Hi, I'm back! I do not own Rising of the Shield Hero, I do own my OCs and plot twists! A shout out is in order: thank you everyone that has favorited or followed this fanfic and sent in a review! I enjoy them and they are the force that keeps me typing. This chapter will not be as gory or full of swearwords as some past chapters, but I'll include the warning anyway!

There will be swearing! There, done. And once more unto the breach!

After Rong arranges for the room, all three of them head up the stairs. Hazel glances at the lion girl.

"I never asked for your name."

The girl blinks, startled before glowering at Hazel.

"What's it to you?" She snaps aggressively.

Hazel rolls her eyes.

"Oh I don't know, maybe because it's easier to say your name rather than 'slave' or 'you'. 'Course, you can always pick a new one, or I could." She offers, waiting for Rong to unlock the door.

"Slave is fine." Lion girls grits out.

"And I'm saying it's not; better say it soon or I'll pick one~" Hazel provokes her.

"…!"

The lion girl clenches and unclenches her fists in frustration.

Hazel sighs in her head and starts musing aloud.

"Hmm, Rong, what do you think about the name Alexia? It comes from the root 'Alexander' which means 'Defender of Mankind'. It was also the name of a very famous general!"

"Don't call me that!"

Rong and Hazel both ignore the lion girl as Rong considers the name.

"It is very auspicious- and appropriate." Rong says eventually.

"That's not my name!"

"Oh? Then you better tell us what it is then, or it will be~" Hazel informs her cheerfully.

"It's- its Sher." She mumbles, hunching in on herself.

Hazel nods thoughtfully.

"Nice to meet you, Sher. My name is Hazel Ilmatar and this is Rong." She introduces everyone.

Rong nods to Sher and Sher doesn't seem to know what to say. The silence is awkward until they enter their room and relock the door. Then Rong turns and looms over Hazel.

"Sit down, Ilmatar-san. There is much we need to discuss."

Hazel nods, her face serious as she kneels on the floor seiza style. Sher stays near the door, unsure of what to do.

"I asked you to remain at the campsite, where I would come back and we would travel together to the capital. Instead you wandered off, to train I presume, and were captured by slave traders! You left no indicator of which direction you were traveling, no note, no trail sign, nothing! You are fortunate I found the site you fought them, otherwise I would not have found you!"

"You were very irresponsible! Granted, you came out of the mess with several advantages, but you must be more careful! And you bought a slave and two monsters! Do you have any idea how to raise them or train them?! No! You were too pleased to have Beloukas over the barrel to think! Then there's the fact of your reputation as a Hero- they will see you owning a slave as proof of your corrupt nature! No one will respect you or give you the honor you are due! And now you must train up Sher so she doesn't die or become maimed during the Wave!"

"It is not as if you are incapable of exhaustion! You are trying to do so much and I am worried about your health! Training from dawn to well after sundown, you have not been taking care of yourself! We need you prepared, that is true, but resting is also important. We cannot afford you making mistakes and dying, or worse, the King getting wind of your whereabouts! The Church of Three Heroes is helping him hunt you and such thoughtless actions are dangerous!"

Rong lectures Hazel fiercely, valiantly not yelling (although it's clear she wants to). Hazel sits silently, not saying anything.

Rong was right. There were actions Hazel could have taken to avoid the mess she ended up in. The part about training too much stung a little, but was fair. Reputation? Who cares? It's not as if she wants or needs adoring fans. As far as not thinking things through… well, no one likes admitting to being wrong but Hazel knows she got too excited. She sighs.

Why do diplomatic apologies have to suck?

"I wasn't being responsible and I apologize for that. I will think on what you said and try to be more careful in the future." Hazel promises Rong solemnly.

Rong hesitates and nods stiffly, accepting the pledge.

"Who are you two?"

Hazel and Rong blink, turning to Sher.

"Oh, right, we didn't explain anything." Hazel realizes.

Sher nods her head warily in agreement.

Hazel grins and shifts to a more comfortable position on the floor.

"Hi Sher, you already know my name but I'm also the Gauntlet Hero or the 'Fifth Hero'. As for Rong," Hazel shrugs.

"She can tell you yourself if she wants to."

"Gauntlet… Hero?" Sher frowns.

"Like the four Cardinal Heroes, but not summoned nearly as often." Hazel explains offhandedly.

Sher looks poleaxed.

"You're- you're one of-!"

Hazel stands, stretching. Rysty and Knokene shift back to their normal forms, surprising Sher badly.

"Yup. This is Rysty and this is Knokene. Say hi, you two."

