Chapter Three: Leveling
We passed straight through the fields and went to the neighboring village.
“Yesterday I just barely managed to defeat that weak monster called a ‘balloon.’ What am I going to do?”
“As a general rule, you can’t put up a fight without companions to assist you.”
“Yeah, I get that. But how am I supposed to find companions? No one wants to join someone who’s been accused of rape. This country hates the Shield Hero too, right?”
Oh yeah. Father was supposed to have big sis, Raphtalia, with him! She was supposed to be his most trusted companion. I was pretty sure she had been a slave. I wondered what to do about her.
“In that case, how about buying a slave and having the slave fight for you?”
“A slave?!”
An expression of shock came over Father’s face.
“Y-you mean to tell me they have slaves in this world? I guess that’s fairly common in fantasy settings, though.”
“If you work them like a horse, you’ll both level quickly!”
“No thanks. I couldn’t do anything that horrible.”
“Oh? That’s strange. I remember you owned a whole horde of slaves.”
“Just what kind of savage am I in the future?!”
Oh? Father hadn’t doubted my words. In that case, I would only tell him the bare truth from now on!
“You taught your slaves how to defeat monsters with a smile on your face!”
I could remember Father bragging and saying something like that. The village that he rebuilt stunk of pigs, but it was a really nice place to live and a great place overall. The slaves there all went about their work with smiles on their faces too.
“That’s terrible! There’s no way I could do something like that!”
Father was such a kind person by nature—the kind of person that felt a strong aversion toward using slaves. But suffering the hardships of a cruel world and being deceived on top of that had left him apathetic. I was sure the crimson swine and I were to blame for that too. I had to protect this innocent face of his from such a harsh reality.
“Why did I do such a terrible thing in the future anyway?”
“This will be tough for you to hear, but the role that Itsuki is playing now was originally played by me. In other words, no one was there to help you.”
“Huh? What do you mean?”
“All three of us heroes were thoroughly deceived. We were all convinced that you were guilty.”
“Oh, I see. I guess that means I was stuck fighting all by myself in a whole new world with no one to believe in me.”
“I’m so very sorry! It was the greatest mistake of my whole life!”
“But you were deceived too, right? So there’s nothing you really could have done. You believe in me now, and you rescued me too.”
I was so happy to hear those words. Father’s compassion was deeper than the ocean. I bowed my head as a sign of my gratitude.
“And what did you not helping me have to do with me having slaves?”
“You had no allies and there was no one you could trust. I’m guessing that forced you to adopt a savage mindset and you came up with the idea of using slaves.”
“That makes sense. I guess I could see that happening if I didn’t have anyone on my side.”
“But things are different this time! I believe in you unconditionally!”
Actually, saying I worshipped him wouldn’t have been an overstatement. But he was Filo-tan’s father, after all, and I owed him my life.
“Thanks. But I’m still not comfortable with having slaves.”
“Then we’ll just have to make do without. Kuro!”
“Chirp?”
“We’re going to level you up in a hurry! Then, once you’re stronger, you can help Father level the same way!”
“Chirp!”
“Oh, now I see. You’re thinking I can make Kuro a party member once he’s stronger, right? And since you’re so strong, you can power-level Kuro.”
The term “power-leveling” was online gaming jargon. It was when a high-level player did everything in their power to help rapidly level up a new player. A little bit of power-leveling could spice things up and make a game more enjoyable, but it was also a double-edged sword. Too much of it would take away from the fun! But power-leveling Father would be a good thing in our case.
“That’s right! First, I’ll get Kuro to around level 30. Then Kuro will help you level.”
In the meantime, I would focus on earning some money by looking for work at the adventurers guild. Or I could hunt some bandits that seemed to be doing well for themselves. Getting my hands on Filo-tan would require money, and the more of it I had the better.
Plus, filolials were the treasure of the world! Every single one I could bring into the world would make it a richer place. That was my lifelong goal, I say! Viva filolial paradise!
“What should I do while you’re doing that?”
“Hmm . . . Might I suggest you enjoy an exquisite cup of tea, perhaps?”
“What kind of suggestion is that?!”
“Well, there’s no way I could order you around!”
“Okay, that’s fine. I’ll figure out what to do on my own.”
“Excellent. We’re headed off to level, then! We’ll meet you back in this village later tonight!”
“Okay, got it.”
“Chirp!”
Kuro chirped loudly and the two of us headed out!
After leaving Father, Kuro and I hurried off to a mountain range where there were powerful monsters. I had high-level stat adjustments and I could always use my portal skill to return to the village in a flash. I wanted to level Kuro up as quickly as possible! The only problem was securing food for him. But that shouldn’t be an issue if he just ate the monsters we defeated. Filolials were the ultimate angels and happily ate anything, after all!
