11 – Harsh lessons for survival

After lunch, we headed off to the meadows for live combat practice.

Lia hummed along the way, but when she saw the wide open grasslands she started to tremble.

Sylvia was a little better, but her shivering ears revealed her concerns.

“You two worry too much. As long as I’m here, none of the monsters will be able to hurt you.”

Sylvia responded first. “Yes, Master.”

Lia turned towards me and stared. She still looked hesitant.

I smirked. “What? Don’t believe me? Well… you’ll see soon enough.”

I started walking with Lia and Sylvia following close behind. But before we got too far, I remembered something.

“Right, Lia. Here.” I pulled out an elixir from my inventory and handed it to Lia. “This will heal you up properly. It’s not quite as strong as what I gave Sylvia, but it should be enough to get rid of whatever’s causing you to be sick.”

Lia nodded and took the bottle. When she did, she paused, staring at the bottle’s glistening container. “G-Goshujin-sama. Are you sure you want to *koho* use such a precious medicine on me?”

“Your cough is annoying, so yes. Hurry up already.”

Lia stared at me for a bit and then opened the bottle. With a quick swig, the bottle was gone. Lia blinked and then said, “It… wasn’t bitter?”

“Of course not. If something that high-grade tasted bitter I’d beat myself up.”

If only she knew how many failures were sitting in my inventory before I figured that out…

We picked up medicinal herbs along the way to the forest. When we arrived, two Red Balloons instantly came flying out from a bush.

“Hii!” Lia flinched and stepped back.

Sylvia flinched as well. She fumbled for her blade, but managed to drop it in fear.

They didn’t have anything to be afraid of though. I grabbed both of the balloons before they could come within a foot of either girls and then held them out.

“Alright. Just like we did earlier, girls.”

The two of them looked at each other before facing me with determined eyes. Lia charged first and stabbed the balloon in my left hand. At the same time, Sylvia picked up her knife and stabbed the one in my right.

Like that, two balloons were killed and we gained exp.

It was enough to level both of the girls up. Glancing at their stats, I saw that they increased by over ten points each, the result of the elixirs I gave them and my corrective shield abilities.

After that, I picked up the balloon skins and absorbed them into my shield.

Lia’s eyes widened when she saw that and said, “Goshujin-sama… just who are you?”

Sylvia stared at me as well and nodded. “Yes, Master. Would you tell us who you are? An amazing person like you can’t be an ordinary person, right?”

“Hm? Ah, right. You girls wouldn’t know since you were slaves… I’m Naofumi, the Shield Hero. Also the guy that became a pariah after false accusations, but that’s neither here nor there.”

Lia paused and said, “The legendary hero?”

“Sure, if you want to call me that. There are three others too… though they’re probably still treating this like a game and not real life. Hah, they’re going to get smacked in the face real soon.”

If they kept acting like this world was nothing more than a game, then their lives would take a turn for the worse soon enough. Granted, I’d probably be stuck cleaning up after them, but that didn’t matter too much. Opportunities to increase my reputation now that it had become negative were always welcome.

“Anyway,” I said after turning back towards the girls. “Today’s task will be hunting monsters in the forest. I’ll grab them and you two will kill them.”

“Y-Yes,” Lia said.

“Understood, Master,” Sylvia said.

It seemed that Lia was still hesitant, but she’d get used to it soon enough.

After making sure the two were armed and ready again, I started heading towards the forest.

Balloons of all sorts popped out when we walked, just like random encounters. The fact that my defense was so high, as well as my Guard shield meant that there weren’t any problems though. Slowly but surely, we got used to the party formation of me as the vanguard and the two girls as support.

Midway through the forest, a monster other than a balloon popped up. It was a white moving mushroom with sharp slanted eyes. It was also pretty big for a mushroom, about the size of a human head.

When it saw me, it roared and lunged at me with a headbutt.

“Futile.”

I grabbed it in mid-air. A metallic clang echoed as it struck my body.

I squeezed my hand. Unlike the balloons which had a rubbery texture, the mushroom monster was squishy like… well, a mushroom.

“Goshujin-sama! Look out!”

“Hm?”

Hearing Rapthalia’s voice, I turned around. “What are you talking about?”

At that time, the mushroom in my hand shuddered.

I narrowed my eyes and turned my attention back towards it.

The mushroom let out a squeaky noise and then sent out a puff of white powder.

“Master!”

That time, Sylvia called out.

[Status effect: Toxin]

[Homeostasis Shield nullifies the effect]

“It’s fine. Just a bit of toxin.”

“Toxin?!”

I couldn’t tell if that was Lia or Sylvia, but it didn’t matter too much.

I activated guard to draw all of the toxin towards me and then turned towards the girls.

I raised the squirming mushroom towards them and said, “Alright. Which one of you two want this one?”

Lia and Sylvia shared a look before Lia stepped forward. With a quick slash, the mushroom was cut down and we gained a bit more exp.

I grabbed the drops from the mushroom and fed it to my shield, unlocking the Mush set and more stat points.

I nodded and then turned back towards the path. “Well, let’s keep going. Stick close you two.”

More mushroom monsters tried ambushing us as we traveled. Of course, the result was the same. The difference however was that I managed to gain a few skills out of it from the shields they unlocked.

Plant Identification and compounding.

Normally, it just improved my ability and quality in those actions. However, combined with my parallel system…

(Alchemy unlocked. The creation of magical medicine can be performed.)

A jackpot. Synthesis let me finagle my way to make medicine, but I had a direct means of doing it now. Not only that, but it had good synergy with synthesis, allowing me to improve it with base material.

I wasn’t the only one who improved though. By the end of the day, both Raphtalia and Sylvia had become Level 5. Due to the enhancements bestowed by the elixirs I gave them and the corrective effects of the Master Shield I created, they were more on par with Level 10s. So far, the effect was only double, but I had high expectations for the later levels. Especially when I managed to figure out how to carry stats over…

Eventually night fell.

Since I didn’t think my abilities were enough to protect both Lia and Sylvia yet from assassins in the kingdom, I decided to set up camp in the meadows by the riverbed so that I could have a clear view of everything.

Lia and Sylvia helped me gather some firewood and setup the campfire. But when they did, Sylvia turned to look at me.

“Master?”

“Hm? What is it, Sylvia?”

She glanced at the firewood and me and then said, “…I apologize but I don’t possess any fire magic.”

Lia nodded quietly from the side.

“…Ah. Right.”

Having let them fight the entire time, they got the misconception that I’d make them do everything.

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