Title: Kicking the Bucket
Author: Jordanna Morgan
Archive Rights: Please request the author's consent.
Rating/Warnings: G.
Characters: Naofumi, Erhard, Filo, Raphtalia.
Setting: General.
Summary: No threat is too innocent-looking for Filo to protect her Master from.
Disclaimer: They belong to Aneko Yusagi. I'm just playing with them.
Notes: My first dabbling in a "Rising of the Shield Hero" ficlet. A mere bit of silliness that grew from its own punchline.
Submitted for the prompt word "Tradesman" at Genprompt Bingo.
"Haiyaaah!"
The wooden pail splintered and went flying under the full force of a Filolial Queen's kick, spilling small metal rings from one end of the weapon shop to the other; and Naofumi Iwatani buried his face in his hand.
"No! Bad Filo. You pick up every one of those right now!"
"Aww, but Mas-ter…!" wailed the huge bird as she reverted to her humanoid form, white wings drooping.
Raphtalia stepped forward. Judging by the tightness of her lips and the barely-restrained twitching of her tail, the demi-human was trying not to laugh. "It's okay, Filo. Come on, I'll help you."
Erhard, bless his longsuffering soul, did not fly into a perfectly justified rage over the assault on his merchandise. Evidently the Boss was becoming resigned to the chaos that tended to follow the Shield Hero and his companions. He merely folded his brawny arms and stared at the two girls, watching them painstakingly collect every sparkling glint of steel scattered across the floorboards.
"…So, you wanna tell me what Filo has against spare chainmail rings?"
"It's not the product, it's the container," Naofumi muttered, faintly pink. "It's kind of hard to explain. After the last bunch of monsters we fought, I made a dumb remark that killing me must be at the top of this world's bucket list… uh, that's a figure of speech where I come from," he explained hastily, seeing Erhard's bemused look. "It basically means a list of life goals. Anyway, of course Filo completely misinterpreted what I said… and now she thinks every bucket in sight is my mortal enemy."
The blacksmith's mouth quirked. He looked down at the blonde child gloomily picking up rings off the floor, and then turned back to the errant Hero beside him.
"You know what, I'm not even gonna charge you for the damage to that pail—if you promise to make sure I'm there to see it when you explain 'the birds and the bees' to her."
As Naofumi spluttered and choked into a violent coughing fit, a very red-faced Raphtalia hurried to thump him on the back.
2019 Jordanna Morgan