Tate no Yuusha no Nariagari (LN) Vol 1 Chapter 16

Chapter Sixteen: The Two-Headed, Black Dog

We headed to the town that the weapon shop owner had told us about.

The village was called Riyute. It seemed like a good place to base our operations. There was only one inn there though, and a room went for one piece of silver. A travelling merchant visited once every other day, and he would buy loot from us if he needed it.

There was no apothecary, but the townsfolk wanted medicine, so I could sell my wares there, but at a lower price than in Castle Town.

If the quality wasn’t good they were sure to complain.

My reputation had preceded me. Even still, if the townsfolk seemed ready to do something stupid, I’d have to introduce them to my balloons.

Anyway, I went to the shop to sell some loot that we’d earned in the area around town.

“So… That’s what I got.”

“That’s it?”

He paid me a few pieces of silver, and I begrudgingly accepted them.

He bought them for a good enough price, but it still wasn’t enough.

“Isn’t there a faster way to get money?”

“Why, you need something?”

Didn’t he know that I was the s.h.i.+eld Hero? Either that, or he already knew but was pretending not to. That would give him some sort of advantage over me.

“Well then, there is a coal mine on the outskirts of town. If you got some ore from there, you could probably sell it for a good price.”

“Oh yeah?”

“Yeah. If you can figure out how to get it out of there, you’ll make a good chunk of change.”

“… Why don’t other people do it then?”

If it was so easy, the place should have been crawling with prospectors.

“Before the waves of destruction came, it was pretty popular. But now the place is filled with dangerous monsters.”

“I see.”

“I don’t know what our adventurers, knights, or the summoned Heroes are doing. But hey… I guess that’s what you should expect from an abandoned mine.”

This story was getting good. A coal mine, huh? If I could score some ore there, I’d get a good amount of money for it.

“There are some rare types of ore there, if you can find them. They will sell for a good price.”

“Really? Thanks for the heads up.”

In truth, I didn’t believe him entirely, but I still wanted to check out the mine.

“… Where are we going today?”

Raphtalia was s.h.i.+vering in fear as she asked.

“We’re going to a nearby mine.”

“Okay…”

“Apparently there are dangerous monsters in there. You better stay close, in case we have to run away.”

“Okay!”

I opened the map and found the coal mine.

It was near the mountains, and the road was overgrown with weeds and shrubbery. It had been abandoned long ago. Near the entrance we came upon a number of pickaxes that had been dropped. They were old and ratty, but they didn’t seem unusable.

Very near by, we found an old rest station.

The door was locked. But it wasn’t being used, so I couldn’t think of a reason not to let myself in.

“Raphtalia, I’m going to break the lock.”

“What? Oh… Okay.”

She picked up a rock and started to slam it against the lock. It was pretty much rusted through, so it only took a few good hits to break it.

Inside, we found some rope, and a couple of other things. But they had all been abandoned and were not in very good condition. We did find a map of the mine though, which was good.

My s.h.i.+eld absorbed the other items we found.

Pickax s.h.i.+eld: conditions met

Rope s.h.i.+eld: conditions met

Pickax s.h.i.+eld: ability locked:

equip ability: mining 1

Rope s.h.i.+eld: ability locked:

equip bonus skill: Air Strike s.h.i.+eld

Special Effect: rope

Air Strike s.h.i.+eld? What was that?

And if it was a skill, how was I supposed to use it?

I decided to try out the Rope s.h.i.+eld.

It turned out to be a s.h.i.+eld made from a coiled length of rope. Its defense rating was so low I thought it was a joke at first.

I didn’t want to try it out in an actual battle.

And what was this special effect “rope?” I’d better try it out.

Maybe it was some type of grappling hook?

I thought about the rope and the beams of the small shelter, and it flew from my s.h.i.+eld and tied itself around them.

Wow! This would be useful.

As for the Air Strike s.h.i.+eld… I’d better check the help menu.

Found it.

Skill:

While in battle, a skill may be activated by shouting its t.i.tle. There are also skills that may be activated by certain ch.o.r.eographed motions.

So it was like the abilities and skills from an RPG. Or like the skill set in an MMO.

All right, I think I got it. Time to try it out.

“Air Strike s.h.i.+eld!”

As I shouted the command, an icon appeared, saying that I should indicate the direction to send the attack. A circle indicating the attack range appeared on the ground.

