13 – Selective kindness

A soft whimper sounded out from beside me. I quickly glanced at it to see Lia shifting about in her sleep. Was she having a nightmare? No, it would be a panic attack, wouldn’t it? That slave master had mentioned it, and I remembered reading about it.

Since it’d be a pain to hear her screaming, as well as dealing with all the monsters, I activated guard to deal with the nightmare. After all, ‘fear’ was a status effect. Nightmare was only an evolved form of that, right?

Almost immediately, shadowy figures appeared in my field of view. Terribly distorted monsters of pure darkness with crimson orbs for eyes.

Before I could react, they lunged towards me. But it was pointless. Status effects couldn’t be inflicted on me.

With a single glance, the shadows dispersed. At the same time, Lia’s breathing quieted down. I didn’t know just how that effected her, but it seemed to have helped.

Glancing over at Sylvia, I saw that she was sleeping soundly as well. It was surprising, considering her past, but maybe that was just the result of being saved at such a low point. Maybe my very presence was enough to ward off those memories.

Regardless, it would still be a long night. The girls were fast asleep, but I couldn’t. No, that wasn’t true. I could sleep, but it’d be a waste of time.

Instead… it’d be best to spend that time on preparing.

That goddess… I need a countermeasure. Let’s see. She was able to kill everyone with 100% aim and instant death. How did those occur? Energy? Manipulation of the natural laws? No, it was the power obtained from various worlds.

But did that have to be the case? Why would one need strength from different worlds?

Hm.

It was a path to godhood. But I knew another one.

Switching the internal with the external, the infinite potential of the human spirit. Cultivating energy within oneself by defying the heavens. Basically, breaking out of the system constraining you.

And I had that. A parallel system… maybe this was the path. Naofumi and Raphtalia walked along a road that borrowed the power of the world to cut down gods. That reptile guy had the power to kill gods but was extremely weak against humans.

But neither were cultivators, those insanely powerful figures that defied heaven’s path.

I examined my parallel system and thought.

…This required more research. A system of the self to transcend the world… if I could accomplish it then…

Time passed by in a flash while I was caught up in my speculations. Before I knew it, the sun had risen once more.

Lia was the first to wake up. She rubbed her bleary eyes and then glanced at me. “Goshujin-sama?”

“What?”

Maybe she was still half-awake. She shook her head slowly and said, “I had a weird dream. There were monsters… but then you showed up to save me.”

“Hm. Well, that’s what’s happening in real life, so I wouldn’t call that dream weird.”

Sylvia yawned and then stared at me. She blinked a few times, showing off those clear violet eyes, and then a bright smile showed up on her face. “Morning Master!”

“Good morning, Sylvia.”

The fox girl smiled and tottered over before leaning her head against my side. I patted her hair and said, “Go wash your face. You too, Lia. After that and eating breakfast, we’re going to be heading back into town to sell some medicine.”

“Yes, Master!”

“Y-Yes, Goshujin-sama.”

===

We were walking back to the castle town. Sylvia stuck close by my right side while Lia was on my left. Maybe because we decimated the monsters last night, we weren’t bothered by any on our way back.

Because of that, there was time for a peaceful chat.

“Master?”

“What is it, Sylvia?”

The fox girl stared at me, her brow scrunched in concentration. “…Are you secretly really strong?”

“Hm?”

To my left, I saw Lia lean in closer to listen.

“What are you talking about?”

“Well, Master is the legendary hero, right? My parents told me that the Shield Hero is super strong and can save everyone.”

“I-“

Lia jumped into the conversation. “Oh! Mine did too! The Shield Hero is kind and powerful!”

“…I mean, you’re not wrong.”

Sylvia gasped. “It’s true!?”

“In a way.” I stared at my shield and frowned. “Truthfully, I’m more of a swordsman. Since I was summoned as the Shield Hero though, I can only use a fraction of my abilities.”

