I am not the shield hero

As much as Dante enjoyed their lovemaking, they still had a bit to do before resting for the night. When they exited the carriage, Raphtalia looked at them, then quickly turned away with a blush. It didn't seem like she told the others, since they didn't start bombarding them with questions. Although, they were all doing their own things.

Dio came over to them in her child form. "Papa? Sadie? Why do your necks have those marks on them?"

That got the attention of the others. The shield's power was very unhelpful here.

"It's nothing to worry about." Dante said as he rubbed Dio's head. It wasn't as if they were going to try and hide it, but having it pointed out was a bit much.

Keel and JoJo had already prepped the food, so Dante just had to cook it for his bonuses. After a bit of stewing and a number of glances from the others, the food was ready. They all took a portion, Raphtalia obviously keeping her head facing away from him when she took hers. Rifana, however, seemed even happier than normal. Dante could only wonder what was going through her mind.

After their meal, they got to sleep. Dante took first watch with Rifana, wanting to explain things properly to her. Of course, Sadeena's warning about Q'ten Lo didn't fall on deaf ears. He told Rifana that he wasn't going to decide who was to be his first wife at this time. That, of course, made Rifana quite happy. Dante didn't understand at first, but quickly realized he basically told her that he would marry her, just not necessarily first.

They continued their magical studies until it was time to switch. Sadeena and Dio were up next. When Dante went to lie down, Rifana patted the bedroll next to her. Dante wanted to protest, but Sadeena waved him on.

Well, as long as we're only sleeping.

Dante lay on the bedroll, with Rifana immediately snuggling up next to him. Without another word between them, they slept for the night.

~The Wrong Hero~

The air in the room was cold. The rain from earlier had cooled everything down, and this house was very much at the sway of the elements. It was a bit more resilient back in the day. The house was rather cheaply made, but what made it worse now was the broken windows and smashed up door.

A grunt came from the floor. A man clutched his stomach as he tried to crawl. A boot ground his hand into the floor, eliciting a shout from him.

"We aren't done yet." The owner of the boot said. The man on the ground looked up at him. His attacker had raven black hair tied in ponytail behind his head. He glared down at the prone man.

"Fuck you…" He drawled out. Blood leaked from his mouth.

The man above pointed his gun at the prone man's head. "This is your doing. You should have known better." He pulled back the hammer on his pistol. "Mister Melero sends his regards."

A loud bang echoed throughout the room. The prone man's head dropped to the floor. The raven haired man removed his boot from the dead man's hand.

"I hope the message was clear." He said, turning to the man sitting against the wall. His face was bruised and he held his shoulder, trying to keep the blood from spilling out further.

The man against the wall spit out a bit of blood. "Yeah…" He pulled his hand from his shoulder wound and gave it a look, only to put it back on again.

"Good." The raven haired man said, turning to the broken door. "Don't make me have to come back here." He stepped over the dead man and walked towards the exit.

"Go to hell, Dante." The wounded man said, groaning as he tried to stand.

~The Wrong Hero~

Dante awoke from his dreams. It wasn't one he had in a while, a memory really. It was from a time when things weren't as complicated, when their business was small. Of course, Eddy made sure they didn't stay that small for long. He'd known lots of people growing up, being the people person he was. Finding someone with connections wasn't too difficult for him.

A snore stirred Dante from his reminiscing. To his right was Rifana, still cuddled up next to him. To his left, Sadeena snored loudly above his head. It was nestled against her chest, pulled closer with her arms as she curled against him.

Are you an orca or a cat?

Even if she wasn't gripping his head, Dante wouldn't have been able to get up. From his position, he could see Dio lying on his stomach. She seemed to be out just like the others. A little further away, Dante could see Keel with a somewhat similar problem. He was lying on his back, JoJo sprawled out on top of him. He wanted to tease Keel about it, but it wasn't as if he was in a better position.

With a bit of shaking, he was able to wake up his sleeping companions. Rifana got up without a fuss, but Sadeena took the opportunity to pull him on top of her. Dio fell off, woke up, got up, and lay back on Dante again.

It took a bit more effort, but Dante was eventually able to free himself. They had a quick breakfast from the meat they still had from last night and got ready to head out. Eclair and Raphtalia had stayed up last, the former instructing the latter on sword forms.

