by Aneko Yusagi
“Wait, just a second. I need to get all of this straight. You were… Mel, right? Why did you come here with Filo? If you got separated, why not go look for your friends?”
“Yes, well… A Filolial brought me here, but I don’t exactly know where I am. I know where I am trying to go, but I was separated from my protectors quite a while ago.”
“Protectors? Are you nobility or something? Or a merchant’s daughter?”
“I…Um…”
Mel turned her eyes away for a moment, and then nodded to herself.
“You are correct that I am from nobility, but please, call me Mel. I was talking with Filo about the owner of her cart. You’re some type of saint? And I also heard that you are going to Melromarc Castle tomorrow. May I accompany you?”
She was very polite as she spoke to me.
I wonder… If we brought her back to Melromarc, we’d probably get some money in gratitude. We’d be returning a lost girl to her parents, who were members of the nobility—they’d be sure to show their appreciation.
But still, if the Shield Hero were the one to return her, I’d probably end up accused of kidnapping her. They’d find some way to ruin my life again.
“Well…”
“Master, I want her to come with us! She’s in trouble!”
“If we help her, we might end up in trouble ourselves.”
“Mr. Naofumi, I also think we should take her. We can’t leave a lost child to the winds of fate!”
“Thank you very much. May I accompany you on your journey?”
Both Raphtalia and Filo were appealing on her behalf. And we might make some money in the process. Anyway, in a worst-case scenario I could just jump on Filo and run away.
“We’ll have to request payment. Filo will visit your family to receive that payment. Does that sound all right with you?”
“Sure! I’ll ask my father, and he will certainly agree.”
I guess there was no avoiding it.
Anyway, if her family owned a house in the Melromarc Castle Town, they must have been pretty well off. Why would a well-off girl like that be playing with wild Filolials? What if we couldn’t watch her all the time and she ran off? What if she got herself, and us, into some kind of trouble?”
“You better behave yourself, or we will drop you on the side of the road.”
“I understand. Thank you very much, Holy Saint.”
And that is how we ended up traveling with Filo’s friend Mel on our way back to Melromarc Castle Town.
We climbed into the cart that Filo was pulling and set off on our journey back to Castle Town.
“Thank you for all you’ve done! Please come back again.”
“Later.”
The whole village came out to see us off.
On my way out of town I couldn’t help but wonder—would they still treat us this way if they knew who I really was? Just thinking of it made me feel strange.
“Mel, I look forward to our travels together. My name is Raphtalia. It won’t be a long trip, but I’m sure we’ll have a good time.”
“Yes. I’m sure we will, Ms. Raphtalia.”
I really wanted to make sure that Raphtalia was healthy, so I was in a hurry to get back to town and get her some of that healing holy water.
“Mel, keep in mind that healing Raphtalia is the highest priority for us.”
“What happened to Ms. Raphtalia?” asked Mel.
“We were fighting some evil, vicious monsters up in those mountains, and she ended up cursed.”
“So that’s what happened… right?”
I was making money by compounding medicine and selling it.
But I made up my mind to make Raphtalia my top priority. Honestly, I really wanted to make money so that we could buy good equipment for when the wave came. But if I weighed that against Raphtalia’s wounds, Raphtalia was obviously more important.
I mean, I was the one that cursed her, and if the wave was coming then she needed to be in top condition for it. The equipment could be dealt with later, but Raphtalia had a sickness that needed to be cured now. We needed to get it treated as soon as possible.
“We need holy water from a big church.”
“The curse is so strong that you are going to the church in the capital, right?”
“Yeah.”
The doctor back in town had told us that we would need strong holy water from a church.
That’s why I made up my mind to head back to the capital. It was sure to have the biggest church.
“Filo, we’re going to the capital. Quickly now!”
“Roger, Captain!”
“Woohoo!”
Filo took off at such a speed that Mel let out a little shout.
I forgot to mention that Filo tends to shake the carriage a lot when she runs. Most people end up really motion sick.
Would Mel be all right?
“Ahahahahaha! Filo is so faaaaast!”
“Ahahaha! I can go faster!”
Guess she’ll be just fine.
“Don’t go too crazy now! It’s dangerous! Calm down.”
Raphtalia reprimanded the sprinting Filo, but Filo gave no indication that she’d been listening.
She was actually running faster than normal. She was probably trying to impress Mel.
But if she kept it up, Raphtalia might get sick.
“Mr. Naofumi, do you mind if I lay down for a bit?”
“Nope.”
Were we making it worse?
“This is turning into a real nightmare. I should have turned her down.”
I muttered to myself.
We ran into Mel because we’d agreed to chase monsters away from the town. I was starting to regret it, if only a little.
Chapter One: Filo’s Friend
The fire was crackling. We’d set up camp for the night.
We were on schedule to arrive at the Melromarc Castle Town the next day.
“Ahahahaha. Oh Filo! You’re so funny!”
