I am not the shield hero

They were making good time as they traveled to the eastern village. As they traveled, they switched out who rode out on a filolial to hunt. Dante was still a little uneasy, but he admitted it was better than doing nothing. The day passed quickly, with Dante making more progress on the fire tome with Rifana's help. With any luck, he'd get to understanding the spell soon. Once he figured out one spell, he'd switch over to the support book to study on his own.

Late morning of the next day, they arrived at the village. It was about what Dante expected: a village near the base of a mountain. Of course, with no dragon corpse polluting the air, the place was fairly lively.

With a small amount of searching, they found a path up the mountain. A few of the villagers they checked with had asked what they were going to do.

"I'm here to solve the dragon problem." Is what Dante told them. Of course, he and they had different views on what that meant. They gave him directions on where to go.

They were part way up the mountain before Dante had his kids pull the carriages over. Everyone gathered around between the carriages.

"Okay, here's the plan." Dante said. "I don't really know his personality, so it's best not to seem too aggressive. I'll go up the mountain myself, maybe one other person with me. Everyone else will stay here."

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Raphtalia asked. "That's sounds really dangerous."

Dante nodded. "Maybe a little, but I think you all should be able to handle anything that comes along."

"I meant for you."

"I know." Dante smirked. "I have a good amount of skills and shields. I'm confident I can take whatever this dragon can throw at me until he hears me out."

From what Dante remembered, Gaelion wasn't actually aggressive. He remembered the dragon was referred to as the weakest dragon emperor multiple times. Ren and his party were able to fight him in between the second and third wave. It was hard to guess when exactly, but Dante figured Ren was around level 50 or so at the time. With his current level and power up methods, Dante was sure he'd hold out just fine.

"Who will go with you?" Eclair asked.

"I will!" Dio raised her hand.

"Absolutely not." Dante shot that idea down immediately. "Dragons and filolials are enemies."

"I-I'll behave! I promise!" She looked up him with pleading eyes.

"I'm sure you would, but I'm still not taking you." Dante patted her head, calming her slightly. "Gaelion doesn't know me. I have some knowledge of him, and I'm pretty sure he wouldn't be happy with a stranger and a filolial showing up to his home."

He probably wouldn't be happy with just a stranger, but he'd get over it.

"I'll be taking Sadeena with me." Dante said. "The two of us should be able to handle Gaelion if he wants to fight."

Sadeena pulled Dante close by the hip and held her harpoon up. "Don't worry, I'll keep little Dante safe~."

While her level wasn't quite as high as it was before, she was still more than capable of fighting. Naofumi's group handled themselves well enough, and that Gaelion was an undead and supposedly stronger, if memory served.

"I'll signal you on how it goes." Dante told them. The filolials' monster seals were still useful for that. "But first, I'm going to bathe in that small lake over there."

That earned several looks of confusion, plus a few noises indicating as much.

"I smell like a filolial. I don't mind it, but I feel like a dragon would."

~The Wrong Hero~

Dante took his bath, changed into one of his spare sets of clothes and chainmail, and set off for the top of the mountain with Sadeena. The villagers had given them directions on where they thought the dragon lived. Of course, it would have been faster on Dio or JoJo, but that likely wouldn't have ended well.

"Are you sure it's safe to leave them alone?" Dante asked Sadeena as they walked.

"Do you really think I'd leave little Raphtalia and the others if it wasn't safe~?" Sadeena responded.

"Right, sorry. Still just nervous from the past few days."

After a bit of walking, they came across what looked to be a wolf with dragon scales. His appraisal told him it was a dragon hybrid. The dragon-wolf growled at them as they approached.

Let's see if it's smart.

"Hello. My name is Dante MacRory. I'm the Shield Hero, and—" Before he could finish, the wolf lunged at him. Dante brought up his shield, but the wolf latched itself to his leg. He didn't have much protection there, but both he and Sadeena were covered by Faust Guard VI.

Dante looked down at the wolf. It continued to growl as it tried to bite through his defense. "As I was saying, I'm here to speak with your father. Will you allow us to pass?" The wolf gave no response, outside of more growling. "I promise that we don't mean any harm."

