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.”
“Well, we are heroes, after all. We do have some advantages.”
“I’m sure everyone already knows this, but the weapon shop in the capital of Zeltbul, the mercenary country, has the best equipment.”
The other two went along nodding with what Motoyasu said.
“What’s that now?!”
I was so upset I practically screamed.
Weapon copying?
I’d never seen anything like that in the help menu. I’d already spent four months here, so I’d taken the time to go through the entire menu item by item.
It sounded like they were saying that if you just picked up a weapon at a shop then you could unlock the ability to use it.
“Naofumi, you mean to say that you didn’t even know that? I’m impressed you’ve managed to stay alive for as long as you have!”
Ugh . . . now I was getting pissed. Really pissed! I’d just assumed that I could only use special shields I unlocked myself!
I’d only seen weird things like iron shields and round shields and book shields up until this point—I thought those were the only kinds available.
“You guys figured this out on your own?”
“Not really, we just went to buy weapons at the shop. That’s a normal thing to do, right? Considering that the weapon you start out with is so weak.”
I had tried to do the very same thing when I first got here. I’d wanted to give up on being a shielder, so I tried to use a sword I’d picked up at the weapon shop.
But when I did, a warning popped up that said, “You are unable to equip or carry a weapon other than the legendary weapon you have been assigned.”
It meant that I couldn’t use anything other than my shield in battle.
“The rules say that you can only use the weapon you’ve been assigned, but if you use the weapon copy system, you can pretty much equip anything.”
“Yeah.”
“That’s right.”
This was starting to give me a headache.
Besides, I was stuck with a shield. Attacking was the most important thing for me to focus on, so I had pretty much ignored the shields that were on sale at weapon shops.
I was already equipped with a shield that leveled up with me, so I had only been focused on trying to get a weapon, like a sword, into my other hand.
Maybe that’s why I had never noticed?
“Alright, keep talking.”
If they’d already covered such major things that I hadn’t been able to figure out, I was nervous just thinking of how much else had been kept from me.
“When you kill a monster and it turns into materials that you absorb into your weapon, you can open the weapon menu at the same time to get the monster’s dropped items.”
Dropped items?
Hmm . . . I’d seen something like that in online RPGs before. Normally monsters would leave items behind once you defeated them.
They might leave behind something that had nothing to do with the sort of materials they were made from.
I’d been so stupid! I should have been able to figure something that simple out for myself!
“There are items that cost a lot of money at shops that get dropped pretty frequently. I have a bunch of rare stuff now, it really makes me feel like I’m in a whole new world.”
“It does, doesn’t it?”
“You’re right. Sometimes the monsters leave really useful items behind.”
They just kept on coming out with more and more important information. And on top of that, it seemed like they all already knew all of it.
They’d made me feel this way the first day I'd met them, but now I felt it again—that searing feeling that I was at a disadvantage.
“What else? Oh yeah, you can make tools.”
“Tech skills, right? Yeah, we’ve had those from the very start.”
“Keep going, I’m listening.”
The information that they took for granted might all be new to me. I needed to prepare myself to hear them out.
“If you have the tech skill and the recipe, then you can give the necessary materials to your weapon. It will absorb them, and after a certain amount of time the weapon will make what you want.”
The weapons could systematize item production?! Were they joking? I couldn’t bear to think back on all the time I’d spent crafting medicines.
Apparently the effectiveness of the item was the same whether the weapon made it automatically or if you stayed up all night working on it yourself—but if you had a recipe, and the weapon could do all the work for you, why go through all the trouble?
That must explain why Motoyasu had a stock of magic water—he wouldn’t have gone through all the effort to make that on his own.
Maybe the materials needed to make it were easy to obtain from monsters?
“The only bad part is that you can’t really use items aside from the drops you picked up or the ones you made yourself.”
“That’s right. You can’t use them easily.”
Apparently there were some issues with the item system. Not that I was concerned with that.
I couldn’t believe there were so many empowering techniques I hadn’t known about.
