hero 1.8.2
Chapter Twenty-Three: All I’d Wanted to Hear.
“You didn’t win anything, you coward! Someone interfered with our one-on-one fight!”
“What are you talking about? You weren’t strong enough to hold me down, and now you’ve lost!”
Was he serious? The creep!
What a hero. What was he talking about slaves for?!
What kind of hero would be proud of winning a duel against someone who only had a shield?!
“Your little friend there interfered! That’s why I lost my balance!”
“Ha! So disappointed that you have to make up lies?!”
“That’s not it at all, you freak!”
He ignored me, and kept acting victorious.
But… But she really had cheated! And this… ARGH!
“Is that true?”
The crowd turned to Motoyasu.
There was no way to tell if they believed him or me. They were waiting there in silence.
“Why would we believe the words of a criminal! Spear Hero! The victory is yours!”
The jerk! The king ignored all the evidence, all the doubts, and proclaimed Motoyasu the winner.
Just when I had been about to win, he was looking down on me, vulgar-like. That was it! I could have won. I could have won!
It looked like the crowd had their doubts as well. Their eyes were looking us both over, but none of them had the courage to speak out against the king.
He probably would have had them killed for speaking out.
What was this, a dictatorship?
“Oh you did so good, Mr. Motoyasu!”
The root of all evil, that woman, was smiling innocently. A castle magician ran over and healed only Motoyasu’s wounds.
They just ignored me.
“Yes, my daughter. Malty has excellent choice in Heroes.”
… Said the king, and placed his hand on Myne’s shoulder.
“Wh…What?!”
Myne was the king’s daughter?!
“Yeah, I was really surprised too. To think that the princess would use a fake name and infiltrate us!”
“Oh, yes, but naturally it was all for the peace of the kingdom.”
… So that’s how it was.
I’d thought it was strange that she was able to have me branded a criminal without a single shred of evidence.
The sneaky princess, in order to get the hero she wanted, she sacrificed the weakest hero, myself, stole my money, then ran to her father and got him to denounce me. It was a perfect way to frame me.
Then, because Motoyasu had saved her, she used that as an excuse to get closer to him than the other women were able to.
Now it all made sense, even why I’d been given more money at the start.
She’d wanted the good equipment for herself, and then she would attach herself to the best hero.
When I’d seen, at the very beginning, that Motoyasu had better equipment than the others, I should have been smarter and kept my distance.
They’d thought it all out, and there was no other recourse but to ask them directly. But considering how far they would go, I didn’t have a good reason to think they would not have covered their tracks. In the end it was the word of the disgraced and useless Shield Hero versus the word of the >Spear Hero who had saved the princess.
They’d planned it all from the beginning. It was a perfect trap.
And while it hadn’t damaged me directly, the Wing Blow was strong enough to knock me off balance, which suggests that the caster had been well educated. It was proof of the princess’s involvement.
That was why they’d set up this one-sided duel in the first place. It had been their plan from the start.
They’d known that he would win, and they’d known that the princess could interfere on Motoyasu’s behalf if the duel ever seemed to be in question.
It was simple. All that woman needed to do was whisper in his ear:
“That girl with the Shield Hero is a slave. He’s forcing her to cooperate. You have to save her.”
It was a perfect opportunity to make herself look good to her chosen future husband. They would not let it slip by.
If they ended up getting married, then saving a slave girl from the disgraced Shield Hero was the perfect end to their heroic story.
Legends are born through evil. The more evil you were, the better you’d be remembered.
Throughout history, they’d be remembered as the heroes that took care of the fallen Shield Hero and saved a little girl. They’d have songs written about them.
The king was a jerk, and the princess was even worse!
Wait a second… The princess was… a bitch?
The phrase sounded familiar to me.
But from where? I know I’d seen it before.
…I remember. It was in The Records of the Four Holy Weapons.
The princess in the book was a bitch that made eyes at all of the heroes.
If those heroes were the same as the heroes in that book I’d read at the library, then it must have been connected somehow to this world, so it only made since that the princess would be a bitch.
I was filled with a burning hatred, and it ran powerfully through my body.
Thump, thump.
My shield was… pulsing.
Curse Series Shield: conditions met
The seething black hatred absorbed my shield, and my field of vision warped.
“Now then, Mr. Motoyasu, the girl that the Shield Hero was using as a slave is waiting.”
The people parted, and Raphtalia was there with the castle priests. They were about to remove the slave spell from her.
The magicians were holding a bowl filled with some kind of liquid which they smeared over the slave mark on her chest.
As they did so, the slave icon in my field of vision vanished.
And that made it official: she was no longer my slave.
The seething hatred was burning, and it took control of me.
The whole world was laughing at me. Mocking me. They were happy when I was in pain, when I was humiliated.
Yes, all I could see was shadows and dark smiles.
“Raphtalia!”
Motoyasu rushed over to her.
They’d removed the gag from her mouth, and as Motoyasu approached, her eyes filled with tears, and she turned to say something…
And slapped him.
“Y…You fool!”
“… Huh?”
Motoyasu looked stunned and confused.
“Of course I don’t forgive your cowardice, but when did I ever ask for your help?!”
“But Raphtalia… He… He was abusing you!”
“Mr. Naofumi never made me do anything I didn’t want to do. The spell only made me fight when I was too afraid to have done it otherwise!”
I felt very light-headed and couldn’t really follow what everyone was saying.
No, I could hear them, but I didn’t want to listen.
I just wanted to get the hell out of there.
I wanted to go back to my own world.
“But that’s not okay!”
“Mr. Naofumi can’t attack monsters, so he needs someone to help him!”
“That doesn’t have to be you! He’ll work you to the bone!”