Dante had thought the monsters that were sired by Gaelion would have some intelligence. He was sure that was what he remembered from works of fiction involving half-dragon creatures. No one in his party had any experience with dragons, except Sadeena with the water dragon. Of course, they were entirely different entities, as far as Dante could recall. Or, perhaps they were very similar. Whatever the case, it didn't matter much right now.

"I can see you aren't one for talking." Dante said as he leaned down. When he went to pet the wolf, it let go of his leg and bit his arm instead. "That's cute."

"I don't think your monster skills will work here, little Dante~." Sadeena looked at the wolf with a soft smile. She could clearly see it was no threat to them.

"Sadeena, please, animals love me." They loved to bite him, in any case. Animals from his world were much friendlier with him. "But, yeah, you're probably right." He threw his arm back, launching the wolf from his body. "Shield Prison III!"

Once the wolf was encased, they continued up the mountain. Dante would replace his spell when it wore off, try to communicate with Gaelion's kids when they came around, and trapped them for a bit when that failed.

They soon came to a large cave. It was about where the villagers said it would be. A low rumbling emanated from the cave.

"Well, here we go." Dante said as he stepped forward. Sadeena stayed far back to not seem aggressive.

The rumbling got louder as a dark blue dragon emerged, standing at least 30 feet tall. Again, Dante wasn't sure what he was expecting, but it was probably a red dragon, maybe black. Blue seemed…well, unexpected, really. It just wasn't the color he was thinking when he thought of Gaelion.

Huh. Actually, I think he was blue in the anime…right? Whatever, it doesn't really matter.

"Hello!" Dante called out. "I am—"

Again, he didn't get the chance to finish his introduction before Gaelion let loose a gout of flames at him.

"Shooting Star Shield V!" He activated his skill to absorb the blast. One of the benefits of fighting Rolf's monsters was that the experience they gave was similar to that of a human's. Meaning, they gained a number of levels that day. It was more than enough to allow Dante to unlock the Siderite Shield.

With the boosted skill, as well as Dante having already equipped his Spellcobalt Ore Shield, Gaelion's magic flames washed over the translucent barrier with no lasting effect.

"As I was saying," Dante tried again, "my name is Dante MacRory, the Shield Hero. I am here to—"

Once again, flames spewed forth from Gaelion as he roared. The barrier barely even flickered.

"I am here to warn you about people who want you dead. If we could talk…for…" Dante shifted his shield to the Reinforced Iron Shield. Gaelion had stomped from his cave and brought his claw down onto Dante. The barrier seemed to crack, but it still held.

That was something Dante had tested out further with Sadeena. It turned out that, while it wasn't using the full stats of the shield, the currently equipped shield affected the skills' strength. The skills themselves did have their own defensive strength, but also a significantly smaller amount of HP, or what counted for HP.

Bringing his attention back to the fight, Dante looked up at Gaelion's outstretched claw.

"Look, I can do this for quite a while. It'd be far easier to listen to whatever I have to say, then I'll be out of your territory." He was really glad he didn't bring either filolial with him. His kids would have already charged at Gaelion and tried clawing his eyes out.

Gaelion put his front claw back on the ground. He stood tall, glowering at the human before him. "Speak." He said in a loud, booming voice.

"I am Dante, the Shield Hero. I'm here to warn you that a quest was submitted to have you killed."

"Hmph." The dragon snorted. "Many have come for me. All of them have died, or fled in failure."

"I doubt a hero has tried." Dante said. Gaelion narrowed his eyes at him. "Not me. I'd say within a month, the Sword Hero will come for you."

"Hm. So, have all four heroes been summoned to fight the waves?"

"They have. All to the same country, too."

"Is that significant?"

"Is it not?"

Dante was pretty sure the summonings were supposed to happen in the major countries. Or, would they all happen in Faubrey, and the heroes would disperse from there? Didn't they each get a turn to try and summon one? Details, details.

"In any case," Dante went on, "I'm here to warn you about the Sword Hero. You will lose to him."

Gaelion loudly growled. "You think because I cannot harm you that I will be no match for one weak hero?"

"True, I'm a bit of an exception right now, but the point remains."

"And how do you know this?"

Dante smirked. "I have knowledge of the future." He'd made sure with Sadeena that no one was following them up the mountain. The Q'ten Lo shadows stayed behind to watch Raphtalia.

"And you would tell me this? To what end? To sabotage your fellow hero?" Gaelion clearly didn't understand.

