by Aneko Yusagi
This wasn’t good. I’d thought that all the goodness in my heart was gone, and yet here it was, threatening to resurrect. Whether it actually came back or not would depend on Filo’s behavior.
I wasn’t her lovable older brother—and I wasn’t the type to sit around doting on a pet.
“There you have it. If you throw another fit, I’m not going to come running, you hear? I’ll give you a bitter, gross medicine that’ll run through all your veins and kill you.”
“No! Noooooo!”
Filo was practically screaming.
“Master! Don’t hate me! Don’t hate me!”
She crawled over to me and held onto my legs as she shouted.
Ugh! This was miserable…
“If you listen to what I say, I won’t hate you. You have to listen to me.”
“O…okay!”
“Okay, good. So when we are sleeping in the inn, you can’t turn back into a bird. You have to promise.”
“Okay!”
She looked up at me, her face beaming. This was taking a real toll on my conscience.
But then I turned my eyes away from her pleading face, and the slave trader noticed and leaned in to watch, with excitement, how the scene developed.
“This play of heretical anger is astonishing, yes. I take my hat off to you again. You truly are the Legendary Shield Hero.”
I didn’t appreciate the aspects of my character he had chose to congratulate me on, but I suppose it was nothing to complain about.
“Mr. Naofumi… don’t you think that it’s enough?”
“If I don’t, she won’t listen to what I say. You were the same way, remember?”
Raphtalia nodded.
“You’re right. It was like that.”
“There are times to let someone have their way, and times when you have to reel them in.”
I didn’t mention that I considered myself the judge of such matters.
“Ah yes, carrots and sticks! Carrots and sticks! Yes sir.”
“I wasn’t talking to you, Slave Trader.”
And I wished he wasn’t so presumptive.
“Sorry for all the trouble.”
“If that’s how you feel about it, then to make things easier in the future you should teach me how you raised this Fil…”
“Anyway, we have somewhere to be today, so we’ll just be off.”
“Ah, yes. I am once again impressed that you don’t allow yourself to become subject to my own pace… Yes, your will is very impressive indeed, Hero. Yes sir.”
So that was the end of our talks for the day, and we exited the tent.
Chapter Nine: Rewards
I threw my cape around Filo, and we went to the weapon shop.
“Ah yes, our Little-Hero!”
The owner threw his hand in the air at my approach, like he had been waiting for us to stop by.
“Did you find anything?”
“Yup. You just wait a minute.”
He jogged to the door and put up a closed sign before motioning for us to come outside. He led us down the street to the magic shop we had visited a few days earlier.
“Now, now.”
When the owner of the weapon shop poked his head in, the lady at the magic shop could not suppress a smile, and she ran to the door to meet him.
“Would you all come to the back of my shop for a moment?”
“Filo, don’t turn into a bird without my permission, okay?”
“Okay…”
We went into the backroom, which smelled very much like someone had been living there. There was a large workspace laid out.
Apparently that was where she made her spells.
The ceiling must have been about three meters tall. There was a magic square on the ground, and some crystals placed delicately in the center of the room.
“Sorry about the clutter, I was just in the middle of some work.”
“No problem at all. But do you sell clothes here for this girl?”
“I asked around this morning, and I heard that the lady at this magic shop knew what to do.”
“Oh yes, I do.”
The lady took the crystals from their place on the table, and in their place sat a large machine that looked something like an antique sewing machine.
Was it a spindle, like the thing that Sleeping Beauty pricked her finger on?
“Is that little girl really a monster?”
“Yes. So when she transforms back into her original form, her clothes rip. Filo, turn back.”
I figured it was safe for her to do it here.
“Okay.”
She nodded, removed the cape, and transformed back into a Filolial.
“Ah yes, now I see. This is the little Filolial you had with you the last time we spoke, is it not?”
The magic shop lady looked up at Filo, as a Filolial queen, and asked in shocked tones.
“Does this work?”
Filo’s voice was still the same as it was when she was a little girl, so it sounded very strange coming from her giant, Filolial body. Granted, I supposed it was an accepted fantasy trope that you could hold conversations with animals like this.
I looked over at Raphtalia.
“What is it?”
“Nothing.”
That reminded me, Raphtalia was a demi-human. Back when I was still bright-eyed and optimistic about this world, it would have been so exciting to have her as my partner. Thinking of it that way, I could understand the way that Motoyasu had responded to seeing her back when we dueled.
Of course, that was all in the past for me.
“So shall I make some clothes for her?”
“You can make them? Clothes that won’t rip when she transforms?”
“Yes, I can… Though if we are honest, I don’t know if they qualify as ‘clothes.’”
“What do you mean?”
“How do I appear to you, Mr. Hero?”
“A magic shop… I don’t know… a witch?”
“That’s right. So I do know something about transformation.”