Even if I dumped all my stat points into strength, it didn’t change the fact that the modifier on my damage was always a magnitude below what it should be.

“Wow!” Sylvia’s eyes widened and she said, “Then Master hasn’t even shown his true power yet?”

“You could say that. But why are you asking, Sylvia?”

The fox girl smiled. “I’m just happy that Master is strong! That means that you won’t leave me!” Sylvia’s smile froze after saying that and she quickly looked away. “I-I mean…”

I sighed and patted her head. “If you’re worried about me dying or something, don’t. Even if a god showed up to smite me down, I’m positive I can survive at least a hit.”

Sylvia nodded.

I felt a tug on my left sleeve and turned to see Lia looking at me.

“What is it, Lia?”

“…You won’t leave us behind, will you, Goshujin-sama?”

I sighed and patted her head as well. “You worry too much. As long as you work hard and don’t betray me, I won’t betray you either. Remember this: repay malice with malice and kindness with kindness. That’s my motto in life. And you haven’t done anything to harm me. If anything, you’ve helped me.” I laughed. “It was a bit lonely by myself.”

Lia cheered up when she heard that and smiled.

I turned back to the road and said, “Now come on you two. We’ve got a long day ahead of us.”

We met up with the merchant to drop off some goods. He seemed surprised at me being accompanied by the two girls, but professionally ignored them. It seemed that he learned his lesson.

After that, we headed over to the pharmacist. In the past, I hadn’t bothered to pay much attention to him, but now I had some experimental potions to evaluate.

The pharmacist carefully examined the potion in the glass vial. As he did, he frowned. “You made this, Sir Hero?”

“What? Doubting me?”

The pharmacist glanced at the two girls accompanying me and then shook his head. “No. It’s just surprising. To think that something like this could be created from the herbs gathered around the castle… could I say that the power of the legendary weapons is incredible?”

“…I didn’t make those with my shield though?” I pulled another vial out from my inventory and handed it to the pharmacist. “That’s one that I did.”

The pharmacist took it as well and his expression instantly changed. “Th-this! Impossible! 100% restoration?! And from simple herbs?!” He turned to stare at me with wide eyes. “Sir Hero! This-“

Before he could say anything else, I reached over to grab the vial and stored it away.

The pharmacist looked like he wanted to lunge at me, but he took a deep breath and calmed down. “I apologize Sir Hero. It’s just that-“

“It’s revolutionary, I know.”

“If you know that, then might Sir Hero-“

“I’m not selling.”

“But think of all the lives that-“

“I said I’m not selling. They’re for my personal emergency use only.”

The pharmacist looked annoyed but then let out a sigh in resignation. “I suppose that is understandable.” He stacked a pile of silver together and then said, “Here. For your wares.”

I swept them into my bag and said, “Pleasure doing business with you again.”

Before the pharmacist could say anything else, I walked out of the place. Lia and Sylvia walked behind me, clinging to my mantle.

The streets of Melromarc were as crowded as usual. And, as usual, we were the center of attention… or that was what I had thought would happen. But, whether because I had stayed out of the spotlight too long or because I had hidden my shield by changing its form, we went surprisingly unnoticed.

While I marveled at the anonymity and surprising lack of surveillance, Sylvia tugged on my mantle.

“Master Naofumi.”

“Hm?”

I turned around to look at her.

The fox girl met my gaze with her azure eyes and then frowned. “Why didn’t you sell the potion to the man? You can make a lot more, can’t you?”

It was true. Since they were just made from basic herbs, it wouldn’t be hard to stockpile them. And, considering the current demand for healing supplies in preparation for the waves, I could make a small fortune. But-

“Don’t be silly, Sylvia. Why would I sell things that I could use to keep you and Lia safe?”

-That was why.

The king and the church conspired against me. The princess herself had falsely accused me. The heroes turned their backs.

I smiled. “Everyone else can go die for all I care.”

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