“Wait! I got you!”
“You got me!”
Filo was in her human form, and even though we were out in the wilderness, she was so hyperactive she was running in circles.
It was fun to have a sleepover with your good friends. I’d done that before, on summer vacation school trips to the seaside, or during lock-ins in the science room. So I understood how fun it could be.
But still, these two liked each other WAY too much.
It only made since. Filo hadn’t ever really had a real friend that was in the same age-range as herself.
But Mel was from nobility, so they weren’t really on equal standing. Mel was more like Filo’s owner.
When you looked at them, they looked like close friends. So I guess Mel didn’t really care that Filo was a monster.
When we were riding in the carriage Mel had made a few fiery speeches about Filolials, about which she seemed to know quite a lot. But she said that she had been on some long trips before, and so she’d probably ridden in Filolial carriages a lot. That was probably how she came to like them.
“Calm down!”
“Okay!”
“Mr. Naofumi, why not let them play? Isn’t it good for Filo to have a friend?”
“I guess…”
It was almost unbelievable how loud and obnoxious Filo could be with a friend in tow.
“Mel, I’m going to show you my treasure!”
“Yay!”
Filo had a bag that she always kept hidden away in the carriage. She took it out and showed it to Mel.
I wondered what it could be? I kind of wanted to know. What would Filo consider a treasure? I’m sure it was just trash, but if she was filching from my stash, I’d have to lay down the law
“Master, you want to see too?”
“Sure.”
Filo waved her hand to call me over, and I peaked inside the bag.
It was filled with pieces of a broken sword. And some junky looking jewels from when I failed at an accessory-making attempt. Some gl
ass beads. Connectors.
“It’s so sparkly and pretty, isn’t it?”
“Yes, it’s beautiful.”
Mel looked a little confused. In her defense, it was a bag of trash.
She was probably drawn to shiny things because she was a bird. I think I’d heard somewhere that crows liked to steal shiny things. Was Filo doing the same thing?
“What’s this?”
There was something else mixed in with the trash. I reached in and took it out.
A brown hairball? It was a large, soft ball, but when I pressed it I could feel a number of smaller, hard objects moving inside. More than anything else, the object smelled terrible.
I had a really bad feeling about this.
“That thing there came out of my mouth!”
It came from out of her mouth. Out of Filo’s mouth.
Had she been a cat, the object would have been a hairball. Had she been a human, it would be vomit. But Filo was a bird,
And birds throw up… Pellets?
In other words, the hard things were pieces of monster bones mixed in with Filo’s own feathers and other indigestible materials.
“Gross!”
What was she thinking? And to think—I touched it! I threw the pellet ball away.
“Hey! That’s my treasure!”
“That’s no treasure! That’s excrement! If you put that in a bag again I’ll throw all your treasures away!”
“But…”
Mel was watching our exchange with a bewildered look on her face.
We finished talking, and I made dinner.
For dinner we had the meat of a monster we met on the road. I skewered it on wooden sticks and roasted it over the fire.
“Master, you’re such a good cook!”
“It’s true. You’re very good at it, and the food is always delicious. Mel, you should have some too.”
Raphtalia passed a stick to Mel, who took it gratefully.
“I mean, all he did was stick it over the fire! But it’s so GOOD!”
She ate it slowly and thoughtfully. I thought for sure that she would protest eating such barbaric food, but apparently my fears were unfounded.
Was it because of all she’d been through on her travels?
I was judging Mel from her appearance. She was probably just an outspoken, brave girl.
Anyway, we finished eating, and there was nothing left to do but sleep. But it was still a little early for that.
So we were stuck with some free time.
I was pretty used to staying in the wilderness by then, so I thought about taking out the magic book and sitting down to study some more.
A little time went by, and Filo and Mel started to calm down. They probably wore themselves out and fell asleep.
Raphtalia was taking a nap so she’d be fresh for her watch. She still had to cover half the time—I just wasn’t comfortable with the idea of leaving Filo and Mel in charge.
“Hm…”
Even if it was a book for beginners, it was still filled with many different kinds of magic.
It covered things like “First Guard” and “First Heal.”
I still couldn’t really use them myself, but those spells seemed to be the powerful end of the beginner-level of magic.
I was reading about spells to raise your attack power and agility. There were so many I wanted to learn, but the grammar was so difficult that following the descriptions proved nearly impossible.
I occasionally threw new logs onto the fire, and time slowly went by.
“Mmmm…”
Raphtalia slowly blinked, and looked sleepy.
“Did I wake you up?”
“No. Shall I take over?”
“If you want to.”
“All right.”
I found a good place to pause my studies and then took her up on her offer.
“Um… Mr. Naofumi?”
“What is it?”
“Filo and Mel are…”
She pointed a shaky finger at the now silent figure of Filo, who was now a giant bird again. Filo was asleep, alone. And the clothes that Mel had been wearing were tossed about the ground around her.
