"This is a curse."
When we hurriedly returned to the village, we had Raphtalia examined by the healer right away. She had suffered black burns from my attack.
"Moreover, it's a rather powerful one. The corpse of the dragon on the mountain had this strong of a curse on it?"
"Uh... well... that..."
Could I honestly admit that I was the one who caused it? The words caught in my throat.
"Yes. When I accidentally got splashed with the dragon's rotting flesh, it caused these burns along with a curse..."
Raphtalia shot me a glance as if to say *keep this between us* and smiled.
"Is there anything you can do? I'll pay any amount of money."
Raphtalia was a girl, after all. Having these black bruise-like marks all over her would be conspicuous and troublesome.
"Well, it's not impossible, but..."
The healer returned to the back room where she had been preparing medicine and came back with a vial of transparent liquid.
"Since it's quite powerful, I'm not sure if I can cure it right away..."
"What is that?"
"Holy Water. When it comes to curses, the best way to remove them is with sacred power, but..."
"I see."
So the Shield of Wrath's attacks carried a curse that worsened wound recovery as well.
That was extremely dangerous.
It couldn't distinguish between friend and foe, and the counter effect even affected allies. I had to be careful about how I used it.
Plus, when I looked at the shield's skill tree, its release progress hadn't advanced at all.
It had only been a brief time, but I had a premonition—some kind of feeling—that I wouldn't be able to release that shield.
"Soak the bandages in Holy Water..."
The healer soaked bandages in Holy Water and wrapped them around the parts of Raphtalia's body that had the black marks.
"I'm sorry that all I can offer right now is a temporary measure. If possible, please get proper treatment with the stronger Holy Water made at a church in a large town."
"How long until it heals?"
"Honestly... this is a rather powerful curse. Whether it can be easily eliminated... especially if it was cast by a dragon..."
Well, technically I was the one who did it... but it was powerful enough that I could believe a dragon had cast it.
"Oh, right. How much longer until the medicine is ready?"
"I've actually managed to make a little bit already. Sir Saint, please—could you distribute it to those suffering from the illness?"
"Sure."
I left Raphtalia in the healer's room and carried the medicine into the building where the patients were being housed.
This was medicine made by a professional, all right.
It was accomplishing what Healing Potions couldn't—eradicating the illness at its root.
Seeing the patients' breathing grow quieter brought me a measure of relief.
...I wanted to become strong enough that I wouldn't have to rely on that shield.
Understanding what it meant to save someone from illness, I cursed my own weakness.
Filo had been fine, but there might come a day when she wouldn't be anymore.
My mind went blank at the thought of losing a life right before my eyes.
I thought it over and over. This was not a game world.
If you died, no one could bring you back.
I gazed toward the graveyard behind the quarantine facility and thought.
It was because I had been betrayed and deceived—because of that, I wanted to protect the people who believed in me, so I would never lose them.
I returned to the healer's room and spoke to Raphtalia, who was now wrapped in bandages from head to toe.
"I'm sorry."
"It's fine, really."
"But..."
"What frightened me more, Naofumi, was the thought of you being taken away to somewhere far away."
"Huh?"
"That power—I had a feeling it would drag you off to some distant place. So if I could stop you from going, a few marks like this were a small price to pay."
The way Raphtalia smiled as she said that pierced my heart.
I absolutely had to protect her. I would never lose to that shield—I carved that resolve deep into my soul.
"Raphtalia, are you okay as far as the illness goes?"
"For now... yes, I'm fine."
"When the next batch of medicine is ready, stay close to me. It'll serve as prevention too."
"Okay."
And so we spent the night in the village.
The next day, we worked as hard as we could to eradicate the plague.
I asked if I could help with the healer's work and mixed medicinal ingredients. The work finished ahead of schedule. I had considered learning her techniques, but I felt that in my current state, I would only get in the way.
I hoped the village would find peace now that no more people were suffering from the illness.
"So, where should we go for our next round of peddling? Asking the healer how to make medicine wouldn't be a bad idea."
Raphtalia's Holy Water was the top priority, but I also wanted to learn how to make higher-grade medicines.
"Um, Naofumi? Isn't the Wave coming soon?"
What!?
Raphtalia's words snapped me back to my senses.
Now that she mentioned it, she was right.
I hurriedly pulled up the Wave arrival prediction.
Only three and a half days left!
"This is bad! There's only three days and a little bit remaining!"