We headed deep into the mountains and entered a region where powerful dragon-type monsters lived.
“Brionac! Ha! Ha! Ha! Weak! You’re all too weak!”
I fired off one skill after another and mowed through the dragons and other monsters that lived there in the mountains!
The Father I remembered started to explain about dragons.
After he finished speaking, the Father I remembered disappeared.
Dragons were natural enemies of filolials! That meant they were my natural enemies! I went about attacking as if I was set on annihilating the whole species. They must have realized that they were no match for me, because after fighting for a while the dragons started to avoid us.
But I didn’t care! It would still be a while before Ren or Itsuki would show up around here to hunt. There were places with even more powerful monsters, but I would’ve needed more than one day to go hunt in those places. So this was really my only option! I couldn’t wait to see how strong I could make Father in the month we had before the next wave!
I kept fighting until the sun set. Kuro had hit level 32 in no time. I’d collected plenty of food for him and a bunch of materials too. I would give Father some of those later. My work for the day here was done, so I used my portal to return to the village, where I was supposed to meet Father.
“Welcome back. How much progress did Kuro make?”
“Cheep?”
“Whoa, he’s a lot bigger.”
Kuro came walking up with me. He had made the transformation from a chick to the next stage of filolial development. He was shaped like a fluffy dinner roll and stood at around the height of my thigh. He would probably be a normal, full-sized filolial by tomorrow. I’d collected a massive amount of food just for Kuro, so that wouldn’t be a problem.
“Cheep . . .”
The poor little guy’s stomach was constantly growling. I needed to prepare a meal for him at once!
“Aww . . . You’re so cute, Kuro!” I exclaimed.
“Cheeeep!”
I gave Kuro a snuggle and he squinted his eyes happily. There was no mistake about it. Filolials were the treasure of the world!
“Yeah, he is. And he’s growing super fast. So? What level is he now?”
“Level 32, I say!”
“Already?! You said something about only being able to get him to level 40, right?”
“That’s right. He’ll need to class up to level higher than that!”
“But the dragon hourglass is under the country’s control, right? After fighting with the nobility like you did, you won’t be able to use it, will you?”
“That’s not a problem! If we go to another country, I’m sure they’ll let us use theirs.”
“Oh, so Melromarc isn’t the only country with an hourglass. In that case, I guess I need to get strong enough to venture off to a neighboring country.”
“Ha! Ha! Ha! We have busy days ahead!”
“Yeah. Oh, that reminds me. After thinking about whether there was something I could do, I went to the river and did a bit of fishing.”
Father showed me some fish. He must have been good at fishing, because it was quite the catch!
“I’ll cook those up for us back at the inn!”
“Actually, would you mind if I did that? That’s about all I can really do, after all.”
“Ha! Ha! Ha! Father’s cooking is superb! I look forward to it!”
“My cooking is nothing to brag about, really. Or are you talking about the future again?”
“Indeed. Everyone loved your cooking!”
“Really? Well, I’ll do my best.”
His countenance and behavior were different, but in the end, Father was Father. If there was something he could do, he did it, without fail. Come to think of it, Filo-tan absolutely loved Father’s cooking. I was sure Kuro would enjoy it as well.
Back at the inn, Father got permission to use the kitchen (I threatened the innkeeper when he tried to refuse) and cooked for us. It was delectable, I say! There was no way I could ever produce such immaculate flavors! But Father’s cooking was better in the future. That probably had to do with his shield’s abilities and being able to use life force, though.
“That really was superb, I say!”
“I’m glad you liked it. I tried using some of the seasonings in the kitchen, but this is a different world, after all. Other than the salt, none of them are quite the same as what I’m used to.”
“Humble, as always! Okay, I’m going to sleep in the stable with Kuro. You sleep in our room and make sure to keep the door locked.”
“You’re going to sleep in the stable? If anyone should sleep in the stable it should probably be me, since I’m borrowing your money.”
“Ha! Ha! Ha! Kuro can’t sleep in the inn, so this is just how it will have to be.”
“Oh? Okay. I’ll let you hold on to my valuables, then. I’d hate to have them stolen while I was asleep.”
Father handed me his money and armor. This was a sign of his trust! Now was the time to prove my loyalty!
“I will protect the items you’ve entrusted to me with my very life!”
“Umm, thanks.”
“In return, I’ll give you some of the materials I gathered. You should absorb them into your shield.”