It wasn’t like I was starting to understand anything about this world, and I couldn’t be sure if I was even right. But in the manga and games that I have played and read I think I’d come across witches that could turn into animals.
“Having said that, turning into an animal is really more trouble than it is worth, considering the level of magic required and the risk involved. Still, I do from time to time. Trying to find new clothes every time you change is really a bother, you know?”
Okay, so it sounded like witches and wizards were able to transform if they wanted to.
The witch was fingering some wooden sewing tools when she answered.
“It’s fine if you are back at your own house or something. But to transform in a place you aren’t secure, it can be a real disaster.”
“I would think so.”
The main issue seemed to be clothes. You couldn’t just go walking around naked.
“So there are very useful clothes that people wear when they transform. Clothes that survive the transformation and will still be there, no matter the form you take.”
“I see.”
“There are some famous examples among wizards and witches, even among the demi-humans. An example you might know of is the capes that vampires wear.”
Yeah… come to think of it, I’d seen that in an old movie. They could turn into bats and wolves and things like that. I guess they existed in this world too.
“This machine here is designed to produce the thread that we make those clothes from.”
“You don’t say… but how does it work? How does the clothing survive the transformation?”
“The power that makes it look like clothing is very exact.”
Her answer confused me.
“This machine turns magical power into thread. The user can decide on their own timing to turn the thread back into magic, and vice-versa.”
“So you’re saying that when she turns into a human,
she can turn her magic power into clothing?”
“Yes, that’s how it works.”
She was right… It wasn’t exactly clothing in the way I understood clothing. When Filo wasn’t a human, it would turn into a magical power that dwelt within her body. Then when she turned into a girl, it would materialize as clothing.
“Okay then. Now, Filo, will you slowly turn that handle for me?”
Filo got a hold on the handle and began to turn it. When she did, a thin thread began to come out of one end the machine. The old lady took it, wrapped it on a dowel, and started spinning the dowel to collect the thread.
“What’s happening? I feel like I’m losing my energy!”
“We are turning some of you magical powers into thread, dear. You’ll feel a little tired. But keep on turning that handle. We don’t have enough yet to make you any clothes.”
“Ugh… But this isn’t fun!”
I guess she really was just a kid. She’d only been alive for a week, come to think of it.
Filo kept slowly turning the handle and looking absentmindedly around the room.
When she was doing so, the jewel that was on top of the machine suddenly broke.
“Oh no. My jewel broke! Without that we won’t be able to make the clothing.”
“What?”
That sounded like a big problem to me.
It would be near impossible to get her to change into clothes whenever she transformed, and besides, the cost of the clothes would be astronomical.
“Isn’t there anything you can do?”
“Well, the material for the jewel can be found in the market… but it isn’t cheap.”
“Ugh…
That was the last thing I wanted to hear.
“Is there any way we could make it?”
“Hm… Let me think.”
She found a map at the back of the bookshelf and unrolled it on the tabletop.
“I believe, in Melromarc, is only place where the jewels may be found. Here in this cave.”
She pointed to the mountainous area in the southwest of the kingdom, and both the guy from the weapon shop and I nodded.
“There is supposed to be a rich vein running through the basement of some ruins here. If you could find it, we’d be able to make the jewel for not much money.”
“Sounds like a plan.”
It would be dangerous, but we didn’t have enough money to think about any other options.
“All right, I’m going with you.”
“Are you sure?”
“How else will you know what is good-enough quality?”
I did have a skill that improved my resource appraisal, but it would still be best to have an actual witch chose the jewel.
If we made a good haul, we could sell the remainders for profit. That was obviously a best-case scenario.
“Okay great. Are you ready to go now?”
“Yes, no problem at all.”
“All right then, let’s go. And quickly.”
We loaded up the carriage with our luggage and had Filo pull it. Then we all set out for the cave in the Southwest of Melromarc.
“Is this the cave?”
I was pointing to what looked like the intimidating entrance to a ruined temple, tucked into the crags of the mountainous region we’d been traversing.
There was a temple built into the ruddy cliffs there… and it felt like it must have contained some powerful items within… that is, if this were an RPG. I caught myself thinking that way again. I’ve spent too much time with games!
“No, that’s not it. According to local tradition, there was once an evil alchemist who made this temple into his home base.”
“You don’t say…”
“There are rumors that the alchemist was deeply involved in research on a dangerous plant. Apparently that plant is still sealed inside. We will not venture in there. There should be a tunnel bored into the side of the mountain that goes under the temple. That’s what we are aiming for.”
We all began to scour the area for the tunnel the witch had described.
“Is this it?”
We moved further down the path to find a giant, fresh crack in the cliff. It was large enough to squeeze inside.
“It could be.”
“Mr. Naofumi, should we go in first and check it out?”
I nodded, and we both looked inside.
