Biggest thanks for Ace-Triad helping me with SPAG edit. Also thanks to Angel Wraith for reading my rough draft and provide important feedbacks.

My long time friend Angel Wraith is publishing their own Malty centered RotSH story, [Dishonored Princess] on this site, which we been talking about almost since he started reading my rough draft. I don't want to gave away too much details we discussed, but I do want to clarify his story will have a different focus than mine despite similar starting point. I recommend it for the people who wants more stories about Malty, but doesn't like my story's slow pacing because I want to focus on the world over the plot.

More author note at the end for people who are interested to see me blabber some more.


Cold stone walls, cold stone floors, and a dark room with no light but the dim glow of torches from the other side of the metal gate. A room without the comfort of home, warmed by the fire of the hearth, filled with the aroma of mama's cooking.

She's been stuck in this room together with Rifana for ... three days, maybe? It's hard to tell when the room has no window, and the only way to count time is from the bread, and small bowl of water the guards drop through the metal gate. They haven't met the man who bought them from the slave traders yet, but she does hear the occasional cries, screams, and sound of struggle from the other rooms.

She crawls over to the side of her childhood friend and places a hand over Rifana's forehead, still hot to the touch. Rifana didn't take the destruction of their home, or sold into slavery afterwards well. Not saying she's fared much better. When she closes her eyes, she still sees the face of her parents just before they pushed her into the water to avoid the fangs and claws of the monsters.

Where were the gods who were watching over them? The heroes who should be there to defend them? Didn't the people in charge know when a Wave would hit? That's what big sister Sadina told them: About the big hourglass in the capital that warns everyone when a Wave of Catastrophe comes.

And where is big sister Sadina? Did she also get killed by the monsters from the Wave?

But things will be better. The first Wave has already hit them and destroyed Port Harp. The rulers will summon the heroes... and the Shield Hero will surely come and save Rifana and her any day now. They only have to survive-

The clanking of the metal gate turns her head towards the only exit of their small room. A middle aged man barely a head or two taller than her strolls in, before two much taller and broader men follow him dressed in full metal armor. The man is almost completely bald, only a small layer of hair remains over his ears like a badly arranged tiara, and a thin mustache over his equally thin lips. He is smiling, but the man's slit like eyes had none of the warmth Papa had. "Oh, dear. I see I haven't introduced myself to my newest guest yet. That won't do."

All she can do is wordlessly push Rifana behind her, even as they are backed into the corner of their small room.

"Hoho, there's no need to be afraid of uncle Raleigh, girls." The man's eyes and mouth curves up as he looms ever closer over them. "Relax, let Uncle Raleigh show you girls some good old fashioned House Consevatie hospitality."

Interlude 9: Burden of the Loyal Slave

Her new body is smaller, and more agile. Underneath the cover of darkness and overgrown grass, it's not difficult for her to run all the way to the foot of the castle wall without anyone's notice. The stink of sweat, and mud mixed with the scent of burning herbs alerts her of the bandits at the gate before she picks up their voices with her ears.

"I don't like this."

She carefully turns around a corner, staying in the shadow to look at the speaker. A young man without any facial hair, possibly around Master Naofumi's age is spitting on the ground.

"What's the boss thinking? Letting those Siltvelt inbreeds come in and order us around like slaves." The young bandit's lips split open to let out a nasty grunt. "Didn't she know what happened back in the Great War? I'm telling you, they'll use us and throw us away. Worse than them fucking man-animals."

They wear armor sewn together with fur, and monster leather. Not the polished steel plate or chain mails with tabard dripped over. But, they don't smell that different from Consevatie's guards. Between thick patches of dried up dirt clinging to their yellowed skin, they look sick. Like the people who used to work at the bad part of Port Harp's dock she saw once, before big sister Sadina told her not to sneak around the dock again.

"Mighty brave of you to whisper behind their back." The one standing opposite the young man looked much older, with a bush of shaggy hair and thick beard reaching his neck. "You want to tell them to their faces?"

"BAH! We have enough men to take them!" The young man looks away. He takes a piece of paper out of his fur armor and rolls some herbs inside, lighting it up with a torch nearby. "We'll drown them to death if we all take a piss on their heads."

