Chapter 6

As this must have been the lair of Gaelion, I knew of only one humanoid person that should be in here. I gave the appropriate orders.

„Eclair, you go take care of the injured girl. See if you can give her one of the healing potions. If that to heal her, join the fight afterward. Otherwise stay guard and try to help her. Yu'lon, you need to make the Cerberus recognize us as the biggest threat. Kiel, Lifana you run interception. Raphtalia and Firo you attack when you see an opening. GO." (Naofumi)

With this, I ran towards my target while chanting a powerful healing spell. My targets were the surviving monsters.

[I, the Hero of the Shield, who has to understand the origin of power command. I have read and deciphered a law of nature. Mend the bones and close the wounds of my allies.][All Zweit Heal]

A cascade of healing energies shot out of my right hand and enclosed the bodies of the four monsters and Wyndia healing them. At the same time informing me that they were some of the monsters that belonged to Wyndias family. It was something that I found out through experimenting. Magic was a modification of reality using the soul of a planet or for transcendent beings the own soul. As I used the planet as my source of magic, if cast the right way I could create complex situation triggers. In this case, I would heal the targets that were an enemy of the Cerberus and by that definition my allies.

[Air Strike Shield]

Next, I blocked an attack at the lizard with my skill. Behind me, I could hear a crackling energy. A quick glance behind, showed Yu'lon high in the air sucking in magical energies, followed by a crackling tornado of ice, wind, thunder, and water slamming into the flank of the Cerberus. It was one of Yu'lons special skills. It was an instinctual racial application of Hengen Musou.

A dragon breath of sky magic fuelled by the chi and the environmental magic. It was called Breath of the Skydragon, and while its strength varied, it minimal strength was equal to a high powered Zweit spell. Its weakness was the long cooldown time between each use.

[Firo commands the origin of power. I have read and deciphered a law of nature. May my enemy be sliced by a blade of wind.] [First Wind Blade]

Firo flapped her wings and shot a blade of wind on the Cerberus hitting him at his left head. Then I was finally near enough and slammed my shield with a Shield Bash into the left hind leg. While I had no real attack power, that didn't mean I hadn't physical strength. Together with the effect of the Bash, I managed to make the leg give in, letting the Cerberus fall on his rear. While moving up to his head to block the attack on my comrades, I called.

„Raphtalia attack now." (Naofumi)

As no attack came, I realized that the three children still stood at the entrance of the cave, star of dread. Realising that something was not right, the Cerberus came back to his feet bounded at me once, forcing me to take a defensive position. Then it turned around and ran towards the children.

[Shield Prison]

I called to stop it, only to see a flash of black flames around the Cerberus mouth as it smashed my prison to pieces. Same happened with the redirected wind magic from Firo.

Seeing that Firo was still recovering from the magic she cast and Yu'lon in a long and complex chant. I took my only choice. Since I had the necessary blessing again, my dragon pulse magic should be up to speed now.

[I, the Hero of the Shield, Draw out the power of the wind to do my bidding. Dragon Pulse, accelerate my body.] [Saint Air Catapult]

I was accelerated and flew through the air the next second. As I needed to be fast I couldn't integrate any procedures to land safely and crashed into Raphtalia, shielding her from the bite of the Cerberus.

When the three heads bit into my shoulder, back and left arm I suppressed a painful shout. Seeing me bitten seemed to have helped Lifana and Kiel, as they began to move back and took positions to defend them self. Raphtalia was still shocked though.

„Snap out of it. If you don't get it together, you put others to risk."

I shouted at her standing up and facing the Cerberus.

[I, a servant of the shield, who command the origin of power. I have read and deciphered a law of nature. Please positive energies of life stand me by.] [First Heartbeat Healing] (Lifana)

A green aura surrounded me beginning to mend my wounds at a slow but constant pace. Meanwhile, I deflected another claw of the Cerberus while chanting.

[I, the Hero of the Shield, who has understand the origin of power command. Let the truth once more be read forth. Enhance everything.] [All Dreifach Aura]

I only had targeted the three children, but it still took all of my remaining mana to cast the spell. Right now I had exactly enough mana to cast four Dreifach spells and since I already had cast a few mana intensive spells that was my maximum.