I gave Father all of the materials I’d brought back for him and had him absorb them into his legendary weapon. His level was probably still too low to use them, but they would come in handy later.
“Oh, wow. It keeps saying something about level and conditions not being met, though.”
“That’s just the way it is. It’s fine. You still want to keep gathering materials bit by bit and absorbing them into your shield.”
“Materials? Like what?”
“You can use anything for materials! Even rocks, plants, or branches. In the future, you would break down the monsters you defeated and absorb the bones and meat into your shield.”
Doing so would unlock even more weapons!
“Break down, huh? So in addition to just absorbing things whole, you can split them up into separate materials too. That makes sense. It seems like a pretty intricate system. Alright, I’ll do my best.”
“Kuro should be able to fight as your bodyguard come tomorrow, I think. Then we can start making some real progress!”
“Yeah.”
“Cheep!”
And so we settled down for some R&R at the inn. Kuro got hungry a few more times during the night, and each time I fed him some of the food I’d brought back. Then, while sniffing Kuro’s scent and listening to the sounds of his body rapidly developing, I drifted off to sleep and dreamt about meeting Filo-tan once again.
“Gweh!”
“Wow, he grew that much in one night, huh? Monsters sure can do some amazing things.”
The next morning, Father was looking up at Kuro with an expression of surprise on his face. Kuro had reached the second phase of his development, making him a normal, full-sized filolial.
“Okay, Kuro. Now you’re going to take Father to fight monsters nearby and get him experience!”
“Gweh!”
“Umm, how do I form a party? Oh, there it is. That must mean those women were planning on deceiving me from the very start,” Father mumbled.
After a few moments, he sent Kuro a party invitation.
Those weren’t women. They were pigs! Every now and then, Father’s face looked like he wanted to kill someone. It brought back fond memories of the Father I remembered!
Suddenly a message popped up on my screen asking if I wanted to permit Kuro to join Father’s party. Monster seals had a feature that requested the owner’s approval. I approved without hesitation and a party was formed with Father and Kuro in it.
“Kuro, let Father ride you and go fight!”
“Gweh!”
“So I should ride him? Alright.”
Kuro squatted down, and Father climbed up onto his back.
“Okay, Father, please be safe out there!”
“Umm, I’ll try. Thanks for everything, Motoyasu.”
“Don’t mention it! Now off you go!”
I waved at Kuro and he dashed off energetically with Father on his back.
“Whoa! He’s so fast ! ”
Kuro sprinted off into the distance, and before I knew it, the two of them had disappeared. Now then . . . What was I going to do next? I had collected a good amount of material, but I felt uneasy having so little money. That had never really been an issue before coming back to the past, but I had something big to accomplish now. I had to find Filo-tan! Not to mention, if I got lucky, I might even end up being her master this time!
“That’s it!”
I’d decided what I would be doing that day. It was time to make some money! I would try looking for jobs at the adventurers guild. If that didn’t work, I would sell some of the materials I gathered! And if I still didn’t have enough after that, I would go look for some bandits and take their money. That was something that Father had done often!
And so, I returned to the castle town and made my way to the adventurers guild.
“I’m very sorry, but we can’t offer you a job, Spear Hero.”
That was the response I got at the adventurers guild reception desk. I’d tried asking a male clerk who could speak human words. I quietly pointed my spear at him and gripped it hard, making it shoot sparks. That was a secret intimidation technique passed on to me directly from Father. (That’s what I liked to say, anyway.) Then I tried asking one more time.
“Don’t tell me that. Surely you have some lucrative jobs for me, right?”
“Oink!”
The pig standing behind the male clerk started squealing about something. It was hurting my ears. I wondered if I should kill her. I had no plans of going easy on pigs! Filthy barn animals had no place making a fuss about anything, I say!
“D-despite what you may say, the country simply will not allow us to offer you work.”
“Is that an order from Aultcray? The crimson swine . . . The princess has a part in this too, I suppose?”
The male clerk averted his eyes and just kept asking me to leave repeatedly, like a broken record. I was sure Trash and his minions had threatened him.
“If the Queen of Melromarc happened to hear about this, what do you think she would do?”
“Ugh.”
I was pressuring the clerk when a pig approached him from behind. The pig was holding a missive, which she passed to the clerk. This was just a guess, but she was probably a member of an organization of operatives referred to as “shadows.” The organization couldn’t be trusted unconditionally, but they had been allies of Father.
Oh? The Father I remembered appeared and began to explain again.
After he finished explaining about the shadows, the Father I remembered disappeared.
“I see. Understood. It seems I can offer you some work, Spear Hero.”
“I’d prefer something that can be done quickly and has a large payoff. If there’s something with payment in advance, that’s even better!”
