After our lunch inside the restaurant, we headed off into the meadow.
Raphtalia was humming cheerfully by the way.
However, upon seeing the meadow, she began to tremble with fear lingering in her eyes.
"It may be scary but I will definitely protect you from the monsters."
She tilted her head upon hearing my words.
"C'mon, these small fries can only make me itchy when they bite, I don't even feel any pain."
Raphtalia was dumbfounded when I showed her the gallery of Balloons hidden under my mantle.
"That's not, painful?"
"Nope."
"Then..."
"I'll tank."
"Yes... *Koho*..."
I was a bit concerned over her coughing, but she seemed to be fine.
We picked up medicinal herbs along the way while heading towards the forest.
Oh, here they come again.
Three Red Balloons came flying out from a bush inside the forest.
I sacrificed myself to make sure that none of them bit Raphtalia.
"Alright, just do it like we had done it awhile ago."
"... Hai!"
A motivated Raphtalia vigorously charged and backstabbed the Red Balloons.
POP!* POP!* POP!*
With this, Raphtalia raised her Level to 2.
The requirement for Red Small Shield has been unsealed.
Red Small Shield
Equipment Bonus: Defense +4
I immediately changed my shield.
Raphtalia's eyes popped out when she saw my shield transform.
"Goshujin-sama... just who are you?"
She didn't seem to know that I was the one and only Shield Hero. Well up until now, she was nothing but a demi-human slave after all.
"I'm a Hero. The Hero of the Shield."
"The legendary hero?"
"So you know?"
Raphtalia timidly nodded.
"That's right, I'm a summoned Hero. There are 3 more people like me... but I'm the weakest of them all!"
I began biting my fingernails, trying to contain this sudden outburst of rage.
My head was filled with nothing but bloodlust when the face of that fucker popped up.
Raphtalia was frightened by my eyes, instinctively knowing that she shouldn't dig any deeper into this.
"For the time being, today's task will be hunting monsters in this forest. I'll seize them and you'll pierce them."
"Hai..."
She had become somewhat accustomed to this as Raphtalia nodded obediently.
And then, whenever we encountered enemies inside the forest, we'd always use the common tactic where I aggro'ed and disabled them while Raphtalia went in for the kill.
Midway through, we encountered an enemy other than Balloons for the first time.
Roux Mush
A white, moving mushroom. It had sharp slanted eyes, and was roughly the size of a human head.
I experimentally hit it, and it gave off a response identical to a Red Balloon's.
Raphtalia then knocked this one down too.
This type of mob also appeared in different shades of color, there were Blue Mushes and Green Mushes.
Requirement for Mush Shield has been unsealed.
Requirement for Blue Mush Shield has been unsealed.
Requirement for Green Mush Shield has been unsealed.
Mush Shield
Equipment bonus: Plant Identification 1
Blue Mush Shield
Equipment bonus: Simple Compounding Recipes 1
Green Mush Shield
Equipment bonus: Apprentice's Compounding
There were no status bonus; all of them gave level-based skill bonuses.
Compounding... Mass producing medicine will be very valuable.
By the end of the day, Raphtalia's Level increased by three, so in total she was now at Level 5.
We walked through the meadow and camped around the riverbed in the evening.
"*Koho*..."
Raphtalia arrived at my side without voicing any complaints.
I suppose it would do her some good if she learned to appreciate money by experiencing the difficulty of making some.
After we lit a campfire with some firewood by the river, I took out a towel from inside my bag and gave it to Raphtalia.
"Go wash yourself for now. After you're done, come back here and warm your cold body with the fire."
'... Hai."
Raphtalia removed her clothes and dove into the river, where she then began cleansing herself.
During that time I began fishing in order to prepare our dinner.
I properly kept an eye out for Raphtalia while doing so.
There should only be weak Balloons lurking around this area, but it would be wise to never let my guard down.
I took a look over today's harvest.
An abundant amount of 'Meadow's Wild Medical Herb'.
A splendid amount of 'Medical Herbs that don't usually grow in the Meadow'.
A reasonable amount of 'Balloon's Balloon'.
A reasonable amount of 'Assorted Mush'.
Number of shields unsealed: 4 types.
Mhm. An obvious difference in efficiency.
Buying a slave was the right choice.
That's right. I should try to challenge compounding.
I called forth some simple recipes.
A window popped up, showing combination formulas that can be made with the medical herbs which I collected.
As for equipment... I suppose I can only make a limited amount using the rocks and pebbles on the riverside. So let's try the recipes that can be made from a mortar.
However, the simple recipes didn't have any record of mixing techniques within it.
Gori gori gori*...
I tried imitating how the pharmacy owner mixed his medicine in order to witness the results.
Heal Pill has been made!
Heal Pill Quality: Bad -> A Bit Bad A pill that hastens a wound's recovery, needs to be applied on the wound to receive effects.
This type of Icon floated in front of my eyes.
Nice, it was a success.
The shield was reacting, but I decided to hold onto the medicine for now.