We didn't have nearly enough preparations.
"Filo, we're heading to the Castle Town right away!"
"Got it!"
"Sir Saint, please... take this."
The village elder handed me a bag filled with gold coins.
"Sir Saint, here is the payment you requested. Please accept it."
Come to think of it, this time my identity hadn't been discovered.
"Sure..."
I took the bag of gold and counted how much was inside.
...Then I split roughly half into a separate bag and handed it back.
"Huh?"
"This wasn't my achievement alone. The healer in this village deserves credit too. Give it to her."
"Y-yes, sir..."
Right—if that healer hadn't been here, things could have gone badly. Eradicating the illness on my own would have been at my limit.
In that sense, she was the real contributor.
"Well, we'll be going now."
"Ah, thank you so much!"
The entire village turned out to see us off.
After this, if they found out who I really was, would they look at me with disgust?
Thinking about it gave me complicated feelings.
But I pushed that to the back of my mind—right now, I needed to rush to prepare. Like I had time to worry about the condition of the carriage!
We hurried to the Castle Town at top speed.
That day, rumors supposedly spread about a carriage being seen hurtling along at terrifying speeds...
Along the way.
"Master, there's something over there!"
"Hm?"
I poked my head out of the carriage.
A wild Filolial A appeared!
A wild Filolial B appeared!
A wild Filolial C appeared!
"Guah!?"
The Filolials took one look at Filo and froze with shocked expressions on their faces!
Filolials A, B, and C fled in terror without snapping out of their shock!
"What was that?"
To run away the moment they encountered us...
That was the kind of behavioral pattern you'd expect from a rare monster with great experience points and money drops.
Well, even if I defeated Filolials in the wild, I probably couldn't expect that much experience.
Well, maybe they were just startled by the sight of a Filolial Queen and bolted. Or maybe there were more of them around here.
"That's one good-looking bird, isn't it? Every time we pass by one that someone's raising, I can't help but think so."
"That's your own kind." I warned Filo, who was licking her beak. Did everything look like food to this bird?
I was genuinely worried she might try to cannibalize them.
"If you chase after them now, you could probably catch one, Master!"
"...Don't even think about it."
Was it too late to say that?
Seriously, there was no tension with this one.
Come to think of it, I hadn't checked my level after the Dragon Zombie fight.
Me: Lv 38
Raphtalia: Lv 40★
Filo: Lv 40★
★... A star?
"Hey, do any of you know why there's a star next to our levels?"
I had a really bad feeling about this. What was it?
"No clue..."
"I dunno, Filo."
Ugh... Let me check the help menu.
...Nope. Couldn't figure it out.
It might have been mentioned somewhere, but I couldn't find it with the ★ as a search term.
We finally arrived at the Castle Town by the end of the day.
"Listen, old man, sell me weapons and armor to prepare for the Wave."
The weapon shop owner, whom I hadn't seen in a while, furrowed his brow and seemed to be thinking hard about something.
"You really need to stop showing up out of the blue like that."
"Isn't commerce a continuous series of unexpected events?"
"Well, I suppose so. What's your budget looking like?"
"Let me see."
I thumped down roughly a month's worth of income on the counter where the old man stood. About four hefty bags stuffed with gold.
"I lost count of how many Silver Coins there were, but it's all here."
"Kid, you better count it properly! How the hell did you make this much money?!"
"Haha, the fruits of peddling."
"Good grief... Kid, do you actually enjoy surprising people or something?"
"Unfortunately, no."
"Alright then, let's count how much is in there."
"Sure."
The old man, Raphtalia, and I counted the contents of the money bags.
"Come to think of it, did the young lady here get injured?"
The old man pointed at the bandage-wrapped Raphtalia while counting coins.
"Yes. A while back, I was hit by a powerful curse from a very strong monster."
Without thinking, I stopped counting and looked over at Raphtalia.
"Ah, a curse, huh? That's a pain in the neck. Still under treatment?"
"Yes. After this, I'm planning to buy Holy Water at the church."
"I see."
Did that fool her? ...Well, she'd never believe I was the one who cursed her.
Phew.
"One more thing—after buying the equipment, is there any way I could commission a metal-reinforced carriage?"
"Kid, seriously, stop asking me for everything."
"Can you do it or not?"
"Well... I'm used to working with metals."
Even though the pile of money looked substantial, there were a lot of Copper Coins mixed in. Once converted to Silver Coins, it was surprisingly less.
