(—ነነነነ(—(—[][][][]—)—)ነነነነ—)


Naofumi didn't expect Raphtalia's nightmares to be such a handful, though Beloukas did warn him beforehand. That slave trader hadn't been kidding when he said it may cause problems for him. During the night, Raphtalia had started screaming and crying. Surely, it hadn't been just a normal nightmare, but Naofumi thought it was something akin to reliving her cruel past. He didn't know anything about Raphtalia's past, but if she had been in such a panicked state on a subconscious level, he couldn't bring himself to even ask about what happened. From what he heard in the suddenness, it sounded like the incident that happened had taken the lives of her family and friends. He couldn't even begin to imagine how terrible that must have been for her, added onto the fact she had an abusive master afterwards.

Though, Naofumi didn't see this aspect alone as the problem. To combat her night terrors, Naofumi instinctively kicked in his caring self and held Raphtalia's small body in his arms, comforting her through her sleep. If she kept having these frights, then Naofumi didn't mind it if he had to keep doing that. Holding her head next to his shoulder as she cried through her nightmares, Naofumi kept comforting her until she quieted down.

The real problem came when Naofumi realized that her screaming ended up attracting nearby monsters. Naofumi ended up kissing his sleep goodbye, but seeing that Raphtalia had calmed down—he decided to suck it up and fight by himself, though it wasn't as if he had another choice. Luckily, it ended up simply being balloon monsters and when all was said and done, he actually left a few of them alive for the morning. Some of the balloons actually… seemed content when they were biting down on Naofumi's body. It didn't hurt nor did it do much damage to his health bar.

He decided to simply let them bite him for the rest of the night as he checked around for any more monsters before he woke Raphtalia up for her turn on the night watch and went to sleep. In the end, he only got about two or three hours of sleep before the sun raised up from the horizon.

This is my life now, isn't it? That was what Naofumi had been thinking as he walked back to the capital, holding Raphtalia's hand as they returned like a parent and their child. Though, I suppose it isn't too bad. Honestly, it could be even worse. Wait, I just jinxed myself, didn't I? Whelp, I hope nothing bad happens today.

It only has been a day since Raphtalia was bought, but it looked as if she was getting used to fighting the balloons and the plant-type monsters. He still felt really bad about making her fight on his behalf, but it wasn't as if he broke his promise already. Raphtalia hadn't dropped even a single health point from what he could see ever since they set out to farm experience. Naofumi kept jumping in everytime he expected her to receive a hit.

He saw the castle gate in the distance, and once he came closer, he saw that there were a considerable amount of knights—much more than he remembered from the previous day. It seemed like everyone who wanted to get past them had to be checked, but they didn't seem to be worried about people entering the capital, only those who were exiting. Naofumi wondered why, but he noticed that Raphtalia's hand had been trembling in the presence of the amassed number. It was as if she was afraid of the knights.

One day, he'll ask Raphtalia about it, but as things stood—it felt a bit insensitive asking her about her past when they hadn't even known each other for even a week yet.

He was planning to sell some of her new materials he salvaged yesterday to Erhart, who he knew would accept his business. All of the other businesses had a fifty-fifty shot if they would even consider his patronage and there was still the possibility that they would scam him. He still didn't know the market value of these materials, but he knew he should get on that as soon as possible.

He came over to Erhart's blacksmithing after getting some food for them at the same restaurant as before and Naofumi was welcomed into the building with a chuckle.

"Oh, it's you, Shield Boy! Nice to see that you haven't bitten the dust yet!"

"Erhart, it's been a day," Naofumi smirked at the new nickname Erhart had given him. "You have to give me more credit than that."

"I know. I was only joking with you." Erhart glanced over at the girl that had been holding Naofumi's hand. "And I see that the young miss looks a bit brighter today! Much better than how you looked yesterday. You were all skin and bones, and now you… look less like skin and bones."

"... It's a working improvement," Naofumi wryly responded.

"I can see that, Shield Boy! You've been trying to treat that young lady as if your life depended on it, but even if you weren't the Shield Hero—I think you would have done the same regardless," Erhart smiled, but once his voice quieted down, he sighed to calm himself down before he got back to the point. "Anyways, enough banter. What can I do for you this morning?"

"I'm looking to see if you would buy these materials off my hands." Naofumi pulled out a stack of materials he had collected from balloons and plant monsters. He could have used them to upgrade his shields using Itsuki's enhancement methods, but he felt like it was much better to have some more currency in his pocket before anything else. Having stronger shields was nice, but it wasn't as important as money—as terrible as that sounded.

Erhart took one of them from the pile and looked at it carefully. "These are pretty good balloon materials. If the rest are like this, I can give you about one bronze piece for two skins. That's the market value of these things since they're so common around the capital. Though, since I know you probably need the money, I slack you a deal. Two silvers for your thirty-five balloon skins."

"What about the plant monster materials? Surely, they cost a bit more than the balloons. I didn't see many of them when I was out there."

"You would be right, but they aren't up by much. For all the materials you can collect off of them, you can grab two bronze pieces. You look like you have nine stacks of them, so I'll round it up and give you two silvers." Erhart set aside all of the materials, making sure he hadn't miscounted anything.

"So in total, it's four silvers for the entire thing?" It had definitely paled in comparison to the 750 silvers that he received in the beginning—and he still had a good amount of it left, but there was something satisfying about earning this amount compared to being given it at the start. "Yeah, I'll settle on that deal. Thanks, Erhart. I really appreciate the help."

"Happy I could help out."

