Death March — Fixed

“Tek here, the impulse to use something new and exciting that you have just obtained is probably no different, regardless of age, or place--even in a parallel word, it’s still there, and still strong.”

“**** **** **, Shield!”

A transparent shield, that looks surprisingly similar to the Dragon’s scale that I examined, appears in front of me; it is floating in the air, and large enough to cover me. The flat end is a millimeter above the ground, while the rounded tip is above my head.

I used a short staff to help with the casting.

“Here I go! Psycho Ball!” Arisa took a pose, one hand on her hips and one pointing at me, as she unleashed her spell--which was very easily dispelled by my shield.

Oh?

A new indicator has appeared below my Stamina bar, it looks like a mini version of the shield, with a little 100 in it. It decreased by 1 when Arisa’s attack from earlier hit it.

I wait for a while, watching it, but it doesn’t seem to restore itself.

“Is it alright for the next one?” Arisa asks, looking a little impatient--does she want to shoot Magic at me that much?

 

“Come at me.”

 

“Here I go! This is, my, Overdrive shot!” A purple aura flows around her, rapidly condensing around the invisible ball--once it is completely covered, she mimics a pistol with her hand and shoots it at me.

The shield actually shakes a little with the impact, tendrils of purple light slithering over it for a few seconds before dissipating--but the Psycho Ball itself is repelled again, quickly dispersing.

This time, the shield’s HP decreased by three points.

So, it doesn’t decrease by a fixed value, but depends on the spell?

Good to know.

“Then, next. Nana, please fire a Magic Arrow.”

“Yes Master.”

A Magic Circle appears, floating in front of Nana’s forehead; a Magic Arrow quickly forms and then fires from within the blue esoteric formation.

The Magic Arrow hits my shield with the sound of metal clashing, and disappears--the shield’s HP drops by only 1 point.

Nana looks strangely proud as she sees this.

“Next, Mia, please.”

“Nn. **** ** *****, Water Shot!” Mia’s spell draws water out of the jug sitting on the ground next to her, the ribbon of water rapidly coalesces into a floating, spinning, ball of water--which whirls once around Mia at high speed before shooting into my shield.

The impact causes the shield to shake a little, and as the Magic dissolves, some water splashes under the shield and wets my boots.

However, even though it looks impressive, it only does 1 point of damage.

 

“Tama, please throw some stones. Aim at the area around my stomach.”

 

“Aye!”

 

The stone tears through the air, and is stopped by the shield--but unlike the Magic before, it bounces back. Tama is getting better at throwing stones, her throw has gotten a lot faster, and more accurate.

However, again the number decreases by 1 point.

“Alright, next, Pochi. Shoot me with that crossbow, but since it may be dangerous--aim for around there, okay.”

 

“Understood.”

 

The bolt that fires from Pochi’s crossbow is aimed at my left foot, where I directed her to shoot. Of course, the arrow is harmlessly bounced back by my shield--the shield’s HP again goes down by 1.

Isn’t this shield a little over powered?

Now then, next is Liza--but honestly, I’m a little worried about facing Liza, who will be using--That spear. I quickly cancel the shield, and re-cast it--I understand that it’s not actually necessary, but I feel more comfortable doing this.

 

“Liza, fill your spear with Magic Power, then please do a Heavy Blow, thrusting with all your might.”

 

“I understand, master. Please, prepare yourself!”

 

That line is a little scary.

With a loud noise, Liza rushes towards me, thrusting out with her Magic Spear. The spear actually pushes the shield back, but just as it’s about to hit me, the spear gets knocked back; at the same time, the force still pushes at my body.

I see, so the shield can stop damage, but the force still gets through.

The red ripple that appears between the spear and my shield soon disappears; as soon as it does, Liza pulls here spear back--but even if her spear had managed to penetrate my shield, it would slip by my arm.

The shield’s HP decreases by only 3 points--it seems that even though her spell was flashy, it doesn’t do too much damage.

 

“Liza, next, try attacking me three times normally.”

 

“Yes Master.”

 

Each attack decreases the shield by 1.

The next experiment will be the last.

 

“Lulu, please throw a rock.”

 

“Yes, I’ll do my best!”

 

However, contrary to her spirit, the stone misses me by a good meter or so, flying off in a random direction. Right, she isn’t used to hitting people, so it makes sense that she misses.

“I’m sorry master!” Lulu looks upset, and tries again.