“As for efficient leveling areas, well, I don’t think we can sum that up in a sentence or two.”
“Right. We could make up a chart or something, listing good places and monsters depending on your level range. That way if you just stuck to the list appropriate for your level you wouldn’t really run into any major problems.”
“We have to make sure not to overlap though.”
“Good point.”
“Is there anything else you want to tell me about?”
I took mental notes of all the points they’d brought up and tried to keep the conversation moving.
“It seems like there is one major technique for getting stronger quickly that Naofumi doesn’t know yet. I suppose I should tell him.”
Itsuki stuck his chest out and spoke with an important air about him.
“In this world, the rarity of a weapon is very important. The abilities it comes with are just an afterthought. If the weapon itself isn’t strong and rare, then it won’t be worth very much.”
“You mean unique weapons or legendary equipment?”
“Yes, something like that.”
“Stop lying!”
“It’s not right to start off telling the truth and then switch to lies halfway through.”
Ren and Motoyasu both snapped and spat at Itsuki. Here come more lies.
“What? What are you saying? I’m telling the truth!”
“Nope. That was a lie.”
“Yeah, you’re a liar.”
“I am not! I’m not lying!!”
What was going on? Itsuki had lost his cool. He really seemed to be angered by the other two.
Something strange was going on.
“Let’s hear him out.”
I waved off their little argument and signaled for Itsuki to continue.
“Right, well . . . . It depends on the type of weapon you’re working with, obviously, but normally you can use ores to make them stronger.”
It sounded like he was talking about some kind of refining system. I’d seen things like that in games before.
“Iron plates have the most amount of ore slots.”
“I’m sure there’s a risk of failure. You shouldn’t tell such dangerous lies.”
Motoyasu spoke out to silence Itsuki.
“No! It never fails!”
Wait, so there was no risk of failure? What was the truth?
“What are you talking about? You don’t use ores to power up anything.”
“You better stop calling me a liar! What about you, Ren? How do you power things up?”
“Me? Good question. I don’t want to see Naofumi get all confused by your lies, so I guess I should step in and tell him the truth.”
Why did he need to call me out by name? Whatever, he was right that I was getting confused.
“This world is all about your level. There might be other things to worry about, but in the end it all comes down to whether you have leveled up enough.”
“Another liar.”
“You! You think you can lie all you want if you keep your face all cool and aloof!”
What was going on here?
“Naofumi, apparently both of these guys are planning to lie their way to the end of this meeting. I guess it’s up to me to tell you the truth. If you want to power up your weapon, it’s all about skill mastery.”
“Skill mastery?”
“Exactly. The more you use a weapon, the stronger that weapon will get. The important part is that when it’s time to switch weapons, you have to turn that weapon’s accumulated skill mastery into energy. Then you add that energy to your new weapon, and that will unlock the new weapon’s hidden powers.”
“That’s one of the more impressive lies I’ve heard yet.”
“Don’t worry about him. You just need to keep increasing the rarity of your weapons. You may fail or you lose a weapon, but our legendary weapons are safe.”
All of their stories made it sound so simple. But none of the things they mentioned could be found anywhere in the help menus.
I didn’t know who to believe. Were Ren and Itsuki lying?
“Just listen to yourself, lying with a straight face like that. You’re no better than Naofumi.”
Motoyasu brushed Ren off.
“What was that?!”
“He’s right, you shouldn’t listen to him—he’s lying.”
“You’re all crazy. Who is he supposed to believe? And I am NOT lying!”
“See for yourself. Open up your skill tree and look at a weapon you use a lot. You can check its skill mastery right there.”
I did like Motoyasu said and opened my menu, then looked for the Chimera Shield.
But when I got the menu for the shield open, it just displayed the status like it always did.
He said I should check something? It was looking like a lie.
I reached a finger out to touch it but nothing happened.
“Nothing happened.”
I should have known it was a lie. I knew enough not to believe them from the start of this, but I was surprised that they would lie to my face when I could check the veracity of their claims.