As Erhart slid the materials into a crate and handed Naofumi the agreed amount, Naofumi sent the coins into his inventory as he watched Erhart carry the materials into the back room. However, his voice still echoed from there. "Hey, Shield Boy. Any plans for the future? I know it's been a day since you've bought the young miss, but you'll need to start thinking about expanding yourself to new locations. As it stands right now, your reputation here is only going to hinder yourself. Rumors may spread easily in one city, but you should trust me when I say it's difficult for it to travel to other places."

"Going to another place, huh?" Naofumi was surely ready for it, but he was only worried that Raphtalia wasn't adjusted to her new environment yet. He looked over to check her expression, but it looked like she didn't have a real opinion on it. Instead of guessing, he decided to be upfront. "Raphtalia, do you think you can keep up? It might be better in the long run, but I don't want to be pushing you when you aren't ready yet."

"I… I can try, Master Naofumi. If that's what you want..."

"That's the spirit, young miss," Erhart smiled as he walked back to the front counter. "You two really don't have that typical master-slave relationship that I'm used to seeing with most people. Very rarely do I see people treat their slaves as companions rather than items to express their frustrations and distaste for. It's unfortunate, but that's how the world works here. If it could be easily changed by people like me and you, it would have already happened a long time ago."

"Yeah, it really is too bad," Naofumi sighed, thinking back to Itsuki's reaction at the slave trader.

"Well, you still got some money on your person, right?" Erhart asked. "If you're really considering trying to reach another town, then you should refresh your equipment, your weapons and your item stash. Of course, doing the first two with yours truly."

"As long as you can keep it cheap, Erhart," Naofumi wryly chuckled, but he went to really consider the offer. "I don't want to be spending all my money in one place. I'd say my budget that I can mess around with is… 100 silvers? Give or take?"

"That's more than enough. You see, I just finished up one of my armour pieces last night and it turned out that I accidentally forged it with the wrong materials," Erhart said, scratching the back of his head embarrassingly. "It's not the worst thing in the world, but I certainly can't sell it for the intended price. Normally, I would have listed it for 170 silver pieces, but due to the error, the most I could sell is 70."

"Crap, that's more than half the price," Naofumi widened his eyes. "How badly did you mess it up?"

"It's not that bad, certainly good enough to use out in the wild. That's why I thought to offer it to you first, if you ever came in today." Erhart glanced down at Raphtalia as he spoke. "Tell you what. I'll grab a new knife for the young miss and round it all up to 100 silvers. Actually, a real combat dagger might be much better. I think I made a decent one last night too." Naofumi was starting to think that Erhart made these on purpose. "How does that sound?"

"That knife does look a bit old…"

"Yeah, I know. You know, since I was the one who gave it to her for free."

That little comment made Naofumi amused. "Yeah, alright. That sounds like a good deal, Erhart. Let's see this armour set." Naofumi had looked at his own equipment as he spoke and despite him having it for about a few days, he didn't think he would miss the generic leather appearance.

"Right on it. I'll grab the two things from the back. Just hang on tight until I bring them out."

As Erhart went to the back once again, Naofumi prepared his payment. The bag of silver coins appeared in his palm as he placed it on the counter for Erhart. He looked over to Raphtalia who hadn't seemed to be settled with not being in a cage yet. She kept looking around with curiosity, but Naofumi wasn't about to stop her.

It took a few moments for Erhart to come out as equipment that looked like he ripped it straight off from a bandit, which made Naofumi deeply concerned. He stared at it as did Raphtalia with a blank expression.

"... You want me to wear that?"

"It's a 'custom' [Rogue Chainmail]. Instead of chainmail, it's simply a different metal used. It's a bit cheaper than the usual material, but selling it to you at my given price will let me break even."

Naofumi noticed that it had a somewhat green distinct colour to it, almost matching the schema of what the king provided to him. It certainly wrapped itself in the chainmail advertisement in its name among the upper body, but there was a decent layer of metal that covered his lungs. The arms and sleeves, however, were quite thin in comparison, befitting of what he would consider as the 'rogue' aspect of it. Frankly speaking though, it sincerely made him look even more like a criminal.

"Please tell me this is a prank."

"Huh? What's wrong with it?" Erhart looked at the armour piece once again in confusion. Naofumi didn't think he was the only one who saw it.

"I mean… it's kinda..."

"I…" Raphtalia muttered under her breath as she looked between Naofumi and the armour. "I think it looks nice."

H-Huh. I guess I was the only one who saw it.

Naofumi flinched in Raphtalia's quiet mutters, but it wasn't as if he was going to deny the helpful service from Erhart. He was already going beyond what he should be doing as a business owner for him and if Erhart had more to give, Naofumi—though reluctant to accept—should at least consider his help. And with Raphtalia thinking it looks nice, it might have been the bigger crime to deny Erhart's product.

"N-Nothing. It's nothing, Erhart. I-I appreciate it a lot." Naofumi directed Erhart to the bag on the counter. "Money's over there. I'm guessing I should wear this now?"

"If you want to. It's yours now."

Handing over the armour to him, Naofumi decided to strip off his tunic along with his cape and started wearing his new equipment. Again, it was slightly difficult to get used to the feeling, but it was kinda like wearing a sweater to a certain degree—only with a non-removable shield on his arm.

Really, how did Zellus ever take it off?

I really want to know since it's becoming really inconvenient in times like these.

Though, he had to admit. It quickly became awkward. He didn't know what to do with the balloons he had completely forgotten about.

In the meantime, Erhart had given Raphtalia the new dagger and crouched down to her level. "Use this with care, young miss. I threw in a [Blood Clean] layer to help make its duration last longer, so keep it a secret from—wait, why am I telling you this? Not to be offensive, but you probably don't know what the heck a [Blood Clean] layer is."

