Author's Note: A few things before we start: The most important thing that I forgot to mention in the last chapter, which I thought I did, was that the poll for Raphtalia is closed. But don't worry, I'm not going to have Naofumi do it with Raphtalia as she is now, other than a lame, no she'll be in her early teens, fourteen/fifteen before anything else happens.

Some of you are wondering why I'm keeping Naofumi in a kingdom that hates him when I can make him go to other places, even to a sky island, well there's three reasons. First is the plant shield that he gets which allows him to create plant monsters. Sure I could have it so that he could get that on another island, but this is just a filler to fill in for the second and third reason.

The second reason is the Dragon Core, sure I could use any dragon core, but I want the one that Ren killed for reasons that's obvious. The dragon hates Ren and wants to punish her for killing him. The last reason and most important reason for him staying in the kingdom, for now, is so that he could get the Soul Eater Shield. This is the most important shield for him to get and outside of the third wave, he is unable to get it anywhere else. So until he gets the shield, I can't have him leave the kingdom, as the Soul Eater Shield is key to an idea that I have along with a weapon to fight Glass. So until after the third wave, he has to stay in the Kingdom of Melromarc.

As for the lust shield, that would have been done and dealt with before the last chapter, but I learned about a problem with the poll voting on fanfiction where the votes didn't match to what people voted for. So you know, if you haven't noticed from this story and my other stories, I am a slow writer and so things are done slower then most of you are used to. I'm sorry about that, but it can't be helped.

Sorry for the long note at the start of the story, but I felt it was needed to explain why things are happening the way they are before I continued the story. So you know, there's a small lime at the end of the chapter, you'll know it when you get to this ( . v . ) ( . v . ) If you don't like it, you can skip it by looking for another set of ( . v . ) ( . v . ) Either way, onto the next chapter.

Chapter 13…

Atla!

As Naofumi and his group left the town to hunt for a few monsters, they came across a group of ten Orange Balloons that were gathering around near the river near the town. Instead of having his slaves to deal with them, Naofumi himself held them back and dealt with them. With each punch that he hit the Balloons, the harder he hit them as he thought back with the meeting of Renka and Itsuki, the ladies there saw that the green gem on the Shield Hero's had a hint of red in it. And as he punched the Balloons and let his anger out on them, the red slowly took over the gem.

But before the gem became full red, Naofumi stopped punching the Balloons and took a few deep breaths, before he said, "Sorry about that, but those two damn fools just got to me and I had to unleash my anger out on something."

"Understood Master/Lord Naofumi!" the three girls said at once, they saw the effects that meeting the other two heroes had on Naofumi, so he would want to vent on something. And as he did they all of them saw that his shield started to slowly regain its green coloring. Although Raphtalia had to admit that she was a bit shocked at this, she thought that all the heroes should get along with each other, so it was a bit of a shock to hear that they were against the Shield Hero and for reasons she didn't believe in.

Sure they told Naofumi that they don't believe in those stories, but Naofumi believed that they were just saying it. For Kumiho, Naofumi believed that she was saying it because that's what she believed he wanted to hear, seeing as whoever sent her wanted to get on his good side. As for young Raphtalia, Naofumi thought that seeing how he was her master now, she had to believe everything he said no matter what or agree with him even if she didn't believe him.

Whatever the case, Naofumi knew that he had to keep things on track, that he shouldn't lose himself in self-doubt and anger. "So Crusch, what was it that you want to teach me today?" Naofumi asked after a few more deep breaths.

"Well today I'm going to teach you how to skin and gut a monster properly." explained Crusch, "Not only would it allow you to get money by selling their meat, skin and other parts, but I believe that with how the Legendary Shield works for you, it could give you more shields."

"Does it really matter how I cut them out?" asked Naofumi, sure he researched about it for his comic, but he never did it himself. To be honest, he didn't think it was all that important how he skinned or dissected animals.

"It matters a lot Lord Naofumi," Crusch informed the Shield Hero, "as if the skin, fur and such is damaged, it'll sell less than it would normally. Especially the cores, eyes and other ingredients, and if they are damaged in any form, they can become degraded and people can't use them. You need to also understand that some cores aren't always visible, they lay within the monster's body and only be found once you skin and dissect. So, if you're not careful you could damage important parts of the monster."

"I see, I didn't realize it was that important." Naofumi admitted to the lizard-woman, then looking at his two slaves and remembering that Kumiho knew how to fight, he went on to say, "Now whilst Crusch is teaching me how to do this, I want you two to level up. Kumiho, seeing how you know how to fight, I would like it if you could teach Raphtalia how to use her new blade so she knows what she is doing and doesn't hurt herself or one of us with it."

"Sure Master." Kumiho said with a bow.

Raphtalia looked a bit nervous at the thought of fighting, but she said nervously, "Sure, sure Master."

"Don't worry, if you stay near the entrance, you'll find week monsters that'll be easy to deal with, the Loomush, Bluemushes and Greenmushes," explained Crusch, "They are weak and low level, but they give out between five Exp to fifteen, so you should be able to level up fast enough with us defeating monsters."

"What are these mush monsters like?" asked Naofumi, worried about his slaves, as he didn't want to buy new ones if these ones die so soon.

"You could say they are like the Balloon Monsters, in fact, these monsters are better known as Inorganic Monsters." explained Crusch, "They are the weakest monsters in this world, so they are the most useful monsters to help new adventures level up."

"So why didn't we level up there in the first place?" asked Naofumi.

"Because other than the mush monsters and a few other weak creatures, the deeper you get into the forest, the stronger the monsters you'll face." explained the lizard-woman, "So I had you deal with the monsters around the kingdom first before going deep in the forest. So whilst we go deep in the forest, Raphtalia and Kumiho can deal with the mush monsters nearby."

"I see," Naofumi said simply, who could see Crusch's point of view, "so before we go, Raphtalia and Kumiho, whilst I'm gone as you defeat these mush monsters , I want their bodies or any parts of them that are left. As I would want to see if I can unlock any new shields. Is that understood?"

"Yes Master." his two slaves said together, as the four parted ways, Crusch and Naofumi going one way, as Raphtalia and Kumiho went another to find some mush monsters.

It wasn't long before Crusch and Naofumi came across something useful, a pack of dire wolves that Crusch decided to use to train Naofumi how to dissect an animal. Sure they could start with small creatures like a rabbit-like monster called Usapil, but it was too small for Crusch, she wanted to start off with something big and later go smaller. As it would be easier to teach Naofumi on something bigger.