Once on the road again, it took less than half an hour to reach the capital. Dio pulled one carriage with Sadeena at the reins, while JoJo pulled the other with Rifana. Both filolials were in their average filolial forms, and both demi-humans had cloaks on. Dante didn't want to gather too much attention.

After entering the city, they parked the carriages near Erhard's shop. In an alley, the filolials transformed and walked out with Dante, a cloak over his head.

"Sadeena," Dante looked at the orca woman from under his hood, "watch over the carriages while we're going around. We'll be a bit."

"Okay~." She said with a wave.

"You two stay as well." Dante said to the two filolial kids. "The less people seen walking around with me, the better."

"Okay, Papa!" Dio said, climbing onto the carriage seat.

"Hey, dad?" JoJo looked up at Dante. "Can I come inside?"

"Any particular reason?" Dante asked. "I won't be in any danger or anything."

"No, it's…" JoJo fiddled with his hands. "I wanted a weapon too."

"You do?" Dante looked at his side. Sure enough, the mace from before was still there. "Well, that's fine. Let's see what we can get you."

"Okay!" JoJo said, dashing to be next to Keel.

The six of them entered Erhard's shop. The man himself was inspecting one of his weapons.

"Hey, Erhard." Dante called to the blacksmith.

"Kid." Erhard greeted him back. "It's been a few days."

"Feels like it's been longer." Dante nodded as he removed his hood.

"Are those…" Erhard moved from behind his counter to look at the demi-humans in his shop.

"Yep." Dante said, sweeping his arm towards them. "Raphtalia, Rifana, and Keel. They grow up so fast, don't they?"

Keel stuck his chest out with pride. "See how much of a man I am now?"

"I do." Erhard has his hands on his hips. "And I see the two girls grew into such lovely ladies."

"It's good to see you again, Mister Erhard." Raphtalia said with a slight bow.

Rifana beamed up at the blacksmith. "Hey, Mister Erhard, guess what? I'm going to marry the Shield Hero!"

"Oh?" Erhard stole a glance at Dante, who held a hand over his eyes. "Well, congratulations. I hope you have a happy life together."

"Thanks!"

"Erhard, please, don't encourage her." Dante said. "We're a long ways from marriage.

"Well, don't keep your fiancé waiting too long." Erhard said with a laugh.

"Ugh." Dante liked the blacksmith. He did help him out without knowing anything about him, only with Dante's say so that he was being followed. At the same time, he was lucky he was the best blacksmith around. "I liked you better when you were complaining about the chainmail."

"Well, I…hey." Erhard was about to say something when he took a look at Dante. Specifically, the armor he was wearing. He looked over at Raphtalia and Keel as well. "What is this?" He gave Dante a hard look. "Why are you all wearing such shoddy armor? And wear's the armor I sold you?"

"Funny you should mention that." Dante pulled a bag from his pack. He brought it over to the counter and set it on top. Erhard looked in the bag and pulled out a few slabs of iron. "I don't suppose that's worth anything to you, is it?"

"Kid…" Erhard lowered the slab and stared into Dante. "This better not be the armor I sold you."

Dante looked off to the side, scratching the back of his head. "It might have been."

Erhard slammed the metal onto the counter. "What the hell have you been fighting at your level?"

"A few things." Dante avoided his gaze. "A few of which could throw fireballs. In my defense, my level isn't exactly low."

"Kid…" Erhard had a dangerous look in his eye.

"Also!" Dante said quickly. "That armor went through quite a few fireballs before it quit on me. I went through three sets of this chainmail after losing it."

"Of course you did." Erhard pulled at the chainmail Dante currently wore. "This armor is crap. Where did you even get this?"

"From someone incredibly cheap, apparently." Dante had looked at the stats on the armor before he gave them to Raphtalia and Keel. They seemed to be good, just with a bit lower defense than Erhard's. The mercenaries' armor was better, but also heavier. Of course, the chainmail seemed to have very little in terms of durability. Then again, they broke after taking a lot of damage. The first one from hundreds of bone-bullets, the second from a vial of acid, and the third a strong monster's fireball, and a dozen or so lesser fireballs.

Maybe chainmail just sucks. Since chainmail was what he suggested to me when I was a lower level, it's probably a good starting armor here and nothing more.

"Well, I can buy it off you if you want to upgrade." He said, fingering the slab on his counter. "This here won't be worth much."

"I've got more chainmail, and some other armor, in my shield." Dante said, dropping the remaining chainmail from his inventory.