“Um…”
Where was Mel? I thought for sure I’d find her, half-naked, asleep on Filo’s stomach. But when I looked, she wasn’t there.
Even her shoes were lying there. But where was she?
“You don’t think…”
I knew Filo could be a pig, but…
“Mr. Naofumi. Remember when you threatened those bandits by telling them that Filo ate people? You don’t thing that she…”
“No way! She wouldn’t!”
“But we’re talking about Filo here.”
“But…”
I guess I could believe it. Did she think that friends were people you could eat when you felt like it?
“Raphtalia. Should we pretend we didn’t see anything and hide the proof?”
“Wh… What are you suggesting?!”
“If Filo ate a person… and a noble’s daughter at that! Do you think we should take responsibility for that?”
I wanted to avoid that responsibility if I could. I mean, I recognize that it’s wrong. But still!
That damn, chubby bird! She really knew how to make a mess.
“Funya?”
Filo’s head suddenly shot into the air as she woke up and blinked.
“What happened? Master? Big-Sister?”
“Where’s Mel?”
“Mel? She’s sleeping in my feathers.”
“Huh? I don’t see her.”
I’d just checked a minute ago, I was sure that she wasn’t there.
“Mel, wake up.”
“Hm???”
The feathers on Filo’s back ruffled and stood up before Mel poked her face out of the fluff.
“What the?!”
No way. No matter how you looked at it, Filo couldn’t hide an entire person in her feathers. That didn’t make any sense. But there she was anyway.
“What is it, Filo?”
“Master was asking where you were. So I woke you up.”
“I was just on Filo’s back. It’s so warm!”
“Why did you take your clothes off?”
“Because it’s hot.”
They really gave me a scare.
“Anyway, how did you get so deep inside there?”
“Filo’s feathers are super fluffy and thick! Stick your hand in here and see.”
“Okay.”
The time had come. It was time to see what Filo’s body was really like.
Mel was calling me over, so I reached out my hand.
“Whoa! It’s really deep.”
I pushed both my arms in all the way to my shoulder before I finally felt something like skin. It really was very warm in there. If it was that deep, I could understand how Mel was able to sleep in there without anyone noticing.
“I don’t understand how there can be that much space.”
“I know!”
“Let’s take all the feathers off and see what it’s like under there. We could sell the feathers too, might even make some money.”
“No!”
“But Holy Saint! You shouldn’t threaten Filo!”
“It was just a joke.”
Oh boy, I’d gotten another glimpse of just how weird Filo’s body was.
Chapter Two: The Fruits of Peddling
The next morning, we were ready and waiting for Castle Town gate to open.
I soon discovered that trying to pull a carriage down the city streets was no easy task. We needed to find a place to stash it.
The only place I could think of was the weapon shop, so we made our way there.
The owner of the weapon shop was a true rarity in the world. He was one of the only people who believed in me, and tried to help me.
Even after I’d been framed for a terrible crime, he sold me weapons at a fair price—I knew that I could trust him.
“Hey old man! Sell us some weapo
ns and armor, would you?”
I hadn’t seen him in a while. He was leaning on the counter, his brow knit in concentration.
“Come on kid, give me some warning next time!”
“What’s business if not a series of unexpected developments?”
“I guess you’re right. How’s your budget looking?”
“Good question.”
I pulled out my three-and-a-half weeks of profits and dropped them heavily on the counter before him.
There were three bags, stuffed full of money.
“I haven’t counted it, but that’s all silver.”
“Come on, kid! Count it for me!”
“Pretty good, huh? That’s from my traveling merchant life.”
“This must be a hobby of yours—trying to give me a heart attack, that is.”
“Unfortunately for you.”
“Fine then. Let’s get to counting, shall we?”
“Sure.”
The old guy and I started counting coins. Raphtalia joined in too.
“Hey Princess, what’s wrong with you? Are you hurt? You’re moving differently than you used to.”
“Yes. Unfortunately, I was cursed quite badly in a recent battle.”
Without meaning to, I stopped counting and looked over at Raphtalia.
“Ah… A curse? Those can be real trouble. Guess you’re in recovery?”
“Yes. Once we leave your shop we’re heading for a church to get some holy water.”
“I see.”
Did we fool him? No, he had no reason to suspect me in the first place.
It seemed like a lot of money, but when I started counting I realized that there was actually a lot of bronze mixed in. Calculating the actual value, it wasn’t as much as I had been hoping.
“This is all worth almost 50 pieces of gold! You sure know what you’re doing there, kid.”
“You don’t have to tell me twice.”
I’d always prided myself on my business acumen.
Still, I’d made all this money off the misery of others. It didn’t put me in a great mood.
“We have some stuff to sell too—some equipment we lifted off of some bandits we met.”
Filo had been wandering around the shop looking at products. I snapped at her, and she quickly ran out the door and pulled in different items from the cart outside.
