A/N: (3/22/19 Edit: Oh shoot! I thought I uploaded this chapter yesterday! Sorry!)

Heyo! I'm back. Hope the rewritten Interlude was better than the previous one. Yesterday's episode was also great. I also have a announcement at the bottom of the chapter. It does regard the update schedule.

I also realise I haven't introduced the metal carriage yet. Corrected here.

Also we hit 100 follows! Thank you all so much! I cherish each and every single one of you!

Enjoy the chapter!

I kicked my legs around the back of the carriage. We had encountered knights at the village that ordered us to go to the castle. I grumbled. "Filo would be faster than this!" There was no exciting bumps or turns just, oh! We went over a rock. The most interesting part of the ride. Naofumi looked at Raphtalia, still drooling over the blade she got. Filo made the ground rumble as she practiced kicking for the next time we met Motoyasu.

"Explain to me again how we deforested the entire area around the village on accident." I assumed the question was directed to Raphtalia, but alas I must cover for my sister. "Raphtalia finds shiny thing. Shiny thing makes monster go dead. Raphtalia then tests shiny thing out. Shiny thing removes trees." I explained. I need to work on my mocking voice. It's not condescending enough.

Naofumi sighed and leaned back. He fell asleep. I didn't blame him. He's been awak for almost 2 days straight now. I decided to lean back as well and close my eyes. The comforting sound of wheels creaking, soldiers talking, and trees being sent into the sky lulled me to sleep.

I woke back up as we entered Castle Town. Filo had reunited with us, splinters littering her feathers. She shook them off, terrorizing the surrounding soldiers. "Filo, don't shake the tiny pieces of wood into the soldiers. They'll get cut." I said. "Yes, Ariete-onee-san,~" We followed the guards into the castle. "I'm sorry, but your companions will have to wait in the next room over." I grunted. "Me and Raphtalia go where he goes."

"Ah, it's fine." I looked over at Raphtalia. Huh? She sent me a look. I sighed and stepped back. "Make sure to abuse him for me." I patted Naofumi's shoulder then shoved him forwards. The door opened as he stumbled. Oh well.

The guards went inside and left Me, Filo and Raphtalia alone. I crouched down and lifted the rug, "Ariete, no." I looked back at Raphtalia. Her tail was wagging in annoyance. "What? It's not like I'm going to burn down the whole castle or anything. Just the flammable parts." She sighed as I poured a puddle of oil under the cloth. "Where'd you even get that? And- Wait, is that a tripwire?"

"I have my ways." I set the wire across the whole hall, and hooked it to strike a match. Raphtalia tried to stop me more than once, but I sent her a look. "Hey, Fun is Fun. This won't hurt anyone, maybe." I made sure the fire started away from the door and then moved towards it. That king isn't going to have a throne room, soon.

Naofumi came out of the throne room yelling. "That's my line!" The doors slammed closed. I stopped him from storming off. "Look." He glanced down and smirked. "It's untraceable." I said. His grin spread wider and we cautiously stepped over the wire.

We exited and went back to the old man's shop. Our carriage was sitting in the front, untouched. "Ah, is this Filo's new carriage?" Filo was poking her head into the back. I climbed up her feathers and glanced around the corner. A metal carriage was sitting in the back. I looked at it closely. It was sturdily made. "Ah, our new carriage is done!" Naofumi said.

Oyami came out of the front door and glanced at us. "Follow me." He said. Filo transformed and followed us in. Oyami led us through his backroom and out his backdoor. He led us to the metal carriage. "Ah! It looks so heavy!" Filo cooed. She started hugging the carriage.

"Do Filolials have a thing for heavy loads? I swear, she drew four carts of wounded people and their equipment back to a village just yesterday." Filo turned around. "They were too light!" Filo went back to drooling over the cart. I sighed. Seeing everyone around me drooling over something is taking a toll on my very limited mental health. We started moving everything between the two carriages and then set off for the jewelry merchant. He told Naofumi some things, gave us a job and we left him.

"Want to go to a lunch spot and eat?" Naofumi asked. Raphtalia nodded. Filo did too. We went to the same restaurant as we always did and sat at a table. I glanced up. A black haired guy and a blonde, yellow-wearing boy were talking at a table near us. "Damn Shield Hero…" The yellow one ground out. I ignored them.

We ordered. "One lunch set and three kids meals." I corrected him. "Two lunch sets, a kids meal and a extra large kids meal." Filo's too gluttonous to have a regular kids meal.

"Eh? Ariete! Three lunch sets and an extra large kids meal!" She wagged her tail in annoyance. I wagged mine back at her. The waiter looked between us and sighed. He scribbled in a notepad and then went to the kitchen. A few minutes later, the waiter came back with our food. I kicked back as he placed meat in front of me. "Waah! It looks so good!" Filo said. Filo tried to grab one of my pieces of meat. I pulled out Kantan and used the pommel to swat her hand away. I let it float in the air, swatting away more invading hands. "Aw…" Filo pouted.

"Don't touch Master's food! Also, Matser, I was having fun with Marco!" Huh? "Who's Marco, Kantan?" He pointed at his sheath. I looked inside. A face had been scratched into the leather. I sighed. "Ah! Onee-san's knife is talking!" Filo looked in surprise. I stuffed him back inside "Marco." That's an innuendo. Ha. I picked up my fork and started eating. I eavesdropped on the blonde and brunette from before.