Erhard looked at the pile of iron. "Hey, kid…" He walked over to the door and made sure no one was on the other side. "Make sure you don't go showing any of this stuff off. There's been news of a certain lord and his knights going missing lately. You come around and show a bunch of identical looking armor, well…"

"Don't worry, I wouldn't have shown you if you didn't already have an idea." He did, after all, basically announce to the man he was going to kill a lord of Melromarc. Well, steal from him, but it was pretty much implied.

Erhard sighed. "Well, I can take those off your hands, as well as any other equipment you won't be needing."

"Well, I do have more equipment." He dropped a number of swords, maces, spears, shields, and various bits of armor. All of it was from the knights and mercenaries, with a few of them being generated drop items. Most of the monsters Rolf made had little in terms of item drops.

"Do I even want to know where all this came from?" Erhard gestured to the very large pile, his face slightly paling.

"That depends. How do you feel about rogue mercenary groups?"

"Never mind." Erhard stepped around the equipment. "It'll take me a while to give you a price on all of this."

"That's fine, we have a few other stops today." Dante said.

Erhard crossed his arms. "It feels like you're just going to leave all your junk here for me to sort through while you go off."

"Not at all!" Dante said with a smile. "My companions are in need of equipment. They'll stay with you while I take care of my business in town."

"You make it sound like I'll be watching over them." Erhard shook his head. He turned to face the rest of Dante's party. "I'm sorry, I got caught up in Dante's nonsense. I don't believe I've met you two." He gave Eclair and JoJo a look.

"Ah, right." Dante said before either one could. "The boy is JoJo. He's a filolial king that can transform."

"That right?" Erhard looked down at him.

JoJo looked to his father and got a nod. In a puff of smoke, he transformed into his filolial form. Erhard looked up at him before JoJo changed back.

"You're showing me some pretty crazy things, kid." Erhard looked over at the man.

"Yep. And the one in armor is an adventurer we met in another town." Dante gestured to the lady knight. "Her name is Berry." He could feel her glare through her helm.

"Berry, eh?" Erhard gave Eclair a once over. "Well, it's good to meet the both of you. Your armor's looking a bit oversized. Want me to adjust it for you?"

"Ah, no thanks." Eclair said quickly. "It's air wake armor, so I believe that would be difficult."

"Yeah, that it is." Erhard nodded. "To modify air wake armor, at least the type you're wearing, well…it'd almost be better to buy another set."

"That's quite alright." Eclair said. "This armor is good as is."

"Alright, then." Erhard looked to the filolial boy. "And how about you?"

"I want a big mace!" JoJo said excitedly.

"A mace, huh?" The blacksmith scratched his chin. "How big did you want it?"

"Really big! Like, as big as me!" JoJo was practically jumping.

"Hah! I like you, kid!" Erhard bellowed.

"And you three." Dante pointed at his other party members. "Find some better equipment as well. Berry and I will finish our other tasks while you're here."

"Okay!" The others said, looking over the equipment.

"You really are having me watch them, huh?" Erhard said with a sigh.

"We'll be back soon. Also, I'll probably have a commission for you." Dante said as he and Eclair left.

Next was the apothecary. Dante had loads of potions, salves, medicine, and other things he had his shield craft for him.

"Did you want any other armor?" Dante asked Eclair as they walked. "I'm guessing air wake armor is expensive, but we could have gotten something for you."

"You've done more than enough for me, Sir MacRory." Eclair said. "And you're continuing to help. I couldn't ask for more."

"Well, not to paint myself in a poor light—at least, no poorer than what I have—but you having better armor is as good for me as it is for you, let alone everyone else. A good sword as well." Dante pointed out.

"My current equipment is more than enough, given my level." Eclair said. "But I will let you know when I outgrow it."

"Alright, good."

When they reached the apothecary, the old man greeted them with a smile. That is, before it grew to concern.

"What happened to your arm?" The apothecary asked.

"Huh? Oh." Dante had forgotten. He didn't visit the man after battling Idol, so he wouldn't know. "Lost it in a fight. Although, now that you mention it…"

They discussed what could be done about his missing arm and Eclair's hands. The apothecary, Simmond, told them basically what they already heard. Higher grade healing was required for Eclair to regain the full use of her hands, while Dante's arm would need to be regrown. An alchemist could be used for both. Of course, even with a slave seal, Dante didn't think it would have been a good idea to have Rolf do that.