Behind me, Kiel also chanted. I was a little bit worried about that. I had manly used the spell books for teaching, but as I wanted to increase the abilities of my companions for emergencies I had taught each a single spell. Lifana knew Heartbeat Healing, as a druid spell, it could be either cast as healing or plant magic. Raphtalia knew Hide Mirage, but the only spell that I could teach Kiel in the short amount of time was dangerous.

[I, a reminder of the past, who command the origin of power. I have read and deciphered a law of nature. With the might of will help unleash my true limits.] [First Hengen Musou: Gate of Opening Open]

The spell created a short-lived artificial Hengen Musou and used it to open the Gate of Opening, allowing them to use 100% of there strength. It seemed I needed to talk with her again. I had told her that I had chosen her clothing and taught her this magic in remembrance of two old friends. Though it seemed she had focused a bit too much on that.

[Front Lotus] (Kiel)

The Cerberus cried in pain. Over the next minutes, we managed to tear heavy wounds into it. As we blocked the exit, it turned around and attacked the wounded Wyndia at the other end of the room and while we managed to defeat it, it had used the time to kill three of the remaining four monsters. Leaving only the slime and Wyndia.

We managed to explain to the slime, that Wyndia couldn't stay alone here any longer and that she would be safe with us. After that, we cleaned up, which included skinning all the monsters. The slime wasn't especially angry, what surprise me first, but it seemed to be normal for monsters to use there fallen, normally as food though. I managed to acquire a high amount of new shields and high-quality materials. I also now understand what the Cerberus ability was.

If he hadn't been the first wave boss, and therefore relatively weak, he could have been one of the most dangerous enemies I ever faced. The Cerberus had evolved my two-headed dog shield to a Cerberus shield. It had basically the same ability as before, allowing the heads to attack a target that was in front of me. It gained an increase in stats, an additional head, which increased the attack strength by one third and it gained the ability to destroy every protection on a target, be it magical or from a skill.

To transport the sleeping Wyndia we build a plank bed. To make her more comfortable, we let her sleep in the stable with Firo, Yu'lon and her slime. I also instructed the children to watch over her tonight. Hoping that seeing children her age when waking up would be better than adults. Afterwards, I and Firo met with the wagon owner, after Firo changed into her bird form of course.

The next morning I was woken up by Raphtalia running in our room with the message that Wyndia had woken up. I followed her into the stable wondering about what was different with her today. I finally understand when I saw Kiel and Lifana, both looked around sixteen to eighteen.

I had learned more about the growth cycle of demi-humans in the last week. It was different to what it was before. Based on age demi-human had multiple growth cycles if they were younger. With level ten they grew to nine-year-old children. Between the levels twenty to twenty-two they became teens or young adults between sixteen to eighteen. The first class up they had coincided with the last growth spurt to around twenty-three, also reaching full sexual maturity.

I also learned that it was a common strategy in wartimes for demi-human countries to train their children to gain additional troops. That made long time war dangerous for human countries. Of course, that had also major disadvantages. Demi-human that had no childhood had major problems to find a place in the established social orders of the demi-human countries.

I never saw such problems, as I had created a completely new community in Rock Village. Wyndia sat in a corner with a combination of sadness and fear in her eyes. Her slime was beside her, pressing its body against hers. I went down on my knees and spoke to her in a soothing voice.

„Hello, little one. My name is Naofumi. What's yours?" (Naofumi)

I needed a bit of time and after a pulsing of the slime, she finally began to talk.

