Shield Hero With Barrier Magic

(Hiro's POV)

Magic Shop Owner greeted us once we are at her shop.

Magic Shop Owner: "Oh, Shield Hero, are you here for more books?"

I pointed to Filo and Sakura.

Hiro: "I need magic threads for my daughters."

She looked at Filo and Sakura.

Magic Shop Owner: "Oh my, they look like angels! Magic thread huh? So, they transform. What beast do they transform into?"

Hiro: "Filolials."

Magic Shop Owner: "Huh?"

She made a confused face.

Hiro: "They are filolials. Filo, transform after removing your clothes."

Filo: "Okay!"

Filo removed her clothes and immediately transformed into her filolial form.

Magic Shop Owner: "Well, you are full of surprises, Shield Hero."

Hiro: "Oh, by the way, Aunt Elaria told us to say 'hi' to you."

Magic Shop Owner's eyes widened.

Magic Shop Owner: "You mean Elaria ?!! You know her ?!"

Hiro: "Yep. She's a friend. Although she can be too much to handle sometimes."

Magic Shop Owner: "Hahaha... So, she still didn't change."

Hiro: "How are you acquainted with her?"

Magic Shop Owner: "Oh, she's the one who helped my husband fall for me."

Eclair: "Wow... I can't believe she acted as cupid."

Rino: "How did she help you?"

I don't want to know that for some reason.

Magic Shop Owner: "Oh, it's embarrassing to say but she suggested to me some ideas and some s.e.xy u.n.d.e.r.w.e.a.r and aphrodisiacs."

I knew it. That pervert...

Magic Shop Owner: "Anyway, about the clothes, I believe it might not be possible."

She pointed to the machine used to make the thread with a broken jewel.

Magic Shop Owner: "That machine helps in making the thread but the jewel is broken."

Hiro: "Where can we find the jewel?"

Magic Shop Owner: "It can be found in the market but it's too expensive."

Hiro: "Well, I have money, I can buy it for you."

Magic Shop Owner: "Oh, please don't, Shield Hero. You have already done enough. I have a lot to repay you first."

Hiro: "Is there any other way to get the jewel?"

Magic Shop Owner: "I believe that there is a rich amount of jewels in this cave somewhere. I heard that there are dangerous monsters though. But I think you can kill it. So, I would like to make a quest to help me get that jewel from there. Of course, you can keep all the remaining you got from that quest as your reward and I will make the magic thread for free."

Hiro: "Alright. It's a lot of distance. So, we will have to go by carriage."

Filo: "Carriage ?!! Papa! I want to pull it! I will take everyone there!"

Rino: "A filolial's instinct huh. Don't you want a carriage too, Sakura?"

Sakura: "Why? I only want to protect Dad!"

Raphtalia: "Umm... You know that we are going to a cave with dangerous monsters, right?"

Sakura: "So, we have to find a way to kill them before we enter. Hmm... I know. How about sending smoke into the cave before we enter so that the monsters die through suffocation ?!"

Eclair: "But we will suffocate after entering, right?"

Sakura: "But Mom uses wind magic, right? So, we can easily remove the smoke."

Rino: "Umm... Sakura, where do you get those ideas?"

Sakura: "I don't know. They just come."

Hmm... I thought that Sakura took my bright side but could it be reversed? I mean, I once killed my enemies with that method.

Hiro: "Umm... Sakura, I think we can take care of them without that method."

Sakura: "If you say so, Dad."

Eclair: "Umm... Hiro, do you think she inherited your brain? Only you can get ideas like that."

Hiro: "I don't know. I will prefer it if she didn't though."

Sakura made a confused face at the weird look everyone is giving her. Anyway, we bought a carriage for Filo and went to the southwest to that cave.

The cave looked like ruins of an old temple.

Hiro: "That doesn't look like a normal cave now."

Magic Shop Owner: "According to the local tradition, this used to be an evil alchemist's hideout. There are rumors that the alchemist was deeply involved in research on a dangerous plant. Apparently that plant is still sealed inside. We will not venture in there. There should be a tunnel bored into the side of the mountain that goes under the temple. That's what we are aiming for."

Yeah, Motoyasu already went there and unleashed that plant outside. Well, whatever... It's not like I am his babysitter. Sakura went towards Magic Shop Owner and asked.

Sakura: "Do you have a map of the inside of the cave?"

Magic Shop Owner: "No, why?"

Sakura: "What if the tradition is true? And if we don't have a map, what if we accidentally go there instead? Are you willing to take responsibility for putting Dad in danger?"

Sakura kept bombarding Magic Shop Owner with a number of questions. Doesn't she care a bit too much about me?

Magic Shop Owner: "Fufufu... Your daughter loves you a bit too much, Shield Hero."

Hiro: "Yeah."

I convinced Sakura and we went inside and found the warning board about the seed and an opened treasure c.h.e.s.t. Magic Shop Owner read the warning and we started commenting on it.

Magic Shop Owner: "The letters are very old. 'To he who would break the seal of the seed. It is my d.e.s.i.r.e that this seed never be released into the world. It will play with the people's d.e.s.i.r.e to be freed from famine, granting their wish in the worst way imaginable. The seal is not so easily broken.'"

Eclair: "It looks like there should be a seed here."

Raphtalia: "And someone took that seed from here."

Filo: "Seed? Does it give tasty fruits?"

