After parting with Oyaji, we journeyed to the new village.
The village's name was Riyuuto. It seemed like a good, operational base for adventurers. But since there was only one Inn, the fee was one silver coin for a single night.
The Traveling Merchant dropped by this place only once every two days.
Since there was no pharmacy store, I had to sell cheaper medicine directly to the villagers in order to compete with the imported remedies from the castle town.
To compensate for this, the medicine I sold was subpar from its usual quality.
By the way, my notoriety had spread quite far. When I first I arrived, I had to punish quite a few morons with my infamous 'Balloon Release'.
And that's the gist of it.
Thanks to the monsters around town, the medical herbs, and the lumber, I was able to absorb them all and create multiple shields. I also learned a lot of new skills and techniques.
There were also various stat increases, but I won't go into that since it's such a hassle.
"Wait―!"
Raphtalia began chasing the porcupine-like monster who, upon realizing its disadvantage, fled the battle.
Raphtalia's level had raised considerably. I was now at Lv 20 while she was at Lv 25.
Her growth was surprisingly fast.
... By the way, I was still fighting in my ordinary clothes.
And since I had yet to take any damage, not to mention all the monster attacks seemed weak and feeble up until now, this incident became a real head scratcher when I thought about it.
Yet it served as a painful experience for me.
Overestimating my defense, I went into battle with a weak shield, and it hurt like hell when I had taken a hit.
Astonishingly, I had received some small scratches from this Porcupine's ambush attack.
"Ouch, that hurt quite a bit. It's been awhile since I last felt like this."
I promptly smeared the wound with a 'heal pill' to prevent the bleeding.
That needle sure stung when I got hit, naturally.
"Like I said before, it hurts, right? Naofumi-sama should just give in and buy some equipment already."
"Nope... It was only because I was using a weak shield."
Since when did Raphtalia start calling me 'Naofumi-sama' instead of 'Goshujin-sama"?
Well whatever. It wasn't a big deal, and it had a nice ring to it.
Anyways, my shield could cover up my whole body. So it wouldn't make much sense to also wear individual pieces of protective gear.
Just in case, I had always defended with the sturdiest part of my shield, and I hadn't received a single injury up until now.
So this is my very first time experiencing damage. That's all there is to it.
I watched the Whetstone Shield's auto-polishing at work. It really was quite a convenient shield, one that I always used.
The polishing time period was 8 hours. There'll be no effect if I pulled any weapons out beforehand.
The only drawback was that while in use, my SP won't recover since I'll be continuously drained.
Ah, speaking of which, I guess I should try utilizing the other abilities in my skill set...
"Air Strike Shield!"
It's the first skill which I learned. It summons a shield within a range of about five meters.
But it served no purpose if I was alone.
It felt like everyone was forced into having a specialized role.
I focused my mind, imagining the desired location to call forth my Air Strike shield; this mysterious ward which will vanish once its duration time is over.
Alright, just a little bit more.
The porcupine stumbled in surprise due to the sudden appearance of my conjured shield.
However, it immediately regained its balance and resumed its escape once again.
Kuh... And here I thought that five meters was more than enough distance to catch up with you; this one was surprisingly fast at fleeing.
Guess I'll have to use this.
"Shield Prison!"
A skill which allows me to summon an enclosed cage anywhere within a six meter radius.
This time around, I'll be dropping it directly on my target, the porcupine.
Although this skill was intended for protection, it could also be used as a restraining device to trap a target inside.
Indeed, it was both an offensive and defensive skill.
"Kii!"
No longer able to escape, the Porcupine rampaged inside 'the Shield Prison'.
Its duration period was 15 seconds.
During that time, Raphtalia rapidly approached the 'Shield Prison'. Then right as its effect had ended, she pierced the Porcupine with her sword.
"Kii!?"
"I did it!"
Raphtalia triumphantly returned while gripping the dead porcupine.
"Nice!"
An adequate harvest.
We defeated our quarry, properly dissected its remains, and then absorbed the pieces into the shield so that it would undergo transformation. I only discovered this last week, but it seems the Balloon, Mush, and Eggy were all classified as 'material'. Well, that hadn't been anything worth noticing back then, really.