If that was a lie, then their claims about the weapon copy system were probably lies too.
“I am not lying! You’re just trying to ruin my reputation!”
“I can’t do it either.”
“Me neither. That option just isn’t in the help menu.”
“Ugh! Whatever! I was stupid for trying to help you in the first place!”
Ren got very upset at each of Itsuki’s and Motoyasu’s explanations, sighing and crossing his arms angrily. He slumped down in his seat.
Ren was normally so cool and collected. In fact, I don't think I’d ever seen him so upset. Still, both of the other heroes insisted that he was lying, and a quick look through my own help menu seemed to verify as much.
“I wasn’t finished. There is another way to power up your weapon. You have to take the energy out of another item and use it to enchant the weapon. If you do it will increase the power of the item by a certain percentage.”
“You mean like raising the attack power by 10 percent?”
“Yes, but there is a significant risk. If you fail, then the value falls to zero.”
“Another lie. Stop telling Naofumi about some other game.”
“I’m telling the truth! This is how I’ve gotten stronger—by using the energy of different monsters and items to enchant my weapon. It works for all of my weapons. It's a parallel system to your current level—like having a job level.”
Thinking over what he said, I realized I’d seen similar things in games I’d played in the past. You could level up your equipment to gain new abilities. It wasn’t very exciting, but it worked. Still, I think I remembered learning some really powerful abilities that way.
“Okay, okay . . . Ren and Itsuki are getting a little out of control. Allow me . . . .”
“I’m not expecting much, but go ahead.”
I was already expecting nothing but lies out of the whole group.
“I’m telling you, the most important thing to focus on is smelting weapons and status levels. The performance that you get out of status levels is way more important than what you get from your actual level. Even if you stick with the weakest weapon, the one you started with, if you smelt it properly, it can be really strong! I made all my equip bonuses work to raise my attack power.”
“Now THAT’S a real lie!”
“It is. Naofumi, don’t listen to him!”
Motoyasu brushed their protests aside and kept speaking directly to me.
“It’s different for every weapon, but the first thing you need is to collect ores for smelting. Now, in Emerald Online you would lose your weapon if the smelting process failed. But that doesn't happen with our legendary weapons. Here, if you fail, the smelting value just falls to zero.”
“That’s not true!”
“Yeah!”
The argument was getting intense and out of control. The queen looked puzzled by all the disagreements.
Honestly, I was pretty confused myself.
Did they think they could get away with lying if they all lied?
“Anyway, then there are the eye spirits and the status enchantments. Depending on the piece of the monster soul you combine with the weapon, the effect will be different. The options vary by weapon, but let’s say that you have a weapon for dueling. You can raise the damage the weapon does to other humans.”
“Itsuki, didn’t you say something similar to that?”
“There are only so many slots available on the weapon, and the percentages are fixed.”
“Tell the truth!”
“Yeah, I’m tired of hearing about some other game.”
Both Ren and Itsuki shouted to silence Motoyasu, who turned, frustrated, to face them both.
“Why do you all keep lying?”
“Why are YOU lying?”
“Both of you are lying!”
“Well I don’t know who’s lying and who’s not . . . .”
The conversation had gone so well until we reached the end. Then apparently everyone had a different version of the truth.
The three of them all looked incensed—I don’t think I’d ever seen them all in such blatant disagreement.
“Could it be that all of your weapons are powered up differently?”
“Let’s just agree to disagree.”
“It works as an explanation in the short run. Let’s leave it at that.”
“Fine—but so far none of your explanations have meshed with what I’ve seen going on.”
And then, apparently, the conversation was over.
If all of them were as angry as they seemed to be, then they probably weren’t lying.
Even if they were lying, their lies would only affect their own reputations.
“Fine. Well I guess it’s my turn.”
“Yes. We’ve all done our best to fill you in on what we know, so you better come clean yourself.”
“If you think I’m lying, I’m not going to take the blame.”
This whole thing was getting more confusing by the minute.
“What do you want to know first?”