“Mr. Naofumi hasn’t let a monster hurt me, not even once! When I got tired, he always let me rest!”
“N... No… He’s not the kind of thoughtful person you… you think he is.”
“Would you reach out to a sick, filthy slave?
“What?”
“Mr. Naofumi did a lot for me. He fed me whenever I was hungry. When I was sick he made medicine for me. Would you? Would you have done those things?!”
“Of course!”
“Then you must have slaves of your own!”
“?!”
Raphtalia rushed over to me.
“Leave me!”
This place was hell.
The whole world was made of duplicity and evil.
The women, no… The whole world was laughing at me, punishing me, trying to hurt me.
When she touched me, I felt hatred boil inside of me
When Raphtalia saw the way I reacted, she turned and glared at Motoyasu.
“I heard the rumors… That Mr. Naofumi forced himself on his friend, that he was the worst of the Heroes.”
“Right. Yes, he’s a criminal! You should know since he made a sex slave out of you too!”
“How can you say that?! Mr. Naofumi has never touched me, ever! Not even once!”
She reached out and held my hand.
“Let me go!”
“Mr. Naofumi… What can I do… What can I do to earn your trust?”
“Let me go!”
The whole world thought I was contemptible! They blamed me for everything!
“I didn’t do it!”
I was flying into a fury, when something covered me.
“Mr. Naofumi, please, please, calm down. Let me… Listen to me. Let me earn your trust.”
“Huh?”
“If you can only believe a slave, because they are incapable of hurting you, then let’s go back! Take me back to that tent, and I’ll take the curse again.”
“Liar! What do you want from me?”
What? What was this voice that forced its way into my heart?
“Whatever happens, I believe you. I believe you, Mr. Naofumi.”
“Shut up! You want to frame me for something else!”
“I know that you wouldn’t do what they accuse you of. You wouldn’t force yourself on anyone. You aren’t that kind of person.”
It was the first time I’d heard the words I wanted to hear. The first time since I’d come to this world.
I felt like the dark shadows surrounding me were starting to fall apart.
I felt kindness.
“The whole world might accuse you, might blame you, but I won’t. I’ll say it again and again: you didn’t do it.”
I opened my eyes, and when I saw her she was no longer a little girl. She was a seventeen-year-old woman.
I could tell that it was still Raphtalia. It was Raphtalia’s face, but she was the cutest girl I’d ever seen.
Her hair had been so dirty, but here it was, beautiful and long, her dry and cracked skin was somehow changed. She had a healthy glow.
She had been so skinny, but now there was meat on her bones, and she was full and healthy and energetic.
She was looking at me. Her sad, dull eyes that always showed her surrender to life and its monstrosities were clear and bright and full of life.
I didn’t know who she was.
“Mr. Naofumi, take me back to the tent. Let’s put the spell back on.”
“W…Who are you?!”
“Huh? What are you saying? It’s me, Raphtalia.”
“Ahaha, no. Raphtalia is just a little girl!”
This woman was claiming to be Raphtalia, the girl who’d just sworn to believe me. She looked confused, and cocked her head to the side.
“Oh c’mon. Mr. Naofumi, you’re always treating me like a kid.”
Her voice… It sounded just like Raphtalia’s.
But she looked totally different.
No way, no way. This didn’t make any sense at all.
“Mr. Naofumi, let me tell you something.”
“What?”
“Demi-humans, we… When we are young, our bodies grow with our levels. So we grow very quickly as we level up.”
“Huh?”
“Demi-humans are not humans. This is one of the reasons that some people treat us as monsters.
The girl who called herself Raphtalia kept talking.
“Sure, I’m still… I mean I guess I’m not emotionally that mature, but my body has matured. I’m basically an adult.”
She pulled me close and… and buried my face in her large, voluptuous breasts as she spoke.
“Please believe me. I believe, I KNOW, that you never committed any crime. You gave me medicine, saved my life, and taught me what I needed to survive. You are the great Shield Hero, and I am your sword. No matter how rough the path, I will follow you.”
I’d… I’d wanted to hear that for so long.
Raphtalia kept swearing that she would fight with me.
“If you can’t believe me, then please, turn me back into a slave. I want to stay with you. I will follow you!”
“Ugh…”
Hearing such nice words, for the first time, I found myself involuntarily sobbing.
I told myself to stop, to get a hold of myself. But I couldn’t. The tears wouldn’t stop.
“Ah… Ahhhhhhh… Ugggg…”
Raphtalia hugged me and pulled me against her as I cried.
“Motoyasu, you lose the duel. You broke the rules.”
“What?!”
Ren and Itsuki spoke as they pushed through the crowd.
“We saw it all from up there. Your friend attacked Naofumi from behind with wind magic.”
“No. That… That’s not true!”
“The king had fallen silent. Can’t you see that?”
“Has he?”
Motoyasu looked to the crowd, but everyone turned their faces away.
“But he threw monsters at me!”
“He has no attack power. You have to give him that much. You’re in the wrong for challenging him to a duel in the first place.”
He turned to Ren and Itsuki, self-righteous, and shouted:
“But he… He… He concentrated his attacks on my face and crotch!”
“He knew he couldn’t win, so he just did all that he could to hurt you. I don’t think we can begrudge him that.”
Motoyasu was indignant at Itsuki’s words, but soon he relented.
“It looks like you have some fault, at least in this particular fight. Give it up.”
“Damn… This isn’t fair… I mean… Raphtalia is obviously brainwashed!”
“How can you say that, after the scene we just witnessed?”
“He’s right.”
It was growing awkward, so the heroes made to leave. The crowd returned to the castle.
“Geez! That was boring!”
“I know… It was a disappointing result, to say the least.”
The last two spectators, apparently unimpressed, slumped their shoulders and walked off. The two of us were left alone in the garden.
