Chapter Fourteen: On the Road Again
“I’ll have your head!”
The Trash wasn’t happy with my behavior.
“Uh-oh! How are you going to get me to the guillotine?”
There was a clatter of armor as knights began inching toward me from their posts around the throne.
“Are you guys forgetting? I’m the one that defeated the enemy—the one strong enough to take down all the other heroes.”
I readied my shield and faced the knights. They all stopped moving.
I was a hero, after all. They did all know that I’d survived the wave where others had fallen, so why would they risk drawing close?
Even if I was half faking it…
“What are you doing?! Kill this insolent fool!”
“Hey now.”
I turned back to him and spoke threateningly.
“Don’t you understand? I’m strong enough to march into this castle, kill you, and make it out of here unscathed. You see that, right?”
“Uh…”
The Trash King looked very upset.
“If you don’t believe me, I can demonstrate.”
I’d learned that some tricks and threats were necessary to negotiate effectively in this place.
I had to use the tools available to me if I was going to restrain the Trash.
“Those heroes you depend on were defeated by the enemy—an enemy I then defeated! Now you want to make me into your enemy?”
“Ughhhhh…”
He was so angry he was grinding his teeth.
“The only reason you can speak that way…”
“I’ll kill you if you touch my party members.”
I thought it best to tell him how that would play out.
Iron Maiden was a very powerful skill. It had defeated the Soul Eater, so I knew it was capable of killing someone. At the very least I could use self curse burning and give them all some serious burns.
Trash’s face was pale. Apparently he finally understood his place.
“Don’t ever summon or speak to me again, Trash. When the waves are over, I’m out of here. Until then, I will do what I have to. But don’t get in my way.”
I couldn’t pull any punches when I threatened him—and I couldn’t use my trump card either. I had to save that for when I didn’t have any other options left. If I killed him here and now, nothing would change. Whoever was pulling the strings behind the scenes would just pop up and take his place.
Still, if I had to fight the other heroes directly, I didn’t know if that was a fight I could win.
And if I had to fight them all at once, I was sure to lose.
“Later.”
I turned and left the throne behind.
“I won’t forgive you! I won’t forgive you, Shield!!!!!!!!”
His screams echoed through the castle.
“That makes two of ussssss!!!!”
I shouted on my way out of the chamber.
I left the castle and was walking down the stairs when I passed a woman who looked like she was from the nobility.
She hid her mouth with a fan, and she was wearing an expensive-looking dress. I couldn’t see her whole face, but I could tell she was pretty. I wonder how old she was? She was probably in her early twenties. Her hair was purple. That was a rare color.
“Zank you for all your hard work, Zir.”
Zir? Crap, I almost turned to look.
Huh? The woman was followed by the younger princess.
“Ah.”
I ignored her and kept walking. I didn’t have anything to say to the Bitch’s younger sister.
“Mz. Melty…”
“I understand, thank you!”
Yes, at the time I thought nothing of it, and kept walking.
At the time I wouldn’t have thought, not even in my wildest dreams, that the younger princess would be the key that unlocked the door to dramatic change.
By the way, Raphtalia and Filo were waiting for me back in the room. Apparently they had thought that I might cause a ruckus and had been planning to come after me. I didn’t know if I should be happy they understood me so well—or if I should be bothered by it.
I left the castle, and the first thing I did was stop by the weapon shop to see if the carriage I’d ordered was ready.
“Hey kid. The carriage is all ready to go.”
“Well that was fast. Old Dude, you sure do work with metal quickly. You manage everything I ask of you so fast.”
“I just organize it all. I have friends that help out with the actual work. I didn’t actually make the carriage!”
Yeah, I suppose it only made sense that he’d get a local blacksmith to help him out.
“I was just thinking that you’re one of those guys that can make anything happen for the right price.”
“Kid, I swear it’s depressing to hear you talk like that. I’m not young and skilled like you are.”
“I’m not skilled.”
What kind of person did he think I was?
“It’s parked out back. Come have a look.”
“Right on, can’t wait to see it. By the way, I was thinking about Raphtalia’s…”
Before I could finish my sentence, Raphtalia reached out and grabbed my hand.
“What is it?”
“You don’t need to mention the sword. I have a back-up sword anyway. So let’s save whatever money we can for now.”
“Hmm… Well, if you really think so, then I guess we can.”
Filo’s attack had gotten so powerful that she was doing most of the damage anyway. If Raphtalia could take on a support role, that should be fine. And she was probably thinking that we might find a better sword than the old guy could make for us.
We made our way out to the back of the shop, and sure enough, a large metal carriage was waiting for us.
The carriage was metal. Even the roof was metal. It reminded me of a little tin wagon my parents had bought for me in the past—only this one was life-sized.
“Wow!”
Filo’s eyes were wide and sparkling. I’d never seen her look so excited.
She tottered over to the front of it, and slowly reached for the reigns.
