The Rising of the Shield Hero Vol 08

by Aneko Yusagi

  “What a fantastic turnout! Thank you all for coming, despite your busy schedules!”

  I handed the bottles of soul-healing water to Kizuna and Rishia for them to line up on the table.

  “Now then, the efficacy of this medicine has already been proven, so rather than review the facts that are already known by all, I would rather just start the auction!”

  The crowd erupted in cheers. It was so easy—like dangling a carrot in front of a donkey.

  I felt like I’d found a tree that grew money. People were easy to control when they really wanted something.

  I’d learned that in an online game. In MMOs, you can go hunting and find rare items. Some games would allow you to automatically sell the items, but others would let you hold an auction to sell the items to people that weren’t able to go on the hunts themselves. I’d made it a hobby of mine. I did it all the time.

  So I felt really comfortable in the auction environment. It was easy to sell things to people when they were ravenous with desire. I could tell I was going to make a lot of money.

  “Now then, let’s start the bidding with the price I’ve already received for one of these bottles—one tamagin!”

  “One tamagin, 50 doumon!”

  “Two tamagin!”

  “Three tamagin, 30 doumon!”

  It didn’t take long for the competition to heat up. Things were progressing just how I wanted them to. I just had to manipulate them to keep bidding.

  Normally, it would be hard to get people to bid so aggressively over a single-use item, so I had to make sure I didn’t push it too far. I had to watch out for the officials in the back, too.

  Honestly, I just wanted to get a bunch of money and hightail it out of there.

  “30 tamagin!”

  The competition was growing fierce. The crowd had gotten louder.

  Back in Melromarc, that would be the equivalent of spending 30 silver pieces on one bottle of medicine. “I hear 30 tamagin! 30 tamagin!” I clapped my hands.

  The bids grew less dramatic after that. People mostly just raised their bids by a few doumon here and there.

  Finally the auction ended, and the bottle sold for 30 tamagin and 83 doumon.

  “Will that be all?”

  The crowd fell silent.

  “Very well then. Sold for 30 tamagin and 83 doumon!”

  I took the money from the winner and gave him a bottle of soul-healing water. The man looked like a normal merchant. None of the noblemen participated.

  I flipped through my wallet to take stock of the sales. Did I have enough to purchase a travel voucher yet? I looked over at Kizuna for advice. She shook her head.

  So I didn’t have enough. I might have even needed a lot more.

  Well that wasn’t going to work, was it?

  Fine then! I’ll just have to get crafty!

  We shouldn’t stay in the town for too long. With all the people around, things were bound to get chaotic.

  I signaled Kizuna with my eyebrow, and she immediately understood. Rishia stood beside her, holding the bottles of soul-healing water, and Kizuna stuck her foot out and tripped her.

  “Ah!”

  She dropped a bottle of soul-healing water and it shattered. But unbeknownst to the public, I’d secretly switched out the contents for plain water.

  “Oh no! What a waste!”

  “Feh... I’m so sorry!”

  “You’re destroying our products!”

  Before we left the inn that morning, we’d already agreed on the plan.

  Rishia had been affected by Itsuki’s warped sense of justice, so of course she was a little worried about the ethics involved, but it was how I wanted to do things, and she eventually agreed—not that she had a choice. I pretended to shout at Rishia, who continued to apologize, before I turned my attention back to the crowd.

  “Apologies! Due to my clumsy employee here, we only have one bottle remaining! She’s an illiterate fool! Hear me? I’ll make sure you pay for all that!”

  “Fehhh!”

  The crowd started booing Rishia, and pretty soon they started throwing things at her. That was probably enough of that. If I let it go on for much longer, poor Rishia would probably lose her mind.

  “I’m terribly sorry, but we are down to the last bottle. Everyone, please find it in your hearts to forgive her.”

  I took a deep breath, paused, and then announced as loudly as I could, “Now then, let us begin the auction for the final bottle of soul-healing water!”

  “Three tamagin, 20 doumon!”

  “Eight tamagin!”

  “15 tamagin!”

  “30 tamagin!”

  Got ‘em. Everyone had been holding back because they knew there would be later opportunities. But once they were faced with an unexpected setback, they lost sight of their limitations and really threw themselves into the bidding war. They couldn’t help themselves. From where they were standing, they thought they only had this once chance to get their hands on a rare, unbelievable medicine.

  They thought they’d never have another chance.

  As long as you can get your customers thinking of things in those terms, you can get the prices to rise.

  And rise they did.

  “Three kinhan!”

  “Three kinhan, 50 tamagin!”

  Some of the town’s noblemen had worked their way into the crowd and had started a bidding war with the merchants—it was the perfect situation to make the prices soar.

  The rest of the crowd had fallen silent. They waited breathlessly to see how high the auction would go.

  “Four kinhan!”

  “Ugh...”

  “Will that be all?” I asked, watching to see if anyone would continue the battle. “Sold! For four kinhan! Everyone, thank you! A round of applause for the winner, please.” I clapped my hands to signal the end of the auction.

