Tate No Yuusha No Nariagari (LN)

Chapter 11

Chapter Eleven: The Fruits of Slavery

We finished our meals, left the restaurant, and made for the fields .

Raphtalia was in a good mood, and she hummed a song as we walked . But once we left the town and arrived in the fields, she looked scared, and started shivering .

She must have been afraid of the monsters .

“Don’t be scared . I’ll protect you from the monsters . ”

She looked confused again .

“Check it out . These things have been chewing on me for a while now . Doesn’t hurt a bit . ”

I pulled back my cape to show Raphtalia all the balloons there, chewing on me . She jumped back in surprise .

“That doesn’t… hurt?”

“Not at all . ”

“Really…”

“Let’s go . ”

“Okay… cough!”

She had been coughing a lot, but it was probably nothing .

Picking the medicinal grasses along the way, we headed in the direction of the forest .

Hey, there’s one!

No… There were three . Three Red Balloons . They were in the bushes at the edge of the forest . I called out for Raphtalia to be careful and drew the balloons’ attention . Soon, they were biting me .

“Just like last time! Just stab them from the back . ”

“… Okay!”

She lunged forward and sunk her knife into the balloon .

Bang! Bang! Bang!

At the end of the fight, Raphtalia became level 2 .

Red Small Shield: conditions met

Red Small Shield: ability locked: equip bonus: defense up 4

I immediately changed the shield into its newest form . Raphtalia was amazed by the process .

“How did you… Just what ARE you, Master?”

Didn’t she know I was the Shield Hero? Well, she was a demi-human, and a slave on top of that .

“I’m a hero . The Shield one . ”

“Hero? You mean like one of the four Holy Things?”

“You know about it?”

She nodded .

“That’s right . I’m one of the summoned heroes . But I’m the weakest one!”

I chewed on my nails during my announcement . Just thinking of the others filled me with murderous rage .

Noticing my anger, Raphtalia was suddenly upset, so I decided not to continue the story any further .

“Anyway, the plan for today is to take on the monsters in these woods . I’ll hold them down, you stab them . ”

“O…kay . ”

Maybe she was getting used to me . She answered much quicker than usual .

We worked our way through the forest, and every time we encountered an enemy, I’d lure its attention, grab it, and Raphtalia would stab it from behind .

Soon enough, we came upon something besides balloons .

Loomush .

It was white, something like a mushroom, and hopped around . It had narrow, squinting eyes, and stood about as tall as a person .

I tried hitting it, but I had the same luck as I’d had with the balloon .

I had Raphtalia kill it .

We soon came across Bluemushes and Greenmushes .

Mush Shield: conditions met

Blue Mush Shield: conditions met

Green Mush Shield: conditions met

Mush Shield: ability locked:

equip bonus: plant appraisal 1

Blue Mush Shield: ability locked:

equip bonus: simple recipe 1

Green Mush Shield: ability locked:

equip bonus: apprenticeship compounding

None of these abilities were status boosts . They all seemed to be new abilities .

Compounding… That would be useful once I used up my medicine stores .

By the end of the day Raphtalia was at level 3, and I had risen to level 5 .

Evening fell, and we left the forest to walk along the riverbank .

“Cough…”

Raphtalia was silent, complained about nothing, and stuck with me the whole time .

We’d have to spend at least some time focusing on building up our finances .

We arrived at the river . I opened my bag, removed some firewood, and passed it to Raphtalia . She stacked the logs and set flame to them .

“Go wash up . If you get cold, you can warm up at the fire . ”

“… Okay . ”

Raphtalia undressed and jumped in the water . I started fishing and tried to secure some dinner for us . I tried to watch over her as I fished . But there were no balloons in the area, and everything seemed safe .

I started going over the loot we’d secured that day .

We had a pretty large pile of medicinal herbs and lots of herbs that you couldn’t find in the fields .

We had some balloon skins, quite a few, and a good amount of mushrooms too .

And I’d unlocked four new kinds of shields .

Yes, I was way more efficient working with her . Good thing I bought myself a slave .

I should try compounding .

I brought up an easy recipe .

I found one recipe that could be made with the herbs I had on hand .

As for materials… I should be able to make do with the rocks from the river . I could grind things up with them . I’d need a recipe for mortar and pestle .

There must have been some tricks to make it easier, but they were not noted in the recipe .

I thought back on what was for sale at the apothecary . The pharmacist had been working on something that looked like it could be made from the materials I had, so I took a crack at it, and just copied whatever I could remember .

Healing Medicine: fabricated

Healing Medicine: quality: bad to fair: effective when immediately applied to the surface of wounds

The information appeared directly before my eyes .

I guess it was a success .

The shield responded but didn’t absorb the medicine .

I thought it would be a good idea to try some other combinations, some things I didn’t have recipes for . I tried mixing a variety of things, and the majority of attempts ended in failure: typically a black pile of rubbish . It was pretty interesting though .