Naofumi found that skinning and dissecting was harder than he first thought, first he learned that he should gut the animal within thirty minutes before the animal begins to go bad. Not only that, but he had to be careful of not piercing the stomach, bladder and urethra, as it could ruin the meat and other important items. For the first few tries Naofumi failed in gutting the wolves, he kept hitting one of the parts that he shouldn't and ruined the organs. Thankfully though, after a few hours of practice and Crusch telling him where he was going wrong, Naofumi finally got it right. At the end of the day, he got the following from his training:

10 Wolf Pelts.

Wolf Fangs.

Wolf Claws.

Raw Meat.

10 Wolf Cores.

He didn't get as much meat as he would have liked, but Naofumi knew that because of his early mistakes in cutting the parts he shouldn't have done, he ruined the meat and only could get the other items. He picked up the fangs and claws as Crusch informed him that people often buy these items as accessories. He was informed that with them being basic accessories, the best he could get from selling them was around twenty copper coins. However, should he learn how to enchant an item, he could gain much more depending on the enchantment starting from around five silver coins.

Naofumi wasn't sure if he would have the time to learn or find someone to teach him about enchantments, but if he did, he would try to do so. As it would give him the coins to get the things he would need to deal with the Waves and getting food and such. During this time, absorbing the items from the wolves he gained a few new shields.

His first shield was from the Wolf Cores:

Dire Werewolf Shield

Equip Bonus:

Dire Werewolf Transformation - Level 1 (Unmastered)

Naofumi was presently surprised about this, with how his luck was at the moment, he wasn't expecting one of his shields to have a transformation skill without buying the skill. Either way though, his stats for this were three attack, five defence and five magical defence, Naofumi was hoping for more attack points if he was honest with himself. But as he thought about it, as a Shielder, he was lucky to have this ability, let alone have any attack points at all.

But as he read about this ability, he learned that the more he levelled it up the stronger it would get and he would be able to gain abilities to fit the transformation. So when he had the spare skill points, he would put a few of them on this ability, the problem is that to get the ability to level two, he needed at least seven skill points to do so. But as he thought about it, it made some sense, seeing how powerful this ability can become.

The main problem he had with this ability was that it would cost him fifty mana points to use, and he could only use it for twenty minutes. This meant that he couldn't stay as a werewolf for too long, the only way he could use it for long and for less mana was for him to level it up.

Next two were the claws and fangs, he got another two new shields, these two helped with the transformation shield.

Wolf Fang Shield

Equip Bonus:

+5 to Fang Attacks (Unmastered)

Wolf Claw Shield

Equip Bonus:

+10 to Claw Attacks (Unmastered)

Now whilst these shields did nothing to his normal stats, at the very least they helped with his Dire Werewolf Transformation ability. At least he would have some strength in his fights, and even though he couldn't stay in this form for long, he should be able to defeat most monsters within twenty minutes. Until he could level up the Dire Werewolf Shield, he would only use it only when he needed extra attack points, as he had other things to use his skill points on at the moment.

Then finally there was the Wolf Pelts, where he got the last of the Wolf Serie: Wolf Fur Shield.

Wolf Fur Shield

Equip Bonus:

Thermal Resistance (Small) (Unmastered)

This shield was similar to his cape, but not as powerful, not that he minded too much. As it would work with his cape to keep him from getting too hot or cold, so in the long run, it would help a lot either way. Thankfully, this was one skill not connected to his transformation ability.

Anyway, after packing any of the remaining parts of the wolf that he didn't absorb into his shield to gain new shields, the two left to find Raphtalia and Kumiho to see how they were doing. As he was a bit worried, as over the last few hours, they only gained two levels and that was thanks to his connection to them as he killed the wolves. He didn't run off to them as Crusch pointed out he would know if they were in trouble thanks to the Status Magic connecting them. But he would be having a few words with them if they didn't have a good reason for not being at least level four or five.

o0OoO0o

Now as Naofumi returned to his slaves, he saw Raphtalia defending against Kumiho, who was telling how to stand and what to do to make it better. Upon seeing them, Naofumi called out to them, "What are you two thinking you're doing? I thought I told you to level up."

"Sorry Master, I am at blame," Kumiho informed her Master, ready for any punishment he sees fit for not doing what he wanted, "I wanted to teach young Raphtalia how to use a sword and how to defend herself from attacks before we do any real fighting." Raphtalia looked upset and ashamed that she didn't do what her Master wanted of her, she was worried that he would punish her for this. But if he didn't she would find a way to make it up to him later on.

Naofumi couldn't find himself to be angry at this, seeing how he did want Kumiho to teach Raphtalia how to use a sword. With a sigh, he asked, "Did you attack any monsters whilst I was training?"

"Just a few monsters here and there to see how well Raphtalia could fight them." admitted the elder slave, "She had problems keeping hold of her sword and unable to defend herself, so I spent the last few hours teaching her how to use a sword properly and the monsters that we defeated we collected just like you asked."

"So not a total waste of time then." Naofumi said with a slight smile, happy to see that they did something useful during the last few hours and not having him levelling them up himself. "Either way, let's head back into town, Ulthane wants to see me about something before we leave the town and train for the next few days before we start our job for the Slave Trader. So let's go."

"Yes Master/Lord Naofumi." the three slaves said together as the four of them began to head back into town.

But as they headed back to the town, the ground began to shake, making the slaves lose their footing and stumble around, Raphtalia in fact fell onto the ground. But it was only a moment before she was picked up off of the ground by Naofumi who looked confused at why everyone was stumbling around. The land then started to shift, the land rippled like small waves, slowly an old tomb rose out of the land. The size of the tomb reminded Naofumi of Todaiji Temple back in his world. Around the tomb, about thirty feet from the tomb were pillars and statues - the statues were of centaurs.

Once the tomb appeared, a Status Window appeared in front of the four of them:

WARNING!

The Sagittarius Tomb has Appeared!

Level Requirement:

Level 15

Countdown:

H: 12 M: 30 S: 30

Upon seeing this, Naofumi was a bit confused, sure the Bitch mentioned that dungeons sometimes appear out of nowhere. But until now thanks to how the bitch treated him and the lies she told, Naofumi didn't believe her until he saw this with his own two eyes.

"So this is a dungeon that appears every so often." Naofumi said to himself as he looked at the tomb.

"So you know about them then?" asked Crusch.

"Only that they are different from other dungeons, as that they appear anywhere at any time." Naofumi informed the demi-human.

"In that case, you need to know about these dungeons, and that's there are two types of them." explained the young lizard-woman, "The first type is known as Zodiac Tomb, there are twenty-four of them."

"Twenty-four Zodiac Tombs?" Naofumi asked in shock, a bit shocked there were so many zodiacs in this world. In his world, depending on your culture, there were only up to twelve zodiacs.

