Chapter 11 - 11: Accomplishments of a Slave (1/2)
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 <Unmastered>
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 fuċker 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 Blue Mush Shield has been unsealed.
Requirement for Green Mush Shield has been unsealed.
Mush Shield
Equipment bonus: Plant Identification 1 <Unmastered>
Blue Mush Shield
Equipment bonus: Simple Compounding Recipes 1 <Unmastered>
Green Mush Shield
Equipment bonus: Apprentice's Compounding <Unmastered>
There were no status bonus; all of them gave level-based skill bonuses.
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.
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*...