Alright, time to challenge an unfamiliar recipe.
Sometimes the compounding failed and the stuff turned into a jet black waste. This was more fun than I expected.
Pachi pachi pachi*...
The sound of fire crackling could be heard.
Raphtalia finished washing and had gone to warm herself up by the campfire.
"Are you warm yet?"
"Yes. *Koho*..."
This looked very similar to a cold. The slave dealer did say that she was plagued with an illness.
Coincidentally... there was a cold medicine amongst the experimental remedies.
Regular Medicine Quality: Somewhat acceptable. This medicine is effective against a mild cold.
"Hey, drink this."
I was a bit anxious, but this was better than nothing.
"... So bitter, dislike it... guh..."
Raphtalia tried to say something selfish but held her chest in pain instead.
"Here."
"Y-, Yes."
Raphtalia trembled as she swallowed the medicine that I passed to her.
"Haa... Haa..."
"There there, good girl."
Raphtalia once again gave me a perplexed stare when I patted her head.
Ah, these tanuki ears sure were fluffy.
She hugged her tail while blushing, refusing to let me feel it. Did she think that I would try touching her tail when I looked at it?
"Here, this is your dinner."
I handed a grilled fish over to Raphtalia, and then returned to compounding medicine.
I've always loved to work on these kinds of delicate projects.
The sun set completely yet I kept on compounding, using the campfire for light.
Fumu... This was fun in a lot of ways.
Having already finished eating her fish, Raphtalia drowsily stared at the campfire while letting out some subtle snoring sounds.
"Go to sleep."
Upon hearing my order, Raphtalia repeatedly shook her head.
Was she being shy? She was refusing to sleep like a spoiled child... Well, I guess she was one.
Anyways it seemed like she would fall asleep eventually.
Come to think of it, was the medicine effective? I hadn't heard her cough since then.
Afterwards, I examined the remedies which were made from my experiments, and most of them had simple effects.
Those deemed inferior were absorbed into the shield.
Requirement for Petit Medicine Shield has been unsealed.
Requirement for Petit Poison Shield has been unsealed.
Petit Medicine Shield
Equipment bonus: Raises Medicine's Effects.
Petit Poison Shield
Equipment bonus: Poison Resistance ( Small )
Both of them seemed to be related to the Leaf Shield and Mush Shield. Though I had no idea how 'Raises Medicine's Effects' works.
Does it increase the effect of the medicines that I use on myself, or the effect of the medicines which I create?
Well, whatever.
There was no mistake that today's harvest was a good one.
"No... help me..."
Raphtalia let out a strange voice.
The sleeping Raphtalia seemed to be having a nightmare.
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"
I felt like my ears went deaf for a moment there.
This sucked. Balloons were coming our way; they probably got attracted by her screaming.
I quickly went over to Raphtalia and covered her mouth.
"H――――――――――――――――!"
However, a loud noise could still be heard, I then recalled the slave dealer's concern about this dilemma.
This certainly was problematic.
"Calm down, just settle down already."
I held the sobbing Raphtalia in my hands and cradled her.
"Noo...a-san...o-san."
Was she calling for her parents? Raphtalia could do nothing but cry and stretch out her hand, begging for help.
"It's fine... it's alright, you're safe now."
I patted her head and continued cradling her.
"Don't cry. Be strong."
"Huhu..."
I continued to hug the weeping Raphtalia.
"Grah!"
A Balloon that was attracted by her cries appeared.
"Fu..."
Really, even at a time like this.
I held Raphtalia close to me and charged at the Balloon.
"Uwoooooooooooooooooooooooooo!"
Chun... Chun!*
"Is it morning?"
What a terrible night.
By the time I finished with the horde of Balloons that appeared, Raphtalia's cries had also begun to quiet down. But when I tried to separate myself from her, if even a little, she would start wailing out loud again.
Then the Balloons would appear once more.
Which is why I was unable to get a wink of sleep.
"Nn..."
"You awake?"
"Hiii!?"
Raphtalia widely opened her eyes in surprise since I was holding her up in front of me.
"Ha... I'm tired."
There was still some time before the town's gate opened. So I planned on taking a quick nap for now.
Today, I would be selling the medicine which I had made yesterday; this should yield more profit than the raw medical herbs.
If the herbs' value were higher than the medicine's, then there would be no point in people making them.
"I'll be sleeping for little while. As for breakfast... would the leftover fish from yesterday suit your taste?"
Raphtalia timidly nodded.
"Then good night. Call me if any monsters appear."
It was painful just to keep my eyes open, so I was quickly invited into a slumber full of dreams.
I still didn't know the reason behind Raphtalia's panic attacks. And I wasn't interested in hearing about it either.
It's most likely due to the shock of being sold by her parents, or maybe from being kidnapped.
Even if it was the latter, I had no obligation to return her. This gentleman here had paid big bucks for this slave after all.
It was fine if she held a grudge over this. I needed to do all I could in order to survive.
I have to find a way to return to my old world, that's all there is to it.