by Aneko Yusagi
The Keel #2 stuffed doll responded and pointed at an accessory hanging off of its collar.
“This accessory has the ability to translate. My master used it on me after taking it off of the dead body of her arch-enemy’s companion, who you defeated.”
Like I mentioned earlier, there were invaders from another world who were trying to kill the four holy heroes. Just recently, a couple of them had attacked us. They apparently got all kinds of benefits from destroying other worlds, and they had no interest in settling things amicably, like we had done with Glass and Kizuna.
Those benefits included what was usually referred to as “resurrection” in games. They had the ability to return from the dead. The enemies had been quite skilled at combat, as well, and it had been a tough battle. Luckily for us, the circumstances at the time had prevented them from resurrecting long enough for us to finish them off for good.
So the equipment was something that S’yne had scavenged off of the corpse of one of those enemies.
“That’s probably something we should be trying to study,” I said.
“You can have it, if that’s what you would like.”
It’s not like I wanted to monopolize the technology, but I wouldn’t be able to communicate effectively with S’yne without it. If the familiar used it to act as an intermediary like this, it would make talking with S’yne a lot easier. And we were still focused on analyzing the accessories we had gotten in Kizuna’s world. I’m sure it would have been convenient if we figured out how the translation functionality worked, of course. But my shield already translated for me, so the only person that really needed the technology was S’yne. Studying it would be low on the list of priorities.
“I’ll ask for it when I need it, so just hold on to it until then.”
“Understood. I will continue using it, in that case.”
“Can S’yne not use it directly?”
“Her vassal weapon interferes with it. We’re lucky that I can even use it.”
Ugh . . . So S’yne couldn’t use the technology herself. It certainly seemed convenient, but I guess it wasn’t so easy to exploit. I probably wouldn’t be able to use it either.
“I see. Oh well. Are you going to eat, S’yne?”
S’yne responded with a quick nod and held her plate out. I put some food on her plate and she sat down at a table and started eating in silence.
Things were never boring in the village.
Chapter One: Instant Awakening
Once they finished eating, the slaves each got started on their own tasks for the day. Some of them trained, others were getting started studying magic, a number of them headed out to hawk our goods, and others helped with the reconstruction.
My work varied from day to day too, but I was supposed to spar with Atla after finishing breakfast. Fohl had gone out to hunt and level up. Atla had been on guard duty, but Raphtalia was filling in for her. As for why I was sparring with Atla, well, it was complicated. It all started when I called the old Hengen Muso lady to the village to talk.
“Hey, old lady. I want to start training too,” I told the old lady.
Rishia and Eclair had been making clear progress, so I figured I needed to get serious about training too. I asked for the old lady’s help. Starting a conversation by calling someone “old lady” like that probably sounded pretty rude, but that had become her nickname, so that’s just the way it was.
“Duly noted. However, you can’t start training until you learn how to sense life force.”
“Hmm . . . I thought that might be the case.”
“I’m starting to get a feeling for it,” Raphtalia interjected.
“Oh? It seems you’re starting to understand, young grasshopper,” replied the old lady.
The old lady looked at Raphtalia and seemed to be able to verify her claim.
“In that case, I’ll have you work on something a bit more difficult later, young grasshopper!”
“Am I supposed to do more sitting meditation in the mountains, then? Or is my only option to use life force water or something?” I asked.
I was fully aware that there were no shortcuts and I would need to put in the work, but still, it had just been one problem after another lately. I wanted to learn the style quickly. But I guess that was just wishful thinking.
“Well, it’s a slightly rough approach, but I do have a method in mind that might work well for you, Saint,” the old lady replied.
“Then spit it out already. I don’t mind if I have to suffer a bit.”
Getting stronger quickly was all that really mattered.
“There is someone that can see life force even better than I. If you were to spar with this person, then I am sure you would be able to get a feeling for it as well, Saint.”
“Oh yeah, I heard you had said something about Atla having an aptitude for the art.”
Eclair had mentioned the old lady saying Atla didn’t even need to study the style.
“That’s right.”
Fohl was standing there with us. The old lady looked at him, and he cautiously looked at Atla.
“Huh? What is it?” Atla asked.
“I believe that sparring with this girl will help you understand life force, Saint.”
“Well, she did seem stronger than Fohl last time we went out hunting,” I said.
“Say what?! It goes without saying that I’m stronger than her!” Fohl cried out.
“Brother, please refrain from belittling me in front of Mr. Naofumi.”
Atla poked Fohl in the side sharply.
“Guh!”
Fohl nearly fell over backward when she did.
“Ugh . . .”
“There you have it, Fohl. Right now, you’re weaker than Atla. If you want to redeem yourself, go train with this old lady here,” I told him.
“Brother, thank you for everything you’ve done for me.”
After everything Fohl had done to help raise Atla, I couldn’t believe she was content with expressing her gratitude in nothing more than a few words.
“A . . . Atla?! Ugh . . . Fine! I’ll get stronger, no matter what!”
