Chapter Text
A couple of days passed before Naofumi headed back into town. He went straight to the potion shop and asked about the herbs he gathered. The old man was slightly shocked at the amount he gathered and the quality of all of them.
"You have a good eye for herbs, kid."
The man then started to separate the herbs.
"These are used to create the healing potions you see around here. The better the herbs, the better the potion. This pile can be used to make poisons."
Naofumi nodded.
"Do you have any books I could buy?"
The old man nodded and handed him two books. The first was a brown leather covered book with a green tree printed on it along with the title and authors name. It read "Healing potions 101" by Alice Collins. The other was a familiar black leather covered book with golden thorn vines printed all around it, and in the centre was a very detailed purple dragon head. It read "Poisons that can kill even a dragon" by Tim Stone. The man then gave him a mortar and pestle.
"That would be 5 silver. The mortar and pestle are free."
Naofumi handed him the silver and thanked him before leaving.
He then headed to Erhard's shop and commissioned his armour.
"That cloak you're wearing looks well made, kid."
Naofumi nodded.
"It was made by a famous seamstress in my world."
"Well, she did a good job at making it. Your armour will be done by tomorrow afternoon."
"Thanks."
Naofumi paid the man before leaving.
"Tomorrow, I will get Roko and Raphtalia back."
The next day, Naofumi and his party were in town selling balloon scraps and monster skins before heading over to Erhard's shop for Naofumi's armour. It was the same armour he got before, just without the dire wolf cloak. He thanked the man before heading towards a familiar circus tent.
Inside the tent, Naofumi spotted Beloukas talking to one of his personal slaves.
"Excuse me."
Beloukas looked over at him in surprise.
"Shield hero! What can I do for you today?"
"I wanna see what you have here."
Beloukas nodded and waved his slaves off.
"We sell both demi-humans and beast men here."
Naofumi tilted his head.
"That's all you sell?"
"We do sell monster eggs, but our next shipment isn't here just yet."
Naofumi nodded.
'Strange.'
"Alright. I'll like to look at the slaves you got."
"Of course, follow me."
Beloukas then took him into a familiar section of the tent.
'I am a bit earlier than I was before.'
"Call me over if you find something that interests you."
Nodding Naofumi took his time looking around. The map suddenly popped up in front of Naofumi with two golden dots. Sighing, he walked to the cage and took the cover off of it. Inside was Roko and Raphtalia. Naofumi quickly got the two and left.
He headed back to Erhard's shop and got the two some armour. When they were out of the castle town, Raphtalia started to cry before running and hugging Naofumi from behind.
"Lord Naofumi! You came back for us!"
Naofumi was slightly shocked but turned around and hugged the little demi-human.
"Of course I did. You two are part of my party."
Roko nodded, and the group set off to level up.
"We'll need to head to Riyute to get Inma."
The demi-humans nodded as Naofumi summoned both Kage and Lumi.
"We're heading to Riyute."
On their quick ride to Riyute, they were able to level up quite a bit.
Current Party:
Naofumi iwatani [Lv 18]
Raphtalia [Lv 20]
Roko [Lv 22]
Nina [Lv 23] (L)
Lumi [Lv 27] (A)
Kage [Lv 26] (A)
Mocha [Lv 21] (B~A)
Inma [Lv 45] (SS)
As they entered the village, some villages looked at them with fear.
'Oh! I forgot people don't have wild monsters as pets.'
The group got off the dire wolves who soon returned to Naofumi's shield.
"Let's go."
The two nodded, and they were off to the mines.
After getting some of the stuff from the shed, they headed down into the mines. They didn't find many monsters, and Naofumi was able to mine a lot of ores this time around. As they continued walking down the cave, they heard something coming towards them. Naofumi checked his map and saw Inma's dot coming towards them. The two-headed dog stopped in front of them with his tail wagging behind him. Inma quickly grabbed the back of Naofumi's cloak and ran off deeper into the cave. Naofumi heard the demi-humans call for him as he was taken away.
Inma soon put him down and trotted over to a hole in the ground. Naofumi calmly walked over and gasped in surprise at what he saw. In the hole were 6 sleeping puppies that looked around 8 weeks old . Naofumi looked Inma up and down before checking the dogs gender. Inma was definitely a male. Inma gently nudged him forward. Sighing Naofumi hovers his left hand over the puppies and got multiple messages saying.
You have successfully tamed a black puppy.
Black Puppy [Lv 1] (S)
Sighing Naofumi watched as his party list got longer. Humming to himself, he picked a puppy up and glanced at his modification menu.
'Since they're puppies, the features won't show until they're a bit older.'
Smirking, he started to modify the puppy. He did the same to all 6 puppies.
"That should do."
He placed the last one down with their siblings, who were playing with each other. He then looked over his shoulder to see a tired Raphtalia and Roko.