To tell the truth, these three approached everything as if it were a game. At the very least, I needed to find some way to make them take this seriously —or all our lives would be in danger. So I had better tell them the truth.
“Tell us why Raphtalia and Filo are as powerful as they are.”
“That’s easy enough. I have a Slave-User Shield and a Monster-User Shield, both of which have great equip bonuses that let me affect how they level up. There are effects like ‘status adjustment’ and other things. And Filo has one other bonus from my Filolial Shield.”
Should I tell them about the floating cowlick during the class-up ceremony? I decided to wait and see how the rest of the meeting played out.
“The shield class in the game I know didn’t have any skills that were that useful.”
“I find that very difficult to believe. Such skills would break the game . . . . Where did you find a cheating shield?”
Cheating? Ha . . . whatever—there was no pleasing these guys.
“I got the Slave-User Shield from the ink that is used in the slave curse ceremony, and I got the Monster-User Shield from a piece of the egg that Filo hatched from.”
“Well if he tells us where he got the shields, we might as well try for ourselves.”
“You can try, but there’s no guarantee that the same thing will happen for you.”
“Sure, but you could be lying to us.”
“Think whatever you want. What if it's a leveling system that’s only available on the legendary shield?”
“Okay, let’s just pretend you’re telling the truth. It still doesn’t explain why Filo is as strong as she is. Her power is remarkable. She’d been strong enough from the beginning, but now she’s something else completely. How did that happen?”
“Oh—that. That happened when we were busy running away from you and Bitch. A nobleman that was under the employ of the Church of the Three Heroes removed the seal on a powerful monster.”
“I heard about that—but I heard that you were the one that released the beast.”
The queen leaned forward and interjected.
“Actually, I had an official investigation conducted concerning this matter. It seems the corrupt nobleman in the town refused to admit his defeat at Mr. Iwatani’s hands, and then released the monster out of desperation.”
I hadn’t had a chance to go back and check on the area after we’d left. There was a really nice nobleman in the neighboring town. I privately called him Nice Guy. He’d made the local demi-human community into a priority of sorts. I wonder what ended up happening to him?
“Excuse me, your majesty. What happened to the nobility in the neighboring town?”
“After all that transpired, we have decided to have him brought back to his town. It’s only been a short time, but he was very exhausted from the escape, and we have been seeing to his medical treatment in the meantime.”
“Oh . . . .”
We’d also met someone from Raphtalia’s village, and they’d escaped with Nice Guy. We could only hope that they’d all made it home safely.
“What sort of monster did the nobleman release?”
“We lured the beast away from any populated centers and attempted to fight it out in the wilderness. But just as the battle was starting, the queen of the filolials, Fitoria, appeared and defeated the monster. Then she used some sort of magic to transport us all to a safe place.”
“Transport?”
“That’s the only word I can think of. It was like I suddenly lost my footing. I don’t really understand it.”
“Don’t you have any transport skills? When I saw you running from Motoyasu before, I realized you didn’t know any, but I figured you must have procured one or two by now.”
Ren nodded along with Itsuki, and Motoyasu also nodded in agreement.
“There are skills like that?”
“Of course. Mine is a skill called Transport Bow. You can register places that you have already visited, and then instantly transport yourself and your party there at any time.”
“Mine is called Transport Sword. It works the same way.”
“Mine is Portal Spear. You really don’t know about this stuff?”
“No! This is the first I’ve heard of it!”
What were they talking about? I sure wish I’d known that being a hero had such convenient benefits!
“To unlock it you have to be at level 50 though—a little high.”
That would explain why I didn’t have it. I was still at level 43.
Wait a second, did that mean that these clowns were all over level 50?
“What materials do you need?”
“The sand from the dragon hourglass.”
“That’s right . . . .”
The three of them nodded. But . . . .
“How did you get them to let you have any sand?!”
“We just asked for it and they gave it to us.”
Dammit! I’d only run into those curmudgeon sisters when I was in the church—and they wouldn’t let me have anything at all.
“Well? So what happened after the transport?”