“It must have been so hard on you. I never knew. Please, share your pain with me.”
At the kindness in her voice, I drifted off…
A slept for an hour, and Raphtalia held me the whole time.
I was surprised. I hadn’t noticed how much she had grown.
How could I have not noticed? I was… probably too stressed.
I was too stressed to notice her growing. I had trained all my focus on her status and focused only on the rising numbers.
Epilogue
The feast was long over. We found a room that hadn’t been used, a dusty servant’s room, and rested there.
It was nothing like the last time I’d stayed in the castle. That piece of trash of a king seemed like he would do whatever he could to heap misery on me.
That’s what I’d call him. Trash.
As for Myne, I’d already decided to call her Bitch… And it was only fitting, considering her behavior.
As for Motoyasu, I’d call him Man-Whore… or no… Clown.
Then again, I suppose it was possible that he was just being used by Bitch, so I decided to hold off with the nicknames for the time being.
Raphtalia saw that I wasn’t eating much and went out for a while.
“The cooks gave me some food from the kitchen that they weren’t using.”
“Ah… Thanks.”
She gave me something like a sandwich, and I ate it.
“Well, it’s not very good…”
I couldn’t taste it anyway, so it didn’t matter what I ate. I took a bite.
“Huh?!”
I’d been expecting something flavorless and gross, but it reminded me more of the first meal I’d had here.
Was I imagining things? One more bite.
“What is it?”
“It… I… I can taste it.”
“Hm?”
“Ever since they framed me, I haven’t been able to taste anything.”
But why? Even though I’d done all that crying, I felt tears welling up again.
I didn’t know that being able to taste food would feel so… so warm, so good.
“Good, I’m happy. You always made such delicious food for me, and I was sad to see that you were unable to enjoy it yourself.”
She smiled, and took a big bite of her own sandwich.
“Let’s eat all kinds of yummy things together.”
“Sure.”
Someone believed me. Just that fact made me feel… lighter.
My sense of taste vanished when Myne betrayed me… but it was back.
It was all because she believed in me, all because of Raphtalia.
Who knew that being trusted and believed in would make your heart so light?
“What should we do tomorrow? Want to level up? Or make money?”
“Right… I want to get new equipment with our reward money. We’re a month behind the others, and so that’s where we need to start. Let’s find a good place to work.”
Now I would have to fight to save this world, again. But this time, I’d be with the one person who understood and believed in me.
I didn’t want to. I was afraid so many times, but I made up my mind to stay positive, if only for Raphtalia. How else could I repay her trust?
“Mr. Naofumi?”
“What?”
“Let’s do our best.”
“Right on!”
I didn’t want to just stay alive anymore. I wanted to actually move forward, because she believed in me.
It was a whole new world, full of dreams and adventures, like an anime or a game. But it was a horrible place as well. But I… I still wanted to try.
I wanted to try for myself, and Raphtalia too.
“Raphtalia.”
“What is it?”
It might have been rude, but I leaned over and kissed the cheek of the girl who believed in me.
“Thank you.”
“Ah… ahhhhh…”
“Um… Sorry? I guess you don’t like that kind of thing.”
“No, I… I… Oh… Um…”
“Okay, okay, I’m sorry. That was rude. I won’t do it again.”
“It’s okay!”
I got it. She was filled with purpose, and she didn’t want that to happen. She would be angry. I learned an important lesson.
Had this been an anime, they would have depicted us in a physical relationship. But in the real world, that wasn’t going to happen.
There it was, that bad habit of mine. That way of thinking wasn’t going to work.
This wasn’t a dream world. It was reality, just a different reality. If I treated it like a fantasy game or anime, I was going to end up hurt. We needed a solid plan if we wanted to survive.
Raphtalia squeezed my hand, and I squeezed hers back.
We’d be okay; we could overcome whatever we were faced with. If I was with someone who believed in me, I could take the first step.
My fight was only just beginning. I didn’t need to rush, just take one step and a time.
Special Extra Chapter One:
The Spear Hero’s Buffoonery
My name is Motoyasu Kitamura.
I’m a university student, and one day I found myself transported to another world—one that bore a striking resemblance to a game I used to play.
I was summoned here to be one of the four Heroes that were destined to save the world, and I was the Spear Hero.
I think I have pretty good luck. The world was so much like a game I had known that I already had all the knowledge I needed to save it, and in the process of doing so, I found myself surrounded by a gaggle of lovely ladies.
“Hey, you over there! You free? Want to go on a date?”
The country had given me a task, and to accomplish it I had gone to a place called the Guild.
Had this been a game this would be the place where the player received quests, or participated in events and various episodes. In this world, however, it was also where different adventurers gathered to make money.
“I don’t know… Do I? I wonder…”
The cute girl’s eyes wandered to the huge Spear I held flung over my shoulder.
“Do you know how to use that?”
I held it out and caused it to change forms right before her eyes. That was the power granted to us Heroes!
Showing off the power should be enough to prove who I am.
“OOOOH! You really ARE the Spear Hero! Neat!”
She was excited and started squealing in that high-pitched girly voice.
Heh, heh, it was going to be a good day.
“Mr. Motoyasu, the Guild has a request!”
A cute girl with red hair pushed the other girl (the one I was hitting on) out of the way and slipped me a scroll.
“Sorry lady, but Mr. Motoyasu has an important job, so you’d better just be on your way.”
“Bu…But!”
The girl that had come over with the scroll was named Myne.
Her real name was Malty S. Melromarc. She had actually, originally sympathized with the Shield Hero, but he had betrayed her, so she decided to stick with me instead.
I swear, that guy was the worst.
He had been transported to another dimension, but all he thought about was what was in his pants.
“What? You want to be in Mr. Motoyasu’s party too?”