[We do not understand the purpose of this.]

Rong and Sher jump at the sudden message. Hazel rolls her eyes.

"Cause it's polite." She tells them firmly.

[… We will consider it.]

"So standoffish." Hazel sighs and pins Sher with an evaluating gaze.

"Let's order up a tub and get washed up- we both need it, even if Rong isn't saying anything."

"No! No baths!" Sher yells, panicked.

"No arguments, please." Hazel tells her and pokes her head out the door to ask for a tub.

"I don't wanna!" Sher snaps.

Hazel pulls her head back into the room and glares Sher down.

"You and I are taking turns in the bath. That is final."

"No!" Sher cries, furious.

Hazel sighs and glances at Rong. Rong makes a sigh of her own and taps her chest where a slave seal would be. Hazel opts for middle ground.

"… Sher. You are covered in lice, mud and god knows what else. You are not sleeping on a clean bed or wearing the clothes we bought until you get washed up. And neither will I for that matter. I would rather not order you, but I will if you don't listen to me." Hazel tells her reasonably.

"Why?! I don't need it!" Sher yells at her.

"You do actually, and it's not just for you. I hate lice, fleas and being dirty when I could be clean. So we're gonna do the sanitary thing and wash up. You have ten minutes to make up your mind if you're gonna listen or not."

Sher sulks as Hazel stows away various items, leaving the eggs on the table under Rong's watch. When the door is knocked on ten minutes later, Hazel opens the door after making sure Sher's ears and tail are hidden. The maids carry the tub in, Hazel smiles and thanks them for their work. When they leave, Hazel turns to Sher, hands on her hips and raises her eyebrows.

"What will it be?"

Sher's Point of View

Of all the things she hadn't expected, it was being ordered to bathe. Slaves aren't treated like people, so it didn't make sense that her new master insisted on it. Sher relented in the end after Hazel points out she could use the slave seal to enforce her will, but 'wouldn't that be silly for something as simple as a bath'.

What a strange master.

Even with her fear of water, Sher had to admit it felt amazing to be clean. No crawling things in her hair, no awful stink and best of all dry clean clothes! Everything was great, Sher just relaxing in a corner until Hazel finishes with her bath and eyes her hair.

"We might need to cut that." She tells Sher bluntly.

"What?! Why!" Sher yelps, fingers fruitlessly trying to cover her hair.

"It's matted." Hazel tells her in a business-like tone.

"Combing it won't work- it has to be cut off. If I tried to comb it, it would get worse and hurt a lot for no benefit."

"But-!" Sher whimpers, trying to not sound like a whiny child.

"Sher. I can try to keep it as long as I can, but some of it has to come off."

Trembling, Sher finally nods, sitting next to the fire as Hazel uses some scissors to hack off almost all her hair. Soon enough Hazel makes a few more snips and evens out the look, eyeing it critically.

"Admittedly, I don't usually cut hair, but this doesn't look too bad." She remarks.

Sher reaches up and feels her hair. Cut to about chin length, it is wildly curly and fluffs out around her head.

"Her hair color is rather unusual." Rong remarks.

Sher's ears flatten against her skull as she glares at Rong.

"Hmm? Oh, yeah, it's a nice color though. Reminds me of sun streaks," Hazel says absently.

Sher glowers at both of them. So what if her hair is a mix of brown and gold? It's just hair!

"Weirdos…" she mutters, huddling against the wall.

"Hey Rong, Beloukas gave me something that may or may not be hair dye." Hazel remarks, pulling out a packet full of fine powder.

Rong examines it and eventually replies.

"It is a hair dye- it will color your hair black, I believe."

"Ooh, really? We should probably do that!"

"Perhaps we should also do so for Sher." Rong points out.

Sher gapes at her.

"What? Why?!" She protests.

"So it is easier to hide. You stand out." Rong states simply.

Sher pouts at her. Hazel considers it, frowning slightly.

"She's gonna stand out no matter what, with her tail and ears. If we're going for hiding, then a cloak is a better choice." She points out to Rong.

Rong sighs, but acknowledges the logic of what Hazel is saying. Hazel sweeps up the cut hair and dumps all of it onto Rysty and Knokene.

[Slave User Gauntlets (Unlocked), Status Growth (small).]

"…" Hazel grimaces at the message.

Right, speaking of that… Let's see what the help menu says.

After Hazel confirms a few facts she refocuses on the room as a whole.

"Sher."

"Huh?" The lion demi-human replies.

"I have an offer for you."

Sher looks at her warily.

