Tate no Yuusha no Nariagari (The Rising of the Shield Hero)

My name is L'Arc Berg.

Call me L'Arc.

And this here is Therese.

I'm Therese Alexanderite.

Nice to meet you.

Um, is that lady from a foreign country?

I couldn't understand her.

Therese...

My apologies. Do you understand me now?

Yes.

Oh, right. I forgot that my shield translates for me.

Allow me to introduce myself again. I'm Therese Alexanderite.

I'm Raphtalia.

My name is Filo!

Nice to meetcha.

And you?

Naofumi.

Iwatani Naofumi.

"Naofumi"?

Dude, if you're gonna use an alias, at least don't pick the Shield Hero's name!

The Rising of the Shield Hero

Cal Mira Archipelago

I am the Shield Hero, though.

You? The Shield Hero?

You're laughing too much, L'Arc.

But I agree that you should use a different alias.

Huh? Uh...

You see, the Shield Hero is one evil scumbag.

He indulges in scams, blackmail, and kidnapping.

He even has friends in high places who execute whoever ends up on his bad side.

He's a devil in human clothing.

Not too far from the mark, I guess.

Naofumi-sama!

I know we've only just met, but I can tell.

You're nothing like that scumbag, kiddo.

Well, it's fine if you wanna hide your name.

Nice to meetcha, Shield Kiddo.

Are you all headed for Cal Mira to level up, too?

Yes.

That's right.

Oh? Wanna team up, then?

A bigger party would make things more efficient.

Team up with you two?

Excuse me!

The four of us are to greet them together?

Yeah.

It'd really pump up the crew to have the legendary heroes speak to them.

Well, whatever.

While I'm at it,

Weapon Copy skill unlocked

I'll let the others know that if you believe in the systems the others tell you about, you can use them.

How are you okay, Naofumi-san?

That overpowered shield again?

You got what you deserved for occupying all the private cabins.

Forget that, listen to this.

It's about item refining and all that stuff you guys mentioned in that meeting.

Stop it.

I don't wanna listen to complicated stuff right now.

This is important!

If you believe those systems exist...

Please don't be so loud. You're making me nauseous.

If you believe in those systems...

Master, we're having grilled fish for dinner!

She can swim?

That's your first response?

This fish stench...

Hey, Shield Kiddo.

Huh? What's with them?

You need something?

I don't, but Therese does.

Raphtalia-san told me you're quite skilled at jewel crafting.

Would you make me an accessory?

Well, that came out of nowhere.

I don't mind, but I'll need the materials.

You can use anything in here.

Of course, I'll also pay you.

This is pretty damn good. I could certainly use it.

Well?

I can only work on it when I'm not grinding levels, so it'll take a while.

If that's okay with you, sure.

Please do!

Good for you, Therese.

Yeah!

I'm counting on ya, Shield Kiddo.

Oh, the sea's getting rougher.

Looks like a storm's brewing.

Really?

Yeah. The crew are saying we're in for a hard night.

So this is Cal Mira!

It's hot here! The sun's blazing!

Yeah, it's like last night's storm never happened!

Uh, it was a really bumpy ride.

How come she didn't get seasick when she gets so sick in the wagon?

Th-This isn't what it looks like, Filo-tan. There's a reason...

Well, they definitely had a rough time.

Welcome.

My name is Habenburg, and I govern the Cal Mira Archipelago.

I'm here to take you Four Cardinal Heroes to your inn.

U-Ugh... I feel sick.

Or, well, that was the plan,

but I suppose I'll have to take just you there first, Shield Hero.

The Cal Mira Archipelago is a group of small islands bunched together.

It's a popular tourist destination,

partly due to a legend that the heroes of the past trained here.

That smells like bullshit to me, honestly.

And since the activation has brought adventurers here in great numbers,

certain ground rules have been put in place.

"It's okay to travel between islands by boat.

Try to kill as many monsters as possible.

Avoid barging into other adventurers' battles to steal their prey."

What is this, a guide to MMO etiquette?

MMO?

Don't worry about it.

Anyway...

This is a statue of the original inhabitants who developed these islands?

And there's apparently an epigraph left by a Cardinal Hero.

Is this it?

It's magical writing.

As source of thy power, the Shield Hero orders thee.

Decipher this message

and energize my target.

Zweit Aura.

Oh, I feel more powerful now.

Nailed it!

A hero of the past left this here, huh?

So the legend was true.

Hey, Shield Kiddo!

Filo sure got some height on that.

It helped us find you guys.

But man, why'd you get off the boat without saying goodbye? That's so cold.

Why should I have to?

Hey, company can make or break a trip.

Besides, you never said if you'd level up with us or not.

We both just got here,

so it will have to wait until we get our bearings, but yeah.

I guess it can't hurt. They seem accustomed to battle, too.

I don't mind, but we'll cut you off if you hold us back.

Right back at ya.

Do your best until we party up.

I'm a little surprised.

I was sure you found L'Arc-san hard to deal with.

It's not that. He just throws me off.

It's afternoon already.

We don't have much time, but let's go grind some levels.

'Kay!

Right!

Even trash mobs you can one-shot give this much XP?

What's more, they spawn endlessly.

They're so weak, it's hard to work up much enthusiasm.

Is something wrong?

We suddenly stopped gaining XP.

So it was you.

Itsuki...

Huh? What happened to my XP?

Ugh...

Why are you guys here?

I can't farm any XP like this.

Go somewhere else.

Huh? You go.

You too, Motoyasu-san.

I found this spot first.

I did!

No, me.

I did.

This is stupid. We're outta here.

No, I did!

Are you a child?

A child? I'm twenty-one!

I did.

You're going down!

That's a lot of XP, even if it was a boss.

Fighting here is fun! I like this island better!

Naofumi-sama...

I'm not sure this sword will last much longer.

When did it get so bad?

Perhaps our power levels have outgrown our weapons' durability.

Filo's, too?