Tate no Yuusha no Nariagari (LN) Vol 1 Chapter 17

Chapter Seventeen: Preparing for the Wave

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

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

b.u.t.terfly s.h.i.+eld: conditions met

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

etc…

PikyuPikyu s.h.i.+eld: abilities locked:

equip bonus: simple weapon restoration 1

Wood s.h.i.+eld: abilities locked:

equip bonus: collection skill 1

b.u.t.terfly s.h.i.+eld: abilities locked:

equip bonus: paralysis resistance 1 (small)

Pipe s.h.i.+eld: abilities locked:

equip bonus: skill: s.h.i.+eld Prison

etc…

It had been a week and a day.

I’d learned a great number of skills by hunting the monsters, collecting medicines and ore, and allowing the s.h.i.+eld to absorb them all in turn. There were so many new things appearing on my status screen that it was hard to keep up with it all.

“Wait!”

Noticing us, a p.r.i.c.kled, needle-covered thing, which looked like a porcupine of some kind, ran off. Raphtalia and I ran after it.

The both of us had been leveling up steadily. Raphtalia had reached level 25, and I was at level 20.

Raphtalia had grown up very quickly.

… And I was still fighting in tattered rags.

I was amazed that I was able to come this far without taking any damage. Was I that strong, or were they all that weak?

But I had been hurt.

I’d been overconfident in my abilities. I was fighting against the porcupine with a weak s.h.i.+eld and suddenly felt a sharp pain. Due to my carelessness, he’d gotten a hit on me, and it had damaged me a little.

Even though I’d been using the Alert s.h.i.+eld, he still managed to stick me.

Oh, by the way, the Alert s.h.i.+eld would send out an alarm if an enemy came within twenty meters of me. So it would warn me if anything came near.

It was not actually all that useful.

It would tell you if there was a monster nearby, but it wouldn’t tell you where that monster was.

“Geez, that kind of hurt.”

I painted some medicine over the spurting wound.

Of course it would hurt to get stuck with a needle. That’s normal.

I’d gotten so used to not feeling any pain since I’d come to this place that I had started to forget what it was like.

“That’s what I was saying, Mr. Naofumi. It’s really about time you got some better equipment for yourself.”

“Nah, it’s because I was using a weak s.h.i.+eld.”

Somehow, my s.h.i.+eld managed to protect my entire body, despite appearing as a normal s.h.i.+eld. So I didn’t really need to change the rest of my equipment. I mean, the center of the s.h.i.+eld still seemed to be the strongest, but the rest of my body was protected too, so I hadn’t been hurt yet.

The Sharpening s.h.i.+eld really was proving useful. Just like we’d thought, it would keep Raphtalia’s weapon sharp automatically.

It would sharpen for eight hours. If you took the sword out beforehand, it wouldn’t do anything. But the major problem was that it ate up my SP the whole time.

Whatever. Time to practice some of the other skills I’d learned.

“Air Strike s.h.i.+eld!”

The skill formed a giant s.h.i.+eld in the air, with a range of about five meters.

It was mostly good for getting some distance from your opponent. The longer you left it deployed, the weaker it got.

But it got stronger if you screamed for it.

The porcupine reacted with surprise to the Air Strike s.h.i.+eld. But it immediately jumped to its feet and kept running.

d.a.m.n… If it had stayed within five meters, I could have chased it down, but the little b.u.g.g.e.r was fast.

Oh well.

“s.h.i.+eld Prison!”

The skill formed a large cage around the battlefield, with a diameter of about six meters.

This time, I called for it, keeping the porcupine set as my target.

The skill could be used to protect a target, or to restrain a target.

But they were both defensive, so it couldn’t be used to deal damage directly.

“Yipe!”

The porcupine had nowhere to run and started to spin in circles within the cage.

The cage would remain on the battlefield for fifteen seconds.

As we waited, Raphtalia ran over to the cage, and waited for it to disappear. When it did, she stabbed the porcupine.

“Yipe!”

“Got him!”

Raphtalia picked up the porcupine and came back over to where I was standing.

“Nice!”

EXP 48

Raphtalia EXP 48

Those numbers weren’t bad.