It reminded me of an online game, though that thought was immediately followed by the memory of the other heroes . I found myself quickly annoyed

I could hear the snapping of logs in a fire . Raphtalia had left the water and was already warming up near the flames .

“Warm yet?”

“Yes . Cough…”

She must have had a cold of some kind . The slave trader had mentioned that she was sick . Which reminded me… didn’t I just make some medicine? I couldn’t have her dying before I made back the money I’d spent on her . It might not be smart to give away some of my scarce resources, but I didn’t really have a choice .

Normal Medicine: quality: fair: effective on weak colds

“Here, take this . ”

I didn’t know if her cold was “weak,” but it was all I had .

“… But it hurts, so… ugh…”

The dummy, she tried to say something selfish . She put her hand to her chest in pain .

“See?”

“Y…yes, okay . ”

She took the medicine with trembling hands then quickly drank it all .

“Huff… Huff…”

“Nice . Good job . ”

I rubbed her head, and she didn’t try to stop me .

Her raccoon ears were so fluffy . I looked at her tail, and her forehead furrowed, as if to say, “What are you looking at?” Her tail started batting around in irritation .

“All right, dinner time . ”

I hooked a fish, skewered it on a stick, roasted it over the fire, and passed it to Raphtalia . I took a bite, but it didn’t taste like anything . It was like a crumbling, firm tofu, without any flavor .

I was surprised by how disgusting fish looked once you were unable to taste it . Whatever, no matter . It might have been gross, but Raphtalia was eating it up voraciously .

I decided to return to fabrication .

I’d always liked subtle work like this . The sun fell, and everything plunged into darkness . I continued working in the ring of light around the fire .

Apparently there were all kinds of things you could make .

After she finished eating, Raphtalia gazed at the fire, mesmerized . She looked like she was falling asleep .

“You can go to sleep, you know . ”

She shook her head vigorously .

What now? She was acting just like a kid who didn’t want to go to sleep . But then again, I guess she WAS a kid . She’d fall asleep if I just left her alone . I wondered if the medicine was having any effect on her . She didn’t seem to be coughing as much .

I continued fabricating for a little while and started to get an idea of what I could make .

I took some of the poor materials I’d made and let the shield absorb them to see what I’d get .

Small Medicine Shield: conditions met

Small Poison Shield: conditions met

Small Medicine Shield: ability locked:

equip bonus: medicine efficacy up

Small Poison Shield: ability locked:

equip bonus: poison resistance up

Any of the shields could be equipped from the Leaf or Mushroom Shields . I didn’t really know how useful medicine efficacy would be . Did it mean that using medicine would work better? Or did it mean that I could fabricate more powerful medicines? It didn’t matter . We’d collected a lot of materials today, and that would help us .

Raphtalia had fallen asleep but suddenly started speaking .

“No… No… Help!

She was having a nightmare .

“Noo! Noooooo!”

Her voice rang in my ears, high-pitched and terrified .

This wasn’t good . What if her screams attracted monsters?

I ran over and put my hand over her mouth .

“N………!”

Still, her shouts made it through my fingers . I see what the slave trader meant when he said she had issues .

This could be a problem .

“Relax! Calm down!”

She was screaming, but still asleep . I hoisted her up and held her close to pacify her .

“Noo! Daddy… Mo…mmy . ”

She called out for her parents . Tears were streaming down her face . She reached out a hand, calling for help .

I didn’t know what her situation was, but it looked like she was traumatized by her separation from her parents .

“You’re okay… You’re okay…”

I ran my hand over her head . I was trying to calm her down .

“Ugh…”

She kept crying . I held her close .

“ARRR!”

A balloon appeared, attracted by her screams .

“Geez…”

Of all the bad timing…

I held Raphtalia tight, and ran for the balloon .

“Arrrrggghhhh!”

Cheep! Cheep!

“Morning already?”

It had been a hard night . After I finished with the balloons, Raphtalia’s crying started to subside . It grew intense again if I backed away from her . And when it grew intense again, the balloons came back . I ended up getting very little sleep .

“Um…”

“You’re awake?”

“Ahh?!”

She was shocked to find herself in my arms, and her eyes grew wide in surprise .

“Ah… That was tiring . ”

It would be a little while before the castle gates opened . This was my only shot to get a nap .

Our job for the day would be selling off the medicine I’d made and the herbs we’d gathered . If the herbs sold for a better price than the medicine, there was no point in making medicine .

“I’m going to take a nap . Can you eat the leftover fish for breakfast?”

She nodded slowly .

“All right then, night . If monsters come, wake me up . ”

It was hard just to keep my eyes open . I felt myself being drawn to sleep .

What was she so afraid of? I didn’t plan on asking her . It must have been that her parents sold her off, or that she was taken away .

Even if it was the latter, I didn’t need to return her . It’s not like I’d stolen her, I’d paid a hefty price for her service .

She could hate me if she wanted . I needed to stay alive .

I had to find a way back home .