"What kind of offer?"

"To earn your freedom."

Rong's head snaps up in surprise from where she is mixing the hair dye.

"Eh?!" Sher squeaks.

"From what I just read on the help menu, you can still earn stat and EXP bonuses solely from being in my party. The only reasons to keep you a slave are the bonuses from one of my gauntlet series and to prevent leaks of information. But,"

She holds up a hand forestalling protests.

"I have another reason to consider it and it is because I personally do not agree with the institution of slavery. My home country had a massive civil war and one of the issues they fought about was slavery. It may not have been one of the key issues, but the result of the war did lead to the end of slavery in America. I cannot stress enough how important freedom is in my culture."

Rong and Sher listen intently, Sher with wide-eyed shock and Rong with a thoughtful frown on her face.

"So this is what I propose; the slave seal stays on for now to maximize your growth. If I feel that you have earned my trust by the end of the Wave, we will remove it. You may choose to stay or make your own way in the world, but I ask that you keep any information concerning myself or other party members to yourself. Is this an acceptable compromise?"

The next day…

Sher follows after Hazel and Rong, mind spinning about last night. It's confirmed- the Gauntlet Hero must be crazy! After all, who else would make such an insane offer?! She stumbles when a man shoves past her and she has to resist clawing him. Her eyes flicker to Hazel, watching the mad woman walk forward confidently.

Newly dyed hair and fresh clothes transformed the Gauntlet Hero from the terrifying woman in the slave tent to a competent adventurer. Sher shudders at the memory of Hazel's glee over her newly unlocked gauntlets: Hair Dye Gauntlets. Hazel had experimented on her own hair, laughing when it changed to pink, lime green or purple. She had muttered something about 'never having to buy stupid anime wigs again,' before turning her hair back to black. As the trio wander the market, buying food and haggling with vendors over monster remains Sher grows more and more confused.

Why would she offer?! Is she trying to be cruel?! Why, why is she treating me like a person?! I'm a slave! Slaves don't get to earn their freedom!

Distracted, she almost misses Rong leading the way into another shop. Rushing to catch up, she stops and stares in awe at the multitude of weapons on the walls. A tall bald man with a scar on his forehead greets them cheerfully.

"Hello, adventurers! How may I be of assistance today?"

Hazel smiles and steps up.

"We would like leather armor for our companion here, as well as a weapon for her to use." She explains.

The shop owner eyes Sher, making her squirm in discomfort.

"Well, I do have armor for the little lady. But what kind of weapon are you thinking of, ma'am?"

Hazel glances around the shop until her eyes land on a long dagger, nearly a foot (30 cm) in length. She starts to reach for it then pauses, looking at Rong. Rong walks over and makes her own inspection as Hazel looks at the spears and staffs he has stocked. Eventually she beckons Sher over and simply points to a rather odd staff in the barrel: both ends are capped with metal to form sharp points.

"Pull it out- I want to see how tall it is on you." She tells her.

Sher frowns but complies- at a full 5 and half feet, it dwarfs Sher, who's barely four feet. Hazel tries hard not to laugh.

"Okay, maybe not that one," She admits.

Sher glares at her reproachfully as she puts it back. Hazel grins at her and nods to the next one of a similar design.

"That one might be a better fit- or perhaps that naginata…" She muses, eyeing the options.

Sher turns red as she looks at the elegant polearm. It's so deadly looking, but still beautiful… She thinks, twisting her fingers into her pants to resist touching it. Rong walks over to them and holds out the dagger for Hazel to look over.

"It is of decent make and the heft isn't bad. Price is negotiable." Hazel nods thoughtfully.

"Let's get it and one of these polearms- I would prefer Sher to start with a bo staff normally, but keeping in mind future growth let's get the naginata. If she's any good with the dagger, we'll move to a proper sword for her. In the meantime, her primary weapon will be the naginata." She decides.

Sher gapes at her.

"But-!" She starts to protest.

"I saw you looking at it earlier- and it just so happens to be a weapon I can teach you." Hazel tells her.

"Eh?" Sher blinks at her.

"You'll teach me?!" She splutters in horror.

Hazel rolls her eyes.

"What, were you expecting me to push you off onto Rong for training?"

Sher scowls at her. Hazel smirks in amusement, ruffling Sher's hair.

"Sorry Sher, you're stuck with me for the basics and spear work." She informs her, giving her a pat on the head before striding over to the counter.

The shop owner had returned with some battered leather armor and instructs Sher how to put it on. With an impressive glower, Sher goes to change. Rong wanders over to Hazel.

