by Aneko Yusagi
It was about as tall as my waist.
I called it a penguin, but it wasn’t exactly a penguin. It had a very expressive face, and it was so happy that it was hopping up and down.
It reminded me a bit of Filo when she had just grown out of her chick stage, before she started talking.
What was it?
“Pen!”
“It’s been a long time. I’m glad to see you, too.”
“Pen!”
The penguin leapt at Kizuna and started rubbing cheeks with her. Filo used to do the same thing.
“That reminds me. This little guy started fussing about six days ago. Had I made the connection, perhaps I could have found you sooner.”
“We were behind enemy lines. It wouldn’t have been safe for you to come. It would have taken you this long to find me, anyway.”
“It’s nice that you’re both reminiscing here, but is anyone going to explain what’s going on?”
No one liked to sit around listening to people talk about things they didn’t understand and couldn’t join in on.
“Oh right. Sorry. This is Ethnobalt. And this guy is my shikigami, Chris.”
“You mentioned those before. How are they different from other monsters?”
“Shikigami are, well... You get them from other people or items, and they aren’t monsters. He’s basically my bodyguard. Since I can’t, you know, fight with other people.
“I still don’t really understand. Go on.”
Was it like anything I was familiar with? I knew there were online games where you could recruit monsters to fight on your behalf. But that was simpler than what she was describing. In those games, you could just send any monster you’d captured out to assist you in battle.
My relationship with Filo was sort of like that.
There were other similar systems, like summons, or the sort of suspicious attacks you could use by working with other players.
Every game was different, so the borders and categories didn’t always line up. It was probably best not to make too many assumptions.
“I’m very pleased to meet you, holder of a holy weapon from another world. I am the holder of the boat of the vassal weapons. My name is Ethnobalt. I trust we will get along.”
“I’m Naofumi Iwatani, the Shield Hero. The girl behind me is Rishia.”
That was it for introductions.
The boy had a look on his face like he understood anything and everything, and... Well, actually, if I let his face annoy me, then we’d never get anything useful out of the conversation.
“Which means that you’re like Glass, and you have a vassal weapon? Where’s this ‘boat’ you mentioned?”
“It’s right here,” Ethnobalt said, pulling his robes up to show me his feet.
He was standing on a round platform of some kind, and it floated a few inches off of the ground.
It looked like a UFO or something that bizarre.
“I’m pleased to make your acquaintance.”
He looked like he might be a demi-human or some other type of person unique to this world.
“Is there something strange about this guy? Am I imagining it?”
This Ethnobalt guy looked different from all the other people I’d seen since arriving in the world.
“I thought you might notice. Ethnobalt is descended from a race of great monsters that have protected the world for generations.”
“Really...”
Then I realized who he had reminded me of. Something about the way he carried himself... It was Fitoria. It’s hard to be specific about how he reminded me of her, but he did.
He looked like he was probably highly skilled with magic, but maybe he was actually a melee fighter. He gave Kizuna a penguin, so maybe he was actually... a penguin? If that were the case, maybe all of these worlds were watched over by bird monsters...
“His true form is a cute rabbit.”
“Kizuna, please don’t refer to me as ‘cute.’”
“A rabbit? He’s not a penguin?”
“Why would he be?”
“I don’t know. You’re shikigami was a penguin, so I just...”
“Pen?”
What was up with this penguin? He reminded me of the legend I’d encountered on the Cal Mira islands: the one about Pekkul. I wanted to put a red Santa hat on his head—then he would look just like it.
“Oh, I see. That makes sense. I don’t know why, but when Glass and I formed our shikigami, this is what he looked like.”
“Hm...”
Well, that was fine with me. I didn’t want to see what it really looked like, anyway.
Ethnobalt rubbed his chin for a while, apparently deep in thought, and then, having made up his mind, he transformed with a puff of smoke.
I found myself looking at a rabbit standing up on its hind legs.
The look of him once again reminded me of the islands—of the karma rabbit familiars we fought there. Were it not for his staff and the intelligent look in his eyes, I would have mistaken him for a monster.
But the more I looked at him, the more I was certain that he was this world’s version of Fitoria. I was pretty sure of it.
“Would you prefer I take this form when we speak?”
“How rare! I almost never see you as a rabbit,” Kizuna said.
“For the sake of Mr. Naofumi here... I wouldn’t want him to doubt my words unnecessarily. I’d like him to be comfortable.”
“Oh? Naofumi, do you like animals?”
I remembered how Filo would always hug me, but then again, I was probably just imprinted on her as a parent from a young age.
“Okay. So I hear that you’re good at searching for people?”
“Perhaps, though I wasn’t able to find Kizuna when she was imprisoned in the labyrinth.”
“It’s great that you’re humble, but give me a better idea of what you can do, will you? We’ve been waiting for you this whole time.”
I didn’t want to hear that he couldn’t actually help us—but then again, if he was like Fitoria, then he would be unbelievably powerful. From what he’d said so far, it was safe to assume that he had been able to tell if Kizuna was in this world or not. The never-ending labyrinth must have been a completely separate world.
