by Aneko Yusagi
“Why do you know so much about this? Did L’Arc tell you?”
“Nuh-uh. I’ve always known.”
Genetic memory? Surely not . . . I bet Filo had done the dirty with some wild male filolial. She must have learned about it then. Or maybe it was when she had been a humming fairy.
“Master’s thinking something weeeird!”
Filo protested, a tinge of mortification in her voice. Get over it. Anyway, I’d have to keep an eye out to see if she laid any eggs.
“Boo!”
Her complaining was getting annoying lately.
“Rafu?”
“You don’t need to worry about that kind of thing, Raph-chan. I’m not letting any boys run off with you.”
“Why are you talking to Raph-chan like you’re her father, Mr. Naofumi?”
“Say it to meeee, too!”
Ha! Not likely. You can run off and get hitched with Melty for all I care!
As we were going back and forth, I noticed that everyone still present, including Raphtalia, was turning red with embarrassment. The boys had all jumped into the ocean and still hadn’t returned. Were they okay?
“No . . . no way! There’s no way I’m going to do anything like that! I would never do that with bubba!”
“Why does it have to be me doing the doing?”
Stop making it sound like I bought and raised you to be a sex slave! God dammit. Now I was annoyed. This was why I hated little brats that thought about nothing but the opposite sex.
“Enough of this stupid conversation. We have a new rule now. Relationships are forbidden!”
“What?!”
The slaves protested. A rule is a rule, and nothing they said would change that. I needed fighting power, not a solution to declining birth rates. I didn’t have time to look after a bunch of new parents and all the little brats they were popping out. Besides, we only had three and a half months! There wasn’t even time to pop anything out!
“You can waste your time on that kind of rubbish when your world is peaceful and I’m gone.”
“Why?!”
“Why? You know why! Because I hate that kind of stuff! Plus, Raphtalia hates it, too!”
“Raphtalia does?!”
“What?!”
Now even Raphtalia was reacting for some reason. Ah . . . She didn’t want me bringing her up. Fine, I get it.
“I’m here to fight the waves, and I plan on taking any of you that are willing to come to fight them with me.”
“What?! You mean the waves of destruction?!”
“That’s right. I was summoned here to put an end to the same waves that stole your families from you. If you’re willing, I’ll take you to fight, too.”
I planned on getting more slaves, and I wanted to form several different divisions.
“But first we’ll have to face a monster called the Phoenix.”
After that had been taken care of, I would form a combat division consisting solely of those that wanted to fight, ideally. Not everyone was meant for battle, after all.
Keel grew quiet for a moment and then finally responded in a sulky manner.
“Well, apparently I’m a girl, so I guess that rules me out, doesn’t it?”
“Huh? Not even close. Take a look at the company I keep, why don’t you?”
I pointed to Raphtalia, Filo, and Rishia.
“Huh . . . Now that I think about it, they’re all girls! That whole thing about hating relationships was a lie, wasn’t it?!” Keel snapped.
What was she so upset about?
“Seriously . . . Do you want to participate, or don’t you? Which is it?”
“Relationships are forbidden?! How can you say that when you’ve surrounded yourself with girls?!”
“It wouldn’t bother me a bit if Raphtalia were a guy.”
“Huh?!”
“What?!”
“What about meeee?”
“A male filolial would be just fine.”
“Boo!”
What were they getting upset about? I guess it was time this group of knuckleheads had a lecture.
“Gender equality means that you’re treated the same whether you’re a boy or a girl. If you can be of use, I’ll use you equally, regardless of which you are.”
“I get it. Bubba Shield swings both ways. Ultimately, you don’t even need to be human,” one of the slaves muttered quietly.
Where did they learn this stuff?
“Umm, no . . .”
“Huuuh? What does ‘swing both ways’ mean?”
So Filo didn’t know that one, eh? Maybe the whole genetic memory thing was possible, after all. Wait a second . . . you don’t need to be human? Was that supposed to mean Raph-chan and Filo?
“Umm . . . It’s something I heard when I was being sold.”
“We don’t need an explanation! In any case, I can’t have any of you starting relationships and ending up unable to fight. So relationships are forbidden!”
Aside from Keel, the slaves all nodded hesitantly, as if they weren’t quite convinced.
“Wait, so if I work hard then I can fight, too?”
“Yeah. But thinking about it down the road, after the fighting has ended . . . Actually, you’d probably be a hit with all the creeps that go for that kind of thing, so we’ll have you learn to peddle goods.”
“What?! Why!?”
“You’re one of the better-looking slaves here, and you’re not shy. You’d do well peddling stuff, I’m sure.”
“I . . . I would? No! I don’t wanna!”
“Don’t worry. Just be yourself. People are even tougher to deal with than monsters. You’ll enjoy it!”
“Coming from you, Bubba Shield, that only makes it scarier!”
Was it something I had done? Having Keel in the vending division seemed like a good idea. If I dressed her like a boy and had her sell accessories or something, I bet the female customers would love it. And then if I paired her with Raphtalia, we could take everyone’s money, man or woman.