"Yes, the first twelve zodiacs, Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius, and Pisces." explained Crusch, "These Zodiac Tombs can give the adventures abilities connected to these zodiacs, say someone was able to clear the Taurus, they could gain enhanced strength, endurance and stamina, and there are rumours that there was one adventure being able to transform into a man/bull creature that Taurus meant to look like."

Naofumi had to admit that the powers from these tombs seemed to be very useful. Whilst he knew very little about the zodiacs and the powers that they represent, he didn't know that each one was connected to one of the four elements. So he believed that if a person could gain one of these elements and how much power they gain from the tombs, it could make a person really powerful.

'Hold on, if these twelve zodiacs are from my world, would it mean that the other ones would be too?' Naofumi thought to himself. The first twelve zodiacs were from the Western Astrology, so would that mean that the other twelve would be either from the Chinese Zodiac or the Celtic Zodiac?

Before Naofumi could ask about this, Crusch went on to say, "The next lot of tombs belonging to the Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Goat, Monkey, Rooster, Dog and the Pig. Those who are lucky enough to clear those tombs can either summon the zodiac of that tomb or they can transform into them. The last time I heard someone clearing one of these tombs was about a year or so ago."

"Why was it so long since someone cleared one of these tombs?" asked Naofumi, he couldn't see why someone wouldn't want to clear one of these tombs. He would have thought that being able to summon someone loyal to fight for you was ideal, as they shouldn't be able to betray you as normal people could.

"A simple reason, a Zodiac Tomb is rare to appear," Crusch informed the young Shield Hero, "it is said that only a handful would appear a year. Should one of the second set of tombs appear, many don't see the point of trying to clear the Tombs seeing how they don't see any point of becoming one of them or summoning them. So at least those in this land don't use them for some reason."

Naofumi thought it was stupid, as any power in a world full of monsters and demons would be useful to have to defend oneself. But each to their own, but it confirmed to him even more about how stupid this world really was. Instead of carrying on with the questions about the Zodiac Tombs, something he could do, later on, he asked, "So what's the second type of dungeons that appear?"

"These ones are known as Temples of Power," explained the demi-human, "these ones, whilst you need to do something to get something, aren't as deadly as the Zodiac Tombs. These are more common than the tombs, but still rare. Now, these temples, once cleared, can give a person some kind of power, all depending on two things, their Magic Affinity and their level at the time. As although they might have the Magic Affinity that the temple has to offer, if their level isn't high enough, they might not have the experience needed to learn the power the temple is offering."

That made some sense, as in the games back in his world, there were certain skills that you needed a certain class or level before you could learn the skill. So these temples were similar in this way. But then as he thought about this, something got him thinking and so he asked, "Listen if you have these temples and tombs, which give you powers and strength, why would you need us heroes?"

"Because unlike other adventures who have limits, you heroes have no limits when it comes to skills and levels." Crusch informed Naofumi, "The Waves of Calamity are going to get stronger as you know, but if the best of adventurers were to handle them as they would the minions, then they would have no hope to fight against the bosses. That would be down to the heroes that were summoned to do so, seeing how they would have the levels and abilities to do so."

"Hmm…" Naofumi hummed thoughtfully as he thought about this, he could see her point of view. He heard about a few games back in his world where side-characters would deal with the minions whilst the main character(s) dealt with the boss. "So do you think we can deal with this tomb?" asked Naofumi, thinking with someone as high of a level as Crusch, they could clear the tomb with ease.

"Sadly no, that would be impossible." Crusch informed the Shield Hero, "As there's a barrier around the tombs and temples to stop those who don't meet the level requirement. As it's said that the tombs are too dangerous so whoever created them made it so that no one who isn't ready can't enter it. So that people who aren't ready, don't get killed."

Once again Naofumi could see her point at this, if these tombs were as dangerous as the lizard-woman were making them out to be, it was wise to stop adventures from getting into them until they were ready. So seeing that there was no point staying about, he decided to continue back to town. As they were walking back to town, they saw adventurers running to the tomb to try and enter it.

o0OoO0o

Once they returned to Castle Town, they went straight back to Ulthane's shop, where they found it closed. Seeing this, Crusch opened the door and went down to the forge to see if Ulthane was down there. In fact, they did find him there, he was talking to what looked like another Maker, this one was a female.

She was a few feet taller than Ulthane, who had long wavy blond hair and blue eyes. She was wearing a traditional barbarian armour, a leather loincloth with bronze trimmings, leather, toeless, fur tufted boots with bronze guard plates, a leather chest piece with a bronze guard plate, the chest piece had a crisscross strap on its back. Lastly, she was wearing bronze pauldrons, upper arm guards and leather gauntlets with bronze guards to protect the back of her hands.

"Ah Crusch, Naofumi, I'm glad you have returned when you did," said Ulthane when he saw them, "Naofumi, I would like you to meet Atla. She came to teach you what you need to know about alchemy."

"Thank you Atla, it's nice to meet you, I'm Naofumi Iwatani, I hope you can help me." greeted Naofumi, as he gave her a small bow in respect.

"I'm happy to help one of the Cardinal Heroes," Atla informed the Shield Hero, "but I do have a question or two for you. If you don't mind me asking that is, Sir Hero?"

"Sure, I don't mind." Naofumi told her, if it helped with her training him, he would be willing to answer any questions that she had for him.

"Could you tell me why you are fighting?" asked the female Maker.

"Why do you want to know?" the Shielder asked with interest.

"As you know, the Waves are going to become so much harder, so I would like to know, what is your reason for fighting?" Atla told the young man, "I always believe that a person should have a reason for putting their lives at risk in life and death fights."

"I don't have any heroic reason for fighting if that's what you're wondering," Naofumi informed Atla, "I'm only fighting to stay alive so that when this is all over, I can go home. I know that you might think that for someone risking their life in this life and death situation they would need some kind of reason for fighting, like some kind of reward or wanting to save someone or something like that. But the truth is I have no such reason, I have no one that I trust or believe in to risk my life for them. I'm only fighting to live. If it wasn't for the risk of losing my life, I would allow this world to burn to ashes if I could. Thanks to this kingdom, I have no reason to save this world."

"I see." Atla said with a sigh, unhappy at how this kingdom had turned one of the key players who could defend this world against it. This was something really foolish, but living as long as she has, not something unsurprising. The truth is that this world needed to change, it has been waiting a long time for such a thing, but no one was strong enough, nor had the urge to make a change to the world. She had to wonder though, given the chance, could this new Shield Hero be the one to make the change needed for this world?

"Let me ask you something Sir Naofumi, what would you do if there was a way to save the world, but at the cost of millions of people?" asked Atla, wondering how much Naofumi would allow the world to be destroyed. "Would you sit back and do nothing or would you fight and save them?"