The interior appeared to be man-made. It was formed from stone, but formed into concrete and designed shapes.
What’s that? There was an ornate treasure chest sitting at the back of the room. I opened it, but it was empty.
I guess if dungeons were real, this is what they would be like. Of course someone would have been there before you.
“Is it still the alchemist’s hideout?”
“Seems to be.”
Maybe the alchemist had chosen this spot for his hideout for the very jewels that we had come in search of.
There was a stone pillar, something like a gravestone, right next to the treasure box, and it was inscribed with various symbols. I hadn’t studied enough of the language to be able to read it yet.
“Hey, Witch? Can you read this?”
“The letters are very old. ‘To he who would break the seal of the seed. It is my desire that this seed never be released into the world. It will play with the people’s desire to be freed from famine, granting their wish in the worst way imaginable. The seal is not so easily broken.’”
A seed, huh? So that’s what was in this treasure chest. Whatever, it was no concern of mine.
It must have been carried off by some vagrant adventurer at some point—and besides, who had the time to care about this alchemist’s half-baked projects?
“I guess this isn’t the place.”
“I suppose you are correct.”
We left the little room and made another pass of the area, and we finally came across the tunnel we were looking for. We went inside.
But…
“These monster footprints are very fresh.”
The witch whispered to herself shortly after entering the tunnel. Her eyes were locked on the ground. I followed her gaze.
These seemed to be the footprints of some type of large carnivore. Come to think of it, I think I had seen similar footprints somewhere.
They reminded me of… of the footprints from that giant Chimera that had appeared during the last wave.
“You okay?”
“These make me nervous, I’m not sure if we should continue or not.”
“We have to. We don’t have a choice.”
“If the Shield Hero says so, then it must be the truth. Let’s press on.”
“…”
Filo was sniffing at the tracks.
And then…
Ew! She was drooling!
“Let’s go, Filo!”
“Okay!”
Filo nodded at Raphtalia’s shout, and we set off.
I walked in the front, followed by Raphtalia, the witch, and finally Filo.
It felt like a real adventure. I felt my heart leap, just once, at the excitement of the scene.
“Mr. Naofumi, I have only been using you. Give me money.”
I heard Raphtalia’s voice echoing off the walls.
“I pretended to become a slave again to gain your trust, but it was all an act. I could stab you right now, from behind. I’ve wanted to kill you with my own hands.”
I turned around to find Raphtalia wincing.
Filo was shouting, “No, Master! Don’t leave me!”
What was going on?
“The monsters here are saying things to upset us and get us off our guard. Don’t let them fool you.”
“What kind of a monster is that?!”
I think I’d seen a monster like that once, in a game somewhere. There was a cave with an item in it that was supposed to restore trust to a party whose leader had lost faith in his compatriots. But there was a trap set, a trap to cause vicious infighting.
So that
voice just now, it couldn’t have been Raphtalia.
Good. Had that been what Raphtalia had really been thinking, I would have been gutted.
“Master! You need me right? You need Filo?”
“I guess.”
“Yay! I believe you.”
“Mr. Naofumi, those words just now were not spoken by me. Let’s press onward.”
We eventually came upon a monster that looked something like a bat, it was called a Voice Gengar, and it had been making those voices. We fought it, and the witch supported us with magic, so it was an easy win.
Filo ran up a wall and flipped off it, swinging her leg into a powerful kick that brought the bat down. She could really fight. I let the shield absorb the Voice Gengar.
Voice Gengar (bat form) Shield: conditions met
Voice Gengar (bat form) Shield: ability locked:
sound wave endurance (small)
Special Effect: Megaphone
Special effect Megaphone? I guess I could tell what that was.
The shield itself wasn’t all that great, though I suppose the monster also wasn’t that strong, so I shouldn’t have expected much.
And yet… why did it specify bat form?
It made me wary, and so I strained my ears against the silence of the tunnel. I could hear voices in the distance.
We had no choice but to keep going.
The tunnel had gotten very dark, so I was holding a torch in one hand. Then, suddenly, I couldn’t see anything.
“Mr. Naofumi! Prepare yourself!”
Simultaneously, with the shout, I felt a sudden pain.
“Raphtalia?!”
“Mr. Naofumi! Are you all right?!”
“Please die!”
“No! No!”
“Calm down, this is the work of the enemy! They’ve used magic to darken this passage!”
Damn! That was one killer attack they had. I honestly felt like I’d been stabbed by Raphtalia. And it actually hurt.
Was the attack strong enough to overcome my defense rating?
Had it been Raphtalia… she was probably strong enough to hurt me. But the wound felt more like a scratch…
“Master! Feed me!”
I heard Filo shouting. Come on now—I was worrying about the scratch I’d gotten, and now Filo was calling out? It was very suspicious. Wasn’t there anything we could do?