“I’m allowed to pull it, aren’t I?”
“Sure.”
“Yay!!”
Her eyes were fluttering, and she readied her grip on the reigns. She was so excited she looked like she might explode.
“Let’s load it up first.”
“Understood.”
“Okaaay!”
We went to the old carriage, took all of the luggage out of it, and then moved everything to the new carriage.
I couldn’t help but notice that we were spending more and more of our time moving things and carrying luggage around.
“What do you think, kid?”
The old guy poked his head out to see how it was going. I gave him a “good job” thumbs up.
“It’s just what I wanted.”
“Great. Though I have to say, it looks pretty heavy. Think the bird-girl can handle it?”
“Yeah!”
“No problem. She was pulling the last carriage with three carts linked to the back.”
“Impressive.”
“She might even start whining that it’s not heavy enough.”
“You know what I like? Hard ones!”
Maybe it was a Filolial thing? Did they compete to see who got to carry the heaviest, hardest objects?
“Ahahaha. You can do it! Hey, that has me wondering. Where are you off to now?”
“What do you mean?”
“I heard all about it. You did something crazy at the castle?”
The old guy looked a little worried.
“Well that was fast.”
“Rumor is the spice of life.”
“Whatever. The Trash was acting crazy again, so I had to make sure he knew his place.”
“I was sure you’d do something someday, kid.”
“Glad I didn’t disappoint.”
“I could have used a little disappointment, actually.”
“Great. Well, to answer your question, I’m thinking of heading for Siltvelt or Shieldfreeden so that we can class-up.”
Sure, I could have gone and threatened the Trash to get permission to use the Dragon Hourglass in Castle Town, but I needed to class-up Filo and Raphtalia, and I didn’t want to put them in any unnecessary danger.
I still didn’t have a very good understanding of what the class-up process entailed, but the people who managed the Dragon Hourglass were apparently so concerned with it that they had invented all these rules and regulations to control our access to it. If it was going to be such a pain, then it seemed like the best idea would be to just head to another country where it seemed like we would have a free pass to do whatever we wanted.
“You know, kid. I’ve been thinking you’d head in that direction for a while now.”
“Really?”
He was nodding at us in approval. I wonder what it meant?
“I’d suggest Shieldfreeden. Siltvelt can get a little… crazy.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, they are demi-human supremacists, and they turn humans into slaves there. Kinda the opposite of Melromarc.”
I see now. Considering I was human, it probably wasn’t the best option.
“And yet…”
“Thanks for the advice. We’ll head for Shieldfreeden.”
We finished loading the carriage and climbed aboard.
“All right. Well, I look forward to seeing you the next time you’re in town.”
“Sure. The next time I see you I’ll probably be looking for equipment that is good against ghosts and spirit-type monsters.”
“I see. Sounds like you’ve advanced enough to worry about monsters like that. I’ll make sure I have the things you need.”
“I’d like to gather materials to keep costs down.”
“You can do what you want, kid. Just do me a favor and don’t show up needing everything within twenty-four hours. I’ll tell you where you can get the materials, if you want.”
“Got it. I’ll make sure you have enough time. Okay, we’re out of here. Later, Old Dude.”
“Later.”
Filo started tugging at the reigns.
Our immediate goal was to class-up. With Filo pulling us, we could get there in two weeks. It would be a long trip, but it would be for the best.
“That’s it!”
There was a loud voice coming from outside the gates. As we left Castle Town, we were suddenly overwhelmed by the sound of someone banging against the sides of the metal carriage. “Found you!” “Huh? Mel!” “What?” I had Filo stop and turned to look outside. The younger princess was there. Her eyebrows arched, pointing a finger at me. Behind her stood a crowd of knights. It was the knights whose voices we’d heard. “Please return to the castle!” “What? Just like that?” “I’m asking you to return and have a real conversation with my father!” The little brat was getting obnoxious. I didn’t have anything to discuss with the Trash. “Your father is wrong about everything. I’m not wrong. So at least we figured that out.” “What was that?!” Did it take her so long to figure all this out? She was the Bitch’s younger sister. Why should I spend any time talking to her? “Tell your father this: I can kill him at anytime. Tell him to always be afraid.” “Why? Why do you have to say such horrible things? Please tell me!” “Because your father is a piece of Trash! I won’t waste my time talking to Trash. Your parents are the WORST!” “Y…You… I won’t forgive you! My mother was wrong! The Shield Hero is a jerk!”
One of the knights behind her stepped forward.
“Heh. You want to fight me? Filo…”
“What?”
“Let’s go.”
“But… I want to play with Mel!”
“You can’t.”
“But…”
“Let’s GO!”
“Fine… Bye Mel!”
Filo nodded, turned back to the road, and took off running.
“Hey. Waaaaaaaaiiiiiiiit!”
The shouts of the younger princess faded away. The Castle Town really was filled with garbage. Other than shopping, there was no other reason to go there.
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