was being led by Fohl, Keel, the other villagers, and the Siltran volunteers. Those volunteers were comprised of the few races they had who were skilled at combat. Both Ren and Fohl were fighting using only techniques and magic, without any skills, in order to hide the fact that they were heroes. Part of the plan was to lure the enemy into position for me, after all. 

I wasn’t on the battlefield myself, so I didn’t know where Mamoru and his party were fighting. I turned to look behind the enemy forces . . . and there they were. A three-fold force comprised of humans, demi-humans, and therianthropes. They were watching everything unfold under the pretense of support from the rear. This was a new type of enemy for us. It was a composition we hadn’t seen before, even in battle with Siltvelt. It felt more like the Melromarc army that had fought with us against Faubrey. 

Even at a distance, it was easy to see the difference in the size of the two forces. Our enemies saw nothing other than a small, weak nation feebly trying to fight back. 

“Shield Hero,” said Ruft. Chick and Raph-chan made noises too. 

“Yes, good point. We’d better get moving,” I agreed. The Shine Shield had proven more useful than I expected. It had made the perfect lure, attracting even more of my targets than I had expected. That was enough time and numbers now. It was time to go on the counterattack. 

Ruft intoned some illumination magic, so I matched my breathing with his and raised the shield. It was a chance to use a combination skill. 

“As the source of your power, I implore you! Let the true way be revealed once more! Create light to illuminate us! Drifa Illumination!” 

“Into a combination skill! Prism Light Shield!” I shouted. While giving off ridiculously brilliant light, almost divine in its brilliance, we charged into the dragon battalion and the forces behind them. A cacophony of roars and growls greeted us. The forces in the rear had countless wild monsters with them too. You really could find wild monsters anywhere. I kept Chick running at a speed that wouldn’t wear her down completely. I pushed into the mountains and used Hate Reaction on all the monsters we encountered in order to gather them together and threw in some liberal Shine Shield to make sure they all saw us. I even used Liberation Aura on any monsters that looked like they wouldn’t be able to keep up, which increased their speed as we ran. I had wondered what to do if the monsters started fighting with each other, but an intense Hate Reaction was a wonderful thing. The simple-minded monsters fixed their sights completely on me, with no in-fighting at all. The shield already had intrinsic properties to attract monsters, and I had to make use of every advantage I had. 

“What’s going on here?!” 

“A horde of monsters?!” 

“Is that the Shield Hero?!” 

“Impossible! He’s already engaged with the Bow Hero!” 

“What is the Shield Hero doing here?!” The enemies in front of us had a lot to say about the massive makeshift horde of monsters I had put together, and I felt cracks of chaos starting to run through the Piensa chain of command. 

“MPK using a train . . . bringing in more monsters to make up the numbers. This is my first time actually seeing it in action,” I breathed. MPK was an online game term that stood for “monster player kill.” It was exactly what it sounded like—a form of trolling that involved using monsters to kill other players. It was used in games that didn’t allow direct PK—player killing—as a way of killing players you didn’t like. Of course, as a form of trolling, it was, strictly speaking, against the rules. But I wasn’t in a game right now and so I saw this as a legit tactic. If this was “cheating,” so was raising up a crazy dragon battalion and using it to hammer down other nations. This would be a fine punishment for the Bow Hero and his dragon supremacist way of thinking. The dragon battalion he had raised so carefully and had ultimate confidence in was defeated by a raid launched by wild monsters . . . Okay, maybe “defeated” was going too far. But it certainly struck a resounding blow. It was time to rake these untrained dragons over the coals a little. 

“You always surprise us, Hero Iwatani,” Eclair exclaimed. 

“Ren, stop standing and staring! We need to incant before the Shield Hero hits their lines or this will all be wasted!” Wyndia called to Ren as she sensed my approach, even as she helped with the magic at the rear. 

“Okay, I’m on it!” Ren took the signal and started to incant magic. Everyone was smiling at my arrival as they formed up the magic. Ren led the incanting support magic. 