His determination to grow stronger was evident in his expression. Atla was spurring his growth. In that sense, I guess her attitude actually wasn’t all that bad.
“And I will train with Mr. Naofumi!”
Atla wrapped her arm around mine. I didn’t really like the idea of her hanging on me, but if she was going to be my sparring partner, then I guess I would have to give her a little leeway.
“That settles that. Raphtalia, you go ahead and go with the old lady to—”
“No, thank you!”
Raphtalia objected for some reason. I wondered why. She had seemed motivated to train up until that point.
“Hmm . . . I suppose Raphtalia joining in for a bit of healthy competition could make for effective training. Rivalry gives birth to ambition!”
Now the old lady was compromising too. Was rivalry really going to help? I guess I had read a manga where something like that happened before.
“In that case, Saint, please procure some life force water. Also, if you’re truly serious about training, then we will have to go into the mountains at some point. Please consider making time to allow for that in the near future.”
Studying the Hengen Muso style would normally require going off deep into the mountains. But since learning about life force water, we had been able to train in the village, and even in the more urban area of the town. Thanks to that, Eclair and Rishia had been able to train much more consistently.
Ren was apparently planning on studying under the old lady with Eclair too, so I wasn’t sure how much life force water we would need. The old lady originally intended to have Ren train with me. But Ren didn’t seem interested in taking any shortcuts to getting stronger, so she said it would probably be good to have him and Eclair train together and push each other to improve.
And that’s how Raphtalia and I ended up sparring with Atla. We neede
d to develop the ability to see life force with our own eyes before we could progress any further.
“Alright, Atla. I want you to use that same attack I asked for before, but this time make it powerful and swift,” I said.
“Understood!”
I blocked Atla’s jab, and a loud twang rang out. I felt something travel into my body and burst. It felt exactly like the technique that the old lady had used on me before. I was glad that I had used a weak shield for our training. If I’d been using one of my more powered-up shields, that attack would have done some real damage.
“Ugh . . .”
I used my own inner flow of magic to forcefully expel the foreign energy from my body. But I remembered the old lady mentioning that was the wrong way of doing it.
“Ugh . . . I managed to expel it, but this is tough. Alright, let’s do some sparring then.”
“Okay! Here I come! Aiyah! Aiyaya!”
The old lady had given me a bunch of pointers. She told me that I needed to do more than just block. Apparently, sparring with Atla as if it were a real fight would be more effective. She told Raphtalia to do the same.
“Mr. Naofumi . . .” Raphtalia said worriedly.
“The old lady says that if I continue to take Atla’s attacks I should start to see life force. I just have to stick with it.”
I continued to take the attacks until I was too exhausted to keep standing. I flumped down and took a break.
“You’re next, Raphtalia!” Atla shouted.
She beckoned Raphtalia over with several flicks of her wrist.
Why was she always so provocative? Raphtalia responded as expected. She readied herself with a dead-serious expression on her face, regardless of the fact that she was using a wooden practice sword.
“I hope you’re ready!” said Atla.
“I’m ready to see you try!” Raphtalia responded.
The two edged closer . . . and closer . . . The tension between these two when they sparred was enough to make anyone watching think it was a real battle. Did they not realize they were only supposed to be sparring? Or maybe I needed to be taking the sessions that serious too.
“Hiya!”
Raphtalia closed in on Atla rapidly and swung her wooden sword down. Atla dodged the attack by a hair’s breadth and jabbed at Raphtalia sharply. Raphtalia bent backward and dodged the jab as she followed through with her swing, swiping sideways. Atla crouched down and thrust at an opening in Raphtalia’s guard, but Raphtalia swiftly blocked the jab with her wooden sword. A loud thud echoed out.
“Here I go!” taunted Atla.
Atla gave another sharp jab, which Raphtalia redirected to the side with her arm. Then she countered by swinging her wooden sword down once again.
“Tsk! You don’t give up!” Atla snapped.
Atla did a backflip to put some distance between them.
“As soon as one of my attacks lands, this match will be over. Of course, I will see to Mr. Naofumi’s training afterward. You can spend that time recovering quietly,” she said.
“That’s not going to happen! You’re the one who’s going to experience the impact of my blade, Atla! Then you can watch me and Mr. Naofumi train!”
Raphtalia placed her hand on the back of the wooden sword’s blade. I was guessing she was channeling something into it. I still couldn’t see life force, so I wasn’t sure.
“It looks like you can’t afford to hold back,” said Atla.
“I could say the same about you!”
The two exchanged glances and then swiftly charged forward. They clashed, and sparks flew. Were they really just pretending to be serious? They were putting on a real performance considering they were only sparring.
“Impressive, as usual,” said Atla.
“Still not as impressive as you,” Raphtalia responded.
Their matches were always unusually spirited like this. The old lady mentioned that observing them fight was also part of my training. My mind wandered and I gazed on as the two continued to battle it out.
Eventually midday rolled around, and I made lunch. It would have been nice if I had the time to just train all day long, but that wasn’t the case.
“Your cooking is delicious as always, Bubba Shield!”