"You're talking about the four Guardian Beasts aren't you?" asked Naofumi, to which the blonde-haired Maker only nodded at this, "In that case, it all depends how things play out."

"Meaning?"

"Let's just say I have my reasons to be prepared to face off against them if things go wrong and that I'm pretty sure that no matter how hard I try I'm going to be smack dab in the middle of this shit storm of a mess." Naofumi said, "but also from the little Ulthane could remember from the stories from the last time that the Waves of Calamity, the foolish Heroes of that time sealed the Guardians for some reason. Am I right?" asked the Shield Hero as he remembered his talks with Ulthane over the last week.

"One last question, what if you're unable to go back to your world, what would you do then?" asked Atla.

"What are you talking about? Why couldn't I go back?" Naofumi asked confused, the gem in his shield had a hint of red in it, "I thought that once we dealt with the damn Waves of Calamity, I could go home!"

"And you probably can if you want," admitted Atla, "but the question is what would do if he couldn't go home. First off, we're not even sure about most of the function of the Four Legendary Weapons, rumour is that they are supposed to grant a boon to the wilder. But we're not completely sure, hell we don't even know if it was actually the ritual but summons the heroes or the weapons, so for all we know there could be a spell to send you back right now or bring others here. But regardless of that if you did go home how would you think the people around you would treat you, I mean from what I heard, you don't know how to fight. So if you go back home and you suddenly know how to protect yourself in fights, or you have a much more mature nature or hell you're much older, how would you explain that to the people from your world? Unless your world has magic, it's going to be very awkward to explain unless you can think of something to cover it all."

"But I didn't die in my world though." Naofumi told her.

"That you know of, Sir Naofumi," Atla told him, "all you know wherever you were could have been blown up, or someone could have shot you when you weren't looking or many other things could have happened that ended up with you dying. It would make a lot of sense, seeing how all the other heroes came here after dying."

Naofumi would like nothing more but to say that he didn't die, but he knew that it was possible. Not by a bomb or being shot either, he could have an unknown medical condition that killed him on that day without warning. Before he could say anything though, Atla went on to say, "Even if you didn't die, what are you going to say if you could go home? The Waves can last for months, even years, how are you going to explain your disappearance without sounding nuts about it? If you were to say that you were in another world fighting monsters and having powers, how do you think they'll react to this? Not only this, but you'll be a different person by the time you get back, so how are you going to explain all that?"

As much as Naofumi wanted to deny it, she was right, if he did return home, it would be a long time before it happened. And by the time he could decide to return home or not, he would have a new life experience, even be a different person to what anyone back in his world would know. Damn, thanks to the bitch and her damn father, he already was a different person. He was now an untrusting, darker person than they knew, right now if anyone back in his world did something to piss him off, he would be more than happy to bite back and hurt them. Something he would have never done before coming here.

"So I ask you, even if you could go home, would you really want to?" asked the Maker, "You're more than likely not going to be the same person they knew, would you really want to go back to a world where they no longer understand you or know what you have been through? From what I can understand, by the time for the heroes to decide their reward, they decided to stay here. Not only because they died back in their world, even if they could get back to their old lives, but they also didn't think they could fit in back in their world. Can you say you could?"

This got Naofumi thinking, after everything is said and done, can he honestly say he could go back to his world becoming a darker person than the person his friends and family knew? Would it be right for him to go back? As he would be a totally different person, he didn't know if he could fight back into his old world once this is all done. "Honestly, I don't know." admitted Naofumi, "I would love nothing more but to leave this damn world once I'm done here, but by that time, I'll be a totally different person as you said. I don't know if I'll fit into that world after everything I've seen and I'm forced to do in this world."

"And that's what you need to think about." stated Atla, "Not only how to deal with the Waves, but what you're going to do afterwards. You said it yourself, the other heroes think this is some sort of game, and so think only about the fame and fortune that they'll get at the end of it. But you, you seem to know what really is happening around here, and you're willing to do what it takes to do help, even if it means changing who you are."

Atla allowed Naofumi a few moments to think about this before she went on to say, "Either way, let's forget about the future and talk about why I'm here. I've come to teach you how to read this world language, teach you alchemy and a few other spells that I think might help you."

"I'm grateful Atla," thanked Naofumi, "I was worried that I wouldn't be able to learn this world's language and so not be able to learn alchemy. At least not without someone's help, which I thought I would never get with how people have treated me so far."

"It's not a problem, in fact, it's an honour that I can help a Cardinal Hero to become stronger." Atla said with a bow.

"As Ulthane told you that I'm not going to be the hero that you might suspect me to be?" asked Naofumi, wanting to know if he had to say something about his plans or not.

"Yes he did," admitted Atla, "and whilst I would like nothing more but for you to be a true hero, I can understand why you would pick this path. But as Ulthane told you, as long as you don't try and destroy the balance, we won't interfere with your affairs and even help you where we can. Which is why I'm willing to help you."

"Well, seeing how you know that I'm planning to become a bandit, I was wondering if you could help me learn a skill I heard about called Fake Out? As I heard that if I work on it, I can hide not only my stats but my identity too, which would make things easier."

"I can help with teaching it, but you do know that to get to the level you want it, it'll take hard work and time." Atla informed him as she walked to a shelf, where a few bags were, and looked inside.

"What's new?" Naofumi asked darkly, "My time in this world is nothing but hard work and time. But if it's a skill that can help me with my plans, I'm willing to work on it, no matter how hard or time consuming it may be. Either way, this world thinks that because I'm the Shield Hero, I'm weak and useless, so I say let them think that. I want to hide my true stats so that they keep underestimating me, so they wouldn't know what I'm truly capable of doing until it is too late for them. Not only that, but from what I can tell, should I gain any real strength, any useful attack points, they'll think that I got them by cheating instead of getting them through the Shield itself."

"Understandable." said Atla as she pulled a crystal ball from one of her bags, she really could understand wanting people underestimating them. "But are you sure that they won't believe you if you told them about what the weapons can do, about the Strengthening Method?"

"All honestly?" asked Naofumi, "No, no I don't. Right now with how they think of me, I would believe they would think I'm lying about it all, to cover up that I'm cheating somehow."

"I can't believe that this kingdom summoned three fools like this." Atla muttered to herself, but Naofumi heard her.

"Whilst they might not have meant to summon foolish heroes, I think the king and his bitch of a daughter are thankful for this though." Naofumi told her, "If they weren't fools, they would have sided with me instead of the king and bitch, saving me from being forced to go through all this shit."

Apart from Raphtalia, they had to admit that this was true, if the other heroes weren't as foolish as they were, Naofumi would have a much easier time than he was having now. In fact, he wouldn't have to do what he had planned, he could become a true hero. Whatever the case, they couldn't think of what-ifs, the present is what they got, they couldn't change the past, no matter how much they might want to.