"That's what they all say, before a level 100 brings down the castle on their head." The older bandit laughs at his young companion as he sucks in a mouthful of puff from his own herb roll. "I overheard them talking, you know. We aren't dealing with your run of the mill Raven here. They are led by one of them four lords."

The younger bandit coughs furiously, he even drops his herb roll down on the ground. "Shit, no kidding? Isn't there only four of them or something? Them fuckers are rarer than Queen Slut's Lone Shadow."

"Nope. So you better not let them hear you shit talk them behind their back." The older bandit picks up the dropped roll and shoves it right back into the young bandit's mouth. Giving the younger man's cheek a few slaps after. "Come on, let's go make another round."

"Fuck me, a Raven Lord. Whoever they took to the boss must have been a big deal..."

She quickly dashes through the gate as the two bandits walk away to patrol around the wall. Her nose crinkles as she realizes a big wooden door stands between her and the keep.

There's no way she can push it open while staying in her spirit animal form. Unless the door is locked, or bolted, she should be able to open it when she changes back to her bigger form. But will it be safe?

She looks atop the walls, there's a dark shadow wandering about on the far side. They may see her if she grows big. But how long those two bandits would come back, or if someone else will come out through the door. She can't wait here, and hopes for a chance to slip through the front door.

She lets out a frustrated squeak, and starts to look at the foot of the wall hoping to find some holes. She's seen enough holes on the wall back in Port Harp, where small animals crawl through, and now she's one too. After turning around two corners, she finds a crack that should be just enough for her to crawl through. Taking a deep breath, she ducks her head and begins to make her way inside.

Only to have her waist stuck in the middle. Did she eat too much food after Naofumi rescued her from the slum? She tries to squeeze the air out of her lung and flails her hands and feet in an effort to nudge herself free. That's when she hears a low growling sound and stares into a pair of bloodthirsty red eyes of a bonedog in front of her.

She renews her effort to free herself from the stone wall even as the sharp, dagger-like fangs draw ever closer, to the point she can smell the beast's stinky breath blowing at her face, making her dizzy... "Did you find something, Killer?"

Both the bonedog, and the shape-shifted raccoon look up at the mountain like shadow approaching them. Raphtalia blinks her eyes a couple of times, trying to get use to the better lit room compared to the outside. She opens her eyes again, and realizes the voice belongs to a mountain like muscular demi-human with a pair of dog ears. It takes a moment for her to wonder if they are a man or woman, the speaker's androgynous face and flat chest doesn't help her at all.

Compared to the two bandits who went for a patrol, this mountain like dog demi-human looks much healthier judging by their thick, bulging muscles underneath their fur decorated thick plate armor. Their lightly tanned skin also looks much smoother, without the spots of mud or the yellowish discoloration. The sneer on their mouth almost reaches their steely gaze, and their long, light brown braid bounces around her back as they laugh.

"A raccoon?" The dog demi-human chuckles as they bends down and rubs the bonedog over his head. The beast lets out a happy growl. Raphtalia notices the muscular demi-human's left hand is missing, and replaced by a mace jutting out of her sleeve. A replacement hand... prosthetics, yes, she remembered the sailors calling them prosthetics. "Aw, is daddy's boy hungry? Leave the dirty vermin, they have diseases and aren't a full meal. You'll get fed something better soon."

The shape shifted raccoon makes one last effort, and manages to dislodge herself from the wall and falls face first onto the ground. She quickly darted away as the big dog demi-human made a half-hearted effort to stomp her tail. The bonedog's owner letting out a laugh as they guided the beast away. "Well, there goes the vermin. Let's leave it for the boys and girls to take care of. Come play with daddy first."

The bonedog loses interest in her as it follows its owner to the other side of the large room. Raphtalia stops at the opening on the wall with missing doors and looks back. She sees the mountain-like dog demi-human taking a wooden ball from a cabinet. They wave the ball in front of their bonedog for a few seconds, mace prosthetic hitting the wall to get the dog monster excited before tossing it to the other side of the room. "Go get them, Killer!"

The dark beast lets out a happy bark as it darts after the toy while the ball bounces around the large room, holding it with its mouth as the monster brings the toy back to its master while wagging its tail. The huge dog demi-human laughs again as she kneels down, ruffling the bonedog's neck fur. "Good boy!"