The monsters could be absorbed into the s.h.i.+eld directly, and that would unlock new forms, but it was better to divide up the haul. I hadn’t known that before, but I figured it out during the last week. Balloons, Mush, and Eggugs could all be used as materials. I was lucky to figure it out as fast as I did.

We broke down the Porcupine into needles, meat, skin, and bones. Any of them could be used for materials, so it was pretty useful. I let the s.h.i.+eld absorb them separately.

The bones could be used for all kinds of things. The skins gave you a status boost, but only if the skill tree and level were appropriate.

The meat was for cooking. Eventually, it all started to come naturally.

I was excited about the needles, because I already had a Porcupine s.h.i.+eld.

Animal Needle s.h.i.+eld: conditions met

Animal Needle s.h.i.+eld… A Needle s.h.i.+eld would probably have cool abilities.

Animal Needle s.h.i.+eld: abilities locked:

equip bonus: attack 1

Special Effect: Needle s.h.i.+eld (small)

Finally! Now I could ataaaaaaaaaaaack!

But yes, I realize that it was only level one.

The special effect, Needle s.h.i.+eld (small), could have been anything, but I didn’t care because I’d stumbled on the s.h.i.+eld tree for the attack statistic.

Now all I really needed to find were some items that had a connection to the statistic, and I could finally start working on my attack level.

The defense level was slightly lower than that of the Ore s.h.i.+eld, but I’m sure I could survive.

“What do you think?

“It looks like it will raise my attack stats.”

“Excellent! But what about its defense rating?”

Raphtalia looked concerned about the possibility of my injury.

“It’s all right.”

“Well, that’s good. Um… About my sword… It’s getting a little dull, and I…”

“Fine. Let’s take a break from hunting and head back to town,”

“Yay!”

I changed to the Sharpening s.h.i.+eld and stuck Raphtalia’s sword into it.

Sharpening…

We’d been working hard, so our levels were rising quickly, and we’d made a good amount of money. Would you believe it… 230 pieces of silver! It was thanks to the Light Metals.

Also the medicine was selling well, and the various collecting and fabrications skills that the s.h.i.+elds gave me were definitely helping us make a decent profit.

The main issue was that my life here was taking on the very same character that I used when I played online games. I guess that is only to be expected, considering that I was devoting so much of my time to making money.

Not that money would make me any stronger… But I still needed it to survive.

“All right, let’s head back to town and get you some new equipment.”

“… Mr. Naofumi?”

Huh? She was smiling at me, somehow tense, kind of worried.

“I really do appreciate your offer to buy me new equipment, but before you do, shouldn’t you think a bit more about your own appearance?”

“What, do I look weird?”

“Aside from your s.h.i.+eld, you look just like a normal villager.”

“Yeah well… I don’t really need much else. Can’t I get by with just a change of clothes?”

She grabbed my shoulders and smiled at me.

“Didn’t that porcupine hurt you?”

“I told you, I was using a weak s.h.i.+eld… It’s not a big deal. If we use our funds on your equipment, it’s better in the long run.”

“But, Mr. Naofumi… If you don’t take care of yourself, you’ll end up dead.”

“Dead?!”

She had a grip on her sword, and she was getting forceful. I mean, the slave spell should keep her from actually hurting me…

“It’s time. It’s time that you took another look at yourself. You’ve taken this as far as you can.”

“Well…”

She was right. And come to think of it, the wave of destruction would probably come sometime in the next few days. I needed to be as strong as I could when it arrived.

So, I guess that dressing like a villager would not inspire confidence in the public.

The goal and the means were flipped around backwards.

“Geez…”

I had wanted to raise my attack level more…

“Forget about me for now. Let’s focus on getting you some better equipment, Mr. Naofumi.”

“Fine. We’ll buy some stuff and then use the leftover money on you.”

“Okay.”

She was more comfortable with me than she had been, but she was getting cheeky.

I wanted to remind her that she worked for ME, but she had learned the limits of her slave spell, and was now careful not to cross any lines.

To put it simply, she was becoming a pain. But if she was capable of pointing out my shortfalls, that was something I needed too. If I thought about the future, I’d need someone like her around.