"No. I want you to leave this place. Go somewhere else." That was the simplest solution.

"You expect me to flee?!" Of course, Gaelion was less than willing.

"I expect you to protect your daughter." Gaelion paused at Dante's words. He looked like he was about to attack again. "Otherwise, you will die, the children you made with other monsters will be killed, and Wyndia will be enslaved."

Dante hoped that would be enough to convince the dragon to leave the mountain. There weren't a whole lot of options on what to do now that Dante came to talk with him.

"If the Sword Hero means to put my daughter in chains, he will know a dragon's wrath."

"That's not his plan." Dante said with a sigh. "As far as I remember, he'll only come to fulfill a quest and gain XP. It's the village below, the ones who put in the quest, who will do that."

"Then it would be best to wipe them out." Gaelion said.

"You wouldn't be entirely wrong, but I can't let you." Dante stepped forward. "There are too many innocents down there. Too many children. I didn't come to you to have their blood on my hands."

"I don't take orders from you, human." Gaelion growled. "This is assuming I believe anything you say."

"I'd rather you believe me." Dante said with a smile. "It would make things so much easier."

"What if I stay and prepare for the Sword Hero's arrival? What if I kill him when he comes, and ignore your so-called solution?"

"That would cause a problem for me. I can't have any of the holy heroes dying. If you plan to do so, then…" Dante lifted his shield, facing it towards the dragon. "I'll have no choice but to kill you myself."

"Bold of you, little human." Gaelion lowered his head to the ground, looking straight at Dante. "Even with your power, do you think you can defeat me so early after being summoned?"

"I have allies." Dante pointed out. "My job is defense. I'm quite qualified for it, as you've seen."

"I can see your ally over near the trees." Gaelion nodded towards Sadeena. She didn't really keep out of sight, just didn't get too close. "Do you think she's enough?"

"If not, I have more, closer to the base of the mountain."

"And they will survive without you?"

"I don't know. Would your daughter survive up here without you?"

That was likely a step too far, as Gaelion's claw came smashing down on Dante's barrier again. It cracked further, but it was still holding.

"This is pointless." Dante said. "We can't kill each other, and we can't go after each other's family without allowing our own to be attacked."

"Family?" Gaelion questioned.

"Oh…" It was a little Freudian slip for Dante. He obviously saw Dio and JoJo as his kids now. While he wouldn't go so far as to call Sadeena his beloved, she was growing heavily in his heart. Well, he did say she would be his first wife, but he hadn't thought that part of it through at the time. With the other three demi-humans in his party, there was something there. Maybe it was part of being the Shield Hero, knowing their backgrounds, or simply seeing what they went through, but Dante just had the urge to protect them. He wanted to protect Eclair too, given what the poor woman went through.

Dante lowered his shield. "Look, I didn't come here to fight with you. I knew—or had a good reason to believe—that you dying would cause a lot of problems for a lot of people. I'm sure you don't want to give up your home, but I'm also pretty sure you want to protect your daughter more."

If nothing else, Dante knew that parents would do anything to protect their children. Maybe not the other monsters Gaelion sired, but definitely Wyndia.

"…Where would you have me go?" Gaelion asked.

Dante sighed and lowered his barrier. He waved Sadeena over. She was the one who came up with the idea.

"I know of a few islands near the coast. There are settlements not too far from them." Sadeena said. Dante recalled Gaelion wanting to be near humans to avoid other dragon emperors. He didn't really get it, but it didn't matter to him.

After a little back and forth, Sadeena figured out an island that worked for Gaelion.

"What else is there in this little arrangement of ours?" Gaelion asked.

"What do you mean?" Dante cocked his head to the side.

"Do you expect to be rewarded for this?"

"Oh. Not really…wait, can you give me a blessing?" Dante nearly forgot about that important detail.

"A blessing?"

"Yeah. I want to be able to cast Dragon Vein magic." If he could gain that…well, he was a long way from doing anything remotely powerful with it, but it was a good step. He was pretty sure it was a difficult magic system to learn.

Gaelion, however, shook his head. "I don't have the ability to give such a blessing."

"Ah, well, that's fine." Dante supposed Gaelion would need more dragon emperor fragments to do something like that. "In that case, maybe a favor for later?"

"I do not like owing favors to humans." Gaelion said, though it sounded more like a grumble.