The new speaker’s name was Lesty. Apparently she had been school-friends with Myne. A couple days after Myne teamed up with me, she’d decided she wanted to come with us.
Her face was a little sharper than Myne’s. If Myne was a nine, she was probably an eight.
“Mr. Motoyasu’s journey is a difficult one. Do you really think you can keep up?”
That was Elena. She teamed up with me about a week after all this had started. She’d been traveling with me nearly as long as Myne and Lesty.
The other members kept coming and going with relative frequency.
I’d only been here for three weeks or so, but the remaining party slots seemed to always be filled with different people.
But hey, that’s what online games were like too. If I let it bother me, I’d never get anywhere.
When I first got here, I’d asked a bunch of people to travel with me, but they always left shortly after we teamed up. I didn’t care so much if the guys left, but I always tried to be extra nice to the girls—and they were leaving too. I can’t even remember how many of them I went through. They always just said that they didn’t feel like they fit the group—and that’s the only answer I ever got.
Whatever—I didn’t like clingy girls anyway.
Anyway, it had been three weeks since my arrival.
I should celebrate with the girls that had stuck with me. Of course, that’s what we would do.
“You want to come with us?”
“Yes!”
“Cool, let’s go then. What’s your name?”
“R…Rino.”
“All right, Rino, let’s go.”
I took her hand and sent her a party invite.
She accepted the invite and became part of my party.
“…”
I thought I saw Myne glaring at Rino, so I turned to look, only to find out that she wasn’t. She was smiling kindly.
“So what’s the next job, Myne?”
“A famine has struck a village in the Southwest. We are to protect the carriage that is delivering food to them.”
What’s this? I was pretty sure I’d heard of that job before.
The same quest was available at the Guild in the game I’d played.
The order was placed, and our levels fit the task.
“Got it. Where and when do we meet the carriage?”
“It leaves tomorrow morning, from right here at the Guild’s storehouse.”
“Got it. I guess that means we are free for now. Let’s spend some time leveling up, and then treat ourselves tonight.”
“Yayyyyy!”
The girls all squealed in delight.
I guess the girls in this world liked to have a good time.
Besides, I’d been wanting to blow off some steam anyway.
“All right, girls, let’s get to it!”
“Yayyyyy!”
We did some leveling up nearby at a spot I’d found.
We looked for a place that the monsters appeared in crowds and started hunting.
A monster quickly appeared.
It was a birdlike monster called a Sky Blue Wing.
Its flight ability was low, and it wasn’t a fast runner like the Filolial. But it still gave good EXP points.
It was a very efficient way to level up when you were between levels 30 and 40.
“You girls back down.”
“Okay! Good luck!”
“Huh?”
Apparently Rino wasn’t used to fighting in my party, so she was looking around in confusion.
“You cute girls aren’t suited to these bloody battles. So just hang back and cheer me on.”
“Oh... I…”
Yes! I sent an Air Strike Javelin flying at the Sky Blue Wing, and it fell easily.
“Woooow! You’re so cool, Motoyasu!”
There cheers really revved me up.
“Mr. Motoyasu! There’s another one!”
“Argh!”
“And another one!”
“Argh!”
“Mr. Motoyasu, I’m thirsty.”
“Argh!”
“Mr. Motoyasu, can I have a snack?”
“Argh!”
“Mr. Motoyasu, we’re going to take a rest.”
“Argh!”
We spent the rest of the day that way, and I leveled up.
I’d reached level 43, and Myne was at level 39.
Lesty reached level 38, and Elena reached level 35.
The new girl, Rino, was still at level 20.
“That should be enough for today. Let’s head back.”
I’d had enough sweat for the day, so we finished up before sunset and went back to town.
“That was a tough day.”
“Sure was. If you hadn’t been there cheering me on, I might not have made it.”
“…?”
Rino looked confused again. What was her problem?
Certainly she didn’t want to wallow in the mud and level up? No way! Girls didn’t like that kind of thing.
“Once it’s dark, let’s all meet back at the inn.”
“Okay. We will be at the spa until then.”
“Cool. Have fun.”
“Till then.”
“Um…”
Rino didn’t seem to understand what was going on. It was just a way for the girls to bond.
I wasn’t so tacky as to try and jump in and wedge myself into their friendship.
All right, well, it was a day for training. I had to get to the market and buy some food.
I went to the market and bought a bunch of food then went to the kitchen and got to work. By the time the preparations were done the sun had fallen, and it was night.
“Oh, Mr. Motoyasu, we’re baaaack!”
I’d told the innkeeper to tell the girls to come back to the kitchen when they arrived.
“Um… What are you doing in the kitchen?”
“Oh, I was just working on a surprise for… Hey, where’s Rino?”
“She said that as we were hunting today she realized that she just didn’t fit into the party. She decided to leave, but she said, ‘Thank you for everything, and I hope we meet again.’”
“Oh…”
Again? It was like no one fit in the party.
Was it because Myne and her friend were part of the nobility? You’d think that they’d still be able to get along, and yet… Besides, everyone was equal in my party! I loved them all equally.
“So what are we doing tonight?”
“Right, well, today marks three weeks since I was first summoned to this world. I wanted to celebrate with everyone, so I decided to cook for us.”
“Wooow!”
They all glanced over at my food.
It was food prepared the way we do in my world, so I wasn’t sure if they would like it. Just to make sure, I tasted it.
I’d been cooking for a while, and I had never received a single complaint.
Besides, I was a genius in the kitchen. I could make anything, and the girls loved it.
“I didn’t know you could cook! You can do anything Mr. Motoyasu! You’re amazing!”
“Yes, you are so very talented. A true Hero!”
“They’re right! My stomach is growling just looking at it!”