"Are you okay, Naofumi-sama?"
Naofumi nodded and motioned for the two to come over and see the puppies.
The next day, they were back in Beloukas tent. Naofumi was holding a wooden box with a blanket over it
"Ah! Shield hero, what cab I do for you today?"
Naofumi smirked and took the blanket off the wooden box. Beloukas was surprised at the site of 6 monster dogs.
"I've got a proposal for you."
The trader nodded and took a closer look at the puppies.
"I have an ability that allows me to tame monsters. These 6 are tamed and can grow to become great gaurd dogs. Especially for the nobles."
Beloukas nodded.
"How can I trust that your skill works?"
Naofumi smiled and summoned Inma from his shield. The trader was a bit surprised.
"This is their father. As you can see, he's actually a wave monster. Usually, they would go crazy during a wave, but since they're tamed, they won't. Black dogs are very intelligent and follow commands quickly. For example, up!"
Inma quickly stood on his hind legs with his front paws swaying in front of him as he tried to stay balanced.
"Good boy."
Inma fell forwards to stand on all fours. Beloukas nodded with a smirk on his face.
"You've got a good idea there, sheild hero."
Naofumi nodded and looked at the puppies.
"We could make a contract. I'll tame monsters and bring them to you to sell under the shield heroes' name."
Beloukas nodded.
"And to make sure no one copies me, the monsters are branded with a marking."
Naofumi handed the box to Roko, as he took out a puppy and showed the trader the green skin and fur on the puppies' forehead.
"When it grows older, a green shield symbol will be on its forehead. Each puppy has a marking but on different parts of its body."
Beloukas smiled.
"So how much do you want from this?"
Naofumi hummed.
"How about 70% to me and 30% to you."
The trader smirked before pulling out a piece of paper.
"Then let's write up that contract."
After a while, Naofumi left with 6 fewer party members.
Athena
You can always check on them through the 'Followers' menu.
Naofumi nodded as they quickly headed to the church where Naofumi finally got the waves' time before they left the castle town to level up more for the wave.
When the wave started, the group quickly headed to Riyute village to help them. Once again, Naofumi let Roko and Nina lead the villagers to the mines while the rest took down the zombie creatures and saved any villagers who were stuck. Soon, the spell that rained fire on them was activated. He quickly looked around and saw that everyone but him was out of the spell range. Changing his shield, he covered himself and waited for the spell to end. When it did, the group of knights appeared only to be attacked by a giant zombie, which Raphtalia quickly killed. The knight commander and a few other knights fled while the others stayed and fought. When the wave was over, Naofumi and his group were quickly whisked away to the castle.
In the castle, Naofumi watched as his party took over a table. Nobles were mumbling about how he had monsters in his party. Ren soon came over.
"It seems you're doing well."
Naofumi nodded and watched as Nina in her pigeon form landed on his shoulder.
"I was lucky to find these guys."
Ren nodded.
"But aren't they slaves?"
Naofumi shook his head.
"They would have been if I didn't buy them from the trader."
Ren hummed before pointing at Kage, who was sitting next to Naofumi with his tongue out.
"What about them?"
Smiling Naofumi pets the overgrown wolf.
"I have a skill that allows me to tame some monsters. This guy was just a puppy, so he was easier to tame."
Naofumi lied as Kage huffed and leaned into the touch.
"I guess that's fair."
Ren soon left, as did Naofumi's group when they were given their reward for participating in the wave.
The next day, the group was in the Beloukas' tent to buy the eggs that contained Filo, Fumi, and the unknown egg. The trader greeted them with a smile.
"What can I help you with today?"
"Well, I wanna see the monster eggs you have."
Nodding the trader lead them to the room full of eggs.
"As you can see, my latest shipment of eggs is a bit too much. So for the next two days you can get as many eggs for half price the price!"
Naofumi looked around, slightly confused.
'This is new. Last time, he only got 6 boxes of eggs, but now there are over 30 boxes. At least I'm getting a discount.'
Looking around, Naofumi spotted the three eggs he got last time. Looking around more, he spotted two other eggs glowing brightly with potential.
Athena
Shall I examine the eggs?
Naofumi gave a small nod. Soon, multiple windows popped up.
Filolial Egg [Lv 1] (B)
Note
> This egg can become a queen under certain conditions
Filolial Egg [Lv 1] (B)
Note
> This egg is part of a forgotten breed of filolials that can evolve under certain conditions
Dragon Egg [Lv 1] (S~L)
Note
> This egg seems to be blessed by a demon
Serpent Egg [Lv 1] (C)
Note
> This egg is emitting a strong aura
Centipede Egg [Lv 1] (F)
Note
> This egg may seem weak, but it has a strong will to protect
Naofumi gathered all the eggs and handed the trader his money. The man seemed pleased as the group soon left the tent to head to Riyute.