Raphtalia shook her head, leaving Erhart to shake his head towards himself.

"It's a good fit, Erhart." Naofumi turned to face the two others in the room and padded his hand against the center portion. Draping it over his undershirt, the armour had rested almost perfectly on his body. Almost too perfectly.

"... Shield Boy. Could you explain those monsters on your body?" Erhart gazed blankly as if it was an incredible, though unbelievable, sight. Raphtalia, on the other hand, had started to shake at the sudden appearance of the monsters.

"A-Ah, wait." Naofumi raised his hands as if he was surrendering and went to quickly grab his cape again, which concealed the balloon monsters. "I-I think they're docile. They've been biting me since night time and they haven't done much to hurt me or my health bar. I don't know how I can tell, but I think in comparison to the other balloons that we fought, these guys seem to just… like it here. I might as well keep them with me, just in case."

"... In case for what?"

"... You know? I didn't get to think about it that far. They looked happy being there, so I felt bad about killing them." He looked down at the balloons who kept their singular straight face, chomping away at Naofumi's hardened body. He made a sad sigh. "Fine. Raphtalia, I'll grab them one by one and you'll kill them for me with that new dagger of yours. Understand?"

Raphtalia nodded. "I understand, Master Naofumi."

"Alright."

Naofumi took his hand and placed it on the first balloon. He mentally counted down to yank it from his body. They eventually got through the majority of them, killing off all but a single balloon. As he held onto the last one, he started one more count.

One.

Two.

And

Instead of pulling off the balloon, a loud crash came from the backside of Erhart's store. Everyone stiffened their backs as both Erhart and Naofumi went to check on what happened. It didn't sound natural, as if someone had broken through his backdoor that connected with the alleyways, but considering Erhart's reaction, Naofumi didn't think it was a docile visitor.

"Back room? Must be an intruder," Erhart concluded. "Though, to do it in the early morning—I'll give them their courage to break in, but the stupidity to do it too. Shield Boy, mind helping me out here?"

"Y-Yeah. Of course."

He readied his shield, just in case he needed to give Erhart some back-up as the blacksmith nodded in agreement. Erhart pulled up a sword from one of the display stands and they both silently made their way through the hall. Naofumi led the way, Erhart stayed close and Raphtalia had simply followed because she didn't know what else to do.

Erhart beckoned Naofumi, notioning that the next room had the back door. From what the mood was going for, it seemed like it was going to be an ordinary thief who managed to choose the wrong time to break into someone's business, but as Naofumi turned the corner—he suely wasn't expecting the sight.

"Who goes th—!?"

Naofumi's jaw dropped as his arms lost feeling in them. His heart pounded on seeing the sight and his breathing became erratic. Erhart pretty much had the same reaction, releasing the sword from his hands and causing a loud steel clank against the wooden floor. If Naofumi could have dropped the shield, he would have done so already.

What was this emotion he had been feeling in his body?

Had it been fear? Had it been anxiety? As Naofumi tried to grasp the thoughts, he finally caught onto a single word that perfectly described what he was thinking as his eyes kept staring, wishing the scene hadn't been true.

"... W-Wh… What?"

A single word—two mere syllables.

Despair.

"... R-Ren?"

Before Naofumi, Ren had been on the cold ground in front of him, with his clothes ripped and bled from every place on his body imaginable. Under him, he made a deep crimsoned pool of his own blood and stained the hardwood floor with his mark.

Naofumi had a million questions rushing through his head—

—but he didn't care about any of those damned answers.

His mind didn't even consider it—

—and his feet had already moved forward.

"REN!"


(—ነነነነ(—[[][ Chapter 1-15 ][]]—)ነነነነ—)
(—ነነነነ(—(—(—[][][ Preparation for the Wrong Fantasy ][][]—)—)—)ነነነነ—)


"I-It… It stings, Naofumi. I-I'm… I'm telling you that I'm fine… G-Grah!"

Ren's weakened voice was still driving as he sat in one of the back rooms in his undergarments while Naofumi performed first aid treatment on him. Naofumi was thankful that Erhart had a first aid kit on him, whereas the blacksmith had gone to see what he could do about the bloodstains on the floor. There was no way that potions and medicine would solve a major problem like this. There were cuts, both minor and deep, everywhere and bruises where the cuts had missed. Even so, Ren was still keeping a strong face.

"L-Look, I just needed… a place to hide out… for now… Ah, crap...!" Ren winced at the surge of discomfort from the disinfectant. "I'll be gone out of your h-hair as soon as—"

"How!?" Naofumi roared. "How the hell could you even say that, Ren!?"

Naofumi's anger came out without any warning, causing even Ren to flinch slightly, moving his head away from his roommate's face. If anything, Ren regretted even speaking the moment that Naofumi strung together one of the bandages on too tight. He was lucky it was his wrist and not his forehead or neck.

"You come in, all injured and practically looking like you've been to hell and back! Cuts everywhere! Bruises everywhere! I don't even know how you got to such a state in the first place, but frankly—I really don't care at this point! You are not planning on leaving once you get this first aid all finished up! Nor are you leaving out to fight monsters until your injuries heal up! Do I make myself clear!?"

"... I'm telling you, Naofumi," Ren muttered. "I-It's much better if you stay out of this. Just… let me go after this, deal with it and everyone will be on their—!"

"And let you go off without your wounds being healed!? I don't even think you're listening to me! I can't do that, Ren! You're my friend—hell, I wouldn't let a complete stranger do what you're trying to pull off here! I can't let that happen to you, especially because you're my friend! Just because you usually like to go off on your lonesome, you think you can act that way when you're injured!? In front of my eyes!? No way in hell! Only when that place freezes over and when I'm not alive anymore that you can ever dream of walking this off!"