“I, the Sword Hero, command the heavens and earth! Transect the way of the universe and rejoin it again to expel the pus from within! Dragon Vein! Bring together my magic and the power of the heroes! As the source of your power, the Sword Hero implores you! Let the true way be revealed once more! Bring them power! All Liberation Bless Power X!” The magic Ren had just incanted was different from the aura that increased all status. Instead, it just increased specific statuses like power and speed. I specialized in healing and support, meaning he couldn’t quite match me overall. But at the moment, Ren could actually use support magic that offered a higher boost to attack power than mine did. Having received the benefits of his support, the monster army I was dragging along behind me all started to speed up, coming up after me even more intensely. 

Of course, I had a full wall of Shooting Star Shields deployed around me, so even if any attacks reached me and my small party, they weren’t going to break through. Chick gave a squawk, informing me that Ren’s magic had been applied to us as well. She spread her wings and speeded up. We were almost transformed into nothing but a pure bolt of light that was piercing into the dragon battalion and Piensa army. Just when it looked like we would cut right through the enemy, a singular shaft of high-speed lightning— 

Ruft and the two Raph-chans all activated their illusion magic, and we vanished completely. In the same moment, I released both the Hate Reaction and the Prism Light Shield. For those around us, it would have looked like we simply turned into light and vanished. 

A horde of fresh growls was thrown up into the air as the monsters—losing their original target—quickly turned on the dragon battalion and Piensa army located all around them. Our enemies were quickly thrown into complete chaos. 

“What’s going on? These monsters are so fast and strong!” 

“Even the dragons can’t hold them off!” 

“What are you doing? Fall back into ranks! Match the Siltran attack with support for our dragons!” 

“The fighting has devolved too far already! Do we need attack magic, healing, or support? I can’t tell!” 

“You fool! We can’t let the dragons provided to us by the glorious hero be killed like this!” The chain of command was collapsing already. The cries of the men were drowning out any attempts to restore order. With Mamoru and his group tying up the Bow Hero, there was only one other person who could turn this situation around. As the Piensa army continued to fall apart around us, we dashed among them, still hidden, searching for the one in command. 

Ruft and I were in agreement that he would be found some distance from the battle but close enough to see what was going on. Their commander would keep to the safest possible location while enjoying the ambitions of open warfare. I still had some hope that it would be the king of Piensa himself, but he probably wasn’t quite that stupid. 

“Stand firm! Don’t fall for the cowardly tricks of the Siltran! They are using wild monsters, nothing more! Do you really believe that our invincible dragons can’t put them down? You rabble! Believe in the glorious hero and defeat the Siltran army and their petty tricks!” A guy who looked like some kind of fancy wizard was shouting pointless platitudes at the other men as my monster train rolled over them. He looked like the boss—or he would do for now. “I can’t believe the Shield Hero in Siltran, Mamoru, would use such a tactic as this . . . No, it must be proof that we finally have him cornered! This is his final spurt of pointless resistance! Pile on! I know him, I know him!” 

“Oh! You are the magician who defeated the upstart king of Siltran, so I guess you know what you’re talking about!” one soldier conveniently shouted, almost for my benefit. So this was the guy! This was the traitor Mamoru had mentioned! 

“Drop our lines back. Allow the dragon battalion to fight more easily!” the magician shouted. 

“Hold on. I’m not about to let you put an end to our fun so easily. More chaos, please,” I quipped, grabbing the turncoat by the shoulder and turning off the invisibility. I still had Ruft and the Raph-chans making me look like Mamoru, of course. 

“What! How can you be here, Shield Hero?! You are engaged with the Bow Hero even as we speak. I am sure of it!” the magician raged. 

“You, of all people, should understand that one never reveals how the trick is performed!” I replied. It was a pretty good comeback, for me. I hoped a lot of people heard it. 

“Let go of me, charlatan! Your tiny nation is going to be squished today!” the magician raged. 

“Remove your hands from our strategist!” a soldier shouted, coming with other subordinates to protect their leader. At the same time came a guttural roar from what looked like a bodyguard dragon that the leader had held back for protection. Of course, they thought I was Mamoru—and so was able to attack for myself—and obviously hadn’t totally underestimated what might happen during the battle. If I activated Shooting Star Shield again, I would knock the magician away and he would escape. That seemed to leave me with only one choice: take all the incoming attacks head-on and cause some damage using counterattacks. 

