The Rising of the Scythe Hero

Our first stop was the Apothecary's shop, where Naofumi and I usually sold off surplus materials from crafting. Well, I just dumped my extras there, but for Naofumi, that was basically his main source of income. As for me, I made most of my money selling random junk I picked off dead monsters. And considering the level of monsters I hunted… let's just say I wasn't exactly struggling financially.

That's also when the gratitude parade began. Who would've thought — apparently half the population of Melromarc had a relative from Rute Village, the one Naofumi and I worked our asses off to defend. So, as a token of appreciation for saving their loved ones, the apothecary handed Naofumi an advanced recipe book and better quality equipment than what he currently had. By the way, I really ought to tell him about the crafting feature in his weapon. Though, I wasn't sure if the item quality was higher when crafted by hand versus the weapon interface. Guess we'll find out.

Our next stop was the magic shop. I'd been there once before when I bought a book on Illusion Magic… which I still hadn't touched. Honestly? I was just too lazy to study magic from books. But hey, I had a valid excuse — my reading skill had only recently gotten good enough for me to mostly understand what I was reading.

"Oh, it's the Scythe Hero. And the Shield Hero too…" the shopkeeper greeted us with a mildly surprised look. "So, have you mastered Illusion Magic yet?" she asked, glancing at me.

"Honestly? No. I'm still working on the language, so… yeah, little issues there. But that's not why we're here today. You were looking for us, weren't you?"

"Yes… You did a great favor for my grandson. I wanted to thank you."

"You two know each other?" Naofumi suddenly cut in.

"The Scythe Hero visited me shortly after you guys were summoned. That's when we met." The witchy-looking woman nodded.

Yeah, the shopkeeper basically looked like your textbook fairy tale witch. Short, a little plump, classic witch hat and cloak. Real cliché material.

"Got it…"

"Well then, please, step this way and look into the orb. For the Scythe Hero this procedure is pointless, but I assume the Shield Hero and his companion don't know their magic affinity yet, correct?"

No surprises there. As expected, Naofumi's affinity was with healing and support magic, while Raphtalia had light and dark magic affinity, which combined into illusion magic.

"I also have something for the Shield Hero and his companion. Here…" The woman laid out a few books on the counter. One of them was identical to the one I bought from her before…

"Hold up. I've already got that one, but I don't really need it right now. I can lend it to Raphtalia." The girl looked at me, wide-eyed in surprise. "As for a gift, maybe you can give them a book that suits Naofumi's magic? Or one that's higher tier… if you've got something like that."

"You sure? Magic books aren't exactly cheap."

"Well… money's not really an issue for me. And like I said, I don't need the book at the moment." I shrugged.

"Damn DPS…" Naofumi muttered under his breath.

"Hmm… I suppose that works."

Instead of the Illusion Magic book, the shopkeeper gave Naofumi a beginner's guide to Healing Magic. So now he had starter books for illusion, support, and healing magic. As for me…

"And here's a gift for the Scythe Hero." The woman placed a much thinner book on the counter. "I got this one by chance, so I don't mind parting with it. It contains common spells for ice magic, beginner to intermediate level. It's not a complete guide, so its value is… well, much lower than a proper tome."

"I see… Well, thanks."

Accepting the gift, I smiled — which instantly made her own smile twist uncomfortably. Yeah… I was kinda getting used to that reaction.

That wrapped up the gratitude tour, and we headed straight for Rute Village. On the way, Naofumi fed his shield the leftover materials from the Wave monsters, something I'd done long ago. But checking out the boss corpse would be useful. No way the other Heroes stripped it completely. They probably only took what they thought was "useful."

"Nasty thing…" one of the villagers standing near the boss corpse whispered.

Just your standard chimera. Three heads — or what was left of them, neatly sliced off — a snake for a tail, lion's body. Sure, to regular people that probably looked horrifying. Personally? I found two-meter-tall spiders way creepier… We've seen worse.

"Mind if we take some?" Naofumi asked, eyeing the monster remains.

"Of course. Please, take as much as you want. We honestly don't know what to do with all of it…"

"We'll take everything, if you don't mind." I cut in before Naofumi could ruin this for us.

"Uh? Sure, but… if you don't mind me asking, why do you need so much of it?"

"That… is a secret." I smiled, glancing at the incubator strapped to my back. Speaking of which, I really needed to find something bigger than my current bag. Who knows, maybe this world had some kind of item enlargement magic?

"Oh… well, in that case, I've got nothing to say. We don't need it anyway." The villager shook his head and walked off.

"Hey, Nott."

"Hm?" I was still examining the chimera.