"I think this would be a good exception. If you think I'm lying, verify it somehow so you don't owe me anything. Or, you know, just say you don't owe me anything. I came up here to avoid future problems, not gain anything out of it, but I'll take whatever."

If he got Gaelion to leave, he'd consider this a complete success. Anything else would be a bonus.

"Actually, there is one thing you could do."

~The Wrong Hero~

After the talk with Gaelion, and actually meeting Wyndia, surprisingly, Dante and Sadeena traveled back down the mountain. He'd signaled the others to let them know they were fine.

On the way back down, they encountered fewer monsters. That was Dante's favor from Gaelion. While he couldn't bestow a blessing to grant access to dragon vein magic, he could make it so his children knew that Dante and his party were not to be considered enemies. Of course, there was the odd child that decided to attack anyway. Gaelion said that any who attacked them could be killed without consequence.

Naturally, Dante took him up on that offer. New shield forms and XP were important, after all.

Once they regrouped with the others, JoJo and Dio ran up to them. Facing a dragon without them did worry them a bit. However, seeing as they had no injuries, the two filolials stopped several feet before Dante and Sadeena.

Both kids held their noses.

"What's up?" Dante asked the pair.

"You stink, Papa." Dio said. JoJo nodded.

"Really?" Dante looked himself over. It wasn't as if he had come into contact with Gaelion. He did, however, get a few old scales from him for the shield. Though, he supposed Gaelion's cave did have a rather strong smell to it.

"I don't want to smell like a dragon." Dio complained.

Dante laughed. "So, what, you won't hug me until I clean up?"

"I really don't want to…" She said, swaying back in forth.

"JoJo?" The filolial boy shook his head. "Well, alright. Guess I'm bathing again today. Any problems while we were gone?" Dante asked as he approached one of the carriages.

"A few monsters came by, but no actual fighting." Eclair said. "We mostly practiced while you were up there."

"Good, then." Dante grabbed his old clothes and headed back to the lake. He took off the dragon smelling clothes—if they even really smelled—and stepped in.

Honestly, this was almost a letdown. I mean, I'm glad things went well, but I was almost expecting…I don't know, something stupid happening again. Maybe some other west loving otaku with a deep love for cowboys or something. Maybe they'd be wearing a Stetson hat or something.

Dante scrubbed his body, making sure the kids didn't have anything to complain about. His thoughts turned to what he said before.

Family, huh? Yeah. Dio and JoJo are my kids. And the rest of them…Do I really think of them as my family? Surely it's just Dio and JoJo. But…the idea of something happening to any of them…

Dante stopped his cleaning.

"Damn. When the hell did that happen?" He wasn't even that confused. He knew the reason. It was probably a combination of all three reasons he thought of before with those three, plus a really big one. At one point, Dante saw everyone but Sadeena and Eclair as children, and children need to be protected.

And…he really did want a family again.

"When did what happen?" He heard Sadeena behind him.

When he turned, he saw she was only a few feet from him, already in the water.

Damn, my senses are going.

"Nothing. Just thinking." Dante returned to his cleaning.

"Oh~." Sadeena crept forward. "Thinking about your family~?"

That was something she teased him about the whole way down the mountain. He wasn't mad about it. Anymore.

"You here to help, or to distract me?" Dante asked.

"As a matter of fact…" Sadeena came into the water and held out her hand. "Don't want to do a bad job cleaning, right?"

Dante raised an eyebrow at her, but shrugged and handed over the soap. Sadeena, in turn, looked him up and down.

"What is it?" He asked her.

"You really don't mind it, huh?" She said as she got to work. "You really could fight naked without a problem."

Dante hummed. "I did go to a place where clothing was prohibited to kill a man once."

"What a strange world you come from." Sadeena laughed.

"Besides that, I've literally crawled through shit before. Being covered in grime, blood, or being completely nude just doesn't bother me."

Sadeena scrubbed around his right shoulder. "And yet, if I whisper a few things in your ear, you get all embarrassed."

"That doesn't really happen anymore." Dante said. Sadeena leaned closer to him, only for Dante to hold up his hand. "Never mind."

Sadeena laughed. She continued washing around his right side.

She isn't wrong. Hell, kissing and all that isn't much either. But, hearing her say those things to me…

"I'm just not used to that sort of thing." He said. "At least, with it being genuine."