Ren kept his silence through Naofumi's sudden ranting and his face turned away from him. Raphtalia, who couldn't stop staring at Ren, had been standing behind Naofumi, holding the first aid kit as Naofumi placed the disinfectant medicine and the bandages where the wounds were. She was frightened from her master's mood change, but when she calmed herself down and actually listened to what he was shouting about, it really showed her how much her master cared about this person.

For Naofumi's end, it was starting to get frustrating concerning the amount of places that Naofumi had to wrap up, not because of the quantity and time he had to put in to help his friend, but on the sheer thought of how much blood Ren must have lost on his way over to Erhart's store. If anything, Naofumi was feeling bad for Erhart since he was pretty much using the majority of his gauze. If asked, Naofumi would gladly repay the kind blacksmith.

Ren glanced back at Naofumi's sorrowful expression, as if he had been hurting in Ren's place. He broke off the piece of the bandage and stuck it to make sure it wasn't coming off easily. However, Naofumi stared at the wounds longingly as if he could fix them simply by looking. Unable to perform such a miracle, he sighed and once he finished up with Ren's left arm, he went to tend his chest. If there had been any more injuries, Ren would have been cosplaying a mummy.

"... Sorry, Ren. I… I didn't mean to explode on you like that. I'm sure you had it really rough if the first thing you did after entering Erhart's store was collapse on the ground. I was scared that you weren't even going to wake up."

Naofumi prepared the disinfectant again which made Ren brace himself. Naofumi wondered if there was a potion that could help heal it all back up, restoring all the lost blood and cells, but that was an empty wish. He wasn't trying to think about it like a video game—he simply wanted his friend to be better already. Seeing Ren in such a terrible state broke his heart, even if Ren had been trying to play it off.

He could only imagine what Itsuki and Motoyasu would have thought about this, but this really only cemented the fact that none of them should be taking this little fantasy as something that's all sunshine and rainbows. They could get hurt and be in a critical condition. Naofumi never really had to think much about it since he was someone with a surplus of defenses, but the reality was right in front of him.

Ren merely glanced back at the worried hero. "How does it feel to be on the other side?"

"... The other side?"

"The one getting mad for once, and not because a certain someone forgot to do the dishes again."

Naofumi took the roll from Raphtalia's small hands and started wrapping it around Ren's chest. "It doesn't feel good. I don't really like raising my voice that loudly—and you know that, Ren—but it just came out when I saw you as being super self-centered. You were only thinking about yourself and not considering what I wanted you to do. I didn't want you to be acting like that, Ren."

"That's basically your naivety in a nutshell, Naofumi."

"Is that why you started yelling at me after the trial?"

Ren grunted, glancing away to avoid his eye contact. "I simply hate people who are so out-of-sync with reality that they don't even fathom the situations that they can be caught in. The biggest contenders for that are people who are laid back and haven't gone through a single severe problem in their life, probably the biggest one being what they should make for their next meal."

Ren grunted as Naofumi held onto his body to get a better position on the wrapping. "S-Sorry. I… I didn't know that you felt that way, Ren."

"Why are you even apologizing?"

"It felt right. And really, I guess that apology is for before—the day you stormed off from Itsuki and I."

Naofumi managed to finish up the chest and moved onto Ren's stomach. He was seriously starting to worry—in an entirely different sense—about all these different places that he got slashed at. Some of these angles seemed like they were impossible to make on Ren. He never would have thought this would happen, considering the display of skill Ren showed at the castle.

"I was really thinking about my situation after you left and I really was in a terrible spot. I always try to be upbeat to keep the faces around him cheerful, but when everyone is looking down on you regardless, it started to take a toll on me. My optimism just started to crumble and I… had to resort to extremes."

Ren's eyes leered over to Raphtalia, whose back stiffened the moment they had eye contact. It was clear that despite his curiosity of Ren's identity, she was quite afraid of him. Though, he didn't know whether to chalk that emotion up because of his bitter mood or the fact he was covered in his own blood.

"Does that explain the girl?"

"Yeah." Naofumi beckoned her with a slight head movement and a soft smile. "Introduce yourself, Raphtalia. I promise he won't bite. That's just apparently the 'first-meeting' effect."

Ren scrunched his brows. "... The hell is a 'first-meeting' effect?"

"It's something Itsuki told me," Naofumi answered. "Apparently, you have this thing where you frighten people's first impressions enough that they don't want to interact with you."

"... And Itsuki told you this?" Ren shook his head. "Why is he randomly coming up with passives for me?"

Naofumi chuckled at the tangent before he rolled back to the original intention. Raphtalia, despite Naofumi's reassurance, had been hesitating. "C'mon, Raphtalia. He's nicer than you might think. Just ignore his brooding and his injuries!"

Ren pouted. "I don't… exactly know how I should feel about that."

Nevertheless, Raphtalia finally found her bravery and took her steps forward to face Ren. She held onto her tunic and bowed before him. "H-Hello. M-My name is… R-Raphtalia. I'm Master Naofumi's… slave."

"... Ren Amaki." Ren, once done with his very brief introduction, watched as Raphtalia quickly bounced away, putting Naofumi between her and Ren. "So a slave, huh? You really are starting to see the situation lined up for you. And here I thought you were starting to be a lost cause, wandering endlessly with bright eyes. Forcing someone to fight for you really is a step-up, Naofumi."

Naofumi blinked in surprise as he finished up with Ren's stomach. All that was left had been Ren's remaining arm. "You aren't… disappointed? It's a slave, Ren. You know, those people that were being kept as mere items centuries ago in our world?"