“I know, right? Dig in, girls!”
Everyone said it was delicious, and they ate a lot.
But I guess I made too much because it seemed like there were a lot of leftovers.
“Good night.”
After we finished dinner, and we had taken our baths, we chatted for a little while before the girls went off to their own room.
But my night wasn’t over just yet.
I guess the girls didn’t have enough energy to hang out through the night, but I did. I decided to head down to the bar.
I left the inn and walked down a dark back ally. That took me through a seedy area behind the pleasure quarters.
“Ah… I... No…”
I could hear some people deep in role-playing. Their voices echoed inside a small building. They seemed to be having quite the night.
No matter where you went, there were always businesses that profited on exhibiting the obscene. Oh well. It’s not like I could bust in there and save the girl or anything. It was her job after all.
But she sounded a lot like Rino. I’m sure it was just a coincidence. Rino was an adventurer, and she seemed like she’d had a good head on her shoulders. She wouldn’t be working in a place like that.
“Ah! Oh! Someone! Help me!”
I guess there was some real acting going on for the clients. I let those thoughts wander as I walked through town. Finally, I found a nice-looking bar.
“Haaaaaah!”
“Uoooah!”
“He… He’s too strong. And look at that Spear!”
“You don’t think… Is it the Spear Hero?!”
“I don’t give my name out to scum like you!”
We were in the middle of a quest to protect the carriage and its cargo.
We were a good way down the road when we ran into some bandits. I took them down.
“You’re amazing, Mr. Motoyasu! Wow!”
“It’s true! You just laid waste to them so easily! I think I’m in love!”
“Go Motoyasu!”
“Oh, you girls… Come on now…”
I tied up the bandits and dropped them off at the guard station of the closest village. I think it was called Riyute.
“Hm?”
I thought that I saw Naofumi heading for the mountains with some dirty little girl.
Maybe I was just imagining it?
Anyway, the girl looked like a country bumpkin. She wasn’t that cute.
Whatever, back to work.
Before long we arrived at the village in the midst of a famine.
“Oh, food! Thank you, Spear Hero.”
“Oh, it’s really nothing. Make sure you share the food equally.”
The villagers formed a big crowd around the carriage and its cargo.
Among them were skinny, starving children.
It hurt just to look at them. I had to finish the quest.
But before that…
“You’re cute! Want to get some tea?”
“I…”
Really, no matter what world you were in, girls were just so cute. I was pretty tired by that point, so we decided to get a room in town.
The next morning I woke up and went over to the room where the girls were sleeping.
“N… Muuu…”
I watched Myne’s sleeping face. She was murmuring some weird stuff.
I decided to scribble on her face. She’d be so surprised when she woke up!
“Spear Hero… Where are you off to now?”
My face was red from where Myne had slapped me, a fitting payment for my graffiti. I was speaking with the village chief.
“Just a little to… You know, fight the famine.”
“Mr. Motoyasu, where are we going today?”
“To a nearby dungeon. There is an item there that will help the village.”
“Oh, you just know everything, don’t you, Mr. Motoyasu?”
“Don’t embarrass me. Let’s get going.
Yes, there was a dungeon nearby. There was something there, in the ruins, that would fix it all.
In truth, I really should have done some research back at the castle library. But I had gotten some second-hand information, and so it shouldn’t be a big deal.
Besides, the sooner we fixed the famine, the less people would have to suffer.
That was the goal anyway. We soon arrived at the ruins.
The dungeon had three levels. They said you could solo it at level 30. It was a pretty early quest.
Now, had this been a game, you could probably set the difficulty level of the “instant dungeon” to match your own level. It was an instant dungeon, and they were instantly generated for you and your party only. There would be a map, and you wouldn’t meet any other players inside. You could take it on with just your party. Honestly, at our current levels, clearing it should be simple.
The dungeon was built of stone, and was an hour’s walk from the village. It was set into a slightly weathered cliff of red earth… just like in that game.
We entered the musty ruins and lit the candle-stands there. I remembered that the dungeon was booby-trapped.
“We shouldn’t run into many monsters in here, and we should be just fine at our levels.”
“Okay!”
Now then, I think the booby traps had something to do with the candles we lit on our way in. Our success or failure would depend on them.
And if we failed, we’d have to start all over from the beginning.
The booby trap was this: before the candles burned out, you had to defeat the golem at the very back of the dungeon.
In the game, the time limit had been thirty minutes. To be successful, you had to make it to the very bottom floor. It might have been set up like a maze, but I already knew my way.
There were a few different versions, but I had them all memorized, so we should be just fine.
Or so I thought. We kept running into dead ends.
Well, that was weird. In the game this had definitely been the right way.
Even still, we made it to the end of the dungeon within the time allotted. The room was filled with cool air. The walls were built of stone but were blue and transparent as if they were made from ice. The place felt mystical and dreamy.
“Wow…”
Myne and the others were amazed as they looked around.
“All right, so there should be a treasure chest, over there.”
I pointed to a large, ornate box way at the back of the room.
“But what’s inside?”
“There’s a Miracle Seed in there that will save the villagers. But first we have to defeat whoever is guarding it.”
“What do you mean?”
“When you get close to it, the bricks fall down from above and turn into a golem. Don’t worry. He’s not that strong. If you all back me up with magic, we’ll be just fine.”
“Yes sir!”
“We’re rooting for you!”
“You can do it, Mr. Motoyasu! It’s like you know everything about everything!”
“I know, I know. Stop embarrassing me.”
We walked closer to the treasure chest. Naturally, I took the lead and let the girls follow.
And just as I expected, the golem fell from above.
“Groowl…”
The stone golem raised his heavy arm to attack me.
“I’ll protect you! Wing Blow!”