“She spent some time teaching Filo how to battle effectively, and then she did . . . something . . . and Filo’s stats shot way up. Then she sat me down and lectured me, saying that the heroes needed to work together. She said that if she didn’t, she’d kill us all.”
Ha! The three of them looked like they didn’t believe a word that I was saying.
“If you think I’m lying, maybe you’d like to have a battle with Filo for yourselves? We just went through the class-up ceremony too, so she’s even stronger now.”
Didn’t they realize that Filo’s stats were nearly double my own?
Motoyasu had a hard enough time holding his own against me in a battle —he wouldn’t stand a chance against Filo.
“No. That won’t be necessary.”
“Okay, I’ll ask the next question. During the battle with the high priest, Naofumi commanded a lot of power. It was unnatural. It came from that ominous-looking shield of his. I never saw anything like that in the game I played.”
Itsuki shot me a doubtful look and kept on talking.
“Where did you find a power like that? No, that’s not quite right, let me rephrase: Where did you meet God?”
“What?”
“Did you meet God somewhere and receive a cheating shield from him? There’s a web novel I read where the main character gets a special power like that and it enables him to pull ahead of the other characters. Tell me the truth.”
Ha! I knew the story he was talking about, but nothing like that had happened here.
I’d been through a lot since showing up in this world, but few questions have irritated me the way that this one did.
“It’s not cheating!”
“Oh, yes it is. A shielder shouldn’t really be able to deal any damage at all!”
Ren and Motoyasu nodded.
“Where did you get it? If we were able to get our hands on a power like that then we would be unstoppable. You have to tell us.”
These morons just spat nonsense on top of nonsense. It was starting to really piss me off.
“Maybe I just worked really hard for it?”
“Yeah right.”
They were a bunch of brutes. They had already made up their minds about what a shielder could do.
But I had a feeling they were mistaken. I think that shielders were stronger than they thought.
I saw it this way: I worked on getting more and better equip bonuses, and as a result I eventually got my hands on the curse series—that’s how I ended up being stronger than any of them.
But they seemed to think that I had somehow figured out how to cheat so that I could be as powerful as they were.
“That shield is called the Shield of Rage. It’s part of the curse series that is contained in the legendary shield. I don’t know exactly what caused it to come out, but if I had to guess . . . I would say that it responded to my own anger. It first showed up when I was dueling with Motoyasu. I was very angry because I was tricked and cheated and everything was unfair.”
I remembered when it happened. I was so angry and the anger had nowhere to go. I thought it was going to swallow me completely.
If Raphtalia hadn’t been there to calm me down, who knows what would have happened?
“It’s all right there in the help menu. It says you’ll have to pay a price for using it. Could you three control it? By the way, I used it to defeat the high priest, but it attacked me too, and as a result my stats are still recovering.”
Ren squinted and waved his finger through the air. He must have been looking through the help menus.
Then, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world, he said, “Nope. There’s nothing like that in here.”
Give me a break! It was right there in my menu. I’d been able to read about it from the moment the Shield of Rage was unlocked.
“It might not show up until you unlock the weapon.”
“Do internet games tend to have lots of really powerful cursed weapons available?” “Of course not. That growth adjusting shield seems pretty suspect too.” “If you’re going to lie to us, you should think of better lies—just like Ren and Motoyasu here.” Ren completely lost his cool when he heard what Itsuki said. He leapt to his feet and jabbed his finger at Itsuki. “Who the hell are you to talk?! You’re the worst lying hypocrite here!” “Is that so? What about you, always pretending to be so cool! You don’t look so cool now, do you?!” “Yeah, exactly.” Ren and Itsuki both turned and shouted together. “You’re just a womanizing fool! Looking for another hussy yet?!” “What was that?!” “All of you! How long are you going to run around pretending this is a game? You need to act like actual heroes or we are all going to die!” Honestly, I don’t even want to remember what happened next. The room collapsed into vulgar name-calling. The queen shouted in protest, saying whatever she could to try and get the room under control, but it was already too late. There was no stopping it. The shouting and fighting continued until the door flew open, rattling on its hinges as a crowd of soldiers filed in. “What happened?” The sudden appearance of the soldiers somehow brought me back to reality, and my head cleared for a second. “The heroes’ party members have started to argue downstairs!” “What?!” Those idiots . . . what had they gotten themselves into now? We all hurried out of the room and down the stairs.