I focused on the ground just before me. When I did, a large Air Strike s.h.i.+eld appeared there, hovering in the air.

It was a strange shape, something like an oversized s.h.i.+eld. It was made from some strange, magical power.

I wonder what it does?

I reached out to touch it. It did not move from the s.p.a.ce it was set. I guess all the skill did was summon a s.h.i.+eld. If this was my first skill, then I suppose I really couldn’t expect to get strong attacks anytime soon.

“What is it?” Raphtalia asked me.

“It’s nothing. I just got some useful skills. That’s all.”

“Oh… So, are we going?”

“Yeah, let’s go.”

Raphtalia was acting more bravely than she had been, but I needed to watch out that she didn’t get too familiar. That could be a problem.

The Pickax s.h.i.+eld was certain to be of use considering the reason we’d come to the mine.

Now then, let’s get down to business. I held out a torch to the entrance, and we stepped inside.

“There are dangerous monsters in here, so keep an eye out.”

“Okay.”

I took the lead, and went in ahead of her.

For a little while, the tunnel was supported by wooden beams, but as we went deeper, the cave was just formed from natural stone walls. You could hear the soft sound of a distant waterfall and river, and there was a soft light coming from far above. There was a small hole above us, and the light filtered through the dusty air.

Now then, where to go? We started looking for ore.

I opened the map and took a quick look.

It wasn’t a maze. The map was marked with an “X” up near the source of the waterfall. That’s where we would go.

“Master…”

“Hm?”

Raphtalia was tugging at my sleeve.

“Um… Look.”

She was pointing down.

I followed her gaze. There were large footprints there, and they appeared to be from something like a dog.

So they weren’t lying about the monsters… They were big, but not abnormally so. I pictured a pretty large-sized dog.

“We need to keep going.”

If we always tried to avoid danger, we would never get anywhere.

If we ran into a monster, all we needed to do was defeat it. If it was only the size of a dog, I’m sure we could handle it.

“All right, let’s go.”

“Oh… Okay.”

“Don’t worry. We can beat it.”

“I’ll try.”

That’s the att.i.tude.

So we kept on moving slowly through the cave. Until…

“Grrrrrrrr”

We ran into it right when we reached the top of the waterfall.

It was like a big, black dog. But it had two heads.

But the footprints were so much smaller… Maybe it was a puppy?

This dog was taller than I was!

We had no choice…

“Hawoooooooo!”

The dog let out a bellowing howl and turned towards us. It started running.

I hadn’t taken damage from an enemy yet, but could I take on a monster like this and come out unscathed?

Well, even if it landed an attack, one hit shouldn’t kill me.

I held up my s.h.i.+eld, and waited for the attack.

Ugh…. It was so heavy.

“Gahhhh!”

Its thick nails were scratching at my s.h.i.+eld, and both of its heads were trying to bite me.

… As if I would let it!

To avoid its teeth, I threw my weight into the s.h.i.+eld, pushed the beast back, and jumped away to get some distance.

Apparently, I could stand up to its attacks for now.

“Yes! I got it!”

There was a chance for Raphtalia too… But that’s when I noticed it.

She was shaking in fear, and her eyes were locked at some random point in s.p.a.ce.

No! This is just how she acted when she was getting ready to cry in the night.

“Nooooooooooooo!”

Her shrill cry cut through the cave and rang in my ears.

“Grrrooar!”

The dog howled and jumped back for a moment.

It then turned to Raphtalia and began to dash in her direction.

As if I would let it.

I quickly knocked her out of the way with my s.h.i.+eld. She fell over by the waterfall.

“Ah! H…Help!”

Even if she fell, she shouldn’t die. But she looked like she was about to fall over the edge.

“No! No! Dad! Mom!”

d.a.m.n… This wasn’t good. Better pull back.

It was a risk, but it was our only chance.

I ran over to her, wrapped her in my arms, and gave myself over to the waterfall.

You fall over waterfalls in games all the time, but to do it in real life was different. Everything was swirling, and I had no idea where I was.

We were suddenly free from the water but were falling through the air. We fell into a small lake at the bottom.

The current wasn’t strong, so we swam to the sh.o.r.e.

Cough… Cough…

“What was that?! You can’t just freak out on me.”

“Dad?”

“No! What are you talking about?”

I looked up as we talked. The dog ran to the edge of the cliff, looked down at us, then turned and ran off.

It had to be thinking of a way to get to us.