“First Aqua Shot!”
“You can do it!”
Under attack from the girls’ magic and my skills, the golem quickly collapsed. From the collapsed stones, the core of the golem floated in the air.
“Haah!”
Before the golem could revive, I quickly cleaved the core in two.
“Ha! Take that!”
“You’re so strong, Mr. Motoyasu!”
“Yes! You really took care of that big golem!”
“You’re amazing!”
They all kept cheering for me.
“Oh well, it really isn’t much… Just kidding! It was pretty amazing! Hahaha!”
Now then, time to open the box and get that seed.
Or so I thought. But then…
There was a sudden and powerful rumble. The floor was shaking.
“Wh… What is this?!”
“An earthquake?!”
“It… It’s…”
I had a very bad feeling.
“This is weird. We didn’t fail…”
“What is it?!”
“When you mess up, the ruins collapse. Of course there is a way out, but then you have to start all over again. And to get out, there is a penalty dungeon.”
There was an item that we could only get at that dungeon, but it wasn’t like we really NEEDED it. Back when I was playing the beta version of the MMORPG, there was a very strong piece of equipment you could get from one of the monsters that appeared during this penalty dungeon event. But right now we needed to focus on lower-level projects.
“What?”
I didn’t understand. We should have had more than ten minutes remaining.
“What makes you fail the test?”
“Remember the candles we lit when we first came in? We just needed to defeat the golem before they burned out. And of course, if they had gone out during the allotted time, we were permitted to go back and relight them. Depending on the difficulty level you set, you could be forced to do so because the fights would take longer.”
“Huh…?”
Myne sounded confused.
“What is it?”
“Well I thought we didn’t need them, so I blew them out.”
“Whaaaaaaat?!”
Just as I screamed, the floor split open, and we all fell through the crack.
“Wooooaaaaahhhh!”
“Yaaaaaaaahhhh””
We’d fallen onto some sort of giant stone slide, and all of us were slipping and sliding down it quickly.
“M…Myne!”
“Mr. Motoyasu!”
I reached out my hand, but before we could find one another we all were split into different directions and partitioned from each other by walls.
“Where is this?”
The slide ended. I lit a torch and investigated my surroundings.
If this was anything like the game, then our paths would meet up…
I pictured the map in my head and started running.
There shouldn’t be any monsters in the dungeon that Myne and the others wouldn’t be able to take care of on their own. Even still, I’d feel better if we were all together.
“You know?”
I heard someone talking.
“That stupid guy needs to explain himself. You know?”
“He only looks at our boobs and butts. It gives me the willies.”
“He drew on my face when I was sleeping! He needs to learn his place.”
“But he’s easy to use because he’s stupid. He’s got money, and he’s a Hero, so we can do whatever we want.”
“I know!”
“Even still, that thing yesterday? No way!”
“My poor tongue. That terrible food from his world was disgusting.”
“I know!”
“How about that girl that tried to team up with us the other day? She was something else!”
“Oh, I know! Do you remember how we sold her off to that shop? I just told her we were going to a spa, and she walked in with handcuffs on and everything! It was so easy! It was so hard to keep from laughing!”
I remembered now. The theme of the dungeon had been betrayal.
There was a 30% chance of meeting a monster called the Voice Fighter, and it impersonated the voices of your party members. It was set up to say things that were too awful to believe.
Of course, in the game you couldn’t hear real voices, but your character would end up confused.
To my ear, it sounded like Myne and the others were saying awful things.
I turned the corner and found myself in a large, open space.
And Myne and the others were there. They had just finished beating up a Voice Fighter that was in the form of a bat.
“Oh! Mr. Motoyasu!”
“Hey, are you girls okay? This place has dangerous monsters that play with your mind.”
“We’re fine!”
Right, they’d finished the monster off before I arrived. Good.
“What should we do now?”
“We’re fine. Follow me.”
I pointed to the hallway that would lead us out. We followed it and found ourselves outside.
We had only been in the dungeon for a short time, but the sun felt blinding.
“Ok, you girls stay in the entrance and guard the candles. I’ll run to the bottom.”
“Ok, Mr. Motoyasu!”
“Yes! We’ll protect the candles with our very lives!
“Leave it to us!”
“Right on!”
I ran back through the dungeon and got the Miracle Seed.
I also let the Spear absorb the golem core and some of the stones there. The Spear it unlocked was just a drop item and wasn’t very good.
The equip bonus was status up. That might come in handy later.
We went back to the village and gave the Miracle Seed to the village chief.
“What is this?”
“It’s a Miracle Seed that produces abundant food when you plant it. It will solve your famine problem, so I assume you want to buy it.”
“This… This Seed?”
“Yeah, it was hidden deep in a nearby dungeon. Take good care of it.”
“But those ruins were supposed to have been sealed by a powerful, evil alchemist.”
“What?”
“Oh, it’s nothing. If the Spear Hero says it, it must be true.”
He smiled, and planted the Seed in a field.
It instantly sprouted, grew, and produced fruit. The village cheered.
“Thank you so much, Spear Hero!”
“Ha, ha ha! That’s what I’m here for, to save the world!
It really did feel good to help people.
“Oh hey? Once you two reach level 40 we should go back to Castle Town to change your class.”
The four Heroes couldn’t change their classes, which was different from the game. But Myne and the others could.
Class changing was a ceremony that you had to undergo to take the level cap off of your character and to improve your stats.
They held the ceremony at the Dragon Hourglass.
Myne was good with magic, so had this been a game she probably would have been a wizard. If so, then I would make her into a high level wizard.
Besides, I knew how the world worked, so my decisions were sure to turn out the best in the end.
“Yes!”
“Wow! It’s already time for rising in class?!”