Ren scoffed. "What, did you want me to be mad at you? Look, let's be honest. I was half expecting this type of development for this country when I realized we were in a fantasy world of stats, skills and magic. Just… maybe keep this a secret from Itsuki. He would believe that you'll take care of that girl properly like a parent would, but he'd probably ask where you bought her. And try to clobber the slave trader the first moment he got."

Naofumi's mouth had hung wide open at the 'hypothetical' situation.

That was… surprisingly accurate, Ren. Huh, I guess you aren't his childhood friend for nothing.

"Y-Yeah…" Naofumi agreed, chuckling wryly under his breath. "I-I'll definitely make sure that I… won't tell—"

"—Son of a bitch, you already told him. Haven't you?"

"H-Hey! In my defense, the slave trader approached me when I was with Itsuki! Him finding out was unavoidable!" However, Naofumi took a free finger and placed it on his lips. "Also, could you lay off with the swearing? Raphtalia is still a kid here and I don't want her to be hearing these relatively bad words." He immediately went back to dealing with the bandages.

Ren glanced at Raphtalia who tried her best to stay out of his line of sight while being close to Naofumi to help him when he requested it. He ended up sighing. "Fine. I'll try to be mindful."

"Oh, and I think we're finished up here."

Ren glanced at his body, brimming with the white bandages—some of them were already staining with his blood, but that wasn't something to be avoided. Ren stood up from the chair and took a good look at his equipment. The coat had basically been shredded and his armour were completely decimated. He wondered how strong that attack was if his breastplate was sliced through with ease.

As Naofumi closed up Erhart's first aid box with Raphtalia's help putting everything back together, he noticed that he was folding up his coat and setting aside the broken breastplate. "That's completely gone. I can't use them anymore."

"I think the armour can be easily repaired by Erhart. Though, I don't think he does clothing. He only gets them through another source, so you're going to have to find a place to sew those holes up." Naofumi walked over to Ren to check damages as Raphtalia followed him, holding the first aid case with both hands. "It's a real shame. They really look nice on you. you can leave this breastplate with Erhart and I'll see if I can ask—"

Ren gritted his teeth.

"I don't have time to wait for it to get repaired. They're probably sweeping the entire city for me as we speak."

Naofumi widened his eyes when Ren said that. Whoever he was talking about, it seemed like this wasn't any normal wounds that Ren suffered. "What are you talking about, Ren? If you don't mind me asking—what exactly happened?"

"I'm… being hunted down by the Melromarcian Knights."

"... What?" Naofumi's mind had completely gone into a dismay, throwing himself into his primal reaction. "What the hell!? How!? When!? What's even going on!? I don't understand one bit! Are the knights the one that did this to you!?"

"These wounds weren't by them." Ren held tightly onto his coat and breastplate as he started to walk out. He was still staggering, clear that he was still pushing himself to even do a simple movement. However, Ren hesitated to tell Naofumi the full story, but decided to leave Naofumi in the dark. "I only got caught in a really bad situation and now, they're hunting me down."

Naofumi followed Ren out of the room and Raphtalia did as well. "Just explain to them the situation, Ren! Surely, they'll understand! Worse case scenario, you get a trial like me and since it's your first offense, you'll get to go free!"

"Yeah, I don't think it's going to work out like that for me. It… blew up quickly, if I have to say something about the situation right now."

They were walking out into the main ground of the blacksmith, but they didn't see Erhart there. However, the moment Ren stepped within the boundaries, he collided with Erhart who was rounding the corner, dropping his equipment onto the ground. Ren flinched a bit due to his injuries, much more than Erhart who simply brushed it off.

"Oh, you're already up. Sorry about that, Sword Kid. I'll help up your stuff."

"Y-Yeah…" Ren said, stammered to keep himself from feeling the pain. However, he repeated what Erhart just said in his head again. "W-Wait. Did you just call me by 'Sword Kid'?"

"Don't like it? I always try and give regulars nicknames—or those I want to be regulars." Erhart brought the coat and breastplate back up, but considering Ren's current status, he decided to hang onto the stuff for him. "I have other nice names that I have stocked up if you want."

"... Never mind. Anyways, I need new armour and maybe another coat, similar to these ones. What can you do for me that's in stock?"

"Oh. I would have thought that you would want to get it repaired here, but if you want a new one, I won't complain." Erhart placed the broken equipment under his counter. "You're looking at about 450 silvers. for the plate alone. For the coat, I don't have anything similar except a cheap one at 100 silvers. Coincidentally enough, it's almost the colour as your old one."

"That's fine. I'll buy it." Ren pulled out the exact amount from his inventory and threw the bag over towards Erhart.

As Naofumi walked over, Raphtalia tugged on his cape. He looked over to her, seeing that she was holding a folded-up piece of paper, drawing his attention. "Huh? What's this, Raphtalia?"

"I don't know," Raphtalia said, softly shaking her head. "It was where Mister Ren dropped his equipment."

Naofumi nodded. He hoped that Raphtalia wanted to tell Ren herself, but he understood that she probably wasn't used to him yet. He walked up to Ren with the paper in hand.

"Hey, Ren? I think you dropped this paper here."

"I don't really care," Ren responded, grabbing hold of Erhart's new equipment for him as he went to wear it. He hadn't even been looking over to see what it was. Though, the interaction of customer and merchant had practically been finished up already. "Keep it as a souvenir or something. I can't be bothered with it right now."

"O-Oh. Okay then." Naofumi thought the map kinda looked intricate enough to deem as something important, especially when it looked like it was clearly marking something called the spymaster. Instead of throwing it away, he decided to keep it in his inventory, just in case Ren decided that he did indeed need that map one day.

