Chapter 5 - 5: Harsh Reality of The Shield (2/2)

Suddenly, three Orange Balloons appeared in front of them.

*slash*

Without hesitation, Ren drew an arc with his sword, popping them one after the other.

He took them all out with one strike!? Just how high was his attack score!?

”...”

”Don't worry about it so much. Every Hero has their own way of fighting, that's all.”

”...Thanks, Mine.”

That's right. I had just been used as a chew toy for five whole minutes without getting so much as a scratch. It seemed my defense score, at least, was actually pretty high. With my spirits rising a bit, I stooped down and picked up the remains of the Orange Balloon I'd defeated. As I did, a faint sound began to emanate from my shield.

Interesting...

I slowly brought the balloon scraps toward my shield. The instant I touched them together, a faint light glimmered, and the orange, rubbery material was suċkėd into the shield's jewel.

Orange Balloon's Balloon Scraps Acquired

I noticed that the Weapon Book was lit up now. I opened it up to see if anything had changed, and saw that an icon for an ”Orange Small Shield” had appeared. It was still locked, though - apparently I needed to gather more materials before I could actually use it.

”Is that the power of the legendary weapons?”

”Yeah. It seems I can fuse certain materials into it to unlock new forms.”

”I see...”

”Incidentally, are those balloon scraps worth anything?

”You'd be lucky to get a single copper coin for them.”

”...And how many copper coins are in a silver coin?”

”A hundred.”

Oh, well. I didn't really expect it to sell for much anyway.

”Anyway, you're up next, right?”

”I suppose I am.”

Two more Orange Balloons had approached us as we were speaking. However, Mine drew her blade and struck them down with two swift, elegant cuts. They didn't even last a second.

No way... even Mine...?

...It would probably be best to let Mine handle the fighting from now on.

”Okay, new plan. You attack and I'll defend. Let's see how far we can get.”

”Roger!”

Mine agreed immediately. Afterward, we walked through the plains until the sun had nearly set, slaying every Balloon we encountered. Apparently they came in a variety of colors, since aside from the standard Orange Balloons we ended up fighting a few Yellow Balloons, too.

”There are stronger monsters up ahead, but we should probably head back to the castle soon before it gets dark.”

”Aww, but I wanted to keep fighting some more...”

Since I wasn't taking any damage, defending against the Balloons' attacks was really easy. I felt like I could keep going all day.

”I understand your feelings, Shield Hero, but I was hoping we could visit the weapon shop again before they close. If you buy me better equipment, we will easily be able to progress much further than this tomorrow.”

”...I guess I can't argue when you put it like that.”

But was it really okay to stop here, when I was so close to leveling up? I had already fulfilled the material conditions for the Orange and Yellow small shields, so all I had to do now was gain a little bit more experience and I'd actually be able to use them.

(By the way, I kept collecting balloon scraps even after fulfilling the conditions. They might only be worth a single copper coin each, but hey, money was money!)

In the end, though, Mine got her way, and we paused our adventure midway to return to town