“Excellent! Now we can do even more things for you! We want to help you, Mr. Motoyasu!”
“Right on!”
I thrust my fist in the air and savored our victory.
Then I reached out for Myne’s butt and gave it a squeeze.
“What was that?! Oh, Mr. Motoyasu, I sure wish you’d control yourself.”
“Ahahaha!”
Man, oh man, this world sure was fun.
I already knew everything I needed to know from the game, and all the girls loved me.
And besides, that vicious woman that killed me was nowhere near here.
It was so much fun! I just couldn’t stop laughing.
The wave would be here in six days. And I was starting to look forward to it.
That was how we spent our days: having fun and leveling up. We did so on the way back to Castle Town.
It was a great place for him, an ideal world full of excitement. He was proud to be there.
In the Records of the Four Holy Weapons it says that the Spear Hero thinks deeply of his friends.
If he continues on without understanding the difference between kindness and naivety, what sort of fate will he meet?
At the time, he was not the true Hero.
He was little more than a clown.
He only heard what he wanted, and ignored what upset him. His belief in his friends was unfounded and led him to great peril later on.
What happened to the town that he saved? The answer is not written as part of his story.
This story was inherited by a sage who delivered a sacred bird.
But even that is not enough to stop the large waves that were to come.
In the end, all is drowned by the waves of the destruction…
Special Extra Chapter Two:
The Flag on the Kid’s Meal
“I’m going out!”
“Make sure you are back for lunch!”
“Okay!”
The weather is amazing today!
After I said bye to my parents I headed for the town square. Keel and the others were waiting for me there.
“Hey, you really came!”
“Sure.”
Keel wiggled his little dog-like ears while he waited for me.
The other kids were already there.
“They said we can’t go to the ocean today because Sadeena isn’t here. I said it would be fine, but still…”
“But Keel, you almost drowned last time.”
“Oh shut up! Anyway, let’s play in the fields today.”
“Okay!”
Everyone nodded in agreement.
“All right, let’s go! You’d better stick with me so you don’t get lost!”
“Who do you think you’re talking to? I’m a fast runner!”
We all raced each other out to the fields.
But really, I was a fast runner. I was probably just as fast as Keel, and everyone said that he was the fastest.
Once I started running, everyone fell into line behind me.
“You really are fast!”
“If you throw your arms out ahead of you and think about running faster, you’ll really increase your speed.”
I was trying to tell one of the slower kids how to run fast, and as we were talking about it we arrived at the field.
My parents had said that we needed to be careful because there were monsters, but we had never run into any real danger.
“What do you want to do today?”
“Ah shoot! I lost. I swear that I’ll beat you next time!”
Keel shot me a nasty look.
Heh, heh. This was going to be a good day.
“Let’s play tag!”
“Sounds good!”
“Yeah!”
Everyone agreed with my plan.
“I’ll be it! I’m going to catch you!”
“You won’t catch me!”
Keel really hated to lose, but that was one of the best things about him.
“Ahahaha!”
“Shoot! Wait up!”
Keel seemed like he was actually upset. He only chased after me.
Eventually we all tired out, and we all decided to take a break.
“What should we do next?”
“Everyone can still play, right?”
“I don’t have to help out at home, so I can still play.”
For whatever reason, there were times when everyone had stuff they had to do at home. I helped my mom cook.
“Let’s play tag again!”
“But I’m so tired. Let me catch my breath.”
Keel had way too much energy. I guess boys are like that.
“Whatever. Then the rest of us will play without you.”
“Yeah!”
All the boys got up and went to play tag.
“They sure are energetic.”
“I know!”
The girl next to me, Rifana, agreed with me. We both sat and watched the boys play.
“Hey, who do you like?”
“Hmmm…”
We were all close to the age where we started to care about love and relationships.
We started talking about who was dating who, and who we thought would get married. Before long we were both talking excitedly.
“Maybe someone like my dad!”
“That’s cheating! He needs to be the same age as you!”
“Hmm…”
I turned to watch the boys playing.
Keel was probably the coolest boy among them. He had a good face. But, and I know I shouldn’t say things like this, I’d never liked the look of my own face in the mirror.
If we went to the nearby town there were a lot of cute girls around, and the older we got the more obvious their beauty became.
And my race wasn’t highly regarded for our beauty…
But my dad was cool, and he was handsome. I wanted to be like my dad.
Everyone said that my mom was cute. She was really nice too, and she knew how to cook…
I wonder… Will I be pretty when I grow up? I’d asked my mom that question before.
She smiled and nodded.
So I was pretty sure I’d be pretty once I grew up.
Another time, I asked her what it was like to fall in love with a man. Is it different from loving your family?
She looked confused.
I guess she loved men differently from the way she loved me.
“I think there are different ways to like people. My mom once said that she liked people differently from the way she liked me.”
“Yeah! I get that. But I want to marry someone like… someone like the Legendary Shield Hero!”
Rifana was my best friend from the village. She was more girly than I was, and she liked to talk about love and boys. She especially liked to talk about the Records of the Four Holy Weapons, because it said that the Shield Hero was nice to demi-humans.
“Well I…”
But just then…
Up until that point I had never thought that my life would consist of anything other than a succession of peaceful days. I had really believed it.
Ping!
A loud sound echoed over the fields
Just as I started to wonder what it could be, the air started shaking, and a sudden and powerful wind blew.
“Ah!”
“Kyaaah!”
“What the?”
We all fell to the ground and waited for the wind to die down.
A moment later the wind faded. Everything was quiet.
“What was that?!”
“Hey, look at that.”
Keel was pointing to the sky.
I looked to where he was pointing and was stunned to silence.
The sky looked like it had been ripped open with a knife. It was coved in a deep red crack, like a tortoise shell. It was eerie.
