Dragon of the Shield 6: Assemble (Patreon)

I breathed a sigh of relief as Hanabek told us that we’d officially left Melromarc’s borders. I’d need to set up new contacts, but I was working with a fresh start in the turf of a Corp that didn’t have a hateboner for me already established. That would be the biggest perk.

“So, Sigurd, we’re heading to the capital first, and if’n you don’t mind I’d like ya ta meet with a buddy of mine who’s in the business of hiring folks with shit ton of fighting skill,” Hanabek said as we went onto a main road from the goat path we’d been on. It certainly wouldn’t hurt to get in early with a Dealer, so I agreed. I’d be careful, of course, but I’d at least hear them out.

It was another day by the time we reached the capital city, a bit odd in my opinion for the national capital to be so close to the border, but that might just be the Alaskan in me talking. We arrived in the city at roughly six in the evening, and Hanabek led us to a building that had a rather suspicious logo: a four part symbol containing a sword, bow, shield, and spear.

I held my tongue, for now, but readied myself to bolt with Zmei, Milashka and Siniy if needed. Hanabek led us inside, to a large room with a massive hourglass floating in it. As he moved to talk to a man, I looked curiously at the hourglass, trying to figure out what it could be for. Not keeping track of general time, there were nearly half a dozen clock towers in the city that I saw on our way here. So it had to serve some other purpo…

[quote]06:03:17[/quote]

“The fuck is this?” I snapped, getting Hanabek’s attention along with the man he was talking to.

“The Hourglass of the Dragons’ Era is how the arrival of the Waves of Calamity are determined, it is said that heroes, those with and without Legendary Weapons, when linked to one are teleported to the site of a Wave,” the local man explained.

“Can it be used to track my location?” I asked, getting up in the man’s face.

“Uh… n-not that I know of?”

“Sigurd, calm down,” Hanabek said, putting his hand on my shoulder.

I wanted to shove his hand off. Ever since I’d been dragged into this world, I’d been jerked around like a dog on a chain and I was getting sick of it.

“Master Sigurd!” Milashka’s voice pierced the furious haze that had filled my mind, and with a deep rumble in the depths of my chest I pushed it aside.

Glaring at both men, I turned to Hanabek and told him, “I’ll be back in the morning to meet with your Dealer. Until then, I have some frustration to vent.”

Turning around, I left the building with my Hoard. I couldn’t direct my fury towards Hanabek, and the mood I was in if I bedded Siniy there’s a chance I might hurt her, so we were going to go out into the area outside the city to find some monsters we could kill.

“Master?” Siniy asked as we walked past the city gates.

“We have six days to get as strong as we can before the next Wave gets here. So between now and then we’re going to be doing a lot of fighting, both out here against wild monsters and on whatever jobs I can secure us in the city,” I explained as I activated Razor Shield.

“Okay!”

[hr][/hr]

The sword slammed into my shield, before there was a loud boom and my opponent went flying back into the arena wall.

“AND THAT’S MATCH! ONCE AGAIN, THE DRAGON-MAN FAFNIR WINS HIS BOUT! HE’S WON SIXTEEN MATCHES TODAY, HOW LONG CAN HE KEEP THIS UP? PLACE YOUR BETS, HE’LL BE FIGHTING AGAIN TOMORROW!”

Ignoring the announcer doing his job of hyping up the crowd, I made my way back into the area beneath the gladiatorial arena I’d been fighting in. As soon as the doors closed behind me, I toggled off Wyrm Form, shrinking back down to my normal five foot ten instead of what felt like double that. That done, I checked the timer that was still floating in the corner of my vision.

[quote]04:01:43[/quote]

Almost exactly four days to go, silver lining, the jobs and fighting had done a good job in serving their purpose.

[quote]Name: Naofumi “Sigurd”

Class: Level 10 Shield Hero (5543/7835)[/quote]

“Ah, Sigurd, just the fellow I was wanting to speak to!” a rather aggravating voice called out, pulling me from my thoughts and making me close the screen on the Shield.

I don’t know if they’re related or if every major slave trader in this fucked up world looked the same, but the man seemingly in charge of this place looked almost exactly the same as Fatass back in Melromarc, just older. When I showed up the morning after we arrived and asked about means of making money, he got me signed up for the fights in the arena above.

“I assume it’s about today’s winnings?” I asked, tired and just wanting to go to sleep.

“Indeed, a few fellows from the Tarakou Clan placed some rather… poorly thought out bets on your last match. Since there’s a Wave coming soon, I thought I’d ask if you’d be willing to negotiate the form your cut of the winnings will take,” Chunky said with his over the top bow, motioning towards his office.

Rolling my eyes, and accepting that I wasn’t going to be getting back to the apartment just yet, I followed him to the closed off room that held his office. Taking the seat on the far side of his desk, I eyed the sole individual in the room as Chunky shut the door and made his way to his side of the desk.