Simmond did say that the church might be able to do both, but all three of them knew it wouldn't be a good idea, given that he was the Shield Hero and all. That did, however, fit in with Dante's new plans. If they left the country, they might be able to use another church's healers for them both.

Simmond also told him he looked like death, and should probably get some sleep. Dante wondered if this world had the equivalent of coffee, and if that would help his appearance at all. Probably not for both, but it also probably wouldn't hurt.

Dante sold what he had—that they wouldn't need themselves—and they headed out. After that was the adventurer's guild. Dante wanted to see what quests were available. He couldn't remember everything that happened from the books, but he knew there was a dragon slaying quest for Ren, and a famine in a village for Motoyasu.

When they arrived at the guild, Eclair went in alone while Dante kept away from the building. She was inside for only a couple minutes before exiting again. When she returned, she immediately held herself up against a nearby wall.

"You alright?" Dante asked, though he kept his distance from her.

"Yes…just more men than I thought would be there." She said, her hand over her chest. "I just…need a moment."

"No problem." Dante leaned against the wall, keeping away from her.

After Eclair collected herself, they set off again. There were a number of quests available, including the two Dante mentioned. The dragon slaying quest in Mirso had been there for a while, but the famine relief quest in Lerno was more recent.

"You don't want to take either one?" Eclair asked.

"Not that they would let me, but no." Dante answered. He had checked in briefly last time they were in town if there were any quests he could take, and he was met with fierce refusal. He wasn't surprised. He was pretty sure the king ordered the guild to not give him any quests. "We can circumvent the dragon issue, but we'll let…someone else handle the famine." He didn't think anyone was around, but better safe than sorry.

"More of your hero knowledge?" She asked as they rounded a corner.

"Basically. Although…" Dante debated telling her about what would happen to that village. That is, if anything. Many things were already different, so that might be as well. Dante wanted the seed, and the village needed a fix.

Well, this would be a decent thought experiment. Let's set the stage for Ethical Dilemma Theater here.

"Okay. That village is going through a famine. Someone will collect a seed that will supposedly bring them great harvests. However, the seed is basically cursed. It will produce a lot of fruit very quickly, but it will also infest the village with vines, making it unlivable. Without the seed, the village won't survive. What should we do?"

Some of it was speculation, but most of it had a strong basis. Most villages in medieval Europe were farming villages. If one of those villages couldn't survive without food assistance, it would quickly be abandoned. Of course, there was magic here, but the point remained.

"Hm." Eclair held her hand to her chin as she thought. "Should I assume that you want this seed?"

Dante smiled. "You should."

"And when will this quest be fulfilled?"

Dante thought about that one.

Let's see…There was an extra story in Motoyasu's point of view in the first book, so it happened before Melromarc's second wave. What all happened there?

He racked his brain back in forth to recall the details.

Ah, I can't remember. All I can think of is it was the same place that Agatha brought Naofumi to for the magic thread crystal.

"The best I have is before Melromarc's next wave." He answered.

"And how long before the seed takes over the village?" She continued on.

"Hmmm. Maybe a couple weeks? I don't think it was a matter of days." If it was, Motoyasu probably would have gone back right away. That is, if Malty didn't hear about it first and dismiss it. No, as twisted as she is, she probably wouldn't do something to damage her chosen hero's reputation. That's far too stupid and self-sabotaging. She's clever enough to wrap the heroes around her fingers, she wouldn't…

Dante stopped.

"Dante?" Eclair looked back at him.

She is clever. Not just in the books, but even more so here. Then…why didn't she stay in my party? Isn't that something Mirellia chastised her for at her trial? That she could have manipulated Naofumi to her liking and gained the throne?

…No, she's more clever here. I don't think anyone really knew what the church was capable of before, but here might be different.

"Hey, how powerful is the church?" Dante asked.

"Huh? Where did that come from?" She asked back.

"Sorry, a bit of a realization. It's about…a certain someone." He hinted.

"Ah." Eclair nodded, understanding his meaning. "Well, it wouldn't be wrong to say they're one of the most influential forces in the queendom. Many knights are part of the church." She held herself with one of her arms.

"Fuck." Dante's eyes widened at that. "Sorry, I didn't think—"

"It's fine." Eclair waved him off. He hadn't even thought of how she might react to talking about that sort of thing. Hearing it is conversation is one thing, explaining it is another. "What did you need to know?"