“Are you okay? Are you conscious?”

“I… I…”

“What was that?”

“It…”

“Tell me!”

“I… okay.”

She started talking, slowly and deliberately.

“I’m from a little village of demi-humans, mostly farmers. It’s a little ways from here, by the ocean… It’s still part of this country though, so life wasn’t easy.”

Both of her parents were kind-hearted, and the village was peaceful.

But one day, skeleton warriors flooded the town. They had come from a wave of destruction.

There were a lot of skeleton warriors, but the adventurers in town were able to hold them at bay. But soon enough other beasts, giant insects, fell on the battlefield, and the adventurers were unable to hold the line.

Finally, a giant, three-headed dog appeared, some kind of monster. The people weren’t able to stand up to it at all, and they were trampled.

The village couldn’t fight anymore, so they ran from the monsters.

But the monsters wouldn’t let them flee. Acting like it was a sport, they hunted down the remaining people and killed them. Raphtalia’s family, like the rest of the villagers, ran from the monsters. Soon enough, they came to a cliff overlooking the ocean and found themselves trapped there by the wave of monsters. Realizing they could not escape, her parents looked into each other’s eyes and then turned to Raphtalia and smiled.

Raphtalia was shaking in fear, but they patted her head and comforted her. She was too young to realize that they were planning on sacrificing themselves to save her.

“No! Father! Mother!”

Slam!

The two of them, wis.h.i.+ng for Raphtalia’s safety, pushed her from the lip of the cliff. As she was falling to the ocean, she saw the monsters attack her parents.

As she told me the story, her face was pale. I think it was a difficult memory to talk about.

“I fell into the water and luckily washed up on a nearby sh.o.r.e.”

After she woke up, she went searching for her parents. She climbed back up the cliff.

The monsters had finally been defeated by the knights and adventurers of the kingdom. She walked through fields littered with bones and finally found her way back to the cliff.

… And she found pools of blood, and strips of flesh.

When she finally understood that her parents were dead, something inside of Raphtalia snapped.

“Nooooooooooooooo!”

From that point on Raphtalia resolved to live a full life.

Looking at her now, it was hard to picture. But apparently she used to be quite the over-achiever.

When she became a slave, it must have slowly worn her down.

Until she met me, apparently she’d been living a pretty heroic life. She’d been fighting to reestablish her village but unfortunately ran into a slave dealer, was captured, and was even tortured.

Finally, she ended up in the slave trader’s tent, just where I’d found her.

“That black dog is back! We need to run!”

She was starting to panic again.

I suppose that was the source of her trauma.

“Calm down!”

“But… But!!”

“That is not the dog that killed your parents. It has two heads, right? Besides… just who do you think I am?”

“Um…”

“I’m the s.h.i.+eld Hero. Up until now, I’ve been protecting you, haven’t I? But even if I can protect you, I can’t defeat the enemies myself.”

Raphtalia put her head in her hands.

“Your parents are not coming back. But you can help other kids. You can help keep the same thing from happening to them!”

It wasn’t a very good argument. I just wanted to survive. That’s why I needed to get stronger. But the waves were clearly a source of terror for Raphtalia.

Even still, if she WANTED more kids to end up like she had, then there was nothing I could do about that.

“All I can do is give you the best environment for you to use your fighting skills. If that’s not cool with you, well, we already discussed your options.”

“R…Right.

“Gaah!”

The dog had managed to find us somehow.

“If you’re not going to fight, then get the h.e.l.l out of here.”

“What about you?”

“I’ll draw its attention. You run!”

“But!”

“That’s all we can do. I can’t fight. All I can do is protect you.”

“I don’t want to run away!”

“Then what will you do? Just die here?”

“… No!”

She fixed her grip on the sword, swung around the side of the dog, and stabbed it.

“Yipe!”

The dog whelped.

“I don’t want you to die!”

“… I won’t die. If I die, that means that I didn’t protect you.”

I had to get stronger to keep from dying. Like I would die in a place like this? Yeah right!

The dog was charging at Raphtalia.

I quickly changed to the Rope s.h.i.+eld.

“Air Strike s.h.i.+eld!”

The s.h.i.+eld changed again, and I quickly turned to the dog.

“Argh?!”

The dog turned from Raphtalia and came rus.h.i.+ng at me, howling.

One of the heads bit deep into my shoulder.

It hurt, and a spray of blood followed the pain.

“Master?!”

