Lost Pages (Rise of the Shield Hero)

Chapter 5

Alright sinners! This book will be updated every Wednesday!
-Sin
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Himari walked out of town and into the fields, axe in hand. With her new equipment and knowledge of this world, she was ready to fight some monsters and level up. She walked thorough the fields until she was a decent distance away from the town, the perfect spot for enemies to appear.

And just as she expected, the same ballon-like creatures that tried to attack her when she first got here jumped out of the grass and flew straight towards her. This time, though, she was ready. She grinned and swung her axe, hearing four seperate popping noises. The remnants of the monsters started to float down towards the ground.

Himari grabbed some of the scraps, holding them in her hand. Maybe I could sell these? She wondered. Just then, the gem on her axe started glowing. "Is it trying to tell me to put it on there?" She asked, holding the scrap over the gem and watching as a pale purple magic circle appeared as the scrap was absorbed into it. "So it looks like I can level up my axe by giving it the remnants of the monsters I defeated. I wonder if any of them give me any special abilities."

As far as she could tell, the balloons had only given her axe more strength, but with an whole world to explore, who knows what type of monsters she could encounter. For now, it might be best to sell the scraps to a merchant for some more money. While the silver coins the queen had given her helped her in the beginning, she needed to be able to get money herself.

"Well, no time to waste, let's get cracking!"

The next few hours were spent fighting against the balloons, none of which stood a chance against her. By the time the it was dark by the time she had decided to stop for the night. She had gotten a lot of experience points and ended up reaching level 4, and she was now both tired and hungry.

In her hurry to get back to the town, Himari failed to hear a rustling behind her as a few red ballons flew out of the grass and headed straight towards her.

"Look out!" A voice shouted, and Himari turned around just in time to see a girl about a year older than her attack the balloon with a hooked hunting knife. The balloons popped and the girl turned to look at Himari, "Ya good there?"

"Oh, uh, yeah. I'm fine. Thanks for that." Himari said.

"Not a problem! I just saw those guys comin' towards ya and I couldn't just do nothin'. Well, anyways, I should be gettin' back home."

"Wait! I can't let you just go without thanking you some way!" Himari said, stopping the girl from walking away. "How about we get some dinner? My treat."

The girl was quiet for a second, "I can't turn down free food. Count me in." She said.

Himari smiled and the two of them started walking back to the town, "Oh, by the way, I'm Himari."

"Name's Taura Miya. Pleasure meetin' ya!"

***

The two girls went to the pub Himari had gone to the day before, and after they ordered their food they started talking.

Himari found out that Taura's parents were fishermen, and that they made a business selling whatever fish they had caught at the market. Taura was, in her own words, a 'Failure of a fisherman'. No matter how many times she had tried, she was never able to catch more than a minnow.

"Honestly, I see myself more as an adventurer, ya know? Travelin' the world, defeatin' monsters, the works. But with the Waves happen' again my parents refuse to let me go out on my own despite me being a sucky fisherman. And there was no way I was goin' to join any of the Hero's parties with how inexperienced I am."

Himari tilted her head, an idea coming to mind. She was a teenager herself and knew exactly how to wiggle around the words of a parent. "An adventurer? You seem to be in luck. I'm an adventurer and, well, I have absolutely no idea what I'm doing. I would really appreciate some help."

Taura perked up. "I could help ya! Oh And that way I won't be goin' off on my own. Himari, let me join your party!"

Himari smiled gladly that Taura had made a connection between her offer and what her parents had said so fast. "Hell yeah. Let's do this." She reached her hand forwards and Taura took it, the two of them shaking each other's hands. Himari jumped slightly when a box appeared in her view.

Taura Miya, Lv. 3 has joined your party.
Abilities:
Fishing- Lv. 1

After Taura joined her party, Himari noticed a second HP bar appear in the top corner of her vision. A smile made it's way to her face, and for the next hour the two of them ate their dinner and talked, getting to know each other a bit more. Once they were done, they headed out, stopping right before they had to part ways.

"Tomorrow morning, we meet in front of the inn. Before we head out we should get you some good equipment. Stuff that's fit for fighting monsters. Then, we'll be off!"

Taura nodded, "Lookin' forwards to it. Night Himari!"

Himari bowed her head, and the two of them parted ways. Taura heading to her house and Himari heading back to the inn.

Once at the inn, Himari noticed two familiar people at the front desk, paying for two separate rooms. She just shrugged and headed upstairs, ready to get some sleep.

***

That night, Himari woke up to some noise out in the halls. Curious, she got out of bed and rubbed her eyes. She grabbed her axe that was leaning against her side table and walked over to the door, cracking it open to see what was happening.

Through the crack in her door she watched as the woman who was with Naofumi ran down the hall, a set of clothes draped in her arm as well as a large bag of coins. She looked unharmed, and when she past by her, Himari felt chills run down from the look she had on her face. Her eyes had a scheming look to them, and the grin on her face looked to be successful in a way.

Himari had no clue what was happening, but she felt that whatever the woman was up wasn't going to end well.