I immediately dismantled the porcupine into needles, meat, and skin. It was quite easy after learning the trick to it.
All of them were precious materials and must be handled with care.
I absorbed the leftovers into the shield.
The bones belonged to the bone category, which required several other bones from different monsters, while the skin belonged to the pelt category and granted some additional stats through equipment bonuses. Of course, there were some cases where I lacked the required Lv or category in order to unseal.
The meat belonged to the cuisine category. A topic which certainly caught my attention.
I'm looking forward to what the needles will do. They are a porcupine's trademark after all.
So it's a shield made of an animal's spikes. A needle shield... I'm excited to see what the unsealed effect will be.
Equipment Bonus: Offensive Power +1 <Unmastered>
Special Effect: Shield of Needles (small)
Hell yeah! An increase in my offensive poweeeeeeeeeeeeer!
Yeah. I know. It's only a measly increase of +1.
Although I didn't know what 'Special Effect: Shield of Needle (Small)' could actually do, I was able to acquire an offensive shield, which is far more important.
This is just the beginning. From now on I'll be able to attack too if I kept absorbing items which are connected with this shield type category.
The defensive force was slightly lower than the others belonging to the mineral category, but that should be alright.
"How did it go?"
"Haha, it seems that this shield will increase my attack power."
"So you finally got it, good for you. But how about its defensive force?"
Raphtalia pointed at my wound with a dubious look.
"It's so-so, I guess."
"Is that so... Um, I wanted to ask if my sword could be polished but..."
"Got it. Let's end our hunt and return to the forest for now."
"Hai!"
I equipped the 'Whetstone Shield' and inserted Raphtalia's sword into one of its slots.
Currently polishing...
Now then, our levels rose considerably after a full week's worth of extensive money making, and we made a grand total of 230 silver coins.
A moderate amount of medicine was sold, and the business on lumbering and mining was booming thanks to my new shield skills.
There was a shallow cause for concern, however, as it seemed that my online gaming tendencies were having an effort on how I had been acting.
Well back then, I was too preoccupied with deciding the best possible method in order to earn a decent living.
And I didn't waste time on pointless actions which didn't strengthen me either. So it couldn't be helped since this was what I needed to do in order to survive.
"Well then, we should return soon and upgrade your gear, Raphtalia."
"... Naofumi-sama?"
Huh? For some reason, Raphtalia was softly smiling at me. Yet I couldn't help but feel a strange, spine-freezing chill at the mere sight of her.
"Although, I very much welcome the idea of buying new equipment, but can you please pay a little more attention to yourself and how you're dressed?"
"Do I look weird or something?"
"Except for that shield, you look like a common villager."
"W-...well, it wasn't really necessary... but I guess a small change in my attire should be alright?"
Gashi!*
Raphtalia threateningly gripped my shoulder with a smile.
"Didn't you get injured just a short while ago?"
"Like I said, I was deliberately using a weak shield... so it should still be fine, right? Your weapon's much more important than me right now, so it's better to invest our――"
"Naofumi-sama? Do you know that you'll be dying very soon if you keep on joking like this?"
"Death!?"
With spare sword in hand, Raphtalia was poking me with it forebodingly.
Although, I supposedly couldn't be harmed by her due to the slave's restraining spell.
"... To begin with, shouldn't you worry more about your own equipment? The deadline is approaching, isn't it?"
"... haha."
Come to think of it, she's right. There were only a few days left before the wave of calamity spawns.
I'll need to continue growing stronger until then.
Though I've certainly become anxious about dressing up like your average townie.
The ends and the means had truly been misplaced.
"Haa……"
Even though I wanted to raise my offensive power a bit more...
"Instead of me, let's hurry up and find Naofumi-sama's equipment right away."
"I guess so, we'll be buying my gear for the time being. But we'll use the remaining amount to get your weapon."
"Hai."
Although I may have gotten use to it, she sure has become more cheeky as of late...
Her violent actions have escalated recently along with her growing stubbornness. I really wanted to know why our positions were somehow reversed.
She's become quite a bossy slave if I do say so myself.
