Chapter Seventeen: The Princess’s True Strength
A few days had passed. We spent the days traveling, having Filo in her Filolial form pull the carriage, and we did the best we could to avoid towns and villages on our way to the northeast. We usually slept in the fields or forests. Finally, we were nearing the border.
“Gweh!”
Filo’s cry came shrill and sharp.
Was it an enemy?! Mel and I peeked out from the bundles of straw to get a look.
“Heh, heh, heh… Leave your valuables and be on your way.”
I’d heard that voice before. Sure enough, it was the same group of bandits that attacked us back when we’d travelled with the accessory merchant.
“Can’t you hear? I said LEAVE YOUR VALUABLES! Wait now, what’s this? She’s kind of pretty…”
They were looking at Raphtalia, in her new, dirty clothes. But once they got closer to see her, their faces went white.
“You guys never learn, do you?”
There was no point in hiding any more. I jumped out of the carriage.
Filo, sensing it was okay for her to show her true form, morphed back into the Filolial Queen.
“Are you going to fight?”
The young princess looked very worried.
“We’ll be fine.”
“What? What’s wrong with you guys?”
About two thirds of the bandit group hadn’t been there the last time we met up. They were looking around at their pale friends and wondering what all the fuss was about.
“Uh… uh… uh… This guy has a bounty… on his head. If we kill him… we’ll… be heroes.”
The man at the front of the group was trembling and muttering in falsetto.
He looked very shaken, very uncertain.
“Back on your feet already? Considering you lost all your equipment, you’ve really made a quick comeback.”
After hearing what I had to say, the curious members of the group started checking their footing and getting ready for battle.
“You… You just shut up! This is all your fault! We’re working for someone else now, and we’re at the bottom of the barrel!”
“What a shame. Your little group was absorbed into a big, bad, bandit group?”
“Our boss went back to the countryside!”
“Good for him. He managed to wash his hands of your dirty profession.”
“Shut up! We’ll take care of you!”
Everyone readied their weapons and ran at us.
“Filo! Raphtalia!”
“Yes!”
“Okaaay!”
I fell back to protect the princess.
Neither Filo nor Raphtalia were weak enough to be actually threatened by a group of mere bandits.
“Take that!”
A bandit brandished his sword at Filo.
“Filo!”
The princess jumped from the carriage, threw her hands out before her and began chanting.
What? Could she fight?
“I am the source of all power, hear my words and heed them! Shoot a ball of water at them!”
“All Zweite Aqua Shot!”
A large ball of water materialized before her and then split into a number of balls before flying into the enemy. They were all knocked back.
Zweite… I think that meant it was a medium level spell, and the “all” must mean it was plural.
“Ugh!”
“Uwa!”
“Huff…”
All the enemies that were preparing to attack fell to the ground. The attack must have been very strong.
“I am the source of all power. Hear my words and head them! Attack them with a blade of water!”
“Zweite Aqua Slash!”
The princess immediately cast another spell. A ball of water appeared, then elongated in to a sharp blade that flew through the air and sliced through the group of men with a satisfying swish. The men didn’t fall, but a tree behind them split in two and fell with a loud crash.
“I’ll make sure it hits you next time.”
She was breathing hard. It must be difficult to cast magic in succession like that.
“They, they have a witch with them! And she’s powerful!”
“Filo!”
“Okaaaay!”
The bandits were momentarily stunned by Mel’s display, and Filo took the opportunity to rush over and kick them.
“I’m done over here.”
“Not yet!”
I turned to see a pale-faced bandit had snuck behind us in the confusion. He’d climbed onto the roof of our carriage, and was about to leap down onto the princess.
“Air Strike Shield!”
“Ugh!”
He jumped, but the shield appeared below him in mid air, and he fell right into it.
“One more!”
The last bandit standing, probably the weakest among them, ran for the princess.
“Second Shield! Change Shield!”
I called for another shield to appear, used them to stop the running bandit, and then used Change Shield to turn them into Bee Needle Shields. They had a poison effect, which wouldn’t kill the bandit but would paralyze him.
“Ugh… Uh…”
He fell to the ground, twitching.
“They’re still coming.”
Bandits were crawling toward the princess for a surprise attack.
“Nope, we’re done here.”
“Ah…”
Filo’s large shadow fell over the bandits. They must have noticed too. They started crying.
In their hearts they were probably thinking of their last words, or waving white flags.
“I’ll save you, Mel!”