If she was willing to continue, Dante wasn't about to stop her. "Outside of more…recent events, how active were they politically and militarily?"

Eclair seemed to think over his words before realization struck. She closed the distance between them and whispered. "You don't think they're a threat to the queendom, do you?"

"You have a sharp mind." Dante whispered back. "I just want to know what was heard of among knights and nobility."

"I understand." She nodded.

Eclair told him that, outside of spreading their beliefs about demi-humans and the Shield Hero, the church wasn't too active. Sure, they provided healing, raised funds to aid those involved in disasters and such, and they had their own knights, but they didn't do too much with them in terms of military action. At least, not publicly. It was mostly what she remembered hearing from her father, but many powerful nobles were also heavy contributors to the church. They, in turn, may send priests to the noble's lands for whatever purpose. Of course, the priests didn't go alone. Knights were also dispatched.

"So, they may have acted as enforcers or thugs?" Dante asked. If it involved demi-humans or propping up donating lords, it wasn't out of the question.

"I wouldn't have believed it before, but that might be the case." Eclair said.

"I see. That helps. Thank you." He said to the knight.

"Of course, Sir MacRory." Eclair gave a slight bow before they continued on.

If the church has backing from powerful lords, something I really should have known or assumed before, then I have no reason to think a more cunning Malty wouldn't find out. That's especially true if someone like Eclair knew about it, given she's more focused on the martial aspect of things. If Malty tried to marry me to gain the throne, then it would have caused a number of problems for her. Whether or not she knows the church is against the royal family, or if those plans have even been fully formed, marrying the church's enemy wouldn't be good for her in this country.

Damn. Even in the books, she was right, just for the wrong reasons.

They continued on to their final destination in town.

"Ah, welcome back, Sir Hero." The fat slaver said as the pair entered the tent.

"Beloukas." Dante nodded to the man. "I've had a shitty past few days. I could really use some good news."

"I see…" The slave trader wore a frown on his face.

"That's not the face of someone who has good news." Dante said.

"My apologies, Sir Hero, but my investigations haven't turned up anything new."

"Seriously?" Dante clenched his fist. "Four more days and you have nothing?"

"Three since I sent out my men to different towns." Beloukas corrected him. "Still, it is quite odd. Are you sure these villagers were sold to a slave trader?"

"As sure as I can be." Dante recalled what the knight he tortured told him. Of course, the man didn't witness the transactions himself, but he was still paid for it. Only Keel got a look at which slave dealer bought him. Raphtalia and Rifana were too scared at the time to remember anything. Based on what Dante found out, the slaver who sold Keel was indeed the same one they found at the mines. The slave dealer Beloukas got Keel from didn't have any other kids from the village. "I don't think I can provide any more useful information to you either."

"I see." Beloukas swiveled his cane on the ground. "In that case, we'll just have to wait and see what my men uncover, yes sir."

"I guess you're right." Dante said. He turned to leave, but Eclair remained standing there. "E—Berry?"

Eclair looked over at Dante. "I've decided." She said.

"Decided?" Dante wasn't sure about the look she was giving him.

"I'll take a slave seal." She said.

"Oh." Dante looked between her and Beloukas. "Are you sure?"

"Yes." Her tone told him there was no doubt in her mind.

Dante shrugged and looked over at the slave trader. "You heard her."

"Yes, well…I'm afraid you'll be putting me in a bit of a situation, Sir Hero." Beloukas said.

"Why's that?" He asked.

"Well, this woman is human, is she not?" The slave trader pointed out.

"What makes you say that?" Dante questioned. "You thought Sadeena was human before, didn't you?"

"Hmmm." Beloukas studied his face, no doubt searching for the truth. In an instant, a smile formed on his face. "Of course, Sir Hero! I'll be happy to place a slave seal on your demi-human companion. Certainly, though, this seal will be a bit special, and will cost 10 silver, yes sir."

"I thank you for your accommodation." Dante said, agreeing to his terms. The slave trade went to gather the ink. "What made you decide this?" He asked Eclair.

"I owe you my life, Sir MacRory." She explained. "If not for you and your party coming to Ronota, I might be dead, or close to it."

Dante shook his head. "I didn't save you to make you a slave."

"And," she continued, "me taking the seal and gaining more power would also benefit the rest of the party, like upgrading my equipment." She gave him a small smile. "10 silver is a lot less expensive than a good sword or armor."