"Anyway, do you know what this is?" asked Atla, as she held out the crystal ball.

"Sadly no." Naofumi told her.

"This is a Magical Crystal, which allows you to learn magic, in this case Fake Out." explained Atla, "All you have to do is to push some magic into the crystal, and you'll be able to learn the magic within it."

"And how do I do that?" asked Naofumi.

"You're telling me that the damn king sent you heroes out not knowing how to use magic?" Atla asked in disbelief. She was starting to believe that whatever questionable plansNaofumi might have for this kingdom, or might come to plan, they deserved it and then some.

"I don't know about the other heroes, but for me they didn't tell me a thing." Naofumi admitted darkly, unhappy about this, "In fact, I think they would have taught the other heroes about magic after I was framed, seeing how they didn't want to make the Shield Demon powerful."

Atla sighed as she said, "In that case, that'll be one of the first things that I'll be teaching you."

"That's fine." Naofumi informed her, in fact, he really did want to learn magic. Ever since he learned that he could do such a thing, he couldn't wait to learn magic, in any form. "When do you want to start?"

"Right now would be ideal." Atla told him, "As the sooner you learn Fake Out, the faster we can train you in it so that you can use it the way you're planning to."

"I'm fine starting now, but I do plan to build a camp outside of town for the night." explained Naofumi, "As I want to teach the girls here, how to camp and hopefully learn what the night is like in this world, and learn how to deal with what is to come. As I'm not planning to stay around this town for too long, and I've got a job where I need to go to another village in a few days. So I want to start teaching Raphtalia and Kumiho about camping a low-level area before we move on."

"That's fine Sir Hero, in fact, I can teach you a few alchemy traps you can set up so you can keep your camp safe during the night." Atla said with a smile. "Where are you planning to camp?"

"Somewhere in the forest," Naofumi informed her, "as we'll have more cover there than we would have in the open fields. Back in my world I was taught that you could hide within the forest better than you could in the open fields. So with how people have been treating me, it would be for the best if I keep a low profile here. Not only that, but I can hide from the monsters too."

Atla could see Naofumi's point in hiding in the forest, it would be hard to find him, and if traps were set up, he would be protected by most things in there. "So if there's nothing you need to do around town or need to do here, how about we leave now and set up your camp."

"Sure, I have nothing else planned for the day," said Naofumi, "in fact, the sooner I can learn to read this world's language and know how to use alchemy, the sooner I can do more and get stronger."

"Before you go, Naofumi, I have something for you." Ulthane told him.

"You don't have to do a thing, allowing Crusch to help me was more than enough." Naofumi informed the Maker, whilst he would like some more, having Crusch's help to level up was more than enough. In fact, it was more than he expected, seeing how his luck was shit at the moment.

"Nonsense, having Crusch help you with levelling up was the least I could do for you as a Cardinal Hero, seeing how no one else in the kingdom was willing to help you." Ulthane explained, "It would be foolish to leave you alone weak and unable to fight, whilst the people might not like it, they need you more than you need them. As without you and the other heroes, this world will be destroyed by the Waves of Calamity. Anyway, what I'm giving is only what you yourself got."

"What do you mean?" asked Naofumi.

"With all the stuff you got me, killing off most of the monsters and other jobs that I got you to do, it so that I can create armour for you." explained Ulthane, "Not only armour, but Monster Cores and other items too." And with that, he walked over to his workbench where he picked up an aggressive and wild-looking armour, "I called this armour, Barbarian Armour." Ulthane informed the young hero as he gave the armour to him.

The armour had a breastplate made out of light metal and shaped almost exactly like his Legendary Shield in its default form. His green cloak had been outfitted with fluff from the rabbit like monsters called Usapils. (Ulthane gave him some Usapil parts too, which gave him two new shields: Usapil Leather Shield which gave him three points in speed. Next was Usapil Meat Shield, which made it easier to dissect animals.)

His thighs were protected by a pair of cuisse, which instead of being made of metal, were made by thick Porcupine skin with Pikyu feathers stuffed in between the skins. (Ulthane gave him parts from Porcupine and the PikyuPikyu, but when he fed them to his shield, he only got two shields from the Porcupine. The Dark Porcupine Shield and the Porcupine Bone Shield, the Dark Shield gave him two levels in evading and two levels in speed. As for the Bone Shield, it gave him ten points into his Spirit Points.)

Seeing this new armour, Naofumi checked its stats to see what it was like.

Barbarian Armour:

Stats:

Physical Defence: +25

Magical Defence: +15

Special Ability:

Slash Resist 5%

Cold Resist 10%

Quill Resist 15%

Slots:

Four Empty Slots.

Naofumi had to admit that this armour was much better than that damn Chain Mail that bitch got him to buy, both in physical and magical defence. And it had better abilities and two extra slots to use. The armour didn't end there, Ulthane also gave him boots and gloves to fit with his new armour. They too were made from Porcupine and PikyuPikyu, with metal plating to protect the back of Naofumi's hands.

Barbarian Boots:

Stats:

Physical Defence: +10

Magical Defence: +5

Special Ability:

Speed: 10%

Evading: 15%

Barbarian Gloves:

Stats:

Physical Attack: +10

Physical Defence: +10

Magical Defence: +5

Special Ability:

Critical Chance 10%

Slots:

Two Empty Slots.

Even his new boots and gloves were better than his old ones. This armour would allow him to move about with ease, something Naofumi knew he needed so he could go between Raphtalia and Kumiho without too much of a problem should a strong monster attack them.

"This is the first armour that I made for you, I'm working on the second now." the blacksmith informed the Shield Hero.

"Why would I need a second armour?" asked Naofumi.

"If you're going to become a bandit, you'll need a second armour so that no one can tell you are a bandit." explained Ulthane, "As this armour is one of a kind, so if you go out doing crime and people see this armour, they'll know that you're the bandit attacking them. So it's wise if you have another set of armour to make it hard to connect you to the crimes."

"Hmm, that does make sense." the young man said as he thought about it, "But how long before the second set of armour will be finished?"

"Hmm, about a week or so." Ulthane said thoughtfully, "It shouldn't take too long, but I'm making this armour to be one of my best works."

"I see." said Naofumi as he thought about his future plans, "I can hold off on becoming a bandit, I do have a job lined up anyway, so I'll be fine for money for a while."

"That's good, and during that time, I would say you should get yourself and your slaves masks so that it makes it even hard to tell it is you." explained the male Maker, "In fact, I would say get two sets of masks, one for being a bandit and one for going about the towns selling and stuff. It's not uncommon for people to hide their face for one reason or another."