Whatever. I didn’t know him, so I wasn’t thrilled about having to rely on him for help.
I thought that he might be like Fitoria, but he didn’t seem to be.
“There are many complicated methods. I wonder which is best,” Ethnobalt said, producing item after item from under his robes.
They looked like the sort of things a fortuneteller would use. There were small sticks, crystal balls, and... ofuda? Then came the deck of cards... They must have been tarot cards.
I was starting to trust this rabbit less and less. He looked less reputable by the minute.
He might have been the hero of the boat of the vassal weapons, but I didn’t feel like I could trust him.
“Ethnobalt, I was thinking you could grant Naofumi a shikigami.”
“That is a good idea. A shikigami may prove to be a boon to your search effort.”
“Why is that? What can a shikigami do?”
“Aside from helping with the search, a hero’s shikigami can do a lot of interesting things. They certainly make good bodyguards.”
“Pen?”
I pointed to the penguin in Kizuna’s arms, and it cocked its head in response.
That’s right. I’m talking to you.
Was it really Kizuna’s bodyguard? It didn’t look like it would be much help in a battle.
“But you can’t let them die in battle.”
“Oh...” I sighed. If you had to be so careful with them, what good were they as bodyguards?
I was starting to understand. These shikigami were like the “familiars” in the world I’d come from. I think I’d seen something about them written in one of the magic books. It had said that certain items were necessary to summon your familiar and that if you lost the item y
ou wouldn’t be able to summon them.
I hadn’t paid very much attention because I didn’t have a familiar, but thinking about it now, it did seem like a familiar that could protect me in battle would be a handy thing to have.
I had Raphtalia and Filo with me, though, so I had never felt the need for one.
“I had hoped that with this little guy helping me I’d be able to find you quickly...”
“But because I was thrown into the labyrinth, you had to give up, right?” Kizuna sighed. “Glass and I made this shikigami together, so I think it will help us find her current whereabouts. But that might not necessarily bring us to your friends, Naofumi. It will if they are all together, but there’s no guarantee that they are, is there?”
“... No.”
I had no idea where Raphtalia was. The slave spell couldn’t tell me anything unless we were in the same vicinity. I had to prepare myself for a difficult search.
“Then let us perform the shikigami ceremony. It’s easiest if done by the dragon hourglass, so I suggest we make our way there,” Ethnobalt said. With a puff of smoke, he transformed back into his human form and floated out of the room.
We all went to the guild-like building that housed the dragon hourglass.
Ethnobalt waved his staff and then tapped it loudly on the floor. When he did, a magical geometric pattern appeared on the floor around him. It was formed of a faint phantom-like light.
Because the magic was being performed by a giant rabbit, it made the ceremony feel even more otherworldly than the class-up ceremony back in Melromarc.
“First we will need a suitable medium, as well as some blood from the person who will serve as the shikigami’s master.”
“A medium? You mean like an ofuda or a gemstone or something?”
“Yes, you’ll need something like that to make a familiar... When I made Chris here, I used all sorts of monster parts for the ceremony. Glass and I decided on the ingredients because we wanted to make a shikigami that could be a powerful guard.”
Hm... It sounded like a delicate process. I could sometimes get tunnel vision when working on a complex project. I knew other people like that, too—the sort of people that would freeze up when starting a new game or when they were given a bunch of points to assign when creating a character. Some people never manage to actually start the game, because they spend all their time worrying about the best way to allocate resources to their characters. Honestly, I had those tendencies myself.
Out of all the items and materials I had, which would produce the best result? Materials from the Spirit Tortoise or its familiars? During the battle, I’d managed to pick up quite a few materials. Then again, I’d probably end up with a turtle if I used those.
Sure, Ost had been one of the Spirit Tortoise familiars, too, but no matter what sort of familiar I got, it would probably be more focused on defense than offense. As the Shield Hero, I had the defensive bases covered pretty well as it was, so I didn’t want a defensive shikigami.
“After you make one, you can always adjust it later on, so you don’t need to worry too much about it. For now, just use any medium you have to give yourself a shape to work with.”
“It really doesn’t matter what I pick?”
“Normally it would, but the rules are a little different for heroes like us. I guess there’s a chance that it will work differently for you, since you’re from another world.”
So the heroes played by different rules? Good. I guess I didn’t need to worry about it.
Somehow this kind of made it boring. Still, I was glad—it would have taken me all day to make up my mind otherwise.
“I think it might be best to use something that belonged to the girl you are searching for. That way the shikigami will be able to help guide you back to the item’s owner.”
That was a good idea. I could make it specific to Raphtalia—but did I have anything that had belonged to her? I normally made a point of keeping my items to myself and letting Raphtalia and Filo do the same.
I had given her different pieces of equipment in the past, but I don’t think she had ever returned any of them.