“By the way, Keel . . .”
“What?”
“The reason you were being rebellious toward me in the beginning is because you had a thing for Raphtalia, right? It’s too bad you’re a girl. But then again, no one is going to end up pregnant and unable to fight if it’s a same-sex relationship, so maybe I should allow those?”
Before the Spirit Tortoise incident, Keel had been a bit on edge around me. She was always glaring at me and going on about Raphtalia this and Raphtalia that.
“Wh . . . what?! You’ve got it all wrong! Don’t be ridiculous!”
Keel started trembling for some reason. She was looking over at . . .
“Mr. Naofumi . . .”
Raphtalia was walking in my direction with a big smile on her face and eyes aflame with murderous intent. Hmm . . . I guess this kind of topic was off limits, after all.
“And that’s that. Now get out there and see what you can catch, everyone!”
“Okay!”
After it had been a while, Keel and the others returned.
“Bubba Shield! We caught all of this!”
An ecstatic-looking Keel came over with a net full of fish and shellfish in her hands.
“Yeah, yeah.”
I already had the griddle nice and hot. All that was left was to clean the fish and cook them up.
“I’ll make some sashimi, since I learned how in Kizuna’s world.”
Raphtalia started preparing sashimi to go with my cooking. Parasites could be a problem, but everything looked fine, as far as I could tell, using my appraisal skills. And so, just like that I ended up cooking again today. Seriously, enough with the cooking already!
Oh yeah! It was about time to hatch the monster eggs. We had built up a pretty good supply of food. That shouldn’t be a problem.
“We’re heading back after everyone finishes eating.”
“Okay!”
Just past noon, we all left the ocean behind and returned to the village. I wanted t
o hatch the monster eggs before anything else. I’d already finished binding them to myself yesterday, for the most part. I checked on the eggs, which were lined up in a row in the shed that we were using as a storeroom.
“What are you doing, bubba?”
“We’ve built up a reasonable stockpile of food, right? Now it’s time to get ready to move on to the next stage of my plans.”
“Oh.”
“The only thing I’m worried about is . . . the filolial.”
They were great for pulling carriages, but that appetite . . . Thinking about having two bottomless pits around made me uneasy.
“Meeee?”
Filo had her head cocked to the side while asking.
“Not you. The new filolial egg.”
“Filo’s going to have a new little brother or sister?”
“Yaaaaay!”
She was so boisterous. She looked like she could be in middle school, but she acted like a child. Then again, I guess she was.
“I guess that is how you would classify it . . .”
“Master, do you not want the new filolial to be like me?”
Filo had asked a difficult question. Depending on how I answered, she might think that she was unwanted.
“I want a monster that will pull a carriage and act as a means of transportation. I don’t want a bottomless pit.”
“Hmm . . . It should be okay, I think.”
Filo’s answer prompted me to look her way.
“If Master doesn’t want it to, I’m pretty sure it won’t be like me.”
Filo’s cowlick was pointing in the direction of the filolial egg, twitching. What was happening? Was she doing something?
“This will be one of my underlings, right?”
Underling!? Well . . . I guess from Filo’s perspective, all normal filolials were her underlings.
“Okay then. I’ll make it so that it doesn’t turn out like me. We can’t be certain, if we leave it up to you.”
“Can you do that?”
“Yup!”
Filo touched the filolial egg and channeled her magic into it.
“Now it won’t turn out like me unless I order it to.”
“Oh, umm . . . thanks.”
I couldn’t help but feel a bit like we had just snipped away at the potential of this soon-to-be-born life, but this place would never be quiet with more than one Filo around, so I guess it had to be done. Depending on how this little experiment went, I might be able to put Filo in charge of raising the filolial.
A few moments later, the eggs began to hatch.
“Peep!”
The first was a filolial chick. It looked kind of purplish. Next were two caterpillars. So these would be able to pull carriages when they got bigger, huh? They were called caterpillands. I tried absorbing a piece of the shell into my shield, but nothing happened. After that came three earthworm-looking monsters called dunes. Were these the ones that would work the land?
I set some basic restrictions for the monsters.
“There you have it. Now, all of you, take these things out and level them up!”
“Okay!”
They put the monsters in a big box and all carried it out to the carriage together, like a bunch of kids that had just gotten their parents to buy them pets. The filolial chick was sitting on top of Filo’s head and happily chirping away, despite having just been hatched.
How did I end up in another world playing daddy to a bunch of kids? I couldn’t let it get to me. I just had to keep telling myself that this was all an investment that would pay off when the waves came.
“Oh, another thing . . .”
“What?”
“I’ll be forming divisions to take care of cooking and other small tasks soon, so if any of you are interested in learning how to cook, speak up. Preferably, anyone that isn’t comfortable fighting and would rather avoid it.”
Raphtalia had started helping out with the cooking lately, but it was still just too much.
“I’d like to.”
“Me too.”
One of the girls and the therianthrope named Imiya got out of the carriage.
“You sure?”
