Main Objective: Buy Raphtalia

Hachiko jumped back just in time to avoid the range attack of a monster; this monster had the body of a squirrel but it has a vine like tail that grows elongated thorns which can detach from the tail making it some sort of range weapon. Two more of those squirrels jumped out of a bush and started to assist their fellow comrade by flinging their thorns at Hachiko. Still in mid-air Hachiko knew that she wouldn't be able to move. She should have taken those thorns but Naofumi prevented that by happening by standing in between Hachiko and the flung thorns, using his shield he managed to deflect all of the thorns except for one or two that didn't even hit the both of them.

Hachiko finally found a decent footing and prepared to attack. Giving the signal to the Shield Hero he pushed forward while Hachiko followed behind. The monsters started to panic as the pair closed in on them, in a final desperate act the monsters flung every thorn that was attached on their tail at Naofumi.

"[Air Strike Shield]!" Naofumi yelled.

Suddenly out of nowhere a green, transparent shield appeared out of nowhere and received the attack and dispersed. By the time the skill that was casted by Naofumi dispersed they were already within arms reach of the monsters, Naofumi sidestepped out of the way of Hachiko, without Naofumi blocking her she cleaved both of her daggers in a horizontal arc striking all of the monsters. While the monsters bled out Hachiko and Naofumi stayed alert and watching their every corner for any new contenders that wanted to challenge them. After a few more seconds no more monsters came out, seeing this as a sign Naofumi and Hachiko both eased up and approached their latest prey.

Naofumi took out a knife while Hachiko sheathed one of the daggers. They started to dismember parts of the dead monsters as both proof that they had killed them and potential materials to be sold. Once they looted the bodies thoroughly they left the area and towards the kingdom.

Erhard was an honest man, the middle-aged blacksmith worked hard making his wares and selling them to loyal customers. So, it was with delight that a certain Shield Hero decided to stay and look at his shop despite the eyes that the entire kingdom's been giving to him after the entire false allegations with the current princess. Truth be told he didn't really like the princess that much; while she never visited his shop, except for that time when she and Naofumi went to buy some armour and weapons, he could tell that she was nothing short of a spoiled brat. Initially when it was just Naofumi and her one look at her face he can already tell that she was leeching off of him. He felt sorry for the kid and not once did he believed that he was accused of that rape allegation; the kid looked too honest to be doing something like that anyways.

Right now, had he had just finished tying up another bundle of arrows as pre-requested by Naofumi's newest companion: Hachiko Hachi. Initially he was skeptical of the woman but Naofumi seems to trust her enough so he wouldn't pry too much on it. Looking outside he could see that the sun has already begun its descent and for its sibling to take over. Knowing what time, it was he stepped out and stood at his counter waiting for his two favourite customers.

"Hey, Old man!" Naofumi said while raising a hand.

"Nice to see you two again, how was today?" he asked

Naofumi approached the counter while Hachiko looked around, "well could be worse, we defeated some Thorn Rats today so I guess today doesn't seem so bad,"

"So, what brings you here today?" the shop owner asked.

"Hachiko wanted to buy some arrows, she used most of them today," he said while pointing a thumb at the girl who was testing the sharpness of some of the blades.

"I have them wrapped up and ready, as she wanted. I'll go get them,"

Erhard left the counter and went inside his storage to take the requested items while Naofumi waited. Meanwhile Jumper 0008 and her ghost were having a discussion in her mind.

"Ghost, do you have any information on what episode I'm at?" she asked in her mind.

A few mechanical sounds later ghost responded, "We're currently in episode two,"

"So, this is the episode where we buy Raphtalia… in the anime he went to the slave market because he wanted to buy a slave to assist him in levelling up. Now that I'm here though he's probably thinking that we'll be fine with just the two of us… I know just how to convince him to buy Raphtalia!" Hachiko thought.

"Here you go, arrows for the lady," Erhard said as he dropped five bundles of arrows.

Hachiko approached the counter and started to gather the ammunition for the bow, during this she asked a question, "Say, Erhard by any chance do you know when the next Wave is?"

