by Aneko Yusagi
“A vassal weapon holder controlling his nation from behind the scenes, just like Kyo, refused to participate in negotiations for preparing for the waves and killed the four holy heroes apart from Kizuna.” That sounded bad enough, but Ethnobalt wasn’t done yet. “We formed a band from among our allies in each nation in order to defeat this evil vassal weapon holder, but one of those we recruited was a traitor with the ability to steal vassal weapons. L’Arc was caught by surprise, losing the scythe, and then Kizuna fell into the hands of the enemy.” Shit. I’d been thinking things were bad here! In the past, I might have considered just giving up on them altogether, but I didn’t want to make that choice now.
“We executed a plan to rescue Kizuna,” Ethnobalt continued. There was more! “But we were attacked by a new, unknown force. After I was attacked and suffered these injuries, my vassal weapon was stolen, by the traitor, just like L’Arc.”
“An unknown force?” More people with an ability like Takt’s to steal weapons. The odds continued to stack up against us.
“I helped the others escape, and then I was sent here to you, Naofumi,” he explained. Ethnobalt proceeded to bow his head low to me. “I know this is asking a lot. But please, lend us your aid!”
From what Ethnobalt had told me, in Kizuna’s world Kizuna herself had been captured, and the other three holy heroes had been slain. Someone with the ability like Kyo and Takt to steal weapons had also stolen L’Arc’s weapon. There was even another unknown force at work.
“Is there any way we can get these?” I asked.
“Yes. If I use the accessory I gave you, imbued with power prior to losing my vassal weapon, we can cross over—although it will only be a one-way trip,” Ethnobalt explained. Then he touched the anchor and transferred some magic to it. “It seems to still be connected to my world. I sense the presence of my captured vassal weapon. I think . . . everyone is still alive.”
I looked at my shield. It sounded like I was very vaguely hearing the voices of Atla and Ost from the shield—their intent to leave everything to me.
Very well. We were just going to have to do this. In either case, we needed to go and fetch Raphtalia. It wasn’t like Kizuna and the others were strangers to us either. Not to mention they were being attacked by a second Kyo. A second Takt, even.
Raphtalia had faced down Takt alone in order to let me escape. Now it was my turn to go and save her, regardless of the wish the shield would grant to allow me to take Raphtalia with me to my home world.
I pushed down my desire to set out as quickly as possible, knowing we needed to make all possible preparations. There was plenty of potential for issues to occur in this world while we were away helping Kizuna after all. I’d need to consider not just what members of the party to take, but also what weapons and gear to equip them with.
“Let’s do this! We’re going to take down anyone like Takt!” I announced.
With that, I decided to go and fetch Raphtalia and save Kizuna and the others.
The Rising of the Shield Hero Vol. 16
(c) Aneko Yusagi 2017
First published by KADOKAWA in 2017 in Japan.
English translation rights arranged by One Peace Books
under the license from KADOKAWA CORPORATION, Japan
ISBN: 978-1-64273-041-8
No part of this may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by storage and retrieval system without the written permission of the publisher. For information contact One Peace Books. Every effort has been made to accurately present the work presented herein. The publisher and authors regret unintentional inaccuracies or omissions, and do not assume responsibility for the accuracy of the translation in this book. Neither the publishers nor the artists and authors of the information presented in herein shall be liable for any loss of profit or any other commercial damages, including but not limited to special, incidental, consequential or other damages.
Written by Aneko Yusagi
Character Design Minami Seira
English Edition Published by One Peace Books 2019
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