As Ren got on his new outfit, he brandished his blue scarf out of his inventory. It looked a bit off with the combination of equipment, but it was surely better than what naofumi thought about himself.

"By the way, Sword Kid—I got a question for you." Erhart walked over to the counter and sat on the seat behind it, looking at Ren. "Could you tell me why the knights are trying their damndest to look for someone that's covered in injuries, wields a sword, and has your same description?"

Ren frowned. "Were you eavesdropping on us?"

"Didn't have to. It's the word on the street right now. That's who the knights are looking for, making checks on everyone who tries to leave the capital. Someone told me as I was closing up temporarily for you two, but you must have messed up right hard if they've practically got all of their reserve forces on the streets and making sweeps on every square meter of this city."

"Are you going to rat me out now?"

Erhart chuckled, almost a bit too nonchalantly. "What do you think, Sword Kid? Would I offer and complete a service to someone that I was about to throw into the knights?"

"You could probably do it for the mon—mmm..."

"N-No, you don't. Not at all!" Naofumi immediately covered Ren's mouth and started answering for him with a gentle smile. Ren looked a bit offended to be silenced like this. "You don't seem like the type of person to do that, Erhart."

"I think Mister Erhart is nice…" Raphtalia added in as Naofumi removed his makeshift muffler.

Ren immediately sighed. "Fine. You don't. Though, I'd imagine I can't be staying here since they'll eventually come right into here. The city's big, but they're starting to exhaust all the places they can check. Not to mention that they might have thrown up an emergency request for adventurers for a monetary reward."

"I don't know what happened, but at this point—I'm starting to think it's a long story that you have time to explain. The situation isn't looking good for you, Sword Kid."

Ren went to ponder, resting his hand against his chin. "Looks like I'm going to have to skip town. I can't afford to be caught by the knights, but the only problem is getting through."

Naofumi remembered the scene of this morning at the gates. "Yeah, they really have those gates locked down. No one was getting through unless they were being checked and if they're looking for someone with a description exactly like Ren, I think…. they're going to suspect Ren at the gate, to say the very least."

"I wonder if there's a way out of here… I'd rather not confront the knights if I don't have to."

However, as Ren had been thinking—

the door had knocked.

"This is a patrol of the Melromarcian Knights! Under Captain Lothringen's command, we're performing a sweep of the city for a dangerous criminal!" Heavy knocking followed through. "We request you to open up or we will be forced to break down your door!"

"Shit, speak of the devil."

"Sword Kid. Leave through the back door." Erhart pointed down the hall. "Hurry! Don't worry about anything else! Let me handle this problem here!"

"Wasn't going to! I'm way ahead of you!" Ren sprang backwards and started to book it towards the hall, but he glanced behind him as he reached the turn "Thanks, Erhart." He, with the given gesture, continued on his way. In the meanwhile, Erhart glanced at Naofumi.

"He's an earnest kid, Shield Boy. Only with a cold exterior." Erhart went to open up the door when the third round of knocking came by. The man didn't want his door to be busted down. "You should look out for him whenever you can."

Naofumi nodded softly. "Yeah, I know. I already try to do just that."


(—ነነነነ(—(—[][][][]—)—)ነነነነ—)


Itsuki walked down the steps, groggily wiping his eyes. He couldn't get much sleep after hearing from Metatron's news about his friends, draping over his olive cape onto his shoulder as it was usually kept and tightening the string so that it wasn't going to fly everywhere when he moved. He didn't have a clock, but if he had to guess, he probably only got three hours of sleep, paling in comparison to usual eight. He honestly didn't think it was possible to worry one's self to sleep until last night.

However, nothing seemed to be amiss anymore with his stats. The subtraction had disappeared at some point throughout the night, leaving his level at its vanilla state. His stats seemed to be regained too, but the sword icon had been missing. For all intents and purposes, it was as if last night's incident never happened.

"Oh, Sir Itsuki!" Welst's voice had called him down from the first floor. Itsuki glanced up from his footsteps, seeing that only Welst had been there. There were no signs of Kojeel or Mald. "You're up. You slept a bit longer than usual."

"Sorry about that," Itsuki said, unintentionally breaking out a yawn. "I couldn't sleep last night."

He smirked as if he had gotten the wrong assumption of Itsuki's dilemma. "Excited for your first major guild request, huh? Ah, I wish I could go back to that feeling. Nowadays, guild requests that take you overnight into different parts of the country are just annoying and painful. I just got used to it, but I've only been in this business for about four years." Welst brushed his bangs with his fingers before pushing up his hood. "Though, I think Kojeel's been in the business for much longer. She's from Zeltoble, so there's no way I would actually know though. Those Zeltoble adventurers are pretty good at what they do."

Itsuki got to the final step as Welst came over to his side. "Are Kojeel and Mald awake yet?"

"Kojeel's been up for a while. She always wakes up earlier than any of us. She goes out for a while before coming back to wait for everyone to wake up. Knowing her, she's probably checking up her stocks and her equipment, or seeing what's available in the market." Welst clicked his tongue as he transitioned to the next concern. "Mald… I don't pay attention to what the hell he does. It would certainly be nice if he could just not wake up at all."

"He's still part of the team, Welst. How many times do I have to tell you that?"

"I know, I know," Welst pouted, holding the back of his head. "Just let me pull out my frustrations about the guy when he's not around, alright? I know he's strong, but sometimes—or maybe, all the time—I don't get the sense he's fighting for the sake of being an adventurer."