"I'll do that." said Naofumi, seeing sense in the blacksmith's words.

"Now these are Imp Summoning Cores, they'll allow you to summon Imps to your side." explained Ulthane, as he gave Naofumi four red cores, three of which were engaged in a gold and silver wired cage. Ulthane then saw that Naofumi was about to absorb the core into his shield, he said to him to stop him, "I wouldn't do that."

"Why not?" asked Naofumi.

"From what Crusch told me, you already put an Imp Core into your shield." explained Ulthane, "Whilst that I don't know how the Legendary Weapons work, I don't think it would be wise to try and only to find out that you don't have a new shield. So I would advise to wait for now. You see, the ones in the cages are for Raphtalia, Kumiho and you, so that you can summon Imps whenever you want. Be warned though, it costs twenty mana points to summon them, but once they are summoned they stay around until you unsummon them or they are defeated in which case you would have to summon again."

Naofumi had to admit this was ideal seeing how none of them knew how to summon imps any other way, but three questions came to mind. So Naofumi asked the Maker, "First, other than to use some of their skills, and summon them, what are imp useful for anyway? Second, why are there four instead of three? And lastly, how can we summon them?"

"Let me answer the last question first." the blacksmith told Naofumi, "All you have to do is to push some magic into them. Other than Kumiho, I know you and Raphtalia, but like Atla will teach you to push magic into the crystal to learn Fake Out, she'll teach you and Raphtalia how to use the Cores so you can use all cores."

Naofumi and Raphtalia nodded at this, happy that they'll learn how to use Cores, seeing how useful they can be, even if you weren't an Alchemist. Seeing the nods, Ulthane went on to answer the other questions, "As for what the Imps can do for you, apart from fighting, they can spy for you, seeing how they can transform into small animals and able to get around with not much problem and without raising alarms. Not only that, but they can talk to other imps they are connected to by telepathy. So as long as you got one imp with you at all time, you can keep in contact with each other even if you are far apart or the imps found something useful and so able to get info back to you fast."

Naofumi had to admit that this was an ideal skill to have, as there might be times when they are apart in fights and needed to send info to each other for some reason. But Before Naofumi could think of his last question he wanted to ask the blacksmith continued on to say.

"But I have to give a warning before I say you can properly use these things," the Maker told him, "there's a reason why most people won't use them and it's because yes they are low-level creatures and are good at spying and fighting and especially good at communication, but they have a problem with them namely that their pimps and their mischievous little buggers. They'll cause some problems if you keep them out too long or are not paying attention to them, they don't cause any big-time problems but they might cause you to misplace a few of your items or play a joke on you here and there or try to convince you to do naughty things. But given your high defense and how smart you seem to be, I doubt they'll be much of a problem to you and you might get more out of them then suffer from them."

Naofumi nodded at this and then thought on what he was going to ask. When he realized he only had one unanswered question, so he asked, "What about the fourth Imp Core?"

"Ah, that one is to allow you to practice your alchemy on, so that you can use other cores when you get them." explained Ulthane, "So you know, as you use the Summoning Imp Core more and more, it'll take up less and less mana and in time you'll be able to summon more than one of them at a time. I give you a focus core as it might take time before you can learn to use the normal core one."

As Naofumi handed a Summoning Core to Raphtalia and Kumiho, he had to admit that Ulthane made sense. He didn't know how long before he could learn to use cores without some sort of focus, he might learn at the same time as learning to use the Magical Crystal to learn Fake Out. But if he couldn't, it would be useful to have a core with a focus, so he could summon an imp.

Ulthane then gave them a box, as he gave it to Naofumi, he said, "There's a few basic supplies in there with a bag of hundred silver coins from the items we sold from the items you got us. It should help you until you get things sorted out."

Naofumi didn't know what to say, he knew that Ulthane wouldn't take the things back. But he was thankful about the stuff though, seeing how the shopkeepers keep raising the price of the items or not selling him anything. So these supplies would be useful until he sorted things out.

Either way, Naofumi thanks the blacksmith for his help and the things that he got, he also thanked Crusch for her help too. Without her, he didn't think he would be at the level he was now, so he was very grateful for her help. After they said their goodbyes and good luck, they parted ways.

o0OoO0o

Kingdom of Melromarc, The Forest, 16th of January 740:

Time to the next Wave: D15 H3 M30.

It was early morning and right now, the only person awake was Raphtalia, who was playing with her new playmate her Imp who was flying about as she tried to catch it. The truth was she meant to be on look out, but thanks to her Master's teacher, there was little need to do much. That didn't mean she wasn't keeping an eye, but she was bored with nothing to do, so she thought she would play with her new friend as she kept an eye out for trouble. Looking at her imp friend, she thought about the night before.

The first thing that Mistress Atla taught her and Master Naofumi was how to feel the magic inside them and use it. It took a few hours before her Master and her to be able to feel their magic, well it took her an hour or so to do this, her Master took a bit longer to do so. She was worried that this would upset her Master, but it didn't, as he said, he wasn't from this world so it would take him longer to feel magic.

Her Master did admit that it was mainly thanks to Mistress Atla, as if she didn't use her magic around him, it might have taken longer to get the feel of magic - something Raphtalia felt the same about. You see, once her Master set up camp for them, Mistress Atla used one of her Monster Core to twist and turn the trees around them until the area looked like a dome, with only one way in or out. Her Master's teacher explained that this was to stop anyone learning what she was teaching her Master, as they might use that against him.

As a child she wanted to believe that this wasn't true, that no one would try and hurt her new Master, but from what she could understand, it wasn't the case. People have lied about what he did, betrayed him and made his life awful. Sure she heard stories that many people were against the Shield Hero for some reason, but she never thought it would be this bad though.

Either way, once she and her Master knew how to feel and use some magic, Mistress Atla had her Master use the Magical Crystal to learn the skill known as Fake Out. What happened next she didn't fully understand it, but from what she could understand is that thanks to the Legendary Shield and how thanks to how it allowed him to become stronger, he would have an easier time to learn Fake Out. As he could use something called Skill Points to make it stronger after he levelled up, seeing how he was given so many Skill Points each time he levelled up. Mistress Atla was shocked to hear this, but she knew a bit about these Skill Points and she found it useful and would like to talk to her Master about them at some other time. As she would like to learn how these Skill Points could change Fake Out.

Either way, once her Master learned Fake Out, she then learned how to use the Summoning Cores that Mister Ulthane gave to them. Kumiho seemed to be able to get hers working on the first go, but Raphtalia suspected that she had past experience with these cores so she knew how to use them. But she and her Master took a bit longer, not as long as to learn to feel and use magic, but still took some time.