“Air Strike Shield! Second Shield! Dritte Shield! Chain Shield!” I deployed my shields and then transformed them, catching all the magic and arrows flying in toward us. The incoming attackers weaved between my shields, pouring in to attack me. I also started to feel a little pain—no more than a tickle, but there was definitely contact. It was a sign that maybe the Bow Hero could train his goons after all. The shield gave a solid response and the countereffect was triggered. I had the Spirit Tortoise Carapace Shield equipped, and the countereffects of C Magic Snatch and C Magic Shot quickly scattered out among all of those who had attacked me. My tactics were greeted with pleasing cries from the attackers and shouts about their magic being drained away. 

“I’ve got a little bonus for you too! Take this!” I tossed out the enhanced snake balloons that had been biting onto me. It was just another little piece of fun I had cooked up. 

“What’s this? Snake balloons?! Owww, that hurts! Stop it!” Further chaos ensued, and I reveled in their shouts and cries. That said, it was an annoyance that I couldn’t cause any truly incapacitating injuries. Using these methods only reminded me of when I’d first had to resort to such tactics, and I honestly didn’t like that feeling. 

“Shield Hero!” Ruft was still using his illusion magic. He split himself into multiple copies, then snatched an axe from one of the enemies and smashed it with considerable force back into him. He was fighting a lot like Raphtalia and unleashing some powerful attacks. In his therianthrope form, he looked pretty brawny while he did it too. It was starting to feel like Raphtalia would be the technical character and Ruftmila the power one. 

“Raph!” said Raph-chan. 

“Dafu!” said Raph-chan II. The two cuties were also working together to send Piensa soldiers flying. Raph-chan II was swinging her Beast Lance around as her weapon. She had really been favoring that one recently. Meanwhile, with a mighty neigh, Chick sent incoming Piensa soldiers tumbling away with a powerful kick. She was pretending to be a horse at the moment and so had probably decided it best that she didn’t squawk like a bird. Melty had told me that Chick was quite unlike Filo in that she was actually a pretty smart filolial. I wasn’t sure I saw much of that in how she generally carried herself, but being a filolial, she was at least good at voice work, I guessed. Her neigh was pretty convincing. 

The bodyguard dragon gave another roar as it closed in, swinging its arms as it targeted me. Black fire welled up from my front shield, and then the Demon Dragon asserted herself inside my field of vision. 

“Look at this,” the Demon Dragon said, her voice ringing inside my head. “A dragon who would dare to fight us!” This was a new trick! I thought all she could do was provide support for incanting magic. “I’m a copy of my original personality. One of my best features!” the Demon Dragon said, and the voice faded away. I really didn’t like this. It was starting to feel like she might have embedded her actual mind inside mine! 

Even as the dragon narrowed its beady eyes and prepared to strike me, it suddenly jerked back with a grunt. There was a look of terror appearing on its lizard features. It seemed to have felt the presence of the Demon Dragon inside me. 

“We can’t have you recovering just yet. More chaos, that’s what this battle needs!” I shouted. We didn’t want to win the battle outright, but we needed to break the will of the Piensa soldiers. I didn’t want this turning into a full-blown war while we were still around. 

“You scum, you aren’t Mamoru—” the magician shouted. 

“Let’s not spill those beans yet,” I replied, covering his mouth and taking him hostage. It hadn’t taken him that long to work it out, but it still made sense for me to act as Mamoru’s double for now. 

Mamoru himself gave me the impression that he was very serious about things, but in a different way from Kizuna. Apart from that, I didn’t really know much about him. That made it hard to put on a convincing performance. From the way the magician was reacting to everything I’d done so far, he didn’t seem like the type to use these kinds of tactics. That said, I had used skills—something only heroes had access to—and so I could tell our enemies had really been thrown into confusion. 

“You coward! Is this something the Shield Hero would do?!” 

“So barbaric! No true hero would act this way! You dirty the battlefield with your cowardice!” The infantry around me didn’t like this turn of events, but I only scoffed. They could invade purely to fulfill their own ambitions, but what I was doing was cowardice! Talk about a double standard—especially when they had been happy to let the dragon battalion do all the work. But when they shouted names at me like “demon,” I felt that this was still preferable to fighting back in my time. 

“I think we’re done here. This guy seems to be the commander, so he’ll make a nice gift to take back with us. Ruft! Raph-chan, one, two!” I shouted. 