Filo plopped down heavily on the bandits.
“The sun is starting to go down. Perfect timing, guys. Tell us where your hideout is.”
We tied them all up for questioning.
“If we talk, then we’ll…”
“Filo.”
“Over here!”
“Hey! What are you doing?! Don’t tell them!”
Apparently there were still bandits that didn’t understand the situation they were in.
One of the bandits among them, one who we’d run into last time, started furiously trying to explain the situation.
“If you don’t tell them what they want to know, they’ll feed you to the bird!”
“You’re… you’re not serious!”
“You think he looks like he’s joking?”
One of them jerked his head in my direction and asked, “What’s with that one over there? What was with that magic?”
“You don’t know!? That’s the Shield!”
“What?!”
Once they all understood who I was, the whole lot of them turned pale.
“The one with the human-eating demon bird?!”
“Yes! That thing eats you—starting with the head. If it goes after you, you’re as good as dead!”
“Think of your lives! Just give him what he wants!”
I guess the rumors were building on each other now.
Raphtalia, flabbergasted, put her hands against her forehead and sighed.
“If you lie…”
“I know! Please, just let us live!”
They led us to their hideout. Obviously, we took it over.
We stayed the night in their hideout, and entertained ourselves with all their stolen valuables.
Most of it was food. Since we’d been on the road, and sleeping in the wild, our meals had consisted of monster meat—and I was getting tired of it.
When we first entered the hideout, the princess had looked pretty scared. But she warmed up soon enough. We found their gold and valuables, which was mostly money. We took that, rounded up the rest of their stuff, and burned it.
If we had done a less-than-thorough job of disposing of their equipment, they would just take it all back and come after us. The very thought annoyed me.
Though to be honest, I sort of enjoyed the look of disappointment on the bandits’ faces.
“Hey, Princess. I didn’t know you could use magic.”
“I can. I learned it to protect myself.”
“How good are you?
If Mel was able to fend for herself in battle, it would probably be a good idea to go ahead and add her to the party.
“And what level are you?”
“I’m at level… 18. As for magic, I can use pretty much all the mid-level water magic.”
Well that was lower than I had expected. She was a princess, after all. I’d hoped for a higher level.
But she could use mid-level magic.
“And you’re good with water magic?”
“Yes.”
Probably because her hair was blue, that must have something to do with it.
“And I can use a little earth magic too.”
“Really?”
She had a pretty wide repertoire.
“That reminds me—your sister could use wind magic, couldn’t she?”
I didn’t want to remember it. But I couldn’t forget how she’d attacked me from behind during my duel with Motoyasu.
Ugh, just thinking about it put me on edge. Better think about something else.
“My sister? She’s good with fire magic, but she knows a little wind magic too.”
I guess that made sense. She had red hair after all.
“Mother is good at both fire and water magic.”
“Huh… Interesting. Anyway, I’m going to invite you to join the party.
Accept it.”
“Okay.”
I wasn’t planning on depending on her in battle or anything. But she would be good insurance to have around. If she was capable of fighting, there was no reason NOT to add her to the party. Even still, I didn’t want to use her in battle if I didn’t have to.
“Um? I was wondering what you did to make father so angry?”
“I guess we never talked about it. It all started when your sister framed me for a crime…”
Over the course of the evening, I explained all the things that the Trash and the Bitch had done to me.
For some reason Filo sat next to me when I talked and followed the whole story as if I was putting on a play. I didn’t mention any of the mistakes we had made.
I didn’t lie about anything either. I just told her exactly what had happened.
I suppose a little of my hatred and irritation found its way into my telling, but I was fine with that. I considered it part of her education.
“Father and Sister are terrible! How could they complain about you after treating you that way?!”
“Right? I feel the same way.”
“Mother always told me to be as nice to you as I could.”
“Huh?”
What was she talking about? Wasn’t the Shield Hero considered a demon by the church? The queen wasn’t part of the religion?
“What’s wrong, Mr. Shield Hero?”
“Nothing. I was just wondering what your mother thinks of me.”
“Hmm… I don’t really know. But she did send a letter to father, asking him to treat the Shield Hero the same way he treats the other Heroes.”
I honestly didn’t know what to make of what she was saying, but it seemed like it was safe to assume that the queen was looking out for me in some way. Regardless, she didn’t actually end up protecting me at all, so in my eyes she was just as bad as the Trash.
“Master… A bunch of stuff happened before I was born, huh?”
“Yeah.”