"Hm." Sadeena draped her arms over him.

"What?"

"I can't decide if I should tell you those things more for all the times no one said them, or to hold back a little to keep it being special to you~." She said, placing a kiss on the back of his neck.

Dante shuddered. The idea of responding was lost as she left a trail of kisses along his shoulders. After getting caught by Raphtalia a couple days ago, they hadn't really done anything like this. There was the occasional kiss, sure, but nothing more.

Sadeena continued to his left, nearing what remained of his shoulder—

"Ah!" He let out and jerked away from her.

"What's wrong?" Sadeena reached out for him. "Did I…?"

"N-No…" Dante held where his arm was missing. It was a strange feeling. He didn't understand. She'd held him there before. Hell, she was basically snuggling against it the other day.

Sadeena walked through the water, getting closer to him. "May I?" She held her hand near his shoulder.

With a nod, she placed her hand there. He gave a light wince, but didn't shy away. She slowly moved her hand over the scars. Dante's breath came out in short bursts. Sadeena placed her other hand on his missing shoulder and brought her head closer. "You're pulling away." She said.

"I…am?" He looked over, realizing his head was turned away, and seeing his body was leaning back. "I don't…I'm not trying to."

Sadeena let go and he moved back up. "I don't understand. What happened?" She asked him.

"I don't know either." He placed his own hand on the missing limb and felt nothing wrong. "People have touched there before, and I've taken hits there too."

Sadeena nodded. "This is the first time I'm seeing you act like that. It was right after I…" Slowly, a wide smile grew on her face.

"What?" Dante looked at her. She was grinning heavily.

"Oh, I just figured it out~." She said, swaying her hips as she walked closer. She draped her left arm over his right shoulder and her right around his waist. "I'm going to kiss you there again, okay?"

Dante found his breathing became shallow, but nodded anyway. The second her lips touched the scar, he felt a pressure on his back. It was pushing against him. His body seemed to have a mind of its own. When she brought her face back to him, he realized it was him trying to move away, and her arms keeping him in place.

"What…What was that?" He asked her. His voice sounded quiet in his head.

"How did you feel?" She asked, leaning her head against his.

"I felt…scared?" He answered. "Like I was trapped, I guess. I don't really know how to describe it."

She pulled his head down and kissed him on his forehead. "It might be trauma."

"Trauma?" Dante raised an eyebrow. "Wouldn't that, I don't know, happen whenever anyone touched me there? Or, you know, when some asshole hits me with an axe?"

Sadeena shook her head. "Why would it? Normal attacks don't hurt you much, and you aren't worried about just anyone touching you there. But…" She slid her arm over his shoulder again, eliciting a quiver from him. "When someone you're intimate with does it, someone you're okay feeling vulnerable around, it's different."

Dante held her around her waist tightly. "Okay, I get it."

She laughed softly and moved her hand away. "Sorry, I don't mean to laugh. It's just a little amusing to see you afraid of me like that." She brought her hand against his face. "And you know I care about you, right? You know I wouldn't try to hurt you?"

"Yeah, I do."

"Good! Because, if I do it light enough, the way you squirm around is really cute!"

Dante let her go and stepped back, hand on his hip. "Geez, I'm glad my supposed trauma is so much fun to you." He pouted, but he wasn't really upset. "You almost make it sound like it's a turn on for you."

"Maybe a little~."

He sighed, shaking his head. "Well, I suppose it's fine to…do that a little bit. Just when we're alone!" He clarified. He really didn't want the others seeing that, despite not really being able to articulate why. Besides, it didn't hurt. And, it was better to get used to that sort of thing.

"Aw, how sweet of you~!" Sadeena cooed.

"Yeah, well, I guess I'm fine doing uncomfortable things for the person I love—"

Dante's hand slapped against his mouth. Sadeena looked at him, her mouth slightly open. Her eyes stared into his, and he could swear he saw them sparkle.

Well, I guess there's no question about how I feel about her now. Definitely not just lust anymore, and much more than thankful.

True, he never actually told her he loved her. He talked of pursuing love with her, but not actually being in love with her. She never did either. At least, not without a joke.

Her mouth twisted into the widest grin he'd seen on her. "What was that~?" She slid closer to him, hands behind her back. "Say that again, please~?"