“Calm down! I’m fine!”

If it could overcome my defense rating, it must have been pretty strong. Its fangs were huge and sharp. I hope it wasn’t going to do any permanent damage.

This must be thanks to the s.h.i.+eld too. It hurt, but it wasn’t anything I couldn’t handle.

“Yes!”

Raphtalia threw all of her strength into the thrust. She’d found the heart of the beast and stuck her sword into it.

“Rooooaaaaarrrrrrrrr!”

It shouted in pain, and Raphtalia pushed the sword in deeper.

“Arrrrrhhhhhhh!”

The dog was stronger than I thought. It still wriggled in pain. Raphtalia stabbed the heart again and again.

Finally, the dog stopped moving and collapsed.

EXP 340

Raphtalia EXP 430

We were rewarded for the battle with a hefty amount of EXP points. We both leveled up.

Huff… Huff…

“You did it. Good work.”

Both of us were covered in blood.

I rubbed her head.

“Master… Don’t die, please… My… My place…”

She was having trouble saying what she meant. But I think she wanted to keep things as they were.

Life as a slave must have been tough. Of course she didn’t want to return to that cage.

The situation was not bad at all. Is that why she wanted me to praise her?

Well I wasn’t planning on selling her off anytime soon. And all I wanted from her was her attack ability.

“Master… I don’t think I know your name yet…”

“Yeah, you’re right. It’s Naofumi Iwatani.”

“Nao… Fumi? Pleasure to… meet you.”

She looked sheepishly at the floor.

My… name?

Well it was better than being called “Master” or “Hero” all the time.

Time to absorb that monster.

We butchered the beast….

It wasn’t a fun experience… at all.

But we managed to do it.

Two-headed Black Dog s.h.i.+eld: conditions met

Two-headed Black Dog s.h.i.+eld: ability locked:

equip bonus: alert s.h.i.+eld

Special Effect: Dog Bite

The s.h.i.+eld looked like a two-headed dog. It was made from leather, and so realistic that the heads almost looked alive.

They seemed like pretty good abilities. Not bad.

I wondered what the Alert s.h.i.+eld did.

I also wondered what the special effect, Dog Bite, was all about.

I’d look it up later

I brushed some of the healing medicine over the bite on my shoulder. It stung a little, but I could feel the wound healing instantly.

After we got back to the inn, I’d see if I could find a magic user to heal it for me. I figured I could pay them.

That reminded me, this was the first time I’d felt pain since I arrived in this world. Of course there was pain here.

It’s not like we couldn’t fight… But still… I didn’t like being hurt.

The different parts of the dog didn’t cause the s.h.i.+eld to react. Either that, or there wasn’t enough, or my level was too low.

“Well, we defeated the monster. Now let’s try to find some of that ore.”

“Okay!”

She seemed chipper all of a sudden.

I changed to the Pickax s.h.i.+eld for its collection ability 1, and made for the place on the map marked with an X. I swung the pickax, and when I did so a small X appeared on the wall, glowing. What was it? Was I supposed to look there?

“Yah!”

I swung the pickax as hard as I could.

The wall cracked. The cracks spiderwebbed out, and the wall collapsed.

“Woah!”

The thing crumbled so quickly.

I kept an eye on the fragile surroundings and started digging around for ore.

… But it wasn’t very easy.

I kept on swinging though, and eventually I unearthed a piece of s.h.i.+ning ore.

“Light Metal?”

A type of ore called Light Metal, apparently.

Would it sell for a lot of money? It looked very pure.

There wasn’t very much, but we kept digging until early evening and eventually ended up with around ten pieces.

It wasn’t very efficient.

I let the s.h.i.+eld absorb one.

It said that it needed more. I offered it another.

Light Metal s.h.i.+eld: conditions met

Light Metal s.h.i.+eld: ability locked:

equip bonus: defense 1

Special Effect: Magic Defense up

The defense rating was the highest one yet.

If I was going to fight strong monsters, this was the s.h.i.+eld to use.

“What do you think?”

“Not much.”

“Right. Okay then, let’s head back, Mr. Naofumi.”

Raphtalia took my hand in hers and started walking.

“We have to stay alive.”

“Yeah.”

I thought that much was obvious. I need to survive and get back to my own world. I didn’t want to die in a world as s.h.i.+tty as this one.

We went back to Riyute and sold the ore.

We got a good price for it. It should support our activities and equipment needs for a while.