“U-understood. This should fit the bill.”
I accepted the work from the adventurers guild. Just as I’d thought, mentioning the queen would make people more willing to compromise. I decided I’d throw her name around everywhere I went after that.
“Spear Hero! Prepare yourself!”
As soon as I stepped out of the adventurers guild, several adventurers surrounded me and began to attack.
“Windmill!”
Without a word, I immediately used an area-of-effect skill called Windmill to make quick work of the attackers. It was a skill that produced a tornado when I swung my spear around horizontally. The tornado that I created sucked the adventurers up and sent them flying through the air.
“Gaaahhhh!”
“What’s the idea, attacking me all of a sudden? Pulling a stunt like that will get you killed, I say!”
I wasn’t going to stand by and let these mosquitoes eat me up! I’m sure they were just some of Trash’s thugs, after all.
“Ugh. You’re just a mock hero who’s aiding the Shield Demon!”
I’d heard a line like that before. Ah, yes! They must have been from the Church of the Three Heroes. That was it. That bunch was still alive at this point. It was a sorry excuse for a religion that Father had helped destroy. I was pretty sure it had been the official religion of Melromarc. I’d forgotten all about them!
“Mock hero? Say whatever you like. I’m the Love Hunter and I live for love! If you’re going to cause Father trouble, then perhaps I should just head to the Three Heroes church now and slaughter the whole congregation.”
I held the tip of my spear against the cheek of one of the adventurers and grinned. They were a scourge that would make Father suffer. I contemplated what I should do.
“D-demon! You’re a demon! Don’t think you can get away with something like that!”
“Surely humiliating Father . . . the Shield Hero for completely unjustified reasons isn’t something that someone should get away with!”
Their religion worshipped the Spear Hero. But I wasn’t acting the way they wanted me to, so they were probably trying to get rid of me somehow. They had called us imposters when things stopped going their way the first time around too.
“Take this as a warning from one of your gods! If you try to harm us, I will exterminate you without hesitation. You’ve been warned. Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha!”
I laughed boisterously as I walked away. Of course, I’d taken the wallets of the foolish religious fanatics who’d attacked me too. I would be able to buy a new filolial now!
“You’re just a demon pretending to be a hero!”
I could hear the riffraff hurling insults once I had left the area. I couldn’t have cared less. After that, I took different sorts of random material to sell to a vendor. I threatened to kill the vendor if he tried to take advantage of me when I sold him my stuff.
I swung my money pouch around and listened to the clattering sounds as I made my way to the monster trainer’s tent. The monster trainer wiped the sweat from his brow with a small towel when I arrived.
“W-what can I do for you today? Would you like another filolial? Yes sir.”
“I would, indeed! I’d like several this time!”
It occurred to me that there was no need to buy only one filolial at a time. That’s why I planned to spend all of my current surplus of money on new filolials! It went without saying that I would save enough money to buy Father equipment. I’d take back plenty of monster material with me too.
“H-here you are, then.”
Once again, the slave trader presented a box full of eggs. I picked several of them out and made my purchase.
Now then! I still had tons of things to do! I went straight to work taking care of the jobs from the adventurers guild, and before I knew it, the sun had set.
“Oh hey, Motoyasu. Welcome back.”
I returned to the village after finishing up the guild jobs. Father and Kuro were waiting for me there.
“How did it go?”
“I managed to make a fair bit of money.”
I showed Father my money pouch.
“Whoa, that’s a lot.”
I’d used some of it, so there really wasn’t that much. But the guild had given me a job to clean up some monsters nearby that was supposed to be quite difficult. That alone had earned me a nice bundle. The job required a minimum level of 70. I probably would have been able to handle it even before I knew about the power-up methods, but having implemented them all now, it was a breeze.
“I’ll be using this to help raise more filolials, I say!”
I showed Father the filolial eggs that I’d brought back from my travels. Father seemed surprised at how many I had bought.
“Kweh?”
Kuro looked confused.
“And what level are you now, Father?”
“Umm . . . I made it to level 15.”
“Not bad at all.”
“All I did was watch Kuro plow through the monsters. Also, Kuro seems to gradually be getting even bigger. The filolials that were this size at the castle were already fully grown, right?”
Father petted Kuro and he squinted happily. It was a heartwarming sight.
“Kweh!”
“That’s right. He should be able to speak by tomorrow night!”
“Huh? Filolials can speak?!”
“They can, indeed! Filolials are absolutely amazing, filolials are!”
