Free The Rising of the Shield Hero Volume 05 by Aneko Yusagi Page A

been looking through the help menus.
    Then, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world, he said, “Nope. There’s nothing like that in here.”
    Give me a break! It was right there in my menu. I’d been able to read about it from the moment the Shield of Rage was unlocked.
    “It might not show up until you unlock the weapon.”
    “Do internet games tend to have lots of really powerful cursed weapons available?”
    “Of course not. That growth adjusting shield seems pretty suspect too.”
    “If you’re going to lie to us, you should think of better lies—just like Ren and Motoyasu here.”
    Ren completely lost his cool when he heard what Itsuki said. He leapt to his feet and jabbed his finger at Itsuki.
    “Who the hell are you to talk?! You’re the worst lying hypocrite here!”
    “Is that so? What about you, always pretending to be so cool! You don’t look so cool now, do you?!”
    “Yeah, exactly.”
    Ren and Itsuki both turned and shouted together. “You’re just a womanizing fool! Looking for another hussy yet?!”
    “What was that?!”
    “All of you! How long are you going to run around pretending this is a game? You need to act like actual heroes or we are all going to die!”
    Honestly, I don’t even want to remember what happened next. The room collapsed into vulgar name-calling.
    The queen shouted in protest, saying whatever she could to try and get the room under control, but it was already too late. There was no stopping it.
    The shouting and fighting continued until the door flew open, rattling on its hinges as a crowd of soldiers filed in.
    “What happened?”
    The sudden appearance of the soldiers somehow brought me back to reality, and my head cleared for a second.
    “The heroes’ party members have started to argue downstairs!”
    “What?!”
    Those idiots . . . what had they gotten themselves into now?
    We all hurried out of the room and down the stairs.

    “You better take that back!”
    “I don’t think so. That ugly thing—he’s a scar on the world! My eyes don’t lie.”
    “Are you sure you aren’t talking about yourself?!”
    “Ha! Like the servant of an arrogant fool like him would have any idea!”
    By the time we arrived in the hall, Raphtalia was in a shouting match with Bitch and Armor, the flashy armor guy.
    Ren’s party, along with Filo and that Rishia girl, stood back and watched helplessly.
    Raphtalia was furious. I’d never seen her so upset. What on earth had happened?
    Bitch sure was looking energetic though. She’d just been poisoned and come back from the hospital, and she was already getting into fights?
    Motoyasu’s party, including Bitch, consisted of three people.
    One of them was standing next to Bitch and participating in the argument. The other one was standing off at a distance, watching the battle unfold.
    “Ha! How could anyone hope to survive with party members like dirty demi-humans and nasty monsters?”
    “Oh just die and get it over with already! This is punishment for causing a ruckus.”
    The queen snapped her fingers and the slave curse activated.
    “Kyaaaaaaaaa!”
    A glowing seal appeared on Bitch’s chest and she fell to the floor, writhing in pain.
    Itsuki’s teammate, the armor guy, was shocked at the queen’s actions. He stood back and his face went pale as he watched.
    “I swear . . . . Why do you have to do these things?”
    The queen looked exhausted as she looked down on the writhing Bitch.
    She wasn’t going to kill her . . . was she?
    “Raphtalia, what happened?”
    “We were talking to the others about how to best cooperate from now on, when Bitch and the others came over and started saying that there was no need to team up with us, that only bad things could come of it. Then she started insulting my village and making fun of Filo . . . . Then she started insulting Melty, saying that she knew how to read her parents’ faces so she could manipulate them. She was boasting of all the horrible things that she’s