From here, Mistress Atla decided to end the night with teaching her Master how to read this world language, at least one version of it, the one that the humans used. Here Kumiho left to train with her sword, seeing how her body was different thanks to her levels being reset, she wanted to practice to get used to using her sword in her new body. She also wanted to work with her Imp Summons to see how she could work with it. Something their Master allowed, he even said that she could go with Kumiho and practice if she wanted, seeing how both were going to be fighting for him soon enough. But Raphtalia wanted to stay, as she only started to learn to read and write and so Mistress Atla could help her along with her Master.

Her Master thought about it for a few moments, before agreeing that she could stay and learn with him. As it might be useful to him down the line if she knew how to read and write properly. Seeing how she was from this world, Raphtalia found it easier to learn the letters and words that she was being taught, but her Master had a hard time. Something that discouraged him a bit, seeing how he wanted to learn magic as soon as possible.

Mistress Atla informed her Master that if his Japanese spelling was anything like hers, then he should know that the language of this world was like that. That words are cut down to one to a few symbols instead of a few short to long words. Here she gave an example with the word home, she wrote it a few different ways, the way she knew it, and a few different ways that she couldn't understand, but her Master could.

She went on to explain to her Master that under certain situations, the way a word is written can be different and have different meanings. So whilst learning the basic languages of this world was easy enough to learn, when it comes to magical language, words that meant one thing in one book, could have a different meaning in another book.

Another thing about magical books, depending on a person's Magical Affinity and the book he might be reading, the book might have a few spells in it. So whilst one person might see one spell, another person could see another spell. Another thing they should know was that with some books, unless you are at a high enough level some books won't allow you to learn a spell.

This was to stop people from learning magic that they weren't ready to use, as powerful magic can be dangerous if they aren't ready or strong enough. This was the same for temples and other places a person might be able to learn magic. This is why most people wanted to use Magical Crystal, as it's easier and faster to do so and learn more spells. However, unless they are very skilled at magic, it would also mean some of their magic would be how that magic might not be alined with their Magical Affinity.

So if they have a Magical Affinity of say Fire, but they use Magical Crystal or find the rare books that allow them to learn Water Magic instead of Fire, that magic would be weaker than if they learned Fire Magic. Not only that, but learning from books might allow you to learn skills that you can't get from Magical Crystal, seeing how they only teach one or two magical spells.

When the reading lesson was done and they had something to eat, they got ready for bed, however, they weren't going to be sleeping all at the same time. Instead, they were going to take turns sleeping. Naorumi would take the first watch as she and Kumiho sleep, then after a few hours of sleep he would wake Kumiho to keep watch and then a few hours later Kumiho would wake her up to do the final watch. At which point depending if she was tired, she would be allowed to rest for a bit before they would get on with the day.

She did ask why they would need to keep watch, seeing how Mistress Atla created this dome for them and had set up traps so that no one could enter the place. Her Master explained that whilst they might be safe, it didn't mean the traps would hold and so not letting monsters in, so it would be on the safe side of things than sorry. Not only that, but this would be good practice for when they were in the wilds when they didn't have such protection. She had to admit that her Master made sense, it was good to learn somewhere safe instead of somewhere dangerous.

As she played with her imp, she thought about the day before and where she failed to attack when her Master ordered her to attack a Balloon Monster. Sure the Slave Crest punished her for it, but she was worried though. She was worried that she might freeze up again and unable to fight, she worried that if it happens too often her Master might have her sent back to a Slave Trader. This was something she couldn't allow, she knew that if she was sent back to one of them, she wouldn't survive it.

She knew that she had to make her Master see that if she couldn't fight, he didn't have to send her away, that she still could be some use to him. And she thought about Kumiho and the reason that her Master got her, so she thought, and knew one way to show that she could be used other than fighting. Her second Master did start to train her to become a Sex Slave and with Kumiho being one, she could show her new Master that she too could be one of his Sex Slaves if fighting didn't work out for her. Anything that would stop her being sent back to a cold place like the Underground Slave Market.

To prevent this, she knew that she had to show him what her mother taught her in the short amount of time they were together. To show him that he didn't have to send her away if she wasn't good at fighting. So she would do what her mother told her Master liked done to wake up to."

( . v . ) ( . v . )

So going to the tent and entering the part where her Master was sleeping in, Raphtalia saw that the Shield Hero was fast asleep in one of the beds that Mistress Atla created for them. Then slowly, Raphtalia moved her hand 'til it was at his pants, where she slowly pulled them down, hoping not to wake her Master just yet. She was somewhat surprised, she wasn't expecting his dick to be so big or thick, nor his balls being big.

Knowing that she can't stop here at the surprise of this, she started, ever so slowly, to stroke her Master's, where she noticed it getting hard as she did so. While stroking him slowly, she maneuvered her head 'til it was completely resting on his stomach, about four inches from his cock, that was at this point hard as a rock.

It was at this point that she started to become frustrated, this was the first time that she would have a real cock in her mouth. Slowly she pressed her lips up against her Master's cock where she opened her mouth and placed part of the head of her Master's cock into her mouth.

.

To her shock though, her Master seemed to moan softly in pleasure at this, but yet he seemed to still be asleep. She began to suck his cock, bobbing her head up and down, but seeing it was her first time doing so she couldn't get far. Then to her surprise, she felt her Master's hands land softly onto the back of her head and started to pet her.

"Oh Mandy," Naofumi moaned in his sleep, "you're such a good girl."

Raphtalia was a bit worried that her Master was awake, and if that was the case, after realizing what was going on he would push her away before she could show him what she could do. But hearing him calling out another name, whilst saddened that he didn't call out her name, was happy too. She would have more time before he wakes and either push her away or let her continue.

Raphtalia didn't know if he was having a deep dream or he was half-asleep, thinking that he was with his love back home, which saddened her, but right now he wasn't pushing her away. But before she could put too much thought about this, her Master started to push her further down onto his cock.

At first, she was shocked at this action, she had to force herself to remember to keep her mouth opened her throat straight, just like her mother told her to. This was so that she wouldn't immediately gag on her Master's dick, which was hard and brought a tear to her eyes.

The excitement she felt for doing such a thrilling act while having her master cock fill her mouth, was equally matched by her fear of messing up and upsetting her savior and hero, to where she was trying her best to ignore the bring feeling in the back of her throat and doing as her mother told her. Rubbing her tongue over his dick well softly rubbing at his balls. She hoped that when her Master woke up, he would be pleased about this and wouldn't be angry and send her back to the slavers where she would die there.