This question piqued the Shield Hero's interest as too gave the middle-aged man a questioning look. Said man had a look on his face that looked as if both of Naofumi and Hachiko had grown a head. "Shouldn't you both know?"

"I don't know… I just thought it comes naturally," Hachiko said while shrugging nonchalantly.

"So, you both don't know?" he asked earning a nod from both of them.

On the contrary, Hachiko actually knew when it would start but for the sake of following the canon story, Naofumi needed this information which could also help her in convincing him to buy Raphtalia. Erhard gave a heavy sigh and began to explain the 'Dragon Timer' that resided in the Church of the kingdom. Upon hearing this new information Naofumi clenched his fist in anger; anger because the king didn't mention this to him despite being a hero. All his anger dissipated when he heard of the deadline of the next Wave.

"S-six month!?" Naofumi yelled while slamming his hands on the counter in surprise.

"Yeah, if I were you I would start to get ready," Erhard said while crossing his arms.

"How can we be ready? The levelling system in this world is too hard!" Naofumi complained.

"I may have a suggestion Mr. Naofumi," said man turned to his companion, "I think you should get a slave,"

"That's a good option… while frowned upon by this kingdom, it's not really illegal to buy slaves to do your work," Erhard added.

"What if the slave betrays their master?" Naofumi asked.

"They can't for their life because a magical seal will be placed on them that forces them to do their master's bidding, should they disobey that seal activate sending waves of pain to the slave, if they continue to be disobedient the seal just outright kills them," Hachiko said.

"Also, you can have access to the 'Slave System'," Erhard added.

A brief explanation about the system later and some convincing courtesy of Hachiko, Naofumi finally caved into peer pressure and walked with her to the slave market.

Beloukas, a rather plump man with a black suit with extended tail coats, a top hat rested on his head and circular rimmed glasses. This man was mostly known as "The Slave Trader", he lives true to his name and while selling slaves is suspicious he claims that he is an honest salesman doing his job, while some frown upon his profession they simply cannot do anything. After all, in the country of Melromarc slave trade isn't exactly illegal. The man being described could be currently seen standing in front of a certain Shield Hero and a Jumper.

"Nice to meet you, my name is Beloukas. What can I do for you Shield Hero?" he asked as he gave a gracious bow.

"I'd like to buy a slave," Naofumi said.

"Well then I believe you have come to the right place, please follow me," Beloukas gestured then walked ahead. Of the pair Hachiko decided to sit it out by standing next to the entrance.

While they walked down the hallway of cages that were draped over with a large piece of cloth, Beloukas started to explain what types of slaves he sold, every now and then he would explain the features of a specific slave that caught the interest of the Shield Hero. They had just stopped in front of a huge cage that housed a lycanthrope, this creature was currently holding the bars of its cage while showing a generous number of teeth to both Beloukas and Naofumi. One look at the creature Naofumi knew that controlling such a berserker would bring more harm than good.

He looked around and he spotted it, just to his left sat a cage big enough to fit a child while small enough to fit a creature like the lycanthrope, it was half draped with a torn-up cloth showing only a portion of its content. Approaching the cage, he lifted the drapes to see something – no someone in the cage, she was short that much he can tell from the dark, he lifted the cloth even more to allow more light to enter. She was covered in dust and grime, her unkempt chestnut hair could be seen, the ruffled tail, the dull emerald eyes that only tell hopelessness locked with the Shield Hero's eyes. The clothes she was wearing was barely holding itself together; there was a hole in her clothes that showed her ribs showing signs of extreme hunger. All in all, the sight was just downright pitiful.

"This slave's been here for about a month now, I'd suggest you find a different slave as she holds a disease and her body could barely support her," Beloukas said.

Naofumi thought for about it for a moment, what he said is true; the girl in front of her could be nothing short of useless to him. Yet for some unknown reason he doesn't want to abandon her in this hell hole, aside from felling pity to the girl he also looked at it in a logical point of view. Having someone that's closer to human than beast like the lycanthrope could also prove useful, after all she can understand human language, right? That usually means she can be taught. What's even better is the fact that she doesn't even look like she could sneak into his bed and slit his throat while he slept just by judging her petite physique.