"That's equivalent to 70 Gold Coins! You made an absolute killing, kid."
"I'm well aware of my business acumen."
I honestly did think I had a talent for commerce.
Though I supposed I'd been acting a bit like a merchant of death.
"I also brought a bunch of equipment looted from bandits and the like."
I ordered Filo, who had been wandering around the shop with wide eyes, to carry various pieces of equipment from the beat-up carriage parked outside.
"I'll trade these in as well."
"Kid, you really do run a wide operation."
"So, how much equipment can I get with all of this?"
"Let me see... A sword and armor for the young lady, and armor for you, that adds up to..."
The weapon shop owner fell into deep contemplation, as if struck with emotion.
"I appreciate you being a loyal customer, but it might be worth checking out another shop, you know?"
"What do you mean?"
"Well, the other Heroes haven't been showing up much lately. I was wondering if there's some superior shop somewhere that they've found."
"Hmm..."
It wasn't an impossible thought. Those guys had game knowledge, so there was a very high chance they knew of places that sold equipment with better selection and stats than this shop.
Even if the old man's shop had the best equipment in the Castle Town... maybe it was in a different country?
"Any idea where?"
"If you go as far as the neighboring country, there might be shops selling better stuff than mine."
"Betting on that kind of long shot? I'll stick with your shop, old man."
"Kid..."
"Worst case, I'll just have you forge weapons and armor for me. From the looks of it... you've got the skills, right?"
"Damn right! When I was young, I apprenticed under a master craftsman from the East!"
"That's exactly why I'm here. I've considered efficiency and everything else, and I've decided to put my trust in you."
"Kid. I got it. I'll live up to your expectations."
The weapon shop owner leaned over the counter and surveyed his shop's merchandise.
"Alright... For the young lady's weapon, a magic silver sword with Blood Clean Coating would be in the appropriate range. Of course, it'll be treated with Blood Clean Coating processing."
I indicated the equivalent of 10 Gold Coins and moved the pile over. Naturally, I mixed in the trade-in value to make up the 10.
"Next, magic silver armor with mana-defense processing would be in the appropriate range."
"Mana-defense processing?"
"A treatment that absorbs the wearer's mana and adds it as extra defense."
"I see."
Given the possibility that I might fail to protect her and she'd get hurt, I wanted Raphtalia to have the best equipment possible.
The old man moved another 10 Coins' worth. That was quite a hefty sum.
But still...
"Hey, couldn't I spend more and get even better equipment?"
"How are you going to pay for the metal carriage and the young lady's treatment then? And besides, equipment that exceeds your own capabilities will just cause problems."
"Oh, is that how it works?"
"Also, this is about the limit of what I have in stock right now."
"Ah, I see."
So even at the old man's shop, this was the upper tier of readily available equipment? That made sense.
"Anything beyond this would be custom-made. That'll take some time."
"That's a problem. The Wave is supposed to arrive in three days—will that be enough time?"
"Considering we'd need to source materials, probably not."
...Fair point.
"I've brought quite a few different materials, but none of them are enough on their own."
"Is that so... I was hoping the Dragon Zombie's hide would be usable."
"That's the thing. What are you going to do?"
"What do you mean?"
"In your case, I can apply Air Wake Processing to heavy equipment to make it lighter and sell it to you. But I can also use the materials you brought to forge new equipment."
"Which one has better performance?"
"It's about even. But the custom one has better expandability, so I'd recommend going that route."
"Hmm... Come to think of it, attaching a bone to the Barbarian Armor would improve its stats, right?"
"Yeah, that's what I was going to suggest. Chimera and Dragon bones are incredible materials. Then re-line it with the Dragon Zombie's hide, and set the Dragon Zombie's core into the center of the armor as a decorative piece—perfect."
The Dragon Zombie's core—wasn't that the thing Filo had brought back as a souvenir? Sounds like it'd make a great piece of equipment.
"Alright... Let's go with that, then."
"Always a pleasure! The bone attachment is on the house—I'll just charge for processing and materials."
The old man moved 5 Gold Coins aside and carried the materials to the back of the counter.
"Kid, you should leave the Barbarian Armor you're wearing here too."
"Got it."
I went to the changing room, switched into my regular clothes, and placed the Barbarian Armor on the counter.
"Master looks like a villager~"
"Shut up."
This bird had such a foul mouth.