„Where is the three-headed-dog? Where are the others?" (Wyndia)

„We killed the Cerberus. Sadly your monster friends are dead. They were all killed by the Cerberus before we came to your rescue." (Naofumi)

„Everyone is dead? What about father? He went out a week ago to hunt, he should be back already?" (Wyndia)

„We found the corpse of a dragon at the entry point to the valley where the cave was. I don't know who killed it, but it was probably another dragon." (Naofumi)

„No, father is strong. He wouldn't be defeated that easily." (Wyndia)

„He didn't fight only a dragon, there were also traces of weapons on his body." (Naofumi)

„Can you guide me to him?" (Wyndia)

„Sadly no, when we found his corpse we salvaged it, you won't find anything there anymore." (Naofumi)

„Why would you do something like this." (Wyndia)

„Two reasons. If we had left it there, it would attract monster, it also could have produced a plague or in the worst case resurrected as a zombie dragon. The other reason is that the material of a dragon corpse is valuable and with the waves, we can't ignore such materials." (Naofumi)

Wyndia obviously couldn't accept that and seemed to ignore it for now.

„What happens to me now?" (Wyndia)

„What do you know about this country?" (Naofumi)

„I will be sold into slavery. Why are you so nice to me anyway." (Wyndia)

„Yes and no. It is true, you can't stay alone in this country as a demi-human. But I can give you a goal for the future. Your father was killed by a dragon in the company of a human, there are not many that fulfill that criteria and most of them are probably famous.

The Cerberus that killed your family was produced by something called the wave. I am a hero, the hero of the shield to be precise, my task is to fight against the waves.

If you travel with me you could fight against what killed your family, you also will be in a better position to find out who killed your father. It also is probably the only possibility to stay free in this country that is open to you. Think about it. My group will leave in a few hours. You have time until then." (Naofumi)

After we left the stables Eclair talked to me.

„Do you really want to involve her in the fighting of the wave? Don't you think our group is big enough already?" (Eclair)

„Yes, I plan to and no. If it only would be the wave and me that's relevant, then I, Raphtalia and Firo would be enough. We also have to think about the villages in the surroundings of the wave and about the possibility of multiple waves at the same time.

We will need a big support group in the long run. The people that I acquire right now are meant to not only be my direct support, but also the group leaders of there own support groups in the long run." (Naofumi)

That was actually exactly what was needed. We didn't find out last time, but with each new wave, the number of simultaneous waves increased as well. It was only thanks to Fitoria and her underlings that we hold out so long.

The first wave only attacked one hourglass. The second incident produces attacks on two, the third on three and so forth. In the case that the defenders manage to last until all hourglasses are attacked at the same time, the two worlds will fuse perfectly. The fusion can only be prevented by the four guardians anyway. The task of the heroes was to reduce the number of victims and smooth the transition by giving it as much time as possible. Not stop it, that was something only those fake gods could do. For that reason more than any other, I would need much more companions than last time.

This time my goal wasn't to fight against Medea as soon as possible, but prevent this fight so long until I knew how to gain godhood again and why I came back in time in the first place.

My presumption that Medea couldn't enter the world by her own will last time was right. Medea couldn't interact with a world too small for her energy potential. She needed the fusion of eight worlds to interact with this one. As such if we killed all her servants we could at least extend our time till the twenty-fourth wave. Afterward it would be much more difficult.

I called Firo in her bird form and proceeded to buy the carriage. Afterward, I asked around for a group of adventures that entered the mountain range and informed the village about the killed dragon.

While I had denounced that I killed the dragon, as we left, there was a rumor that the shield hero had found and killed a dragon to save a demi-human child. Wyndia had chosen to come with us for now. I reset her level, it was only eight anyway and put her into my group so that she got the support of my companion shield.

Until now I hadn't had time to use most of the strengthening methods, but thanks to the carriage I finally had on the way to this province capital. I also began compounding bigger numbers of medicines. Lifana showed interest, so I showed her how to do it. Raphtalia was reading her magic book and Kiel chatted with Eclair. Wyndia was silent, I could hear soft sobbing from her.

We needed four days until we reached the capital. In the time I finished my medicine supply and had begun to make little accessories for my group or for selling. I also began to enchant the different materials that I planned to use for equipment.

The final creation I would leave to the Old Man, but if the material was already enchanted it would result in better gear. Afterall my enchantments were more powerful and varied than any other being could produce. Later I would probably teach the other heroes a bit to gain really good offensive enchantments as well. But what I could do was already too high a quality to use my strongest enchantments for these types of materials. That would only come with the six to tenth wave.