“Okay!” Ruft hammered the shaft of his stolen axe into the abdomen of the traitor, causing him to grunt and collapse. I was impressed with how Ruft had handled himself. It still wasn’t that long since he had arrived in the village, and I didn’t recall him ever saying he had been in combat when he was in Q’ten Lo. He was growing up as fast as Raphtalia had and was proving himself incredible at adapting to his surroundings. 

“Master Strategist!” one of the enemy shouted. 

“Don’t let them get away!” another chimed in. “The master would choose death over a return to Siltran. We must honor that loyalty!” Worried that our captive would be taken alive and spill his secrets, the men seemed to have decided to just take us all out. I couldn’t really tell if that was smart or not. 

“Not on my watch.” S’yne appeared in an instant, her scissors at the ready, deploying threads all around us and binding up the closest soldiers. 

“Now the Sewing Set Hero from another world has appeared too!” a soldier exclaimed. 

“It is the Shield Hero! We have to let the Bow Hero know at once!” another shouted. 

“Think he can make it in time?” I asked as S’yne wrapped the traitor up in her threads to make him easier to handle. It felt like a good time to depart. 

“Let’s move!” Riding on Chick, we quickly disengaged. “Now! Start the next phase!” I commanded. Ruft sent up the flare that marked the signal. As soon as he did so, a flurry of skills—a veritable explosion—erupted from the front lines. 

“Dragon Wipe Sword . . . into Comet Sword X! Hundred Swords X!” Ren launched an imbued skill that gave his sword blade a blackish-purple hue and then followed that with two other skills. He sent countless blades raining down onto his foes. It was clearly an attack designed specifically to damage dragons, and the results were suitably decimating. The dragon battalion erupted into roars and growls as its member dragons were cut down one after the other. “I understand that you aren’t in the wrong here. This is all the world of people . . . the ones who got you involved in this terrible conflict in the first place. But I will fight for the sake of those I must protect!” Ren really sounded like a hero for a moment there. I wondered if he was getting a little high on the whole situation. 

“To protect everyone! Atla, lend me your strength!” Fohl started to unleash his own barrage of skills, slamming them into massive dragons one after the other. “Dragon Wipe Fist X! Air Strike Rush V! Second Rush V! Dritte Rush V! Moonlight Kick V! And then . . . Boldest Boulder-Busting Body Blow V!” First, he charged in like a dragon himself, thrusting his fist into the throat of the beast. As it reared back, he used that opening to strike its exposed belly; this flowed into a succession of swift blows. After Fohl unleashed four powerful kicks, the dragon recovered itself and moved in to try and smash him down. Fohl proceeded to summersault the beast, lifting it into the air from where he used its downward trajectory to unleash a final smash into the ground. The dragon crashing into the ground matched perfectly with his killing blow, taking the massive dragon out with a devastating impact. I’d heard him calling for aid from Atla, but I was pretty sure she had nothing to do with his combo. In fact, she’d likely only call him out on everything she thought he’d done wrong. 

The gemstone on my shield was flashing in much the same way it did when taunting Raphtalia. That settled it. Atla was still as hard on Fohl as she had ever been in life. I was glad he couldn’t hear her, anyway. He was fighting like a monster out there—and a monster full of life, at that. 

“Fohl, that was so cool! We need to show off what we can do too!” Keel said, accompanied by the other villagers. He was yipping around in dog mode, keeping the attention of the monsters I had brought in with me focused on the Piensa army. A dog rushing across the battlefield . . . it sounded like something from a Spielberg movie. But the dog in question was a crepe-loving money-maker with a questionable taste in attire. The dragons and monsters all seemed to have decided Keel would be easy pickings and charged toward her. 

“A dog! A dog!” one soldier exclaimed in surprise. 

“We can’t let a dog beat us!” said another. 

“Think you can take me down, do you?” Keel yipped back. “Sorry, but you’re too slow to catch me!” Whatever Keel was, the other villagers and I had trained her. She weaved easily through the incoming attacks and then through the legs of the Piensa army, off and away to freedom. When one enemy still continued after her, Keel skillfully kicked him away. With a howl, the wolfman flew backward and crashed into his allies. 

“That’s no ordinary mutt!” one shouted. 