“You better take that back!” “I don’t think so. That ugly thing—he’s a scar on the world! My eyes
don’t lie.” “Are you sure you aren’t talking about yourself?!” “Ha! Like the servant of an arrogant fool like him would have any idea!” By the time we arrived in the hall, Raphtalia was in a shouting match
with Bitch and Armor, the flashy armor guy. Ren’s party, along with Filo and that Rishia girl, stood back and watched helplessly. Raphtalia was furious. I’d never seen her so upset. What on earth had happened? Bitch sure was looking energetic though. She’d just been poisoned and
come back from the hospital, and she was already getting into fights? Motoyasu’s party, including Bitch, consisted of three people. One of them was standing next to Bitch and participating in the
argument. The other one was standing off at a distance, watching the battle unfold.
“Ha! How could anyone hope to survive with party members like dirty demi-humans and nasty monsters?”
“Oh just die and get it over with already! This is punishment for causing a ruckus.”
The queen snapped her fingers and the slave curse activated.
“Kyaaaaaaaaa!”
A glowing seal appeared on Bitch’s chest and she fell to the floor, writhing in pain.
Itsuki’s teammate, the armor guy, was shocked at the queen’s actions. He stood back and his face went pale as he watched.
“I swear . . . . Why do you have to do these things?”
The queen looked exhausted as she looked down on the writhing Bitch.
She wasn’t going to kill her . . . was she?
“Raphtalia, what happened?”
“We were talking to the others about how to best cooperate from now on, when Bitch and the others came over and started saying that there was no need to team up with us, that only bad things could come of it. Then she started insulting my village and making fun of Filo . . . . Then she started insulting Melty, saying that she knew how to read her parents’ faces so she could manipulate them. She was boasting of all the horrible things that she’s done!”
I sighed and glared at Itsuki and Motoyasu.
“You mustn’t! These two are friends of a hero, and they fight to save this world!”
Itsuki, sensing the direction things were going, turned to Armor and scolded him.
“But Master Itsuki . . . aren’t these people wandering around and causing problems everywhere they go?”
That was rich. This coming from the guy who was causing a problem right here, right now.
“That has been shown to have been a misunderstanding. Please make your peace with them.”
“Very well.”
“Myn . . . I mean, Whore! Why are you treating her like this?”
Motoyasu cradled Bitch in his arms and glared at the queen.
“This is the punishment she receives for inciting disorder. It’s as simple as that. From all that I’ve heard, the problem seems to lie with her and her alone.”
The queen snapped open her fan and covered her mouth as she spoke. Motoyasu’s displeasure was evident—he stared at her, hate burning in his eyes.
“Mr. Kitamura? Take the time to properly think this over. This girl just got back from her convalescence in the hospital, and this is the first thing she did.”
“Urm . . . .”
“Did you hear what just happened here? Is it not obvious where the blame lies?”
Motoyasu, clearly sensing that he was over his head, said nothing else.
He simply cradled Bitch in his arms and left the hall.
Itsuki had his hands full trying to calm down Armor.
The man was showing respect enough for Itsuki, but then he’d participate in actions like these.
“I think the feast has gone on long enough. Let’s call it a day. Later, on another day when tempers are not so high, I’d like to attempt a conversation with you all once again, one with the heroes all present.”
“Sure.”
“Agreed.”
Ren and I nodded.
Itsuki nodded his agreement and then left the room.
Give me a break . . . . Things were growing tenser by the minute. How were we supposed to learn to cooperate now?
The heroes had to cooperate, or else Fitoria would come and kill us all. We were already in dire straits, but our problems were continuing to multiply.
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