“What should we do?”
“My parents said to come back to the village if anything happened.”
“If we don’t check it out now, we might not ever have a chance again.”
“No! Keel!”
The other kids and I all held Keel back, and we went back to the village together.
“Raphtalia!”
“Daddy!”
My father returned from the neighboring town. I rushed over to him.
“Are you okay? I was so worried!”
“I’m okay. You said to come back if anything happened, so I rushed back here.”
“Good girl.”
He rubbed my head.
Hee hee hee…
My dad started talking to all the other adults.
“Everyone listen up. I’ve just gone to see the lord of these lands. He says that those cracks in the sky lead to the ground and that huge crowds of monsters are swarming out of them.”
“Does that mean that we have to fight them?”
“I think it does.”
There was a terrifying howl coming from the cracks in sky.
My tail started swishing aggressively at the sound of the howl. It was so scary.
“Will we be okay?”
“Hm….”
“H…Hey! We’re in trouble! The monsters have already flooded the town! It’s like hell out there!”
An old man from the village ran in and announced the news. His face was pale.
“But… How? How could they have gotten here so fast?!”
“The lord has commanded us to evacuate as quickly as possible! He has already called for support from the castle!”
“What had happened to the lord?”
“I don’t know, but he has left instructions for everyone to evacuate as soon as possible!”
“Ugh…”
The adults looked very upset as they talked.
“And Sadeena is away, and all the hunters are out fishing…”
“There’s a big storm out at sea too. Who knows if they will be able to return safely?”
The sky was looking worse and worse.
Just then there was a large, strange sound. Everyone turned to see what it was.
“What… is that?!”
There was something there, like… like a person made of bones. It was stumbling and dragging its feet as it walked in our direction.”
It was carrying something like a weapon in its bony hands, and it was shining with a dull light.
I was scared. I was scared down to my bones.
It was a monster.
That was the only word that fit, and it described it perfectly.
“Uh… aaaaaahhhhhh!”
The adults all screamed and started to run away.
The rest of the villagers all started to scream too.
My father jumped in front of the monster to head them off.
“I command the very root of power. Light! Slay the beast before me!”
“First Holy!”
A ball of magical, sparkling light flew from my father’s outstretched hands, and the bone monster collapsed.
“Everyone please calm down and listen to me. We need to evacuate here as soon as possible. While our tribe commands great power, we have no hope of standing up to such numbers.”
“You’re right.”
My mother threw a hatchet at a skeleton as she agreed with my father.
But there were still large numbers of skeletons heading for the village.
“We will stay here and buy time. The rest of you…”
“Uh… okay.”
“Y…Yes.”
“All right. If you are sure…”
Everyone caught their breath for a moment before beginning the evacuation.
They decided to head for a town on the harbor. Even in a storm, they still might be able to escape on boats, out into the sea.
“AAAHHHHHH!”
But things didn’t go as planned.
“Damn these monsters!”
A large beast with three heads was running for the village.
My parents were fighting with all their might, but it wasn’t enough. The beast was too fast; it kept dodging my father’s magic and my mother’s hatchet.
“Gaahhhh!”
The beast violently swung its clawed paw, and my father and another villager went flying through the air. They both fell to the ground, their joints twisted.
Huh? What?
I couldn’t believe it…
“Wh… WHAAAAAAAAA!!”
“AAAAAHHH!”
The villagers started panicking and running as fast as they could.
They ignored my father’s shouts for order and ran for the ocean.
The panicking villagers pushed by me, and I fell to the ground.
“Everyone, wait just a second!”
“Are you okay?”
My mother was there, hugging me.
But her face was pale.
A three-headed dog was chasing down the villagers, attacking them with its fangs and claws.
“I’m… scared…”
My mother ran her fingers through my hair.
“It’s okay. We’ll be just fine, don’t you worry.”
“Um…Um…”
If my mother said we would be okay… we would be… right?
“We’re going.”
My father started running off after the other fleeing villagers. My mother and I followed close behind.
The villagers arrived at a cliff by the sea and started jumping into the ocean.
The dog was chasing after them. And then, I couldn’t believe it! The dog jumped into the ocean after them and started eating the swimming villagers.
The ocean turned red.
“Wahhhhhhh!”
“Dammit, we were too late!”
My father was screaming. He and my mother ran off to attack the dog and defend the remaining villagers. I hid behind them.
“Aaaaah!”
The huge, three-headed dog leapt out of the ocean and turned to face us. It howled. It cornered us against the cliff, so that we had nowhere to run.
“Grrr…”
The three-headed dog leapt at us, its claws out.
My father managed to bat away the claws with his magic, but then a shower of blood sprayed from his shoulder.
Huh?
“Dear, are you all right?”
“I’m fine… But…”
We were up against the cliff. The other villagers were all already in the ocean, but more than half of them had been… had been…
“Ahhh…”
“I was so scared. I held onto my mother’s back.
Everyone below was swimming to save their own lives, but the current was strong, and they kept getting pulled further out to sea. They were going to drown.
“If we don’t take care of this thing, he’ll follow the villagers into the sea and kill them all.”
“I know…”
“‘I’m sorry, honey…”
“I was prepared.”
They finished talking and both turned to me.
“Raphtalia.”
“Wh…What?”
She was rubbing my back, trying to calm me down.
“Don’t forget to smile. Be nice to the others.”
“She’s right. When you smile, everyone smiles.”
Father rubbed my head.
“Raphtalia… Things will be hard for you. If you aren’t careful, you might even die.”
“But still… Even still, Raphtalia, we want you to live. So please, forgive us for our selfishness.”
My heart started pounding… It was like… It was like I wasn’t ever going to see them again.
“Nooo! Mommy! Daddy!”
I didn’t want to leave them.