“Bye-bye now!” With more woofs, Keel raced away. I was impressed. Keel kept things loose, never getting too tense. That was definitely one of her strengths. 

“What’s going on? They are using the same strange techniques . . . the same skills as the glorious hero!” a soldier shouted. 

“Don’t tell me . . . this is the holy weapon hero who came from another world and his party of hangers-on? But why are they working with the Shield Hero?!” another exclaimed. I was pleased with the chaos all across the battlefield. 

“I’ve heard that the Sewing Kit Hero is working with them,” said a general-looking type as I sneaked past, still concealed. 

“The cowardly Shield Hero and Whip Hero! What means did they use to summon heroes from other worlds?!” another one shouted. As I slipped onward, I wondered why Mamoru’s charisma and the authority of the Shield Hero didn’t seem to work on these guys. I guessed we could just chalk it up to warfare. 

“Everyone! We are holding the enemy back here! Melty, Wyndia, with me!” Imiya said, taking the lead. The other girls shouted their agreement as they all started to weave some cooperative magic. “Land bereft by the chaos of war! Flow of the Dragon Vein caught up in this sea of conflict! We ask you to spit out that tainted, foul blood! Dragon Vein! Hear our petition and grant it! As the source of your power, we implore you! Let the true way be revealed once more! Open the way before us! Collective Ritual Magic! Continental Cleft!” With a suitable cracking sound, the ground between the Siltran and the dragon battalion forces split apart, spreading wide to the left and right. Back to making bird squawks, Chick—with me and everyone else in my small group still aboard—leapt into the air and crossed over to the safe side of the new crevice. The monsters we left behind, those unable to fly for themselves, turned and fixated completely on the Piensa forces, including the dragons. Faced with the unexpected assault from my horde of monsters, our support magic, my capture of their commander, and the appearance of heroes from another world, the Piensa army was completely overwhelmed. Their command structure was shot to pieces and they were forced to retreat. Even the dragons seemed to realize they were at a disadvantage. Those that remained scattered and fled the field. 

“Hey! Bubba and the gang!” Keel dashed over to me. “Welcome back! You were amazing out there!” 

“I think I pulled my weight. I hope you see now that there is more than one way to win a battle,” I told her. 

“Yep, sure do! Who’s this guy, anyway?” Keel said, looking at the magician, who I was still roughly holding onto. In the same moment, Ren and the others were moving over as well, keeping an eye on the Piensa forces as they did so. 

“A magician who looked like he was in command over there apparently started out here in Siltran. I thought he might make a nice gift for our hosts,” I explained, pretty pleased with myself. Keel and the others all looked impressed. It had gone well, even if I said so myself. 

“Naofumi, I do think we may have gone a little far,” Melty commented. I turned to look back at the Piensa forces, watching them flee as they barely managed to fend off the monsters that I had unleashed on them. They had been more than just a big flock of weaklings, but I wasn’t sure how I felt about our actions. I guess I chalked it all up to strategy. It didn’t look like they had suffered too many fatalities, apart from the dragons, and there was nothing wrong with whittling down the number of wild monsters. 

“All part of the strategy,” I mused, looking down into the pretty deep crevice that had been created. Warfare in alternate worlds was quite a crazy thing. I wondered if there was combat in modern Japan that involved changing terrain on such a scale. Digging trenches, traps using bombs, and those things were possible, but probably nothing on this scale. “That settles the fighting for now, anyway. The Piensa army had been defeated. I doubt they will get any ideas about attacking again too soon,” I commented. “Melty, you know what to do next.” 

“I’m on it! We’ll seize the narrative at once and spread word around the world about how monsters and new collaborators raced to the aid of Siltran and sent the Piensa army and their dragon battalion packing!” Melty said. This kind of battle wasn’t won on the field. We were facing the kind of enemy who would easily make excuses about how cowardly enemy tactics led to their defeat, turning us into the embodiment of evil and turning the world against us. In that case, we needed to strike first and use the rumor mill to our advantage. “Whatever gets spread around now can only help us out! The real battle—the information battle—only starts once the fighting has been won!” 

“I will aid you in thiz,” the Shadow said, also keen to help. All of this should really put a crimp on any Piensa plans to wage war anytime soon. They wouldn’t be invading the Sanctuary anytime soon. I didn’t know if they had ever managed that feat or not in the “official” history either. 