“Huh?”
The young princess suddenly looked very putout.
“Um… Filo? How old are you?”
“A month and three weeks!”
“What?!”
It was only natural that she’d be surprised. Monsters grew up fast.
“You’ve grown so quickly!”
“Oh, he, he… Stop flattering me.”
“I don’t think that’s flattery.”
“Then I guess I’m the big sister here.”
“If you’re talking about age, then yes. You and Raphtalia are actually about the same age.”
“Raphtalia is…”
Filo looked over at Raphtalia, a slight look of disappointment on her face. Raphtalia just looked confused. Filo could be really abrupt. It was only natural to be confused.
“Wh…What?”
“She’s a demi-human. So even though we’re the same age, she looks older.”
Melty looked at Raphtalia as she spoke. Something about it all made me feel sympathy for Raphtalia.
“I don’t know… I feel like I’ve lost something… I don’t know why.”
“Well just because we all know how old everyone is, people are going to think I am some kind of pervert.”
They’d say I had a Lolita complex. Both Filo and the princess were little kids. With Raphtalia being a kid herself, it meant I was surrounded by young girls.
“Well, it is what it is. You’re fine the way you are, Raphtalia.”
“Mr. Naofumi…”
With three little girls around me, people would say I had a Lolita harem going. I could only imagine what the other heroes would say.
“Anyway, let’s rest here for the night. We’re crossing the border soon.”
“Okay”
“Yay!”
“Whoa…” I looked at the checkpoints lining the border crossing and muttered in amazement.
What was so amazing was there were lines of knights so long it would be impossible to count them.
There were so many, it looked like the whole army was there. Could they afford to all be here? What if another country attacked?
No, it couldn’t be the entirety of the army—but it sure looked like it could be.
“The Shield Demon is, without a doubt, aiming to cross the border in to Siltvelt! Do not let him over this border!”
“Yes, Sir!”
They looked…rowdy.
The border was so heavily watched, it didn’t look like an ant could get over it without being noticed. Had I been alone I could have just run through the ranks, but with Raphtalia and the princess in tow, that would be tough.
I could have run through by myself and they could follow later—but if the other heroes were there, then they’d be spotted.
Not to mention that with so many knights in one spot, I wasn’t sure that I’d even be able to outrun them all.
Besides, how did they know that I was heading for Siltvelt?
Granted, they might just want to stop me from entering Siltvelt because their relationship with that country wasn’t the best. Even still, they were more prepared to stop me than I would have anticipated.
“What do you think? Could we avoid the checkpoint, and cross somewhere else? Somewhere off-road?”
“I don’t think so.”
The young princess whispered.
“Why not?”
“It looks like they have emergency checks set up. If you cross the border, an alarm will sound, and they will chase you down.”
“Damn…”
I pictured some kind of infrared beam. They had something like that over the border. With so many guards, they would eventually hunt down anything that illegally crossed the line. It would only be a matter of time.
“You don’t think Filo could outrun them?”
“They’d cut you off. The alarm would alert them before you even made it to the other side.”
“Hm… You sure know a lot about the border.”
“Mother said I should memorize these things in case of an emergency. The system is expensive to maintain, but everyone agreed to keep it for emergencies.”
“Excellent foresight.”
I could have killed someone. These people would stop at nothing to get in my way.
“Then I guess our only option is to go to a different country that neighbors Siltvelt, then enter from that shared border.”
This was the closest country by far, but we didn’t seem to have any other option.
Just then some villagers passed by with a loaded cart, and we accidentally bumped into them.
We were in disguise, so we should have been fine. The princess and I were hiding in the straw too.
“Um…”
For some reason, a mysterious silence fell between the villagers and Raphtalia.
“Shield Hero.”
They found us?! Could we get away?!
“Do not be concerned, you are okay. You once gave us a plant seed, and because of it prosperity has returned to our country. Thank you very much. We will not do anything to indicate your location to the soldiers.”
I looked closer. Sure enough, they weren’t villagers but people from the neighboring country. And they were apparently traveling merchants. They passed me some old clothes.
“The people with you could stand to look a little dirtier. Especially that pretty raccoon-type demi-human girl. She’ll give you away.”
I couldn’t deny that, among raccoon demi-humans, Raphtalia was exceptionally pretty. She’d met all the villagers while we were traveling merchants too, so she might have developed a reputation for herself.