“Now then, the agreement thus far has been that you get a base of 15% of all wagers made on your fights, with an additional 5% for the fights you win. Today, with sixteen victories, that would have been a total of four gold pieces. However, a slave trader from the Tarakou Clan was rather short on coin, so he wagered this fine piece of merchandise,” Chunky said while gesturing to the person in the room with us.

Standing from the chair, I walked over to the corner of the room they were huddled in. Letting my gaze roam over them, I took in everything about them. They were definitely a demi-human but, unlike Milashka and Siniy, they were what Fatass had called a ‘Beastman.’ They looked like a bipedal fox, with bright yellow fur covering most of their body and white along their front and the tip of their tail. The only odd part seemed to be on their outer thighs, where the fur seemed to have been dyed purple in an almost yin yang shape.

“What can you do?” I asked them. They just glared at me, a fire in their eyes, making me smirk.

“What I’d like to offer is that instead of the gold, you get her for your party. She is level 9, and possesses some rather interesting magic in addition to rather potent physical capabilities for her level,” Chunky said, inadvertently telling me their gender.

“Deal,” I said, already planning out a trip into the wilds to get Milashka and Siniy used to her. If Zmei had grown enough, she’d be useful as well.

[quote]Slave added to your party[/quote]

The process of binding her to me went as expected, my wyrmblut humming in satisfaction at adding to my Hoard. After the slave curse settled, and I purchased the leftover ink with my blood in it, I took her to the apartment, the opening of the portal making her eyes widen in shock.

“Jester, Raphtalia, Zmei, come on out here!” I called as I entered, my new slave behind me.

“Master Naofumi, who’s this?” Raphtalia asked as she and Jester both looked up from whatever she was drawing.

I paused, suddenly feeling like an idiot. I didn’t even bother to get her name. Sighing, I turned around and asked, “What’s your name?”

Still giving me a glare, she remained silent, until the slave curse painted over the tuft of fur on her chest sparked, “Renamon.”

Nodding, I turned back to the other girls and said, “Renamon here will be fighting alongside us. In two days we’ll be going back into the wilds to deal with some monsters in order to do some last minute adjustments and acclimation to how everyone fights.”

Glancing over to the white and black bundle in the corner, I called out, “That includes you, Zmei!”

Uncoiling, the now fifteen foot long naga-girl slithered over to me and hissed, “Yesss Massster.”

As the girls mingled, I headed to the kitchenette to start on dinner. It was after seven, I’d been fighting all day, and hadn’t eaten since breakfast. I was fucking starving. Let’s see, what do I have that’s suitable for two girls with a carnivore dominant diet? Ooh, I’d forgotten I had that moose heart back there, maybe next time.

But speaking of moose, there were some caribou steaks I hadn’t cooked yet. That would work, plus I’ve got some bacon, mushrooms, and a little bit of honey to make a steak sauce.

[hr][/hr]

I watched with a proud smirk as the newly dubbed Lisitsa tore through a small horde of gnome-like things wearing red hats. She seemed to possess a natural gift with martial arts, lashing out with kicks and claw swipes, in addition to having a small magical trick with sharpened leaves. Watching her fight, she was definitely a speed and mobility-based fighter. She’d do well against a large number of weaker enemies like she was right now.

I glanced over to where Zmei was coiled around what I could only describe as an emaciated troll. Hissing as the beast bellowed, her coils tightened until its bellow cut off, moments before the snapping of bones from the ribcage of her victim rang out through the clearing.

[quote]You have reached level 13[/quote]

“Well done girls,” I called out as the fighting wrapped up. Siniy and Milashka both smiled and nodded as we started going through the gear left behind by the creatures.

The scythes the red caps had didn’t give me anything when I fed them into the gem on the shield, but it did make me blink before realizing there was a crucial thing I’d forgotten to do once it became available. Facepalming, I triggered my shift into Wyrm form before turning to Milashka.

“This is going to sound weird, but I need you to hit me hard enough I lose a tooth,” I told her as I sat down so I was in easier reach.

“Um… why?” she asked, her confusion plain to see.

“I want to feed it into the shield,” I explained, holding up the item in question. “But with my attack stat being so low it’d take too long for me to do so myself.”

“Well… o-oka,” Milashka’s psyching herself up was interrupted as something bright pink, round, and very hard slammed into my cheek, knocking me to the ground and sending several teeth flying. Pushing myself up, I shook my head to clear away the birds that were flying around and looked up at the far too smug Siniy.

“You wanted teeth, you now have teeth,” she said while pointing the ethereal, giant lollipop at my teeth on the ground.

“And that’s why you are not getting a thorough spanking when we get back to the apartment,” I told her as I spat the blood from my now absent teeth into the gem on the shield.

[quote]Wyrm Blood Shield unlocked[/quote]

Now to start feeding other things into it.

[quote]Wyrm Fang Shield unlocked[/quote]

[quote]Wyrm Scale Shield unlocked[/quote]

I nodded, satisfied with the result, before checking how much time was left until the Wave.

[quote]02:11:56[/quote]

Two and a half days to go. Let’s see how much stronger we can get by then