"Using my own words against me." Dante smiled back. "Well, I can appreciate the cleverness in that."

Beloukas soon returned with the ink. With Dante's help, Eclair was able to loosen her armor enough to expose part of her chest. The slave dealer marked her with the seal, getting a small hiss from her from the pain, and then it was done. With that, her stats became visible to Dante in his status.

Huh. Those are rather good. The others were better at her level, but I believe overall she'll surpass a few of them with the seal.

"There we are." Beloukas said as he set down the bowl and brush. "That will be 10 silver, Sir Hero."

"I'll take a dose of the remover as well." He said.

"Certainly. 20 silver, then."

The man certainly upcharged them before, but they were operating quite outside the law. Dante handed over the silver to the man and got the remover from him.

"Why?" Eclair asked, pointing to the vial.

"For when you decide you don't want to be a slave anymore." Dante said. "I'll remove it in an instant."

"Sir MacRory, I—"

"Berry." He got closer and whispered, though not too close. "I know what you went through. Now you're putting yourself at the mercy of a man." He let his words sink in for a moment before speaking again. "I will take off the seal the second you ask me to, and not a moment later."

He never had to deal with this sort of thing before. He wasn't a big people person. If someone had a problem, the solution they wanted was either killing it or hitting it until it went away. Of course, some of the people who hired him went through what Eclair did, though at a much smaller degree. He saw how they acted, huddling in on themselves as they described his soon-to-be target. Eclair was strong, but having a shock collar with a kill switch on her would likely be too much eventually.

Eclair held his gaze. "Alright." She agreed.

"Good." Dante stepped back. He looked again at Beloukas. "We'll be back again soon. Keep up the search."

"Of course, Sir Hero." Beloukas gave a tip of his hat as they left.

They headed back to Erhard's to see what everyone wanted to get, and how much Dante would be making from the equipment he was selling. About half way there, Eclair spoke up.

"We never finished talking about the village with the famine." She said.

"Ah, right." Dante nodded. They had gotten a bit distracted. Well, Dante did. "Do you have an answer?"

"Almost. If the village needs it to survive, and you want it anyway, I assume there's a way for both to happen, as well as make it safe for the villagers."

Dante gave a soft laugh. "You assume right again."

"Then, I think I have the answer you came to." She said. "Let the seed be delivered to the village, have it grow and become a problem, then come in and take care of it. The fruits it will produce will likely have more seeds for you, and whatever needs to happen to make it safe can be done."

Dante stopped again, prompting Eclair to do the same. "And here I was worried you wouldn't have the cunning to be a lord."

Eclair smirked. "I did say you gave me things to think about, did I not?"

"You did." They continued their journey to the blacksmith.

"That said, I have another question." Eclair said. "Do you know where to find this seed?"

"Yes."

"Then I have a rather obvious answer."

"If I bring the seed to the villagers, I'll have caused a problem." Dante pointed out. "As the Shield Hero, I can't afford to do that."

"I'm not suggesting that." She said. "Take the seed somewhere uninhabited to let it grow, take the fruits it produces, then take care of the original. You'll have more seeds to do what you want, and you can do something about the famine too. It will put you in a good light for Melromarc as well."

"Very clever." Dante said. He hadn't thought of that. He might have if given the time, but perhaps not. Having Motoyasu see what his reliance on his game knowledge did would be a good wakeup call, but that would again be relying on Dante's book knowledge. He was doing that anyway, but this was letting something bad happen in the hopes that he could fix it later.

Letting this happen to the village also gave him mixed feelings. On the one hand, he was pretty sure the village knew about the dangers of the seed, but accepted it anyway. They deserved whatever happened to them. On the other hand, there were plenty of people there who didn't have a real say in it. Specifically, the children in that village. Dante had done many terrible things in his life, but one thing he never did was intentionally put kids in harm's way. That was one of the big reasons for going to Mirso to stop Ren from killing Gaelion and spreading a plague. Besides, of course, sparing a relatively peaceful dragon from death and his adoptive daughter from slavery.

"I think that will be the next thing we do after Mirso." He told the knight. Honestly, there were a bunch of things he knew about that he might be able to fix or prevent. Of course, changing too many things may very well come back to bite him in the ass. Too many things were different as is, but some things were the same. Some of the people in Ronota mentioned an issue up north, where a king had recently increased the taxes on his people. That reminded Dante of Itsuki's Robin Hood activities, and that reminded him of Rishia. Of course, Dante didn't really have a hero's standing in this country, so he wouldn't be able to pull any crap like Itsuki did. Killing the lord was a possibility, but Dante didn't really want to push that. One was enough for now. Dante did want to keep the girl from being taken, but he figured her short time as a hostage, or slave, or whatever she was, wasn't going to be too—

"Ah, crap!" Dante said, spinning on his heels.