With her Master now moving his cock in and out of her mouth, after a while she started to taste a slightly salty fluid coming out of the end of his dick in an endless stream and figured he was cumming in her mouth. She couldn't help but feel how much this turned her on, to think that her Master was cumming in her mouth, especially since the taste wasn't unpleasant at all. Her lips were being stretched obscenely around her Master's cock.

To her surprise though, he was now starting to get a little rougher, sliding his cock all the way in and out of her mouth. The length of his cock was hitting the back of her throat, making it hard to breath, she began to breathe through her nose which somewhat helped her.

"Oh Mandy, that feels so good," Naofumi moaned with pleasure, as he increased the pace, "you make me so happy."

Because she thought he had cum in her mouth already, she was in no way ready for what was about to happen. He had developed a steady pace going in and out of her mouth, he was now meeting his thrusting cock with her face. His dick then got noticeably harder and fatter and as the skin on his balls tightened. Her tongue was gliding over the front and side of his cock head.

"Oh yes, take Mandy, take my cum, take it all." Naofumi moaned in delight.

Raphtalia felt his cock start to pulse and surge in her mouth, when all of a sudden, it exploded. Huge blasts of thick, clumpy sperm were fired at such velocity that while trying to recover from the first shot, a second caught in the back of her throat causing her to choke and cough, causing her to have to pull back sharply coughing into her hands to where cum actually came out her nose. It was similar to getting water up your nose, only in reverse.

For a second, as she was coughing, Raphtalia thought she was going to throw up. But as she was coughing, she accidentally fell off the bed and landed onto the ground. As she knelt on the ground to get herself up, she began to cough and wheeze spitting up all of Naofumi cum onto the bed not noticing that she accidentally threw up a little bit of it onto his shield which absorbed a little bit of it and unknowingly created a new shield: Desire Shield!

As she finished coughing, believing that her Master was still half-asleep thinking that she was someone else, she got undressed hoping that her Master wouldn't gain his senses just yet. Once she was undressed, she got onto her Master and placed herself above her Master's cock.

But as she lowered herself so that his cock was in her, she decided that she would give her Master a kiss first. But that seemed to be the wrong thing to do, as the moment that their lips met, her Master's eyes widened and realized what was going on. "What do you think you're doing!?" Naofumi shouted out in shock and confusion, as he pushed her off him.

( . v . ) ( . v . )

o0OoO0o

Naofumi was feeling a bit weird, he was in his room just awoken from his first wonderful dream since he got to his damn world. He was dreaming of Mandy Rose, an English student at his school that moved to Japan a few years back. For the last few months, he and her were hitting it off every now and then, nothing serious, but they enjoyed each other's time. Now he was dreaming that he was back in his room having some fun together, but then the room changed and he had the most realistic dream ever, where Mandy gave him a blowjob.

She never liked it, but every so often she might give him one when she was in the mood or wanted something from him. But in his dreams, he sometimes had better blowjobs than in real life, sometimes he didn't, this time she was doing a so, so job at it.

Now as he was about to get to the fun part of the dream, where he was going to fuck her hard, like she liked it, someone coughed loudly. This woke him up fully as he saw his young slave, Raphtalia, lowering herself so that his cock entered her. It took a few moments for his brain to catch onto what he was seeing, but as she lowered herself to kiss and their lips met, all he could do was push her off him and out of shock and confusion called out, "What do you think you're doing!?"

To be Continued!

Author's Note - PLEASE READ TO THE END: Here ends another chapter of Rising of the Shield Demon, I would like to thank you for reading this chapter and I hope that you enjoyed it as much as I did writing it. I'm sorry for the wait, but I had problems with motivation with everything that's going on lately. It's bad enough that I'm a slow writer as it is, but when you have no motivation to write, it is even harder.

After reading your feedback and thinking about it, I've decided to do the Lust Shield a bit differently. Yes there'll be one, in fact, two. The first will be from the Curse Series version of the weapon, but there'll be a non-cursed version too. This one will be created from three different shields: Tantric Shield, Desire Shield and one unnamed shield, when all three shields are created, it'll create a new shield, the Lust Shield.

The thing is, I need your help with creating the last sex shield before the Lust Shield can appear. This one will come from a solo female cum, so I would like an idea for the name of the shield as well as what powers it should have. I hope you can help me with this.

Now I would like to point out a few things thanks to a review that I had in the last chapter, first off, seeing how I'm making Naofumi evil, I'm not sure if there'll be romance, seeing how he doesn't know who to trust. But if there is any, I'm not sure how it'll work until I write them, as I don't plan things out other than the basic plot, I normally write as I go and see what happens as I write each chapter. The harem will be mainly slaves, if there's any romance, I won't know until I write it.

As for character building, the important characters like Raphtalia and Renka, I'm planning to give them growth and struggles. So you know, Naofumi won't be treating Ratphllia like a daughter nor like a little sister, but a tool at first and then, I'm not sure, most likely an ally.

I would like your thoughts about Naofumi's Perfect Balance ability, how powerful should I have it? Should I keep it so that he is great with balance so that motion sickness wouldn't be a problem for him and he can't lose his balance, or should I also have it so that he wouldn't have any problems with gravity magic too?

I would like your thoughts about something, do you think that I'm making things too easy, making Naofumi too strong too fast? I ask as the Raven, a friend who's helping me, believes that I'm giving him too many powerful items and making him too strong and making things easier. If you do think this, please give me ideas on how I can make things harder for Naofumi.

How would you feel if at some point, most likely after delivering the slaves, I have Kumiho transform into Bitch to get a reaction out of her master, where seeing Bitch loses it and fucks her hard? I want to do this so that Kumiho can make it clear to Naofumi that people already sees him as a criminal, so he shouldn't worry about fucking Raphtalia, even though as his slave, no one would, normally, have no problem with it.

Now Raven thinks I shouldn't do this, even if the action was because of the Rage Shield. As he doesn't think Naofumi would gain a boner, instead he would want to punch their face in instead of screwing them, and if you go with that you put in the whole idea of having sex as a punishment instead of a reward.

He believes that if I go down that route, I would be basically making most of the sexual encounters between him and all of his other slaves mostly abusive. This is something I disagree with seeing how I'm planning to have the Rage Shield take control a bit, seeing how it only has been a week since everything and still angry, so the Rage Shield had more to work with.

He also believes that by doing this, I would actually set up for the queen to actually be able to push her on to him later on as a slave and save her from any death sentence as long as she gets pregnant with his child. I disagree, whilst I do have plans for the bitch, I'm having it so that the Second Princess be with him first so the Queen can do anything. But he doesn't believe I should even hint at an idea of this.

However, before I decide to do anything, I would like to hear your thoughts about this idea. Would you like to see it, or do you too believe I would be basically making most of the sexual encounters between him and all of his other slaves mostly abusive?