A week had passed since then.
I was still operating out of a base near the castle.
"Hey, Shield kid."
"What!?"
I was walking through town in my underwear — practically half-naked — when the weapon shop owner called out to me.
Well, I just happened to be walking past his shop, but what did he want?
"Heard you tried to rape your party member. Let me take one swing at you."
The guy didn't even plan on listening to my side of the story from the start. His face twisted with rage as he clenched his fists.
"You too!?"
Not a single person around here had any interest in hearing what I had to say.
Sure, maybe I was an otherworlder who didn't know much about the customs of this country, this world. But there was absolutely no way I'd force myself on a woman who didn't want it.
Ugh... damn it. The weapon shop owner's face was starting to look like that bitch's face.
Right now, I could beat him to death.
I clenched my fists tight and glared right back.
"Ugh... you..."
"What's the matter? Weren't you going to hit me?"
The owner loosened his fists and backed off.
"N-No. I'll pass."
"Smart move. You just saved your life."
Right now, even with my pathetically low attack power, I was confident I could beat someone to a pulp and feel good about it.
But I told myself there was no point in hitting him for no reason, and decided to go earn some money for my activities going forward.
Maybe punching a few Balloons would lift my spirits.
"Wait a minute!"
"What now!?"
As I headed through the castle gate toward the grasslands, the weapon shop owner called out to me again.
I turned around, and a small bag was tossed my way.
"You'll get looked down on dressed like that. Consider it a parting gift."
I checked inside the bag and found a slightly grimy cloak and some cheap clothes made of hemp.
"...How much?"
"About five Copper Coins. Clearance stock."
"...Got it. I'll come pay you back later."
I'd been thinking it was getting ridiculous running around in my underwear, so I might as well accept this as a business transaction.
"Make sure you come back. I trust money if nothing else."
"Yeah, yeah."
I threw on the cloak, put on the clothes, and headed out to the grasslands.
From there, I made the grasslands my base of operations and spent my time hunting Balloons.
"Take this, take this, take this, take this, take this, take this!"
One at a time. Each one took about five minutes, but since they couldn't hurt me no matter how much they bit, there was never any real danger.
I spent the whole day fighting to blow off steam and collected a decent number of Balloon skins.
Level Up!
You are now Level 2!
Orange Small Shield and Yellow Small Shield conditions have been unlocked!
Then, just to be thorough, I spent the daytime gathering information and making preparations.
By evening, I was starting to feel hungry.
Reluctantly, I returned to the Castle Town and headed to the shop that bought monster materials.
The pudgy shopkeeper took one look at my face and started grinning like an idiot.
...He was going to try to lowball me, obviously.
I could tell just by looking.
A customer ahead of me was selling off various materials.
Among them were Balloon skins — the same kind I was planning to sell.
"Let's see... how about one Copper Coin for two of these?"
He pointed at the Balloon skins and made his appraisal.
One Copper Coin for two, huh...
"Deal."
"Thank you very much."
The customer left, and it was finally my turn.
"Hey. I've got monster materials. Buy them off me."
"Welcome, welcome."
Did he think I couldn't hear the snickering at the end of his sentences?
"Let me see here. Balloon skins, yes? How about one Copper Coin for ten?"
One-fifth the price! How shamelessly he was trying to rip me off.
"Didn't you just offer that other guy one Copper Coin for two?"
"Did I? I don't recall."
Something about how we're in business too, you know — he kept making excuses.
"Hmm. How about this, then."
I grabbed the shopkeeper by the collar and yanked him toward me.
"Wh-What are you—"
"Buy this one too. It's pretty lively."
Chomp!
I peeled the Orange Balloon that had been hiding under my cloak and clamped it onto the shopkeeper's nose.
"GYAAAAAAH!"
I peeled the Balloon off his thrashing face, then kicked him to the ground.
"Want me to drag you all the way to the grasslands and make you buy them there?"
I showed him the five Balloons I'd been hiding under my cloak.
That's right. If they couldn't hurt me no matter how much they bit, then I could peel them off and stick them onto someone else. That idea had just struck me.
Even I had to admit it was a brilliant plan, and it was proving useful in negotiations.
After all, with no attack power, I couldn't exactly threaten anyone with violence.
He'd understand. He could see the future where I'd actually go through with it, and he'd be left with nothing but bones for the Balloons to feed on.
"I'm not saying you have to pay top dollar. But if you don't buy at market rate, we've got a problem."
"If you keep this up, the kingdom will—"
"What happens to a shopkeeper who screws adventurers with rock-bottom prices? Think about it."
That's right. For a merchant like this, trust was everything. If he pulled this kind of stunt not on me but on a normal adventurer, he'd get beaten up.
And on top of that, there was the option of losing all his customers.
"Guuh..."
He glared at me with a look that could kill, but eventually he gave in and relaxed.
"...Fine."
"Yeah. If you don't try to lowball me and become a loyal customer, I'll even knock a little off the market price."
"I'd honestly prefer to refuse, but there's no crime in buying materials and paying money. Fine."
Having realized I wasn't someone who'd give up easily, the merchant bought my Balloon skins at just a little below market price.
"Oh, and spread the word about me. Any merchant who tries to pull a fast one gets the Balloon treatment."
"Sure, sure. What a customer... damn it!"
With today's earnings in hand, I went straight to the weapon shop owner and paid him back for the clothes and cloak, then grabbed dinner at a restaurant.
But for some reason, I couldn't taste a thing. At first I thought he was joking, but something was definitely off with my sense of taste.