“I was thinking, Naofumi, that maybe you just sowed the seeds of all the Shield Demon stuff for the future,” Melty said. That question was like a knife in my heart—like I might be the one responsible for all the grime I suffered attached to the Shield Hero name. “Bringing in a horde of monsters to defeat an enemy force sounds a lot like a Shield Demon King to me.” Melty chose to press the point, perhaps seeing that I wasn’t really enjoying the situation. I had long become numb to such names, however. If they wanted a Demon King, I’d give them the cackling king of all evil. 

“Did you see the terrified faces of those weaklings as they fled from me?” I laughed. “Wasn’t it wonderful?” I laid it on nice and thick. 

“You want something like that, do you?” Melty said. She knew I was joking and chuckled along with me. It was nice to have allies who got my sense of humor. “What about Mamoru and Raphtalia? How did I do?” I asked, looking in the direction Mamoru and his party had gone. They were in the forest some distance from the battlefield. I saw smoke rising from the trees. That looked worrying. 

We headed in the direction of the smoke. 

By the time we drew close to where the smoke was rising, the forest was quiet—perhaps because the fighting had finished. We arrived at the scene to find scratches gouged out of the ground that spoke of the battle that had happened there. 

“Mr. Naofumi!” Raphtalia noticed our arrival and came over, accompanied by Mamoru and the others. It didn’t look like the Bow Hero was around. 

“How did things go here?” I asked. 

“It worked well. Their Bow Hero was shocked to hear the Shield Hero was on the battlefield when Mamoru was right here,” Raphtalia reported. It sounded like our raid had been a success. 

“And? What was the Bow Hero like? Something like Itsuki?” I asked. 

“Well, he listened to us, and it seemed like he might cooperate with us depending upon the circumstances. But he also spoke of prioritizing his own goals,” Raphtalia replied. 

“That sounds about right. That’s the Bow Hero,” I replied. 

“He was like the Sword Hero used to be, but maybe with a bit of a broader perspective on things. I don’t think he’s going to be a good fit with us,” Raphtalia explained. So another hero with a pain-in-the-ass personality. “Unlike the vanguards of the waves, he gave the impression of taking being a hero pretty seriously. He fought in good unison with his allies, which made me think it would be hard to overwhelm him with pure force.” He was one of the four heroes, and a legit one at that. I wished Mamoru had been able to get through to him. 

“Mamoru tried to negotiate with him,” Raphtalia continued, almost reading my thoughts, “but there’s something about all of this . . . something behind it that we’re not seeing yet.” There was something lurking there that even Raphtalia could see. There were numerous possibilities, so I couldn’t whittle anything down yet. But if they were stubbornly going to try and use warfare in order to get things done, we could only respond as required. Since we had encountered them here first, that placed righteousness on our side. Now we just needed to strike first before they had time to come back with any complaints. This kind of information warfare was a specialty of Trash and others in his league. Melty and Ruft had absorbed it so thoroughly from spending time at the king’s side that I was almost worried for what they might get up to in the future. “He did break out into a bit of a cold sweat when he saw my face,” Raphtalia added. 

“Did you show him your hero-hurting sakura stone of destiny?” I said mockingly. 

“I knew you would enjoy this, but yes . . . in order to prevent them from realizing I was using a vassal weapon, I used the sakura stone of destiny katana from the start of the battle,” she said with a sigh. “They seemed to know it put them at a disadvantage.” So they had some knowledge of being on the back foot against enemies from Q’ten Lo. That sounded like something worth asking Mamoru about. “When they heard that you and the others had defeated the Piensa army, Mr. Naofumi, they beat a hasty retreat. But the Bow Hero seemed to show some concern for Mamoru prior to departing.” 

“Concern for him, huh?” I said. It sounded like all this wasn’t exactly what the Bow Hero wanted either. Maybe he was a hero who had graduated a little from the I’ll-do-everything-however-I-like phase. There had to be some reason he still stood against us. Here we were in the past, and the heroes were still all fighting each other. What a pain. “Whatever the reason, things have worked out pretty much how we wanted them to,” I concluded. If we had brought an end to their march without having to kill the Bow Hero, that meant victory for us. We might end up having to fight him again in the future, but this was more than good enough for now—even if I still couldn’t shake off the feeling I was shaping the future antagonistic relationship between the Shield and Bow Heroes. I wondered if maybe he had really just wanted to help us out. Then Mamoru finished talking to his allies and came over. 