"We don't need that much either. They could sell the materials for experiments and use the money to rebuild the village."

"Mhm." Raphtalia agreed with him.

"Sigh… Naofumi…" I sighed dramatically. "Thanks to us, the village already suffered minimal damage. But what about your financial situation?"

"But…"

"How are you planning to protect this world when you can barely afford pants? World's protector? Hilarious." I actually chuckled, thinking about how broke the supposed legendary hero was. "Please, Naofumi, think about yourself a little more."

After my little lecture, both the Shield Hero and the raccoon girl went quiet.

We sliced up the chimera, feeding the remains to our Legendary Weapons. Naofumi unlocked a new shield, which, according to him, would now be his main one. As for me, none of the new scythes were stronger than my Reaper's Scythe. But absorbing the passive stat boosts from each? Worth it. You can never have too many stat buffs.

After stripping the chimera, we finally made it to the village. There, I found a helpful villager who agreed to transport the meat and other materials for us.

I also casually dropped the info bomb on Naofumi that he could craft via the system interface. And crafted items went straight to the system inventory. I even realized I'd forgotten to tell him about monster loot drops… Oops. Happens.

So Naofumi, now armed with fresh knowledge, dove into figuring it all out, occasionally switching to study the alphabet we'd been teaching him. I could already read decently, but our dear Shield Hero? Completely illiterate.

Guess I was getting a little too invested in helping this duo. But it felt good to take a break from endless monster grinding and just… mess around like this.

Still, couldn't slack off too much. Naofumi kindly shared some ingredients I didn't have, so I could unlock more crafting recipes. We ended up both zoning out, buried in our Legendary Weapons, unlocking new options. Must've looked funny from the outside.

But night eventually claimed the village, which meant rest. At least for those not blessed with demon blood and double-isekai status. So… everyone but me.

Stretching, I headed to the storage room where we'd stashed the chimera corpse. Using a scythe to butcher meat wasn't ideal, but honestly, what's sharper than a Legendary Weapon? You sacrifice a little convenience, sure.

Soon, I'd have one very hungry little monster on my hands. And chimera meat, according to canon, was a pretty solid food source for them. Though, I'd probably end up with two hungry monsters. Hogging the whole corpse for myself would be a dick move… But even the leftovers would save us a ton of cash on feed.

I was mid-butcher when I suddenly heard a weird sound coming from the room the village chief had let us use. It sounded like… knocking? Or cracking? And there was a faint chirp…

Climbing upstairs, I slipped quietly into the room and immediately looked at the incubators. Naofumi's still showed five hours until hatching. But mine…

Crack

"Peep…"

The little creature broke through the shell and flopped forward awkwardly.

Bits of eggshell scattered as the tiny bird emerged into the world — or rather, into the darkness, since it was the dead of night. It was almost impossible to see with the naked eye. Especially lying there, spread out. Its feathers were the color of the night itself. Deep, inky black, without a hint of other colors.

Although… on closer inspection, I noticed a few lighter-colored feathers on its head.

It looked more like a miniature chick than anything else.

"Peep…" it chirped again, wobbling to its feet.

"And what are you?" I whispered, staring at the little wonder.

As I reached for it, I got a grumpy look. Then…

"Ow. Feisty little thing?" I got pecked. Or nipped, really. "You should be careful, little bird. I'm not exactly… a good person. Technically, not even human…"

At that moment, looking into the chick's eyes, I felt a weird burning sensation in my own.

Reaching out again…

Life Absorption activated

The burning intensified.

The chick, still staring into my eyes like it was mesmerized, froze. Then, it relaxed. The grumpy look faded. And…

— Huh?

…submitted? That's the first thought that hit me. And honestly, it felt like that was exactly what happened.

The little bird simply bowed its head.

Despite my concerns, the chick was totally fine. Life Absorption hadn't hurt it. Or… her? Hard to say.

— What the hell… was that?

The burning faded from my eyes like it never happened. The chick lay there peacefully, letting me pet her without complaint.

She barely moved. Occasionally, she'd nuzzle into my hands as I stroked her.

— Adorable… Now, what do I call you?

The little bird tilted her head. She lay on my cupped palms as I gently scratched her head with my thumbs.

Born at night… practically invisible in the dark with that black plumage…

— Night. That's your name. – As if understanding me, Night lifted her head, gave me a look, then flopped back down onto my palms, seemingly accepting it.

From now on… I guess I won't be alone anymore. Heh.

...…

*DPS – Damage Per Second. That is, a character class entirely focused on dealing damage. Just in case someone's not familiar with the term.