"Regardless, I'll treat him the same. He's been a very good asset to our frontlines, but I just hope he hasn't run off because of what I told him yesterday." Itsuki sighed, rethinking the scene in his mind. "Though, I'm very tempted to say that if he did leave, it might be for the better in the long run. We might suffer a bit for the quest, but I think Kojeel can take over if Mald truly leaves."

"That man's too prideful to be able to up and leave a Cardinal Hero's party. Where else is he supposed to go?" Welst glanced at the door, noticing a familiar walking armour set. "Speaking of Mald, here he is. Looks like he didn't leave after all—fucking hell, drop off a cliffside."

"What was that last part?"

"Nothing important."

"Sir Itsuki!" Mald shouted across the lobby while walking forwards. However, there seemed to be a distinct tone of alert in his voice. "There you are!"

"What's going on, Mald? It sounds like there's a problem."

"There's an emergency guild request for all adventurers right now. It's in such an important state that the guild is halting all requests until it's wrapped up."

"W-Wait, so does that mean we're not heading out yet?" Welst asked.

"It doesn't sound like it," Itsuki said, answering his concern. "What would be so important that there's a wide-spread request like that?" He held silent to think, but the only thing he could come up with wasn't something like a guess. "... Did perhaps one of the Cardinal Heroes go missing?"

"No, it's not anything as ridiculous as that," Mald quickly dismissed. Itsuki almost felt hurt by that one since he knew the truth, but he kept himself attentive. "There's a wanted criminal on the run in the capital that was said to have broken into the spymaster's chamber late last night, a place that contains valuable information belonging to the capital. They're trying to capture him before anything leaks out and for the destruction he caused to some of the documents."

"That sounds terrible. What criminal would do such a thing?" Itsuki asked.

"It might be a coincidence, but I was told his description. I immediately thought of the Sword Hero."

Last night's warnings from Metatron had immediately started alarming in Itsuki's head. It was as if a switch flipped and Itsuki grunted out his emotions.

"... We've leaving to find this 'criminal' immediately."

"S-Sir Itsuki?"

"We're splitting up to cover more ground!" Itsuki shouted to Welst and Mald. In reality, he wanted to meet up with Ren by himself because if what he believed happened truly did happen, he needed to hear Ren's side of the story. With Welst, there might be some allowance, but he knew Mald wouldn't even consider it. "We're taking on the emergency request!"

"Y-Yes, Sir Itsuki!"

Damn it, Ren… Please be okay…!


(—ነነነነ(—(—[][][][]—)—)ነነነነ—)


As he paced himself through the alleyway, he threw on his cloak. The old one had to be abandoned while he was escaping the knights, but it was surely a good thing he prepared another one in an emergency. The moment that any of the knights or any of the searching adventurers saw his face, he was pretty much done for. His mask broke off in the middle of his fight with that masked man and the knights that barged into the chamber must have been using what they saw as a reference, spreading it around. Not to mention that they were looking for people with injuries—something he had in abundance.

If there hadn't been anything to let him escape like another secret passageway that tunneled from the city to outside of the capital's walls, there really had been one option left for him. Ren needed to somehow break through one of the gates using force, but despite recovering almost to three quarters of his maximum health, his body still felt like shit. He sincerely didn't understand how the hell these mechanics worked, but it doesn't appear as if his health would regenerate past that point.

He tried to stay vigilant about his surroundings, but when his senses settled back in, he heard a set of footsteps coming down quickly behind him. He immediately turned around, preparing for the worse as he grabbed onto his sword. However, it turned out to be a false alarm.

"Naofumi? What are you doing here? Why are you following me?"

Naofumi slowed down and stopped before Ren as Raphtalia did the same, but it was clear that she was short out of breath.

"Well, we need a plan to get you out of here, right?"

Ren furrowed his brows. "Excuse me? 'We'?"

"Since we're not looking to kill any of the knights—hopefully—I figured that I might actually have some use here. If you're heading out by yourself, it might get dangerous really quickly and your body might break down from the force taking on. You're not back to a healthy condition just because I slapped on a few bandages on you. It doesn't work like that."

"I can handle this myself, Naofumi," Ren persisted. "You've already gotten a single strike against the capital. Who knows what's going to happen to you if you get caught helping me escape the clutches of the knights? Who knows what will happen to Raphtalia if the king decides to throw into prison for your second offense?"

Naofumi widened his eyes and glanced back to the demi-human. It had been true that if Naofumi were to go with Ren, he posed a risk of losing it all. Raphtalia might have gone back to Beloukas or perhaps been given to another master that would abuse her again. Even worse, they might just execute her upon his capture. However, he knew that what Ren was probably thinking of doing was a suicide mission. Even if he was trying to care for Raphtalia's sake, he needed to care about Ren's sake too.

"Let me at least hear what your plan is. Surely, you have one already," Naofumi asked.

Ren pulled his eyes to the corner, trying not to settle with Naofumi. "... I'm considering just charging straight through. Make my way as close as I can without a knight patting me down and run for it. I don't see any other option here."

"Is there really no other way?"

Ren shook his head. "Not if I want to escape quickly. Remember, they're honing in on me quickly. Time isn't exactly on my side right now."

Going with Ren risked Raphtalia. Leaving with Raphtalia risked Ren.

How was I supposed to decide this?

Naofumi tried to think what would have been the better option here. It was basically a rock and a hard place and Naofumi was forced to decide which side would have won. Leaving with Raphtalia was guaranteed—he could assure her safety and move on. However, it would leave Ren to deal with this problem himself. On the other hand, fighting with Ren never actually guaranteed that they would escape. Raphtalia's life was risked in the cases that she couldn't keep up or that the entire operation flopped. Though, despite not ever seeing what the odds were, Naofumi knew that his assistance would be able to help Ren out.