“It all worked out as planned, Naofumi. Thank you for drawing the Bow Hero away. It sounds like they won’t be bothering us again for a while,” Mamoru said. 

“Not that we really understand anything that side is thinking,” I said. “Oh, Mamoru, I did pick up a little something for you.” I told him about capturing the bossy strategist from among the enemy forces. He had apparently started out here in Siltran. Traitors needed to be suitably punished. At that moment, he was trussed up back in the Siltran main camp. Even if Piensa made overtures to get him back, there didn’t seem to be any reason to listen to them. “You can get him to spill his guts, and then . . . well, spill his guts, if you like,” I told him. 

“Mr. Naofumi, you have the most evil grin on your face,” Raphtalia said. 

“You bet I do. Betrayal should carry a heavy price. In any case, we want to stop them from even thinking about attacking again for the length of time we are here,” I replied. 

“Yes, of course. Thank you so much for all of your help. You seem very capable at this kind of thing—it makes me think the future must be a hard place,” Mamoru said. 

“It has its moments,” I replied. I was the Shield Hero who had been framed almost as soon as I arrived, cast out without allies or coin, and who couldn’t even attack for himself. At least Mamoru had some ability to attack; he couldn’t understand what I had been through. I wouldn’t still be here if I wasn’t pretty tough. It would take more than being sent into the past to make me complain now. 

“This means you’ve protected my little old research subject. Maintenance of order is nothing to sniff at,” Holn said. 

“My village is more than just a subject for your research,” I pointed out. 

“You’ve been a massive help, Naofumi,” R’yne chipped in. “Pretty rare for us to get out an attack with so little damage taken. Just hearing about you plowing into the enemy with a horde of monsters gets me all worked up over here! I’m amazed that worked against a bunch of dragons. Mamoru is the Shield Hero too. Maybe he should try copying it? Hey, Mamoru? Are you listening?” She was as breezy and casual as ever. She really did love to talk. I wish she’d take a note from S’yne’s book—but I had my suspicions that S’yne was actually something of a talker herself. Her sister definitely was. I wondered if even a trait like that was passed down by blood. A terrifying thought. Mamoru’s face looked tense too. 

When I thought about the situation, it sounded like someone who could well be an ancestor of Raphtalia’s was also stirring up trouble with the heroes in this time period. I was suddenly nervous about meeting with them. If we ended up in a scrap, at least we had the sakura stone of destiny weapons to fight back with. Raw strength wasn’t going to count for much against us. 

“Okay. We’re heading back. We can hold meetings or whatever later. Melty and Ruft can handle that stuff,” I said. 

“Why are you leaving now? We need to report our damages and then hold a celebration for this victory,” Mamoru said. He still seemed full of energy. 

“Hey, guys . . . I’ve been up all night getting ready to pull off this attack. I’m getting sleepy. The sun is up now anyway. Any kind of celebration can be held after it gets dark,” I said. Sure, I could stave off sleep for a pretty long time, and the protection of the shield could help keep me going. But my exhaustion was really building up. I needed some sack time. “I’ve been preparing all sorts of dishes for you too. Look forward to it,” I told him. His castle was a bit poor on the provisions, but Holn had modified more of the bioplants and our food shortages were easing as a result. The village was doing okay, but everyone ate so much I was starting to worry about our production capabilities. That said, failing to provide a huge feast after a big operation like this would significantly damage morale. 

Mamoru looked at me and then at Raphtalia. 

“This is how we’ve done things so far,” I told him. 

“Okay then. We’ll mop things up and handle all the details here,” Mamoru replied. 

“See you later.” With that, we retreated. Keel and the other villagers had managed to get some sleep while we were preparing for the fighting, and so they stuck around to help out. The remains of the monsters I had led into battle and the dragons were carried away, processed as required, and delivered to the village. Once I finished my nap, I came out to find a veritable pile of monsters and wasn’t really sure what to do with them. Then I put the cooks who hadn’t done any fighting to work. 





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