Back when I first bought Raphtalia, the slave trader had said that raccoon-types were not popular with humans. But Raphtalia was exceptionally pretty, so she was sure to be noticed. And if any one of them had seen her before, they’d probably recognize her instantly.
I couldn’t leave Raphtalia behind though, so we’d have to find a disguise for her.
“If you plan to run from them, that carriage will stand out too much. You can use our cart. Move your stuff into it.”
“Thank you. And you’re right. This big metal thing does stand out. We probably need to get rid of it.”
“Gweh?!”
Filo was in her Filolial form, but she shook her head and grunted in protest.
“Gweh! Gweh!”
“We don’t have a choice! Do you want us to be caught? Want to go to jail? They’ll kill the princess, you know?!”
“Gweh…”
Once Filo realized that Mel would be in danger, she reluctantly stopped protesting.
She’d really loved that carriage, but I guess she valued her friend more.
“Good girl, Filo. You had to pick between an object and a person, and you chose to value the person.”
I rubbed her head. Even if she didn’t understand the reasons why, she was making the right choice.
“Gweh?”
“Once we’re done, we’ll come back for the carriage.”
“Gweh!”
She knew I was promising.
“Please accept out cart.”
“We will. Thank you.”
“It’s all right. We will leave it with a nearby village.”
“We’ll make it up to you.”
“You already have.”
“Oh yeah. Ok, Princess. It’s time for you to change. If you don’t, they will catch us for sure.”
“Oh… All right...”
I gave a few silver pieces to the villagers to thank them for their help.
The only remaining problem was how to feed Filo. Since we’d been on the road she had thrown a fit whenever she got hungry.
And the worst thing that could happen now would be if she slowed down. At the moment, our only strengths were our disguises and Filo’s speed. After all, there were more dangerous things that we could run into than bounty hunters or adventurers.
The princess looked like she was not happy about having to wear dirty, old clothes, but she agreed to do it, understanding the situation.
The clothes they provided her with were very worn-in. After she changed she looked like a messy little girl. Sure, she was still a princess, but I felt like she could pass for a villager.
But she clearly had a good diet. She looked very healthy, and when she spoke she was obviously educated—not to mention her bright blue hair suggested a royal bearing. No one would know from a distance, but if they inspected her closely… Whatever, leaving her behind was not an option.
We were going to need luck on our side.
“Get a bag and stuff it with things.”
We collected things that we could reasonably carry, and then covered them with a cloth. Anything we couldn’t carry we gave to the villagers. Even if we made good progress, it would take more than two weeks.
“Um, are you a merchant? I have a little shopping list.”
Dammit! A soldier was walking up to the foreign villagers to shop.
“Shield Hero?”
Dammit! He spotted us! I turned to Filo to run.
“It’s me. Remember? We fought together in the wave?”
I looked him over. Sure enough, he was one of the volunteer soldiers that had fought with us.
Yeah, we parted at the wave, and I hadn’t been able to follow up with them since we’d parted ways with the Trash.
I was relieved, but then I realized that he was probably sent out here specifically because he had helped us.
Back then I hadn’t known anything about this “Shield Demon” business. Thinking back on it with what I know now, it must have taken enormous stores of willpower to overcome their beliefs and help me. They must have paid for it to. Society would shun them.
“Were you demoted?”
“No, there was no punishment.”
“Oh, good. So you weren’t assigned to this post as a demotion?”
“Apparently not. Almost half of our knights are here.”
All that, just for me?
Hey now. Wasn’t that a bit of an overkill? Just how bad did the Trash want to keep me out of Siltvelt?
I couldn’t understand it anymore. What did he really want?
Could it be that there was something in Siltvelt, something I didn’t know about yet?
I had to go. If the enemy was this upset about it, then it had to mean something good for me.
I didn’t know why they were so upset, but I had to go find out.
“Anyway, it’s too dangerous for you to be here. Run away.”
“Thank you.”
“It’s not just knights, the other Heroes are here too. I was afraid you might bump into them.”
He was right. I had to admit that they were all considerably stronger than I was.
When we were fighting Glass they’d fallen when I hadn’t, but she’d appeared randomly and hit them with a finishing move before they had a chance to fight back. So they never got to show off their true powers.
And they had all gone through the class-up, whereas none of us had.
It would be foolish to think I could beat them in a fight. If we ran into them unprepared, I might end up dead.
“Let’s get going.”
“I am praying that you are cleared of these charges and suspicions.”
We parted with the foreign merchants and volunteer soldier, heading to the south for a long detour.
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