"I…" Dante turned his head. "You heard what I said…"

"Hmmm~?" She leaned over to look up at him. "I wasn't listening~."

It was obvious, what with him thinking of having a child with her. Or, her seeming like a mother to the others when most of them were still kids. He'd just pushed those thoughts aside.

"You already know what I said." He refused to meet her gaze. He could feel his face starting to burn. "Besides, I already said you would be my first wife. I all but said it then."

"I just want to be sure~." She slid her arm around him and brought him close. He could feel the coolness of her normal skin and rubbery flesh against his bare body.

"Fine." He looked her in the eyes, the heat rising on his face becoming unbearable. "I…love…you."

Sadeena's face shined as she squeezed him tight. "Aw, I knew you could say it!"

"Yeah, yeah." Despite his tone, he was happy being held by her right now.

"I love you too!" She cried out. Dante couldn't stand how hot his face felt right now.

Still, the optics of the situation wasn't totally lost on him. "Y-You know, if one of them comes over here right now, they're going to be all embarrassed." Dante was still in the middle of bathing, after all.

"Let them!" She said, lifting Dante from the water and spinning him. "You said you love me!"

"Of course I do." He said as she set him back in the lake, as if he wasn't just agonizing over saying it. "I told you, you'd be my wife."

Sadeena gave him a look. "Are you saying every marriage in your world is happy and loving, and never just for politics?"

"Mm, point taken." He supposed that may have been in the back of her mind. Maybe he should have said something sooner. Maybe he should have figured himself out sooner.

"Anyway," She held his face, giving him a wink, "I think we should celebrate this~."

Dante held his hand against hers. "If you're saying what I think you are, maybe we shouldn't."

"Oh?" She gave him a quick kiss. "I just want to have a nice drink with my loving fiancé. What were you thinking~?"

"I…" Dante face burned again.

"Embarrassed? I thought you could handle that type of talk~."

"Shush!" He just about had his fill of this for today. "We've been gone a bit, so we should get back to everyone."

"Alright~." She stepped away, trailing her hand along his chin. "Rinse off before…" She paused and looked down.

"Yes, I get it, I thought you were talking about sex." Dante shook his head.

"Dante." She pointed down into the lake. Dante followed along and saw what she did.

"…Is that an alligator?" The monster in question was latched onto his leg under the water. He thought that, even if he didn't take any damage, he'd notice being attacked. Then again, he was a little distracted. His appraisal told him it was an indigo gator.

"It looks young." Sadeena pulled her harpoon from her back. It looked as long as Dio or JoJo were tall in their child forms.

"It's adorable." Dante leaned down to give it a stroke. The gator swiped at him, but he pushed past it and ran his hand down its back.

"It's trying to kill you." Sadeena loosely leveled her harpoon towards it. "Young or not…"

"Right, right." Dante turned to the side to give her a better angle. While he would have liked to keep it, it was probably better to raise a monster from an egg.

Just as Sadeena brought back her harpoon, the surface of the lake exploded in a shower of water. Another gator, this one much larger, latched onto Dante's abdomen. He cried out as the gator pulled him down.

"Dante!" Sadeena yelled. She thrust her weapon down, embedding into the monster. It thrashed in the water, but it kept its hold on him.

Dante kept being dunked in the water. His voice was muffled. "Sadeena! Gah!" Another gator bit onto his flailing arm. As he was pulled under again, he could make out more coming under the water's surface. Red filled his vision as the blood from one of the gators and himself spread through the water. Another one chomped his leg.

When he surfaced again, he gave his order. "Magic! Fry them!" He was pulled down again, water threatening to pour into his lungs. He focused on his shield, shifting it to the Spellcobalt Ore Shield. He had a much weaker shield equipped before, working to unlock it when the gator grabbed him. Without any solid surface to push against, his higher defense—and, thus, grappling ability—wouldn't be as useful. That was especially true if these gators were trying to drown him, which fell in line with what he knew about their earthly counterparts. He couldn't call out his skill to activate it, not that he'd want to. He was pretty sure the barrier would force the gators away, while also tearing a chunk out of his stomach.

The thrashing continued. Then, his body convulsed. Pain shot through him, though less than what the gators were causing him. The gators released their hold on him. His body sank further into the lake before he was pulled up by his arm. Sadeena held him up, helping him as he coughed the water from his lungs.