"And how are you going to teach her spear work if you yourself cannot use a spear?" Rong asks in an undertone.

Hazel blinks then pales.

"Oh- shit!" She swears, smacking her forehead.

"Did you forget?" Rong asks, sweating a little.

"No-! Well, yes-! But also no-!" Hazel mutters, blushing.

"Do you have a way around it?"

"… Maybe." Hazel says finally.

Rong raises an eyebrow. Hazel pushes her hair out of her eyes and glances at Rong.

"The contract states I can't use any other weapons other than Knokene and Rysty." She tells her in an undertone.

Rong nods in understanding- the Shield Hero had also been upset when he had found out about that particular restriction.

"Well, it occurred to me- what if Knokene and Rysty are the ones using the weapon? Not me, but them? Is that breaking the contract?" Hazel hazards.

Rong frowns, confused.

"I do not follow." She informs the younger woman.

Hazel winces.

"It's easier to show than explain, but I got these gauntlets recently-"

"Well, are you happy now?!" Sher snaps, coming out from behind the curtain.

Hazel and Rong turn together to inspect her head to toe.

"Looks good, Sher!" Hazel grins, giving her a thumbs up.

Rong is more practical and checks the fit of the items.

"They will do."

Sher's face turns pink at the praise and fidgets; brown pants, knee-high boots, a dark blue tunic long enough to be a dress are the base garments. Over it, leather armguards cover her forearms, a simple chest plate for her torso and a practical leather belt. Hazel pulls off one of her few hair ties and offers it to Sher.

"Here- this will help a little with the runaway hair."

Sher blinks and looks at the small fabric ring.

"What is this thing?"

Hazel blinks and laughs.

"It's called a hair tie- super useful for anyone with hair long enough to tie back. They don't slip as easily as ribbons or leather cords." She explains, demonstrating on her own hair.

Sher cautiously takes it and tries to use it the way Hazel showed her. After a few fumbled attempts, Sher gives up, pouting. Hazel smiles and takes it from her.

"Here. Let me help."

Briskly, Hazel gathers the topmost layer of hair into a mini ponytail and secures it with the hair tie. The result leaves Sher's eyes and face exposed.

"There you go- now you're ready for some training-!"

The bell on the door rings as another customer enters the shop. Behind the counter the owner blinks and waves in greeting.

"Ah, welcome! Oh, kid, it's you!"

Hazel turns to look at the door, Sher peeking out around her curiously. Both of them fail to notice Rong stiffening in recognition of the new customer. They see a young man with a scowl on his face with messy black hair, cheap clothes and a silver shield with a green center gem.

Huh, he looks familiar… Hazel has time to think before Rysty and Knokene transform to their normal forms and start glowing purple.

[Warning! The Gauntlet Hero is not allowed within close proximity to the Cardinal Heroes unless fighting together in the Waves or stopping a fight between the Cardinal Heroes! Conditions not met! Relocation effective immediately!]

Not AGAIN! Wait- will Sher and Rong and my baby monsters get summoned along with me?! Augh! Stupid restrictions!

"Shit-! Seriously you two?!" Hazel swears before remembering something very important.

"Rong! Pay him, quick!" She yells as the magic circle starts to form under her feet.

Rong swiftly tosses a gold coin at the shop owner, who catches it reflexively then gapes at the amount.

"Wait-! It's too much!" He yells at them as the light grows brighter.

"Consider it a down payment for other stuff we might buy!" Hazel snaps at him, too frazzled to be polite.

Sher grabs ahold of Hazel's arm in fright and Hazel closes her eyes, praying frantically.

Please let us not get separated!

Purple light swells through the shop and disappears. Naofumi and Erhard open their eyes to see the three strangers have vanished, leaving no trace of their presence aside from a gold coin and several missing weapons.

"… Hey, kid." Erhard finally says, looking at Naofumi.

"… What, Oyaji?" Naofumi growls.

"Was that her? The Fifth Hero?"

"… Yeah, so what?" Naofumi scowls harder.

"… Kid, she wasn't even there when it all happened." Erhard reminds him.

"Yeah- she wasn't there." Naofumi says coldly.

"She got transported out of there before Bitch or Trash could do anything. So instead they focused all their efforts on me."

Erhard remains silent, knowing Naofumi is too stubborn to consider any other opinions right now. With effort, they enter their routine of haggling for items. But after Naofumi leaves, Erhard goes over what he remembers seeing the Fifth Hero doing.

And wonders.

And that's wrap! Let me know what you thought in reviews or just to ask questions. Till next time!