"Hey, hey, what about Filo?"
"You've got a carriage to pull, don't you?"
After conferring with the old man, I placed an order for a metal-reinforced carriage. That cost a pretty penny.
It ran me 10 Gold Coins.
Well, he did throw in a lot of extras, though.
"Aww, Filo wants equipment too, just like Master and big sis Raphtalia!"
"No."
"Want it, want it, want it!"
The bird's whining was really getting on my nerves.
"Now, now, kid. Why not get something for the young lady bird too?"
"But I mean..."
This bird was already surpassing Raphtalia's attack power with nothing but her bare feet. That was more than enough.
"You got anything for a Filolial?"
"Hmm. The young lady bird normally fights in her monster form, right?"
"Yeah."
"Then that's outside my area of expertise. I could prepare something, but you'd be better off buying from a monster goods dealer."
"A monster goods dealer..."
That unpleasant smile came flooding back. In my imagination, I could see that gentleman going *Welcome~* all over again.
"Want me to introduce you?"
"No, I've got an idea."
I'd pay him a visit anyway.
"Alright then... Come back in two days. Your equipment should be done by then."
"Understood. ...Oh, hey, old man."
"What is it?"
"There's a star next to our levels now. Do you know what that means?"
"Oh? So you kids have reached the Class Up threshold."
"Class Up?"
"You don't know about it? Class Up means breaking through your growth limit. Once you surpass it, you can keep raising your levels even further. And when you Class Up, you get a massive power boost."
What!?
So it was basically like... a job change or some kind of rite of passage, like in games?
You couldn't get stronger without Classing Up?
"In principle, Class Up is only available to knights and mages recognized by the kingdom, plus a select few employed adventurers. But since you're a Hero, you've got enough credibility, right?"
Thinking about it in reverse, this also explained why the bandit gang had been unexpectedly weak. Their max level was 40. People without credibility—adventurers and villagers alike—were shackled by their inability to Class Up, and the kingdom controlled them through sheer power.
So the kingdom couldn't allow people it didn't trust to Class Up...
"When you Class Up, you choose your direction. I agonized over it myself back in the day... If you've already hit the star threshold, every possibility is open to you, so it's even tougher."
"...Where can I Class Up?"
"Haven't you been there before? You can do it at the Dragon Hourglass."
You could do it at a place like that? Thinking about it more carefully, it had been an impressive, heavily guarded facility.
...Could it be that the reason I'd encountered the other Heroes there was also related to Class Up?
Just what levels were those guys at, anyway?
My irritation was building.
"I'll go do it then."
If I could, I should get it done as soon as possible.
We left the weapon shop and hurried to the Dragon Hourglass...
The carriage had reached its breaking point, so we left it behind the shop.
As a result, Filo was in human form.
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing..."
Even though I saw her like this at the inn every day, it somehow felt like a rare sight. She'd been in bird form most of the time lately, after all.
That had to be it.
"Come to think of it, you said Class Up broadens your possibilities. What does that actually mean?"
"I want to Class Up however Naofumi wants me to."
"...Don't do that. Raphtalia, you need to decide your own path."
In the game I played before, there had been class changes where you could choose between a Light Route and a Dark Route. But this was something the individual should decide for themselves.
"When the Wave is over and I return to my original world, become the kind of person who can keep living even without me."
"Huh... Naofumi, you're going back?"
"Yeah."
I had no attachment to this world. At best, there were people I owed debts to, but I figured saving the world would be repayment enough.
If that was the case, I saw no reason to remain in this unpleasant world.
"Won't you take me with you?"
"Where?"
What was she talking about? If someone like Raphtalia showed up in my world, she'd just be stared at with suspicion.
"I want to carry you there, Master. Where are you going?"
"Filo can't go there, unfortunately."
"Really?"
"Well, whatever. Filo, what kind of Class Up do you want?"
"Well, Filo wants to be able to breathe poison!"
"............"
I was speechless. What was this bird going on about?
Was this because we'd been fighting monsters that used poison lately, and Filo had developed some weird admiration?
Bio Plants, Dragon Zombies...
"You're already doing that."
In the form of poisonous remarks.
"Really!?!"
Filo pursed her lips and blew out a puff of breath.
"Nothing's coming out, though?"
"Not what I meant. Anyway, let's go."
With hearts pounding in anticipation of their Class Up, we headed to the Dragon Hourglass.