"Wha-Dante?" Eclair quickly followed after him.

"I forgot something at Beloukas's." He walked briskly back to where they came from.

~The Wrong Hero~

After a short walk back, he gave the slave trader the information. There would be a girl, a human, sold to a slave dealer in the town. At least, he thought it would be here. He didn't have a description or good timeframe, but he had a name.

Rino. Or, Lyno. Whatever her name here was. Of course, Dante had to pay a hefty deposit to find the girl. 100 silver, twice what he paid to look for all the villagers. Beloukas was pretty clear on his stance about human trafficking in a human supremacist nation.

It was entirely possible that this girl didn't even exist, or that Malty would remove her in a less heinous way, but it was another potential way to show how twisted Malty was to Motoyasu. Dante would need all the help he could get, since Motoyasu would likely believe Malty over him about anything. He didn't really know when Mirellia would find and recruit her into her service anyway. Besides, if Beloukas wasn't able to find her, he said he'd return half of Dante's investment. Searching for human slaves was still a risk, after all.

With that done, they went back to Erhard's. The others had their new equipment picked out and Erhard had the stuff Dante left sorted and priced.

Raphtalia kept the sword from the mercenaries and chose a light breastplate with hardened leather around her arms and skirt. Her legs were mostly covered by her boots, and she had light greaves reinforcing them.

Keel likewise kept his axe. He opted for slightly heavier armor, taking chainmail with steel breastplate, bracers, and greaves. He also took a second, smaller axe from Dante's item drop pile. He wanted to either use it as part of dual-wielding, or as a thrown weapon. Dante figured either would work. His main axe seemed to be a bastard version, so he could use it either one-handed or two.

JoJo, comically, ended up with a long hafted hammer. For someone JoJo's size, it looked like a pole-hammer. Well, JoJo looked happy with it, so Dante didn't have a problem.

Rifana, however, didn't get any new equipment. Her reason was that the mage gear she had on was a good mix of defense and magic power. Sure enough, not a lot of armor in Erhard's shop increased one's magic stat. At least, nothing that wasn't also very expensive.

Dante made sure the gear they wore could be worn at lower levels. Most of it could be, though not nearly as effectively. Of course, the people who would be getting their level lowered weren't going to fight right away. It was more of a precaution, in case anyone else decided to come along and cause problems.

Finally, Dante talked with Erhard about commissioning armor. He had one detail that was pretty important.

"You want it to be immune to fire?" Erhard asked.

"Or as resistant as possible. Being set on fire hurts." He explained. He'd had enough of that here.

"Hm. I think I can make you something for that, if you have materials."

Dante grinned. "That I do."

Dante let out a bunch of monster drops onto the ground, after laying out a sheet, of course. In addition to the normal monsters, he showed off the remains of the cacodemon, imps, and hell knight. Erhard looked over the parts with a puzzled look, but said nothing. Dante also set a number of ores on his counter. Some of those did get a response.

"Where in the world did you get these?" Erhard asked, holding one of the spellcobalt ores.

"The same place I was set on fire." Dante answered.

"Well, I'll be able to make something really nice with these." He said. "The skin from that red thing, those brown ones too…yeah, I've got something in mind for you."

"That's what I like to hear!" He gave Erhard the components he'd need for the armor, plus a little something extra Dante had in mind, and they left the shop. They ended up making quite the profit from the equipment alone, including the deductions from what they bought for everyone.

With everything settled, they returned to the carriages. Dio was talking away with Sadeena, sitting on her lap. Dante would have tried teasing her, but he was certain the woman would make him regret it later. They loaded in and set off for Mirso. With the time it would take to get there and back, Erhard should be finished with his work, and they'd have time to meet again with the emissaries.

Now all Dante had to do was wait for the other shoe to drop. He knew it would sooner or later.

Author's Notes:

Here starts the next arc, tentatively named the "Let's get to the damn wave already" arc. Judging by my past chapters, I'm guessing this arc may also be around 8 chapters. Kinda did that on accident before, but let's see how it goes.