I only needed to make sure to apply the correct enchantments on the materials, anticipating it's most likely usage. An offensive enchantment on a material used for defensive equipment wasn't exactly useful. It would result in strange final values and abilities. Thankfully I had learned quite a bit about that over the years. Even if I lacked on the practical side of things.

I also inspected our loot. I found a pair of interesting gauntlets that I would give Fohl later. The rest wasn't better than what we already had. When we reached the city it was night already and we slept in a tavern outside of the walls.

On the next day, I decided that it would be better if we stayed in this tavern. I didn't want to have to leave the carriage behind if we needed to leave fast. I called all of our group together in my room.

„Listen. Our mission is to inspect the dealings of the noble, that is in charge of this city. There are rumors in the capital that he is suppressing the population. If I were any of the other heroes this would be easy, as I could probably take action on rumors alone. As the shield that is not possible. We need authentic evidence that he is guilty.

We also need witnesses that will give correct testimony. For that, we will split up. Yu'lon is already over the clouds and will use her abilities to search for information. I and Firo will be a decoy team. We will pretend to be in town to sell goods and restock for our further travel. I already have the necessary license. I will first go to the adventure gild to register our requests completions and then sell on the market what I can while listening for rumors.

Eclair and Kiel will be a second decoy team. They will restock and also listen for information. Lifana and Raphtalia you will be doing the heavy lifting this time. It shouldn't be widely known that you reached adult age yet. Use the mirage variant to hide your demi-human origin. Wyndia will stay with me.

We need the following information. What is the situation right now? Are there any problems that could come up. Evidence against the noble. Who could be our witness? Who could take over for the noble until something official is done? The last two should be people that are willing to listen to our case." (Naofumi)

We left afterward and entered the town. After leaving the adventure guild, I asked Wyndia.

„Did you make a decision yet. Do you want to stay with us or not?" (Naofumi)

„I have thought about it and yes, I would like to stay with you. It is better than the alternative." (Wyndia)

„You know what that means?" (Naofumi)

„The Slave Crest. I have seen how you act with the others. No one would think they are your slaves. As such I am willing." (Wyndia)

„Than let us do that right now." (Naofumi)

We need half an hour to find the slave owner. As we entered I was surprised as I found Rishia and a human man speaking with the slave merchant.

„That's isn't nearly enough." (Human Male)

„She is not exactly a beauty. Her level is quite low and she has no special abilities that would make her more valuable. Also, think about the price of a high-class slave crest. If you would take a normal one then I could give you a bit more, but I also would have to sell her either in one of the other countries or to a lower class of citizen. Not many want a human slave in Melromarc to begin with." (Slave Owner)

„I'm sorry, Father." (Rishia)

„What is the highest amount that you could give me?" (Rishias Father)

„Four gold right now or seven as soon as I found another slave merchant that wants her in one of the other countries." (Slave Merchant)

„I'm sorry Rishia, but if we don't do this we could lose all that we have. We will try to buy you back as soon as the situation is better again." (Rishias Father)

„Here are your four gold. I will sell her within the country if possible." (Slave Owner)

„See to it that we are informed where she is sold to. And remember she is not to be sold to that pig Marates." (Rishias Father)

Father and daughter said there goodbye and she was guided into the back area, into what seemed to be a better area as the one from which I normally bought my slaves. Then the slave merchant came to me.

„What was this?" (Naofumi)

„The Ivyred family is a merchant family that has taken multiple hits in recent time. They need money quite urgently. Former noble, are you perhaps interested in a purchase of the young miss?" (Slave Merchant)

„Perhaps, what is her level, has she remarkable abilities and what is her price?" (Naofumi)

„Level 12, quite high for a normal civilian. She has a well-rounded set of abilities, allowing to either fight at any position or help in any kind of business. Her price is 12 Gold, but I will give her to you for 9. Yes." (Slave Dealer)

„Why so low, what is the catch?" (Naofumi)

Grudgingly.