I was pretty sure the girl was one of the slaves that Raphtalia had brought to ask for a midnight snack. As for Imiya, he was a therianthrope covered in fur from head to toe. I could just imagine someone complaining that his fur would get in the food. I couldn’t put him in the cooking division, but maybe I could assign him to some other task. He was supposed to be good with his hands. Maybe he had already figured out something else he wanted to do.
“Yeah. I . . . I like cooking. Fighting isn’t really . . . isn’t for me . . .”
“Okay then. It’ll be tough, but do your best.”
I looked at Imiya.
“Umm . . . Those small tasks . . . I . . . I want to do those . . .”
“Alright. I’ll train you both bit by bit, but you’ll still have to level up, too, so don’t think you can get out of that.”
“I know.”
Imiya and the girl nodded and stood by my side.
“We’ll be back.”
Raphtalia waved to us.
“Okay! Off you go!”
“Don’t worry about me, Raphtalia.”
“Huh?”
The girl that had joined the cooking division mumbled as she waved back. What was she saying?
“Okay?”
“I’m not worried!”
Huh? Oh, I get it. He might try to intimidate us, but I’m not scared, so don’t worry. That’s what she meant.
“Okay, we’ll be back!”
“Here we goooo!”
The carriage rattled off into the distance.
“Now then. You two give me a hand.”
“Okay!”
I set about teaching them how to cook and take care of other miscellaneous tasks.
“Bubba Shield, you’re good with your hands.”
“Oh yeah?”
“Yeah! You’re really good at cutting up fish and monsters!”
Being told that didn’t feel bad at all.
“My shield has mysterious powers that make things taste better, so I can’t really take the credit. When you’re cooking, think about the flavor of your . . . parents’ cooking, and try to recreate that.”
“Okay! I’ll teach you how to make something I like, Bubba Shield.”
Flavor of your parents’ cooking . . . I kind of stepped on a landmine with that one, but she’d replied with a smile on her face. I guess it was fine as long as she was smiling.
All said and done, I ended up being the one being taught something new, but whatever.
“Is this how you’re supposed to cut the jewel?”
“Yeah. That’s pretty good for your first time.”
Considering that Imiya’s demi-human type made him naturally good with his hands, I decided to teach him what I knew about compounding medicines and making accessories.
Chapter Nine: Hanging Out the Shield
One week had passed since I’d begun governing the territory . . . or rather, looking after a bunch of brats. The repairs on the houses had been finished for the most part, and it was time to move on to the next stage.
Just like Filo had promised, the new filolial remained a cute little thing, happy just to pull a carriage. As I’d expected, it was nice having a filolial that wasn’t a chirpy little blabbermouth. One morning, while the slaves were still asleep, I tried playing a lighthearted game of fetch with the new filolial, like I had done with Filo in the past. But Filo intercepted the stick and ruined the game.
“Master! Filo is best!”
I was trying to build a rapport with the new recruit. Stay out of the way!
“Rafu!”
“Go long, Raph-chan!”
I feinted a throw and Raph-chan cast illusion magic on Filo.
“Ahh! Waaait!”
Filo sprinted off after a phantom stick that would probably go on flying forever.
The caterpillan
ds had gotten bigger, too, and would be ready to pull their carriages soon. They were herbivores, so we fed them the stalks of the bioplant. This in turn allowed us to get rid of excess bioplant by feeding it to the monsters. They were proving useful in a variety of ways. I could kill two birds with one stone as they say. Plus, the monster trainer must have known what he was doing when he picked them, because they were really docile and easy to handle. The only problem was their speed. They weren’t very quick. So traveling around to the nearby towns and villages would be their limit.
The dunes had gotten relatively big, too, and they were already working the land here. They were really docile, too. I’d heard that wild dunes normally burrow into the ground and avoid fighting. Apparently domesticated dunes could be ordered to fight, but they weren’t very strong.
Alright, I figured it was time to start peddling goods.
“Well, what do you think?”
I’d prepared two different outfits for Keel. One was a masculine set of armor that suited her preference. The other was a frilly dress meant to throw customers off guard. It was a cheap, secondhand dress, but still . . . Keel had tried the dress on and was blushing slightly while waiting for my assessment.
“Nice! I want you to blush just like that and act like a klutz while you’re peddling.”
“Bubba! Why do I have to do this?!”
“For money, of course. We can’t round up your friends without money.”
“Oh yeah . . . But still, this is . . . embarrassing, bubba . . .”
For the first round of Keel’s peddling, I’d have Filo pull the carriage and I’d stay inside and observe. My plan was for Keel and Raphtalia to sell the medicine I’d made.
“Okay, Rishia, you’re in charge of leveling.”
“O . . . okay!”
Teaching the slaves to sell was priority number one. If we didn’t do this, making money would be practically impossible. I was sure people would start talking if we hung a Shield Hero sign on a carriage and traveled around the country for three days or so. I’d been making medicines daily so that we could do this, and I was pretty sure we could heal any illness—no matter how serious—as long as I was there.
“And we’re off!”