  The winning nobleman came walking over and handed me the money.

  So the first had sold for 30 tamagin, and the last had sold for four kinhan. Not bad at all.

  The man was clearly wealthy, so I’m sure four kinhan wasn’t too much for him to shell out. Still, the look in his eyes was curious. He could have been after the production method. He could even be an assassin.

  I didn’t care. I’d made a lot of money off of a single bottle, so I was pleased.

  Back in the world I came from, the stuff helped people concentrate, and even then it was still pretty expensive. Of course it had a different effect on heroes.

  Now I just had to keep an eye out and make sure no one tried to attack us.

  “Thank you all very much for coming!”

  The crowd cheered, and we hurried away.

  Chapter Six: Otherworldly Equipment

  “Feh... Everyone seemed so angry.”

  “Sorry. I could have had Kizuna do it, but you seemed like the better choice.”

  “Yeah...” Kizuna muttered, looking at Rishia.

  Even with her mask on, Rishia looked like a klutz. She played the part perfectly. She didn’t even have to pretend.

  Though from a certain perspective, we only got all that money because of Rishia.

  “But, Naofumi, that was pretty impressive. Where did you figure out how to drive the prices so high?”

  “It’s the best way to make the most profit off the least amount of medicine.”

  “Wouldn’t it work the same way if we sold three bottles instead of two?”

  “Business isn’t that simple. If you can get people feeling desperate, it’s easier to lead them to higher prices.”

  Had we sold five bottles, I’d estimate that the second bottle would sell for 35 tamagin, and the merchants would have figured out a market price by the third bottle.

  There’d be a difference in the final price, but with a revolutionary medicine in front of their eyes, and the sudden loss of merchandise, they’d lose their cool and lose all sense of perspective.

  Had there been any merchants that were convinced they’d found the
goose that lays the golden egg, then things might have been different. But that wasn’t the case.

  So it made more sense to sell one bottle for a much higher price.

  “If we had just sold the five bottles, then it would have come out to one kinhan and 80 tamagin. It might have helped spread the word more for future auctions, which could have helped get us higher prices down the road, but we don’t have enough time for all that.”

  We had other things to focus on.

  Kizuna said that this was an enemy country, so we needed money in order to escape it and get to safety. We had to get out of there before too many people started to think they could make money off of us.

  “So do you think we can afford a travel voucher now?”

  “Oh sure. We’ve got plenty.”

  “Great. Then let’s buy the voucher and use the leftover money to get ores we can use to power up our weapons.”

  “I’m impressed. I have some friends that are merchants and like to make money, but none of them are as good at it as you are,” Kizuna explained as she followed me down the road.

  It was funny. After selling our stuff at our roadside stand, we were now about to become customers around town. I decided to head to the weapon shop first.

  We walked inside the store and looked around at what they had for sale. There were katana and nagamaki. They also sold folding fans, scythes, and spears. All in all, the selection was completely different from the old guy’s back in Melromarc.

  Of course the weapon shop only sold weapons. All we could do was buy a new sword for Rishia. I bought one that seemed about right for her level.

  “So where can I buy a shield?”

  “Over at the armor shop.”

  I should have known.

  The weapon shops in the last world had sold both armor and weapons, but that was generally pretty rare. I was kind of starting to miss the old guy.

  We went to the armor shop next, but they didn’t have many shields on sale—and the selection wasn’t very good.

  But I did find a shield that seemed to be made from the carapace of a horseshoe crab.

  I’d seen similar things in games before. The rest of the shields on display were all pretty close to what the old guy had back in his shop.

  Actually, I could transform my shield into most of them, if only my level was high enough to unlock them. There weren’t very many to choose from, anyway.

  The country had a very Japanese feel to it, so I shouldn’t have expected them to have many shields for sale. I never heard of soldiers from the Sengoku period using shields, anyway. I wasn’t sure why, but regardless of the reason, the fact remained that there weren't many shields available.

  I guess it was the same back in the previous world. Aside from the old guy’s shop in Melromarc, most of the other weapon shops didn’t have a wide selection of shields for sale. I’d heard that most of them had been taken off the market because the national religion represented them as the weapon of the enemy.

  “Want to get some new armor?”

  “Yeah...”

  “Well, we’ve got the budget for it, so let’s get a decent set. If we can get one with chainmail on the inside, that would be best.”

  I pretended to spit at the suggestion, and Kizuna looked shocked at my behavior.

  “Why do you have to be so rude?”

  I thought my reaction was perfectly reasonable. There was nothing I hated more than chainmail. I’d never wear something like that.

  “I don’t like chainmail.”

  “Oh yeah? You get emotional about the strangest things.”

  “By the way, I know this is an armor shop, but why are they selling kimono and haori?”

  It made for a refined atmosphere in the shop, but from the look of the tattered haori Kizuna was wearing, they didn’t seem to offer much in the way of defense. Granted, they might have been made with magic or other special attributes, but I still didn’t see why they needed to be sold in an armor shop.