"Are you okay?" She asked, keeping him from falling over.

"Yeah…" His voice was weaker. His status told him he lost over 35% of his HP. Again, he was reminded of alligators from his world. Unless he got some good leverage on them, those gators weren't going to let go of him. He looked over his body from his position and saw several sets of teeth marks, more than he thought. "You didn't notice them approach?"

Sadeena shook her head. "Sorry. Unless I'm underwater too, I wouldn't sense them."

Makes sense. Sound waves change as they go through different mediums.

"Are you two okay?" He heard Keel yell out. He was followed quickly by the others. "We saw a lot of XP in…Oh god…" Keel stopped when he saw Dante.

"Papa!" "Dad!" His two kids cried out.

Yeah, it must look pretty bad.

"I'll be fine." He reassured them. He concentrated and activated one of his abilities: stat allocation. It was the other ability he gained from the Shield of Sacrifice. With it, he could convert HP to either MP or SP, and vice versa. Converting HP gave an equal amount of either MP or SP, but doing the reverse cost four points of each per one HP restored. He drained somewhere around half of each stat to replenish a small amount of HP. The wounds closed slightly. "I'll heal the rest on my own."

He tried to walk to the shore, but Sadeena held him back. She transformed into her therianthrope form and scoped him into her arms.

"S-Sadeena!" Dante actually squeaked out.

"I'll carry you." She said as she moved into shallower water.

"I can walk on my own!" If this was some sort of joke, Dante was not happy about it.

"Dante." Her tone, however, reminded him of when they left Idol's territory. It told him she was quite serious about this.

"Alright…" He didn't really want to fight it anyway. Admittedly, it was rather nice to be carried like that. Plus, it wasn't like she was showing him off.

"Rifana, grab his clothes, please." Sadeena said as she passed the weasel girl.

"Y-Yes." Rifana replied, her face turned away slightly. Dante noticed a light blush on her face.

Hah! I see my near death experience didn't put a damper on that.

~The Wrong Hero~

Sadeena had set Dante in one of the carriages as he continued to slowly heal. She tried to have him drink a potion or take a salve, but he refused. Not even her stern insistence persuaded him. After all, at his rate of healing, it would only be a few minutes before the pain subsided, and another 20-ish before he was completely healed. His equip bonus HP regeneration, plus some job level increases—as he learned the Bow's stat increasing power up was referred to as—had him healing nicely.

Of course, his party kept fussing about him, even after he was healed. It wasn't so strange, if he thought about it. The Shield Hero is supposed to have the highest defense, yet a few monsters were able to damage him so quickly. He'd be lying if he said he wasn't a bit scared. Despite using a much weaker shield, he still had the power up from the Axe increasing his defense.

Unbelievable. I challenge a dragon without a problem, but a dozen alligators nearly kill me? This world doesn't make any sense. I know the stats on my Reinforced Iron Shield are really high, but does it make that much of a difference?

Of course, he also wasn't wearing any armor, and his support spell had run out. Still, if one of the others was grabbed, he didn't know if they'd have survived. Sure, the gators thrashed around, so that probably ate away at his HP, but it was still a concern. The indigo gators didn't seem to have any dragon parts on them, so they likely weren't sired by Gaelion. Most of his other children seemed to take the hint.

With his body back to full strength, they decided to have a meal before leaving this part of the mountain. They didn't let him help in the preparations, however, having him sit on a fallen log. Dio sat in his lap while JoJo held him from behind, partly to keep him from getting up, and partly because they were still worried. It started to seem like they'd do this every time they weren't around when he was attacked.

The gator meat was brought over, already cut, and Dante was finally allowed to work on it. His kids still clung to his pant legs as he did, though. He placed some of the gator into his shield, revealing a few forms. They were okay stat-wise and gave stat increases; cooking, defense, underwater combat, and swimming. Once the food was cooking, it was back to comforting the kids.

"You two worry too much." He told them.

"Papa, you got really hurt again." Dio said, sitting in his lap once more.

"Yeah, but Sadeena was there again, so it's fine." He pointed out.

"You have to stay near us." JoJo said. "We have to protect you."

"No, I have to protect you. That's my job." Dante reached over his shoulder and ruffled his son's hair.