An inn? I'm broke — I'm sleeping in the grasslands! It's not like the Balloon bites hurt anyway, so no big deal.
The next morning when I woke up, I was being pecked at like a sky burial, but I smashed them all to vent my stress.
Free money first thing in the morning!
After that, I didn't have to fight like my life depended on it anymore, because I'd learned how to make money.
First, beyond Balloon drops, I looked for other things I could sell.
That turned out to be the medicinal herbs growing wild in the grasslands.
I visited the Potion Shop's wholesale supplier, studied what herbs they sold, and found shops that bought them.
Then I went back to the grasslands and started picking similar-looking plants. The shield reacted. Slowly, I let the shield absorb the herbs I'd collected.
Leaf Shield conditions have been unlocked.
Come to think of it, I hadn't checked the Weapon Book yet.
I opened the Weapon Book and looked at the shields that were lit up.
Small Shield
Ability Release! Defense +3!
Orange Small Shield
Ability not released... Equipment Bonus, Defense +2
Yellow Small Shield
Ability not released... Equipment Bonus, Defense +2
Leaf Shield
Ability not released... Equipment Bonus, Gathering Skill +1
I double-checked with the help section.
『Weapon Transformation and Ability Release』
Weapon Transformation refers to changing the shape of the legendary weapon you currently have equipped into a different form.
To transform it, hold your hand over the weapon and think the name of the weapon you want to change it to in your mind.
Ability Release grants the wielder a permanent skill through sustained use of that weapon and accumulating a certain amount of proficiency.
『Equipment Bonus』
An Equipment Bonus is an附 ability that can be used while the weapon is in its transformed state.
For example, if a weapon has Air Strike Bash granted as its Equipment Bonus, you can use Air Strike Bash while that weapon is equipped.
A weapon with Attack +3 means it grants an additional +3 to the equipped weapon's attack.
So in other words, by unlocking Ability Release, the wielder retains the granted ability even when switching to a different weapon.
Proficiency probably accumulated over time — the longer you kept a weapon transformed or fought with it.
This world really was game-like to the core.
Feeling thoroughly exasperated, I found myself drawn to the Leaf Shield's Equipment Bonus.
Gathering Skill +1
Probably a skill that gave some kind of bonus when gathering herbs.
Right now, I had no money.
If that was the case, there was only one thing to do. It all came down to how efficiently I could get my hands on high-quality, low-effort goods.
Without hesitation, I transformed the shield into the Leaf Shield.
With a soft whooshing sound, my shield changed into a green shield made of plant material.
...No loss in defense. The Small Shield had been too weak to begin with anyway.
Now then, time to try picking the herbs growing in front of me.
Snap.
A nice clean sound, and the herb came right off.
Faintly...
The herb seemed to glow ever so slightly.
Gathering Skill +1
Aero — Quality: Normal → Fine — Herb used in medicine.
An icon appeared, informing me of the change.
Huh... so it even shows simple descriptions. More useful than I expected.
After that, I spent the rest of the day mechanically wandering the grasslands and stuffing herbs into my bag.
Incidentally, whether it was from all the gathering or simply because time had passed since the transformation, the Leaf Shield's Ability Release finished almost immediately.
While I was at it, the other colored Small Shields in the series were all unlocked by the end of the day.
I returned to the Castle Town with my bag in hand and had my herbs appraised and bought.
"Oh my... These are quite nice. Where did you find them?"
"The grasslands outside the castle. Never heard of them?"
"Hmm... I didn't think anything that good grew out there... I was expecting lower quality..."
We made small talk while he processed the purchase. That day's income was one Silver Coin and fifty Copper Coins.
By my standards up to that point, that was a huge amount. It was practically a record.
Incidentally, while eating at the tavern, various people came up asking to join my party.
Every single one of them looked like trouble, and I was sick of it.
...Ever since that day, nothing I ate had any flavor.
Shoving the tavern food into my mouth, I acknowledged — how many times was this now? — my ongoing loss of taste.
"Shield Hero! Let us join you!"
They talked down to me with an arrogant tone.
Honestly, dealing with them was a hassle, but the look in their eyes — it was the same as that bitch's — and that set me off.
"Fine. Let's go over the contract terms first."
"Sure~"
Damn it!
Stay calm. If I backed down here, they'd follow me everywhere. That was how these people operated.
"First, the employment structure is purely piece-rate. You understand what that means?"
"Nope~"
I wanted to beat this guy to death!
"It means I distribute a portion of the income earned from adventures. Say there's a hundred Silver Coins in earnings — I take the base cut of at least forty percent, then the rest gets divided based on your performance. If it's just you, it's split between the two of us. If you're just standing around doing nothing, there's no deal. The amount I pay is at my discretion."
"That sucks! You're saying you could just take everything!"
"If you pull your weight, I'll share. That is, if you can pull your weight."
"Fine, whatever, let's go buy some equipment then."
"...Buy it with your own money. I have no obligation to gear you up out of pocket."
"Tch!"
I was willing to bet they'd been planning to get me to buy their equipment, then follow me around doing nothing. And eventually, they'd run off and steal the gear.
Dirty tactics. The same breed as that bitch.
"Alright then. Send me the money."
"Oh no! There's a Balloon in here!"
CHOMP!
"Ow! That actually hurt!"
A commotion broke out when a Balloon wandered into the tavern, but I couldn't care less. I peeled the Balloon off the screaming idiot, left payment for my meal, and walked out.
Seriously, were there no decent people in this world?
Every last one of them was only out to use others for their own gain.
Anyway, I lived like that day after day, slowly saving money, and before I knew it, two weeks had passed.