 

“Lulu, calm down.”

 

“Y-Yes Master!” She stops moving and looks at me.

 

“Now, pick up a rock, and walk three steps forwards.”

 

“Yes--Umm, isn’t this too close?”

 

She is only a meter or so away from the shield.

 

“It’s fine, throw it with both hands.”

 

“Yes--Ah, I hit it!” The pleased look on her face is adorable.

 

“Yep, you did well--you’re great!” I lower the shield and walk forwards, gently stroking her hair; she had calmed down, and now she looks a little excited--I finish off by running a hand down one of her cheeks, before stepping back.

And there ends the experiment with Shield; though Liza and Arisa look like they want some attention too. In the end, I stroked the hair of all the girls, with Tama and Pochi getting normal head pats--even Nana got her face stroked at the end, and looked very pleased as she began humming a tune I had never heard before.

***

Unfortunately, it’s not that I’ve become able to suddenly chant.

And as for that chant earlier, even though I correctly read the words, the rhythm was all over the place.

Earlier, I had activated the Musical Performance Skill and tried the chant, hoping for the best--but it was no good--it’s really frustrating.

However, I found a trick to solve the problem of my inability to chant--the ‘Shield’ scroll allowed me to find the solution, something that will allow me to use Magic without the issue of chanting.

After we left town, when I used it during our first rest--‘Shield’ had been added to the Magic column in the Menu.

The shield Spell I used earlier had been selected from the Menu and placed on my hotkey bar--the chanting was camouflage; well, that said, I also wanted to pretend that I was able to chant, even just a little.

Of course, Arisa knew that I couldn’t actually chant, but since she knew about my Menu Unique Skill, there was no problem--Mia had looked at me a little strangely, but seemed to have accepted it, no questions asked--though that may have just been her taciturn nature.

However, there is one more part to this testing period.

Next, it’s Nana’s turn--her MP has decreased by 20%, so she should be fine; I will, happily, refill it when this is over.

She already knew the spell, so I could only get her to do it.

 

“Nana, please cast Shield.”

 

“Yes, master.”

 

A Shield appears in front of Nana, it looks almost identical to the one I created, only a little more transparent.

 

“Arisa, please shoot a Psycho Ball, at such an angle where it won’t hit Nana, at the Shield.”

 

“Okay.”

 

The Psycho Ball is repelled by the Shield, dispersing harmlessly, just like it did when it was fired at me.

However, my Heads-Up-Display shows that the shield’s HP had decreased by half. Although I don’t know the exact value, but it seems that Nana’s shield has a different level of endurance and lower HP than mine.

It’s probably because I put all 10 Skill Points into mine, and hers seems to be around level 2.

***

“Alright, the experiments are over, let’s eat.”

Well, the experiment took a fair amount of time, and it is almost lunch time. While the main meal is Wolf, Mia gets three different kinds of fruits which have been dressed with honey and something that tastes like sugar, but is a strange green powder.

I put several drops of fruit juice into Nana’s water--she looks happily at me, before staring enthusiastically at the cup in my hands. Her eyes narrow in happiness, though her face stays blank; I feel that I have gotten better at reading her expression.

Nana has her hands out and a slightly pleading look as I hold out the water towards her--I feel the need to tease her a little; so just as her fingertips touch the cup, I pull it back.

“Master--” She implores, her eyes moving rapidly from the cup and back to my face--so adorable.

With a grin, I extend the cup again.

She looks a little uncertain, but grabs for it.

This time I let her get the cup; her uncertainty turns to happiness as she receives the cup. Without waiting, she puts it to her mouth and begins slowing drinking--though she doesn’t lower it between sips, as though she is worried I might take it away again.

I pat her hair, and then go sit down to eat as well.

Arisa sits at one side of me, Lulu on the other, Tama and Pochi sit in my lap. Liza looks at me, then sits behind me, her back against mine, and her tail suddenly moves, wrapping around my waist, “If I may be so presumptuous, Master--” She whispers quietly, before beginning to wolf down her food.

Once they finish their first platefuls, the Beastkin girls ask for seconds, which I allow; followed by Arisa, and a slightly hesitant Lulu. Mia and Nana seem to join in and ask as well.

Well, I have no reason to say no to them, we have more than enough food cooked--though I did warn them that this was the last one, I didn’t want them to get sick from the shaking of the carriage.