"I'll take this one," Naofumi said.

"I thought you might… very well, after we apply the seal to her she'll be all yours," Beloukas said while leaving him to get the keys that unlocked her cage.

"What's your name?" Naofumi asked.

"Um… R-Raphtalia," the slave said meekly.

Naofumi observed the demi-human, now that she was out of the cage he and Hachiko could see the horrible conditions she had been put through, deep dark bags were under her eyes showing signs of intense fatigue, the tattered clothes that she wore were barely hanging on her person, her whole body smelled like last week's breakfast, lunch, and dinner that was regurgitated and then eaten back, and if Beloukas was to be trusted she also held a disease. Naofumi wasn't ignorant, he knew that under these horrible conditions Raphtalia could barely move properly let alone fight a single monster.

"Right, first we need to get you some equipment… a dagger would probably be good for you for the time being," Naofumi said while making a thinking gesture.

"Don't worry Raphtalia, we're going to take good care of you," Hachiko said while giving her a smile.

"R-right," Raphtalia said then she looked away giving horrible coughs you could only find from a person housing a very terrible disease.

"I don't think we can hunt monsters for these past three days Mr. Naofumi," Hachiko said while looking at him.

"I know, first we need to take care of her… do you have anything in that "Core" of yours to cure her?" he asked the Jumper.

"I can create simple health potions but this disease is a different, while drinking health potions help her for a while the disease will always come back. I need to make a drug that kills the disease but in order to do that I need to know the disease so that I can create the counter,"

"I see…" Naofumi said while going back to his thinking posture.

"Don't you have something in you shield?" she hinted. Truth be told she knew that he had a skill that could make a medicine that could cure the demi-human.

"I don't have anythi-…. Actually, I think I have something," he said while looking at the various skills that his shield offered.

While this was happening, Hachiko looked at Raphtalia again to see her still standing in the same spot fidgeting every now and then while she listened to the entire conversation, the Jumper gave sweet smile to comfort the girl. She crouched down to reach her eye level and gave some comforting words.

"Don't worry, Mr. Naofumi here will help you and fix that disease inside you,"

"R-really?" she asked, Hachiko could already see some colour in her eyes returning but then in returned back to the normal dull colour, "But, why? I-I'm just a slave, I don't deserve such treatment,"

"He may be strict but he really cares for those that belong to him," She said smiling. While hugging the demi-human, while she didn't like to admit it Raphtalia had been much better than other slaves that she had seen in other worlds. The one world that she detested the most was the world of [Fallout: New Vegas], [Legion] was just nothing but scum and the way they treat their slaves was nothing short of inhumane, in short, she was completely disgusted. While she didn't agree with the [NCR]'s views she had to accept that they were the lesser evil between both [House] and [Legion].

She immediately wrapped her arms around the sick girl and gave words that brought back the life in her eyes, "Don't worry… you don't have to struggle anymore, we're going to take really good care of you," she said.

Raphtalia's eyes we're like dinner plates at the sudden contact, then the waterworks in her eyes finally broke as tears flowed freely from her eyes while crying out loud. Naofumi looked at the sight and gave small smile, now that Hachiko implanted to Raphtalia the image that Naofumi is a kind man he'll just have to deliver that image.

A/N: Hooo boy there we go the newest chapter! Tell me how all of you feel about this and how I executed it, does the whole Hachiko convincing Naofumi to buy Raphtalia sound forced or not? Next chapter is the all about the First Wave! Other, then that, let me read some of the reviews!

ThelonewolkNT: I share your enthusiasm!

tranbui156: Thank you for the compliment! Don't worry, Motoyatsu will be humiliated in more ways than one now that Jumper 0008 has joined the fray!

AnnoyingOrange: Here's the latest update I hope you enjoyed this chapter!

I suppose that's all I'm going to say... I hope you all enjoyed this chapter and I'll try to make the latest chapter sooner or later.

Peace~