„Her slave crest will hold a few requirements. She will be able to defend herself against physical violence and may protect her virginity. She also can't be sold out of the country." (Slave Merchant)

„I didn't know that was possible." (Naofumi)

„Not for demi-human slaves, but most noncriminal human slaves have them." (Slave Merchant)

„I'm here to add a slave crest on this demi-human." (Naofumi)

„Of course. Normal one or do you want a higher quality." (Slave Merchant)

„Why would I want one. I can understand it by certain monsters, but why by a normal slave?" (Naofumi)

„It is harder to break and it can become invisible." (Slave Merchant)

„Normal is enough." (Naofumi)

„Two Silver please." (Slave Merchant)

„I thought one?" (Naofumi)

„Only for bought slaves." (Slave Merchant)

I paid the merchant and after we left I activated my shield. I had asked the others for parts of their bodies, finally unlocking the rest of the slave and companion series. The last shield allowed for the modification of slave crests. With this I now increased the quality of the new slave crest, making it invisible in the process.

As I now needed money, I began selling my medicine. In the course of this, I dusted off a few abilities that I hadn't used until now. Last time, after the second wave, I only had pitiful products and went from small village to small village. This time was different. My technique was much better, I was in a major trade center and my products are the best that were available in the whole country.

I still needed to sell all of my supply and also a high number of the trash loot that I acquired. Even one or two of the good items, but at the end of the day, I had the necessary amount of buying Rishia.

„A welcome again Customer. What can I do for you this late?" (Slave Merchant)

„I wish to buy Rishia Ivyred. I'm willing to pay 8 Gold for her." (Naofumi)

„8 Gold and 90 Silver." (Slave Merchant)

We finally agreed on 8 Gold and 65 Silver, leaving me with 235 Silver. To buy the necessary equipment for Rishia and Wyndia. After Rishia gained her slave crest we left the slave shop.

„I am Rishia Ivyred. I am happy to serve you, master. If I'm allowed to ask, what will I be doing." (Rishia)

„I am the Shield Hero. As such, I need a companion that I can trust to fight the wave. In my case that are mainly slaves. I need a human slave to help me with the interaction of the more begot people. Say is there a weapon shop that you can recommend." (Naofumi)

„There are several. I know that Teltar's has the best craftsmen in town. Echalier has the best connections, even to Zeltburg. My own family also has a small weapon shop, not as fancy as the other two, but the solution for the more low-priced needs." (Rishia)

„Than let's go there." (Naofumi)

Rishia guided me to a small shop at the end of the shopping street. It looked a bit shoddy and one of the windows was broken.

„Say why is your family in financial difficulties?" (Naofumi)

„The local lord has set his eyes on me and my father has denied his demand. It is the same case with most of the businesses in the city, they either comply with every demand or have difficulties." (Rishia)

„And your father thought it a good idea to sell you to a slave merchant?" (Naofumi)

„The slave merchant organization is too big and powerful to make them your enemy. It was the only save option we had. If the next caravan had come through, my father would have had the money to buy me back. It normally takes weeks to months until a slave is brought." (Rishia)

„Ah, Rishia, I thought that your father wanted to take you and show you the exchange post today?" (Rishias Mother)

Rishia swallowed and begun to explain what had happened to her mother.

„He did what!" (Rishias Mother)

„Please, it was the only option." (Rishia)

„No, it was not. I would have sold everything we got and left the town to begin anew somewhere else, before selling my only child." (Rishias Mother)

„Now to you. If I find out that you have touched my daughter against her will or that something happens to her, then I will find you and kill you myself. And I don't care if you are some kind of hero or demon or whatever." (Rishias Mother)

Afterward, we bought a light armor and a whip for Wyndia and a staff for Rishia. I also told her where we stayed, as she wanted to send a few of Rishia belongings. We then paid the other shops a visit. While I had scruple with the Old men, that didn't mean I had the same with others. Sadly there were no real new good shields. When we came back to the tavern the others already waited for us.

„Master, we have seen the noble. It is the same that Kiel, Lifana and I belonged to once." (Raphtalia)

„I also have found something, this is our new companion Rishia. She can give us first-hand experiences about the actions of the noble." (Naofumi)