Sakura: "Hmm... By the local tradition and this warning. This seed is definitely dangerous. Who the hell is that idiot that still opened this c.h.e.s.t?"

Rino: "Hmm... I think that idiot has the same brain as that spear buffoon."

Hiro: "Well, anyway, let's move forward."

And we started advancing. Hmm... Now that I think about it, the monsters here are Voice Gengar. They make me hear the last thing I want to hear from the last person I want to hear. Hmm... I wonder what it is.

???: "Hahaha... we finally meet again."

You have got to be kidding me. It's the Goddess. Of course, it makes sense. My greatest fear is that I might not be able to protect people dear to me when needed. And that can only be possible by Goddess.

Goddess: "I am taking back Onii-chan's powers from you. Hmm... And what else? Oh right, you are going to lose people dear to you again."

Seeing the Goddess didn't surprise me that much but what she said surprised the shit out of me.

Hiro: "Goddess ?!! Why the hell are you here ?!!"

Goddess: "Huh?"

Hiro: "What do you mean huh? I am talking to you, Goddess-sama!"

Goddess: "Wait, you found out that I am real?"

Hiro: "Of course! The Voice Gengars make you hear the last thing they want to hear from the last person they want! So, it will come in a flow. So, the last thing I want to hear would be 'I am taking your powers from you and you will definitely lose people dear to you.'"

Goddess made a confused face.

Goddess: "Isn't that what I said?"

Hiro: "No... You mentioned 'Onii-chan' that shows your love towards him instead and you took some time to think for the next thing you want to say. If you were an illusion, you would be saying everything at once instead of thinking!"

Goddess: "Oh, so that's how I was found out. I guess you are not the 'Devil Emperor' for nothing."

Hiro: "Umm... could you tell me why you are here?"

Goddess: "Oh, that's your fault. The last thing you want to hear comes from me. But I can't be shown even as an illusion to this world. So, I have to make an appearance directly to set things back. Oh, I stopped the world's time, by the way."

Hiro: "I see... Thank You, Goddess-sama! But is that okay? I mean..."

I pointed at my shield. The spirit inside my shield might sense all this.

Goddess: "Oh, the spirit inside your shield won't be able to sense me. It must have already seen you using Onii-chan's powers but it won't be able to go through your past by checking your memories. It must have understood that the soul of the original was replaced though."

That's a good thing then. Currently, that thing must be observing me if I am an ally or an enemy.

Goddess: "Well, as I am here already, I have to tell some things that I forgot to tell you back then. Onii-chan made some changes to this world's plot as he wished. So, you might find some changes than the original."

Hiro: "Changes like some other person in this world, instead of me, getting their soul replaced by other souls?"

Goddess: "Wow, you already noticed it ?! I guess you are not the 'Devil Emp..."

Hiro: "Could you please stop calling me that? I am not that anymore."

Goddess: "You should be glad for what you did. In your world, they made a statue of 'Devil Emperor' after you died."

Hiro: "I thought I told them to not reveal my true name even though I am dead."

Goddess: "They didn't. As the 'Devil Emperor' was already declared dead by the time you really died, your subordinates laid the foundation for your statue after your real death. Oh, I mean, the statue of your 'Devil Emperor' form."

I used to have a mask in that form. But those idiots... They know how much I hate being worshiped.

Goddess: "Well, you saved that world multiple times after all."

Hiro: "I did it because I won't be able to have my revenge without a world. And anyway, why did you go through my past, Goddess-sama? I thought your job is just to give wishes and reincarnate."

And suddenly it occurred to me. Truck-sama didn't randomly kill me.

Hiro: "You chose me deliberately."

She acted like Truck-sama randomly killed me but that wasn't the case at all. It was not Truck-sama who chose me, it's her. Goddess started smiling.

Goddess: "Oh, you figured it out. I was meant to keep it a secret though."

Hiro: "Why? Don't tell me you chose me because of things I did in the past world."

Goddess: "Well, more or less. You were chosen because of that but not because you saved your world multiple times. And it's Onii-chan who chose you."

Now, who the hell is he? Did I help him somehow?

Hiro: "How did I help him?"

Goddess: "Well, it was supposed to be secret by Truck-kun's conditions but I guess I could say after this. Well, Onii-chan wanted to help you because you saved the orphanage and made it stable. Onii-chan is from the same world as you are. Decades back, he was raised in the same orphanage you were. And that orphanage is the memorial of his first love. Your reincarnation is his way of saying thanks. But Truck-kun made a condition that you shouldn't know about that. So, I had to act like that. You can easily detect lies but not mine. So, you thought everything I said back then was the truth as you couldn't detect."

They played me like a damn fiddle. But it's thanks to them that I am this happy today.

Hiro: "Why couldn't he save the orphanage himself or ask you?"

Goddess: "Onii-chan isn't allowed to get out his world. Isaki and I can't interfere with the worlds directly unless the laws of the worlds are being broken. So, he's really grateful and became sad for how you were living and requested Truck-kun to kill you."

I can't believe the other Hiro helped me this much. I am really grateful to that guy. I wonder what he's doing now.

Goddess: "Onii-chan is busy f.u.c.k.i.n.g Kiba currently. Next will be Gaspy's turn."

Hiro: "What ?!!"

Ah, right. The gender-bender thing.

Hiro: "Say that I am really grateful to him."

Goddess: "Okay!"

This Goddess-sama is really carefree though.