Keel got so excited that she turned into a dog and started wagging her tail. Did my cooking really make the little loincloth pup that happy? Whatever. If it motivated her, that was a good thing.
“Alright, we’ve had lunch. I guess we should go give the old guy a visit at his weapon shop.”
“Agreed,” responded Raphtalia.
“Understood!” Atla replied.
We wrapped up our training and used my portal skill to teleport to the castle town.
Chapter Two: The Alchemist
I walked into the weapon shop. Imiya’s uncle was standing behind the counter.
“Oh hello, Shield Hero.”
“Hey. How’s it going?”
“The weapons are selling as fast as I can make them. I’m setting aside a portion of the profits for your equipment, of course.”
Oh! I liked hearing that! With everything I had going on, it seemed like I was always broke lately. I still didn’t have enough financial leeway to be spending money on equipment. If Imiya’s uncle working meant a reduction in equipment costs, that was a good thing.
“Thanks. Imiya and the rest of you handy bunch are a real help.”
“Don’t mention it! We can’t thank you enough for giving us such fulfilling work.”
Imiya’s uncle was a type of therianthrope called a lumo. They looked like moles. Imiya was the first lumo that I had bought from the slave trader. She was good with her hands, so I decided to buy more lumo slaves. When I did, it turned out that one of them was her uncle, so I just referred to him as Imiya’s uncle in my head. He had a name, but . . . what was it, again? These lumos all seemed to have really long names.
I asked the old guy to take on an apprentice so that I would have someone to make equipment back at the village. So I brought Imiya’s uncle to the shop and introduced him to the old guy, and it turned out the two already knew each other. Imiya’s uncle had studied blacksmithing together with the old guy a long time ago, and the two of them had been close.
“We’re still trying to work out the peculiarities of that mountain of materials. We spend all of our time arguing about that lately. It even turned into a bit of fisticuffs just last night.”
“That’s something I didn’t expect to hear.”
He had gotten into an argument with the old guy that ended up getting physical, and yet here he was, acting completely normal and tending to the shop. I got the feeling those two really trusted each other.
“What’s going on?”
The old guy came strolling out from the back of the shop. He was holding a hammer in one hand. It looked like he had been in the middle of working on it.
“Oh? It’s you, kid! How have things been lately?”
“Not bad. Been doing a bit of training lately, among other things. How about you? How is that equipment coming along?”
“A few days isn’t really enough time to make much progress with that stuff. Is that all you’re here for today?”
The old guy responded cheerfully, so I mulled over whether there was anything else I needed for a moment. Then I slowly looked over toward Raphtalia and Atla, who I’d brought along with me.
“Well . . .”
I didn’t really have any money to spend, but I figured that Imiya’s uncle working there was kind of like having a line of credit. In that case, there was something I’d been considering asking the old guy to do for me.
“It’s about that Siderite Shield you showed me before.”
“Hmm? What about it? Do you need it to get stronger or something?”
“No, nothing like that. Shooting Star Shield is already a lifesaver as it is.”
Honestly, I had been using Shooting Star Shield in battles pretty much nonstop since I learned it. It was a versatile ski
ll that would remain useful for a long time to come. My battles had made that clear. Plus, it would probably be even more effective if I used an accessory on that shield.
“I was wondering if the Siderite Shield had some kind of special meaning for you and that’s why you were keeping it tucked away like that.”
“Hmm . . . I just didn’t want to sell it because the material is so rare, so I’ve been keeping it in storage. Why?”
“Oh, really? In that case, maybe it wouldn’t hurt to ask.”
“What is it? Spit it out already, kid.”
I shifted my gaze toward Raphtalia and told the old guy what I had in mind.
“Do you think you could melt the Siderite Shield down and make a katana? A Siderite Katana?”
The old guy and Raphtalia both nodded simultaneously, as if my suggestion made total sense.
“I’d been wondering about that for a while now. I’m guessing the little miss’s weapon is similar to your shield.”
Ah, that’s right. I still hadn’t told the old guy about Raphtalia’s katana. It was a vassal weapon from another world, which made it something like a seven star weapon. Raphtalia pulled her katana out and showed it to the old guy.
“It’s from the other world. They called it a vassal weapon, which is most likely equivalent to what we call the seven star weapons here in this world,” I explained.
“I see. In other words, you’re thinking that if I rework the Siderite Shield into a katana, the little miss will be able to gain some kind of powerful skill.”
“Exactly. Do you think you could do that?”
“Mr. Naofumi is ordering a weapon for you. I’m jealous! I want a weapon too.”
I ignored Atla. She could fight just fine with her bare hands. She didn’t need a weapon.
“I suppose it’s possible,” said the old guy.
“Will you do it for me?”
“Sure. It’s really just a collector’s item that’s taking up space anyway. I’m happy to do it if it will help you and the little miss out, kid.”
“Should I move it to the forge later?” asked Imiya’s uncle.
The old guy nodded.
“But a katana . . .”
The old guy looked off into the distance. He seemed to be lost in thought.