“Don’t forget that you can also use the dragon hourglass. You can use it to produce any drop items you have stored in the shield. Do you have anything that might work?” Ethnobalt waved his staff, and an icon indicating my shield flashed in the air. Then a long list of the items contained within it appeared. My eye fell on one thing in particular.
“This...”
Raphtalia was a raccoon-type demi-human.
I saw that an item I had received from Raphtalia was being stored in the shield, but it was a strange material that never unlocked a new shield.
That’s right... I had some of Raphtalia’s hair from when I had given her a haircut way back when I had first purchased her from the slave trader. It was perfect. I didn’t know if I’d be able to take it out of the shield, but I tried just believing that I could and selected the remove option that appeared. The shield emitted a soft light, and then Raphtalia’s hair was in my hand.
“Let’s try this.”
“Very well. Now then, I will need a little of your blood,” Ethnobalt said, using magic to levitate Raphtalia’s hair before us. Then he used a small knife to prick my fingertip and drip a little of my blood onto a plate.
Memories of my first days with Raphtalia came flooding back into my mind. When I bought her from the slave trader, we had performed a similar ceremony.
“Now then, I will begin the shikigami formation ceremony,” Ethnobalt said, sprinkling a magic powder over the mix of Raphtalia’s hair and my blood.
The boat on which he stood began to glow faintly, as if it were contributing power in addition to Ethnobalt’s own magic.
The air in the room around us began to glow with small points of light, as if we were surrounded by fireflies. It was beautiful—and strange.
Soon I’d have a shikigami... Would it really help us find Raphtalia? We were using her hair to make it. If the thing was going to help us find her, then I couldn’t think of a better material to use in its creation.
“We petition for one who will protect—who will serve. A vassal formed from a part of himself. A servant is born...”
The lights swirling around us gathered around Raphtalia’s hair and engulfed it completely.
It was an amazing sight. It was so impressive to see that I would’ve really lost it if the ceremony had ended in failure.
A shikigami... I looked over to see Kizuna’s shikigami, and it was hugging her. I hoped that mine would be a bit more relaxed and a lot less clingy.
Did this mean that I was going to have another party member?
I wasn’t sure how I wanted to use it. Would it have levels the way that other people did? Or did it grow through an alternate system?
However it worked, it was going to serve as my protector, so I would have to devote some serious thought and energy to its growth.
“It’s...” Ethnobalt murmured, hardly able to speak.
“What? Did we fail?”
“No... It just formed much faster than I was expecting. Just who was the owner of this item?”
The light in the room grew even stronger. It was blinking. I couldn’t see anything, so I instinctively raised my shield to protect myself. Then the shield in my hands started to crackle—it was responding to the light!
“Feh...”
“Calm down! Ethnobalt? Is everything okay?”
“Um... No. No! I can’t control it! Everyone! Run!” he shouted, dropping his staff and quickly backing away.
I still had my shield raised to protect Rishia from whatever was happening. Looking over it, I saw something floating in the space before us.
Shikigami...
Shikigami Shield conditions met!
Shikigami Shield
abilities locked; shikigami servant: shikigami power-up
A large puff of smoke appeared with a flash, filling the room with blinding white light.
> “Cough! Cough!”
I waved my hand to try to clear the smoke away from my face, but it wasn’t moving. I had no choice but to grit my teeth and breathe it in as I looked at the ground to find the source of the explosion.
“Rafu!”
Something came bounding straight at me out of the smoke.
“Wh... What the... ?”
I caught whatever it was in an instant. I looked down and saw a small creature that looked like a mix between a raccoon and a tanuki.
It was hard to describe it more specifically than that. It was like a cute raccoon character from an anime I’d seen a long time ago—only a little bit different.
It was like a tanuki—it was brown with a fluffy tail and walked on four little legs like a chubby little dog. Its ears, however, were decidedly not dog-like. Finally, it had a strange little face that didn’t exactly look like a tanuki or a raccoon.
Its tail was at least as fat and large as the rest of its body, and it looked like... Well, it looked like the kind of mascot characters that little kids get excited about. Still, I’d never seen mascot modeled on a tanuki.
The mascot-like, raccoon-like tanuki creature stood there with its arms crossed. Then it raised one hand, showing me its puffy little paw, blinked its eyes softly, and barked, “Rafu!”
“Is it safe to assume that this thing is my shikigami?”
I changed my shield into the recently unlocked Shikigami Shield, and just like when I had first registered my slave, a new option had appeared in my menu.
That cleared it up. This thing was definitely a shikigami.
It didn’t seem to have levels like the rest of us did. Its stats also weren’t particularly high.
I selected the shikigami power-up effect, and a menu appeared that seemed to allow me to manipulate the shikigami’s stats using various items. It looked like there were a lot of different possible effects.
It reminded me of the options I’d had when designing the bioplant. But aside from those options, it looked like the shikigami could be powered up with items I had on hand.
“Rafu!” it barked, wagging its puffy tail and looking at me with love in its eyes.