“Wow. That’s exciting. We didn’t have talking animals back in my world. That makes it seem like anything is possible. That’s just like what I’d expect from a parallel universe. Alright, I guess we should go ahead and have dinner.”
“Indeed!”
Father treated us to his home cooking once again that evening.
And then it happened the next morning. I found Father talking with some strangers in front of the inn reception area.
“Oh hey, Motoyasu.”
“What’s going on?”
Father called out to me when he noticed me.
“Umm, these people say they want me to come with them. Maybe you know who they are.”
There were two pigs and one man. I looked over at the man. He appeared to be a demi-human. His ears looked like fox ears.
“We are emissaries from Siltvelt. I’m guessing you are the Spear Hero. Please hear what we have to say.”
“I’m listening!”
Siltvelt? I was pretty sure that was a country where demi-humans were the majority. I’d heard something about relations between Melromarc and Siltvelt having been hostile for a very long time. But what would emissaries from Siltvelt want to talk to us about?
It wasn’t like I knew every little detail about the future. There was a lot that I couldn’t recall, and I didn’t even know where Father was when he’d gone to Siltvelt. I was busy secretly protecting the village in his territory from the shadows at the time, so I didn’t know much about what happened to him there. I’d have to hear the emissary out before I could make any judgments.
Oh?! The Father I remembered seemed to want to say something!
I see! Oh? Father disappeared when he finished talking.
“Thank you. Please do join the conversation, Spear Hero. We would very much like to welcome both of you to accompany us back to Siltvelt.”
This was what the man told us. When Siltvelt got wind that the four holy heroes had been summoned, they sent these emissaries to retrieve Father from Melromarc, where he would be persecuted.
“So what do you think? I’ve leveled up a bit now, so I was thinking it might not be a bad idea. There’s no reason I have to stay here and fight for Melromarc, right?”
“Hmm . . .”
We had originally based our activities out of Melromarc, but going to another country this time might not have been a bad idea. But I still had aspirations of becoming Filo-tan’s new master! I was pretty sure that Father had purchased Filo-tan from the Melromarc monster trainer. The eggs I’d bought recently would hatch later that day. If none of them were Filo-tan, I would need to stick around here for a while.
“The Shield Hero said that he wanted to ask your opinion before deciding, Spear Hero. We hope that you understand our good intentions.”
“I figured it would probably be best if I wasn’t constantly relying on you. They seem to respect me as a hero in Siltvelt, so I was thinking I’d have a better chance of succeeding there. What do you think?”
“It does make sense.”
I couldn’t argue that Father would have a tough time in Melromarc. But I still had just too much unfinished business here to leave yet!
“In that case . . .”
“I hate to say goodbye, Father, but I look forward to hearing about your success in Siltvelt!”
Father seemed to be satisfied with my answer. He nodded.
“Yeah, this is for the best. I can’t just keep letting you spoil me forever. This is my chance, so I’m going to take it.”
“Have you decided then, Shield Hero?”
“Yeah. I think I’ll accept your offer to go to Siltvelt.”
“Very well! Thank you for your cooperation, Spear Hero!”
“Not at all! It’s a once in a lifetime chance! Don’t hesitate to get in touch if you ever need anything, Father! I’ll come running to the ends of the earth, I say!”
“Kuro . . .”
“Gweh?”
Kuro was standing at the entrance of the inn and peeking inside. Father waved to him.
“It’s probably best if he stays with you, I guess,” he said.
“Gweh!”
Kuro looked back and forth between me and Father several times as if he were trying to make up his mind and then nodded. After that, the carriage prepared by the emissaries arrived and Father climbed inside.
“I’m guessing money won’t be a problem,” I said.
“Not at all. We will be happy to provide any funds that the Shield Hero might need,” the emissary answered politely.
“Thanks for everything, Motoyasu. Make sure to stop by and say hi if you ever find yourself near Siltvelt. You’re welcome any time.”
“Understood. I’ll come and join you as soon as I achieve my goal!”
“Umm, yeah. Okay. Thanks to you I was able to avoid losing my humanity. You saved me, so . . .”
The carriage began moving. Father stuck his head out of the window, waved at me, and continued.
“Thank you! It’s a harsh world, but I’ll do my best! And I promise to return the favor!”
“We shall meet again, I say!”
Kuro and I waved as we saw Father off. Thinking about what had happened the first time, I was sure he would be much happier going to Siltvelt instead of staying and fighting in Melromarc. The conditions would be much better for him there.
Now then! I still had lots of work to do! It was my mission to become Filo-tan’s new master. Later that evening, Kuro began talking and gained the ability to transform into an angel. The next day, the filolial eggs hatched and things gradually began to grow more and more lively.
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