Naofumi wanted to believe that.

"Then I have to help you out," Naofumi said resolutely, bringing his shield between them. "Don't forget that I'm the Shield Hero, Ren. I'm meant to protect the people I want to protect and if you're one of those people, then I guess I'm in this for the ride."

"And what about Raphtalia?" Ren tried to find every way to dissuade Naofumi from coming with him. "She won't be able to keep up and it's not as if you can leave her with Erhart to pick her back up later. If you're going to be charging through with me, you'll be blacklisted alongside me."

"I'm the Shield Hero, Ren. Even if I'm against all odds, I made a promise for Raphtalia that I'll protect her as well." Naofumi held onto his chest. "I don't care if you'll call me optimistic here. Though, I won't let you say that I won't be trying my damndest to let you escape and keep Raphtalia safe at the same time."

Ren looked at Naofumi's determination and glanced over at Raphtalia. Despite what Naofumi had wanted to do and the threat it posed to her, it looked as if Raphtalia was on her master's side. Before Ren could say anything else, she spoke out.

"... Master Naofumi? Mister Ren… is your friend, right?"

"A very close friend, so that's why… I'm sorry, Raphtalia. I have to fight alongside him, but that means you're going to need to keep up with us. I know you're not in the healthiest state right now, but…"

"It's okay… I…" Raphtalia glanced towards the ground. "I ran away when my friends were in trouble, but I don't want the Shield Hero to do the same thing when his friends are in trouble."

"My thoughts exactly, Raphtalia. I'm not turning away from my friends if they need help." Naofumi held in his hands. "I understand how it must have felt when you and Itsuki were trying to help me out. Maybe I was wrong to consider it as something light enough that you two didn't need to do anything."

"It's hypocritical. That's the word you're looking for to describe yourself."

Naofumi brought on a determined expression. "But regardless, it's what I'm feeling right now. People aren't really that consistent, are they? There's only the common things that you can point out, but you can never predict every single thing that they want to do."

Ren scoffed. "Except the two situations can't even be comparable. That was an aftermath while this is concurrent. You're insane if you think I'm letting you come with me, Naofumi."

"Not as insane as you are to get yourself in this situation." Naofumi said, having a smirk. He took a single step forward. "I know you're a careful person, Ren. Something as big as this wouldn't happen if you stayed to your normal plans. You did something, but I don't need to know what you did. That part doesn't matter. What does matter is that I'm on your side."

Ren couldn't believe this.

He completely hated the idea of teaming up with someone else in a party and fighting alongside them. It becomes messy very quickly and was one of the reasons why it kept teamwork to minimal when he was still with Rino and Elena—who he'd hoped made it out safely on their side of the spectrum. In spite of that, Ren didn't get the same vibes from Naofumi's offer.

He definitely knew that Naofumi was inexperienced. He definitely knew that even Rino felt like he knew better around a fight than Naofumi did, but somewhere in his heart, he wanted to see what Naofumi was capable of. He completely hated Naofumi's naivety and optimism, but that didn't mean he hated Naofumi outright—he simply didn't realize it as that. As Naofumi lifted himself up with Raphtalia now in his arms, Ren might have regretted even saying these words in the first place. Hell, he knew he was going to regret it, but he could stop his contradictory line of thought.

Perhaps he was simply telling himself that Naofumi was too stubborn to convince him out of a decision like this. Perhaps he was telling himself that having one more body on deck would dramatically increase the odds. Perhaps he was telling himself that he wasn't going to be wholefully responsible for what would happen to Naofumi and Raphtalia. Perhaps Ren had even stopped all his thought processes and decided to go with the flow since he didn't know what else to do.

"You really are keen on this, aren't you?"

"Of course."

"And I feel like it's going to take me too long to get you off this boat."

"Of course!"

Regardless of what Ren thought, he still held out his sword by the handle and extended his arm, pointing the blade downwards. Naofumi, without being told anything else, held up his shield against Ren's sword. Ren ended up even chuckling, somehow feeling connected with Naofumi and his fluttering emotions.

"So be it. Don't drag me down, Naofumi."

"You can count on me! I'll be our shield that protects us as we charge right through!"

"Then I guess I'll be our sword that carves us a path."

An injured hero, a hero that can't attack, and a child up against an entire army of trained knights, huh?

" "Let's do this." "

Insanity might be a severe understatement.


(—ነነነነ(—(—[][][][]—)—)ነነነነ—)


Quick Author's Notes:

The last moments of the last scene is supposed to be a parallel to Raphtalia declaring that she is Naofumi's sword, but instead—it's both Ren and Naofumi declaring themselves as each other's sword and shield. No room for emotional sobbing though, just two guys hyping themselves up for what seems to be an impossible mission.

And with this chapter, I have finally taken back the ground that I lost from restarting the story. And somehow, it took only two months. Huh. Hopefully, this version has been better than the original—which I'm choosing to keep on the site for a little longer due to sentimental value. I'd like to hear the opinions from those who read the original version of ROT4H, if it isn't too much of a hassle.

By the way, someone told me that I should have been saving these clustered chapters for a weekly upload schedule. While that is a very good idea, my dopamine is highly allergic to good ideas and wants the satisfaction of uploading my chapters. Surely, this won't bite me in the ass one day in the future or anything.

Ha. Ha. Ha.

... Thanks for enjoying the chapter. I might be crashing down after the rush of these last few chaining uploads, now that my mind feels comfortable to relax due to the catch up. If you find an unconsciousness user in the alleyway of a discord server, that's probably me.