Peddling Arc

The Peddling Arc is the fifth arc of the Light Novel and Web Novel of The Rising of the Shield Hero.

Synopsis
Now with the means to generate income, Naofumi and his party travel around Melromarc as merchants - finding adventures along the way.

Summary
Taking the carriage and bill of passage as their reward from Riyute Village, Naofumi starts his peddling enterprise in earnest. One of his first jobs is to deliver special medicine to an old lady who immediately recovers. As Naofumi peddles his medicine, he hears rumours about the other heroes and his party start to develop their magical powers. During one of his trips, Naofumi saves an accessory dealer who teaches him how to cast magic for himself and also how to craft accessories. Upon departing with the accessory dealer, the merchant tells Naofumi about a business opportunity in Lerno Village.

Naofumi, Raphtalia and Filo arrive at the village to find it overrun with vines and plant-based monsters. They learn that Motoyasu gave them a "miracle seed" to help them with their famine. One the hero left, the plant grew out of control and started taking over the village. Naofumi sells them weed killer and is eventually commissioned to defeat the BioPlant. Due to their quick thinking, the party is able to defeat the main plant which then kills all of the surrounding vines and monsters. Naofumi then takes seeds from the monster plant and mutates them so that they can be a viable crop-producing plant. The party takes a large amount of the crop as payment.

Next, Naofumi and his party head to Mirso Village which they hear needs medicine. The Shield Hero finds out that Ren had recently slain a dragon in the area and guesses that the dragon's corpse is causing the sickness. Naofumi and his party go to clean up the corpse but the corpse reawakens as the Zombie Dragon. Filo is consumed by the dragon and Naofumi falls into despair. Learning about the Shield of Wrath, he uses it to defeat the dragon but accidentally curses Raphtalia after being overwhelmed by the shield's rage. Filo bursts out of the Zombie Dragon and gives Naofumi a shard form the dragon's core. It seems that the party need to go back to Castle Town since it is the only source of pure holy water to treat Raphtalia's wounds.

On the way back, they meet Melty who quickly becomes friends with Filo. Naofumi agrees to escort her home to Castle Town. Upon reaching Castle Town, the group upgrade their equipment at Erhard's shop and Naofumi learns that Raphtalia and Filo need to class-up in order to level-up any further.

Volume 2

 * Chapter 12: Rumors of the Heroes
 * Chapter 13: Take Everything but Life
 * Chapter 14: Magic Practice
 * Chapter 15: Why it Was Sealed
 * Chapter 16: Invading Vines
 * Chapter 17: Improving the Product Line
 * Chapter 18: Diseased Village
 * Chapter 19: Curse Series
 * Chapter 20: The Shield of Rage
 * Epilogue: As a Shield...

Volume 3

 * Prologue
 * Chapter 1: Filo's Friend
 * Chapter 2: The Fruits of Peddling

Web Novel

 * Chapter 35: Rumors of Our Hero
 * Chapter 36: To Take Everything But Your Life
 * Chapter 37: Magical Study
 * Chapter 38: The Reason it is Sealed
 * Chapter 39: Plant Invasion
 * Chapter 40: Selective Breeding
 * Chapter 41: Shogun-Sama
 * Chapter 42: The Village of Plague
 * Chapter 43: Curse Series
 * Chapter 44: Shield of Rage
 * Chapter 45: The Results of Peddling

Character Introductions

 * Elrasla Grilaroc
 * Hickwaal
 * Roudy
 * Gaelion