"Itsuki-sama, a request to overthrow a lord in the north came in. He's been charging merchants with passes tolls and has been taxing people beyond the set limits." Huh. Are they talking about the village we visited before the wave?

"Hm. From the guild?" The girl who approached Itsuki nodded. He stood up. "Well, as they say, with great power comes great responsibility." Naofumi then spit out a mouthful of water. "Ewww! Naofumi!" I used a napkin to wipe my face. "That's gross!" Filo shouted. The blonde and black haired men came to our table.

"Is there a problem?" The blonde asked. "No, Itsuki. I just didn't think you were bitten by a spider. Also when did you two get out of the hospital?" We collectively raised question marks. "It's nothing." Naofumi said.

"We got out today. Don't change the subject. You stole the rewards of our work, didn't you?" the black haired guy said. "What? No. Maybe yours, but not Itsuki's." Naofumi replied. "Are you playing dumb?" Itsuki slammed his palm on the table. "You obviously stole our rewards."

Huh? The only things we've ever stolen is the dignity of a few poor souls, Motoyasu's chance at fatherhood and some stuff from bandits. "I'll explain."

Itsuki went on a rant about how he went on a pious and righteous mission to go begin a revolution in a country where the king had been charging high taxes. He then went to a guild where he received a request to overthrow another lord that was charging high tax. He sent a companion to then take the reward after overthrowing the lord. The reward was said to already have been taken by the Bow Hero himself. "Obviously it was you. You're the only one who would do such a thing."

"You know, Shogun-san," Naofumi started. I snorted. "You go around besting evil around the world, yet you never reveal your identity, so you can't take credit for what you do."

Itsuki looked taken aback for a second then got mad. "Sh-Shogun?" Naofumi closed his eyes and grunted. "You put a sword on your waist and go around pretending to be this righteous adventurer." Itsuki spluttered and started shouting incoherently at Naofumi. The other guy stepped in. "Itsuki, wait. Let Naofumi say something." Naofumi opened one eye. "Okay, then. Tell me, Itsuki, did you resolve the request as the Bow hero? Everyone knows it was the bow hero."

"No. I was keeping my identity a secret." He said. "You're the hero that overthrew the country in the north, right? Do you know what happened to the country?" Naofumi asked. "It should be prospering! I overthrew the bad king!"

"The people have been starving so bad a woman offered to trade her own life and dignity if I could feed her children." Naofumi looked down. I remembered which woman he was talking about. The woman said she would become his slave if he would just give her baby food. "Why!?" Itsuki cried.

"The king was bad, but the country had a famine. The head of it changed, but not the situation."

"This had nothing to do with me! Don't shift the subject!"

I facepalmed. Really? How immature is this guy? Is he really the bow hero? He could easily be younger than the volunteers from the wave. "Is there anything to prove that your companions was in fact associated with you?"

"He had a seal! A deed from the king himself! One of a kind!"

"Then I couldn't get it."

I heard a cracking sound. That was Itsuki's credibility breaking. I had already finished my meal while the two had a shouting match. I wiped my mouth and spoke as Itsuki opened his mouth to yell something. "Look, bow-boy. You proved him innocent with your own arguments. Give it up. Your hair's already short and I'd hate to have to give you a haircut."

"Shut up!" He glared at me then back at Naofumi."You changed your Shield to look like a bow then impersonated me! Only heroes can transform their weapons!" I flicked my two daggers out and held them in front of his face. "Katai, Kantan. Change, second form." The two glowed and fused. They became a rapier. "Transforming items aren't that hard to make." I said.

Itsuki's argument audibly crumbled. "B-But I…" The other guy butted in. "Give it up, Itsuki." He said. He then stepped forwards. "This is about the dragon in the east, isn't it?" the guy nodded. "Then this will be quick. Why'd you steal my request?"

"Ren, you slayed a dragon in the east, correct?" Ren nodded. "That dragon caused a plague that killed maybe a sixth of the population in a nearby village." Ren gaped at Naofumi.

"There's a new graveyard. Go see it for yourself." Ren looked down. "N-No way…" Huh. Maybe he's ignorant, not heartless. Interesting.

Ren begins to leave the restaurant. "Don't bother. I fixed the problem already. The corpse was buried and meat divided. The plague has been stopped."

"Is that so? Oh." Ren had turned pale. "You believe him!?" Itsuki yells. He seems confused. " He's got no reason to lie."

I tuned out the rest of the conversation, as it was boring. We left for a village Naofumi told us needed a shipment of stuff. We boarded the carriage and left the city. Filo chirped happily as she pulled the carriage along.

We made it to the village before nightfall. I waited outside as Naofumi rented a room. "Excuse me?" I turned around and opened my eye. "Huh? Melty?"

A/N: Ah, this chapter took a bit longer to pound out than I wanted it to. This arc will be coming to a close in only maybe 5 or 6 more chapters because I'm bad at planning things. Oh well.

I will be changing my schedule to update only on Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays from now on. The "every other day" schedule has me stretched a bit thin with my other fic going on.

I also thank my reviewers for giving me so much feedback. 30 reviews! Thanks to:

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You all have helped we write so much more over the past month!

Next time, join us for a new Omake, Kidnapping accusations and a lifetime's worth of memories in a 2 day old carriage.