  “Why not look at their effects? Then you’ll see.”

  I walked over to a kimono and haori and looked up their information. I was surprised... They seemed to have pretty impressive defense ratings. They were more effective than their appearance would have you believe. That must be why Kizuna was so attached to her haori.

  “Glass gave this to me, so I...”

  “Don’t get sentimental on me.”

  The haori was really beat up, though I guess she had been wearing it for years. What wouldn’t get beat up in that amount of time?

  I certainly didn’t want to walk around in a kimono or a haori.

  They were all a bit expensive, too.

  For the time being, I decided to make do with a decent set of armor.

  But all the armor looked like it had come off of a samurai. It all was made of metal and lacquered wood. I guess I’d have to settle for the samurai look.

  Rishia could probably use a breastplate, too. It would probably even look good on her.

  Luckily the store was selling breastplates, so I bought one and had her try it on.

  “Does it fit?”

  “Um...”

  “Looks like your kigurumi days are behind you.”

  Rishia had always worn a kigurumi, but now she looked more like a proper adventurer.

  She had a kodachi at her waist, too, which made her look like a ninja... but could she move like a ninja? I had my doubts.

  Would she ever be able to move like the old Hengen Muso lady?

  I had my doubts about that, too...

  “Alright, let’s go.”

  The new armor clattered and squeaked as we left the shop. It didn’t feel like it fit quite right. I should have expected as much, but the stuff the old guy in Melromarc made was really the best. The Barbarian Armor had a noisy chain that hung off of it, but it never bothered me the way that this new suit did.

  Still, I couldn’t complain about the defense boost it gave me.

  We went back to the market next and looked for materials we could use to power up my shield.

  If I didn’t power up enough to get through the coming battles, then my chances of surviving for much longer were slim. I was still a pretty low level, so I would settle for a stopgap shield that would last until I could access to stronger ones.

  “So where do we get this travel voucher?”

  “At that guild—the one we already went to.”

  “Ah, right.”

  Guilds always had these town hall kind of responsibilities. I guess these various worlds had that in common. Whatever, it could wait. I looked at a collection of earth crystals a shop had out for sale and started haggling to get a better price.

  There were chunks of ore that helped recover magic power in this world—similar to what magic water did in the world I was summoned to. As I expected, they sold for about the same price. But when Rishia and I used them (probably because we were from a different world) they gave us a more experience points than the boss monsters we’d fought in the Cal Mira Islands. You can see why we would want them.

  It looked like they gave different amounts of experience based on their size and purity. It basically meant that we could buy experience points with money, which was a very good deal indeed. What could be more convenient than that? Unfortunately, I didn’t know how long I could expect them to work.

  “Alright, let’s go get this travel voucher and be on our way.”

  “Good idea. No reason to hang around here for any longer...” Kizuna said, casting a glance behind us.

  I took the hint and followed her gaze. We were being followed by a group of men. They probably realized that there was money to be made with our soul-healing water, and they wanted to capture us and force us to tell them how to make it.

  “Why don’t we get some ofuda for Rishia before we leave?”

  “Ofuda?”

  “They’re a sort of magic tool. Really advanced users can take their own magic power and manifest it physically as strips of paper. People th
at can’t use magic on their own can use the ofuda as single-use spells.”

  It actually sounded like a pretty good idea.

  “I should probably get some, too.”

  “If I try and use an attack-imbued ofuda, by throwing it at a person, it never works. I have a feeling they won’t work for you, either.”

  That sounded plausible.

  My shield certainly wouldn’t let me hurt anyone.

  Even if I made a bomb and threw it at someone, it didn’t do any damage, so I had a feeling the ofuda might work, or rather not work, in the same way.

  Kizuna and I weren’t really suited to battle other people.

  Rishia was more versatile, but her problem was that she wasn’t very good at anything. She might have been able to damage other people in battle, but she was such a bad fighter that it didn’t really matter.

  I couldn’t say how useful ofuda would be for her until I saw how they actually worked. At the very least, it would give her another avenue of attack, and that was certain to come in handy.

  “But I... I can’t use them...”

  “You just have to throw them at the enemy or stick them on the enemy. That’s it.”

  “Really? That’s all?”

  Kizuna led us to a shop that had a lot of different ofuda out for sale. There were wood ofuda, paper ofuda... even stone ofuda. They just looked like name tags to me.

  They did look like they’d all been made with a lot of care, from the materials to the designs on the surface.

  “Just take a simple fire ofuda with you. We can at least use it at night to get a campfire going.” Kizuna purchased a bundle of fire ofuda and gave them to Rishia.

  “Rishia, I don’t know how magic works in your world, but focusing your magic power when you use these will amplify the effects.”

  “Oh... Alright.”

  I couldn’t think of any reason to disagree.

  Now to finish what we came here for. We had to find a place out of the public eye where we could use the earth crystals to gain some experience.

  We pulled it off. I ended up at level 35, and Rishia leveled up just a bit more than I did. How come she leveled up faster than I did?