"We're just glad you're okay." Raphtalia said, though she frowned as she said it. "But, please, don't flirt with Sadeena while were in monster infested areas."

"Now, where's the fun in that?" Dante joked, but he knew she was right. He was a little too lax, trying to unlock another shield while in a place like this. "Still, when I die, it'll be from a superior opponent, not some stray gators."

"Tell that to the monsters." Keel quipped. He was cutting some meat from the cooked gators and passing it out.

"Please, that was a one-time thing. I make it a habit to avoid gators anyway. That's why I never go to Florida."

"What's that?" Rifana asked from her seat next to him.

"It's a state in my home country. They have a few animal, ah, monster problems there, and one of them is alligators. Like they say, Disney World is the happiest place on Earth until you get eaten by an alligator."

Dante took his meat from Keel and took a bite out of it. Clearly, this version of alligator didn't taste like chicken. It was closer to salmon, really. Not that he ever ate alligator before, just read what people thought of it. Dante did find that some of the job levels he increased, like cooking and such, did also give a few abilities. One of which was keeping things in his inventory fresh longer. They'd probably be able to enjoy these gators for a few days with that.

Without falling too deep into his thoughts, Dante found that Keel was still standing before him. His eyes had a look of anticipation in them. In the corner of his eyes was Rifana with the same look. Raphtalia had a similar look across from him.

Oh yeah, they wanted to hear more about me, didn't they? I even told Sadeena I would talk more about myself.

He did just that. He spent some time talking about some of the things in his world. The concept of a theme park was a bit much for him to try and describe, so he focused more on his travels. Where he went, some of the sights he would see, and a few of his lighter criminal activities. Eclair found a few of them strange, like bringing weapons from one area to another, while something like buying drugs was met with a fiercer clash than he thought needed. Given what happened to her, he supposed it wasn't too out there.

Their merriment didn't go unnoticed. Some of the dragon-monsters made their way near their encampment. They didn't get too close, but they did seem to eye the dead gators. Dante waved them closer, much to the filolial children's displeasure, and gave them a bit of the cooked parts. They almost seemed to beg for more. Dante got an idea. He had them bring parts he could put into his shield in exchange for food. From there, they brought an assortment of items. Most of them were very minor bonuses, but there were a lot of them. Every time, Dante would give out a little food and they'd scurry off to collect more.

"See, Sadeena? Monsters love me!" Dante proclaimed.

"Mm." Sadeena nodded as she took a bite of her meal. "These indigo gators really liked you."

"Ah, they totally did. They were just bad at expressing themselves."

"Maybe that's why they liked you." Sadeena gave a light laugh.

Once they finished, and collected the remaining gator corpses into Dante's shield, they set out. Dante told the village leaders that the dragon was dealt with, but he took the corpse. They were livid at that, but Dante didn't really care. Sure, they did say part of the quest was to leave the corpse, but Dante never accepted the quest. He made sure to tell them as much. They'd get the money they sent for the quest fulfillment back, and they didn't all die, so Dante figured they got off light. Of course, they wouldn't know he saved most of their lives, but that wasn't his concern either.

They rode out of the village and towards the capital again. Dante needed to meet with the emissaries again, and collect his armor. Checking in with Beloukas was another thing to do.

A thought appeared in his mind.

Since the village wasn't devastated with a plague, the church won't have a reason to be mad at Ren. I wonder how this will affect things down the line. Hopefully, I'll be able to deal with the church before they make any moves against me. Aside from not being too powerful, I need to not look so benevolent. If I recall, Naofumi's medicine selling and the others' screw ups were what led the church to moving. That, and Ren and Itsuki investigating things. I'll need to keep an eye out for anything that could make things worse.

Author's Notes:

I didn't want the fight with Gaelion to be long, but the chapter still needed something. Then I remembered the cream alligator in the sewers that Naofumi and company fought. It also helped to show how much his shield strengthening mattered. If he had the Reinforced Iron Shield equipped, he might not have been dragged under, and he definitely wouldn't have been hurt so bad.

With regards to the romance part, I realize they are moving a little fast. If I ever do a re-write (hah!) I would space this out more and do it differently, but I'm already here, so I'm rolling with it. It'll be fleshed out a bit more in the coming chapters.

Having extra time is really helping. I'll be keeping the Sunday upload schedule for a while.

Thanks for reading and leave a review!