It almost feels wrong to think of the bonedog as a monster now. Raphtalia shakes her head, she quickly slips away from the room and resumes her search for the stairs that lead to the lower level. Finding Master Naofumi is the most important thing.


The shape shifted raccoon crawls through the lower level of the ruined Rabier Keep. It smells even worse than the level above, with a stink that reminds her of moldy bread, rotted wood and... feces. Only a few dim torches light up the walls, they make her jump at her own shadows, thinking they are monsters coming to bite her. It wasn't that different from the dungeon of Viscount Consevatie, only missing the odd screams of children...

No! Don't think about that! Focus on finding Master Naofumi!

Her nose twitches again as she subtly picks up a different scent. It's hard to explain, as it still stinks of dirt and sweat like the bandits. Yet, the stench is a bit lighter, and it doesn't have the unique scent her kind, the demi-humans, have. She quickly picks up her pace and strolls her way over to the direction of the scent. It might belong to her lost father.

The scent did not belong to Master Naofumi.

Instead of the kidnapped Shield Hero, she found a human boy around the same age as herself. His light blue hair, once might remind Raphtalia of a clear blue sky, looks as pale as his sickly skin. She put one of her paws on the boy's forehead, where the skin was cold to the touch.

The boy's body lets out a pathetic twitch. Dry, cracked mouth split open in a last, silent attempt to let out one last moan of agony, or the name of his parents, or friend before he goes still. What little light remains in his unfocused eyes die out like the last ray of sunlight.

It's not the first time she saw a child dying inside a dungeon. The last time, it was her best friend Rifana, who dreamed of meeting the Shield Hero before she passed away in the cold bowl of Viscount Consevatie's dungeon.

"So cold, so dark... why was I left behind?" A familiar voice rings inside her head, yet the tone feels so different and desolate it practically feels like a different being.

"Ri, Rifana?"

"Why am I gone, and you still live? I was the one who wanted to meet the Shield Hero. Why am I left with nothing, yet you had everything I ever wanted?" She can almost hear the frigid accusation of her friend's voice. It sounds nothing like Rifana when she still lived, void of the uncompromising kindness and happiness of her friend.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I wasn't strong enough to save you..." Her hands squeezed down hard on her head. She doesn't even know if she wants to silent the chilling wail of Rifana, or if she wants to crack her own head.

"So cold, so dark... Why were we left behind, yet you lived?" Rifana's voice is joined by countless others, almost like a hundred people she used to know all speaking to her at once through the veil of death. Father, Mother, Big Sister Sadina, Keel... everyone she knew were gone, yet she was saved by the Shield Hero alone and continued to live her pampered life.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry... I was too weak... I have always been weak. Too weak to fight the Wave, too weak to save Rifana when she needed me, too weak to help Master Naofumi and Big Sister Mein... I should have been the one who died..." Raphtalia curls into a ball, with her knees pushed back into her tiny chest and arms around her legs, rocking, twitching back and forth.

"...Move it, girl." A familiar voice pierces through the haze as Raphtalia realizes a pair of arms coiled around her shoulders. She suddenly remembered where she was, and what she was trying to do. The survivor of Port Harp violently thrashes around, trying to free herself from captivity. When that fails to even nudge the vice grip of arms around her, she falls to her last resort as she throws her head down forward and bites into the arm.

Her kidnapper is wearing thick fabric around her arms, but Raphtalia can feel her teeth dig enough into the skin to hurt.

"Grr, son of-!" Her captor lets out a muffled cry of pain, clearly putting a lot of effort into being quiet. "Are you trying to get us both killed!? Stupid girl! I'm on your side!"

It takes another few seconds of gnawing at the woman's arm before what she said finally kicks in.

"I told you, I heard something down here." A squeaky sound from the direction of the staircase makes Raphtalia whips her head. She belatedly realized she's no longer in her spirit animal form.

"You are crying in the rain, Mouse. It's probably a dirty vermin, like a rat or a raccoon." The disgruntled voice drags after the first one, before letting out a brass like chuckle. "Maybe it's your uncle, or aunt."

"Go FUCK yourself!" The first squeaky voice is only one, or two cell doors away from Raphtalia and her captor now. She can feel her captor slowly edges back into the shadowy corner of the cell room and drapes some soft fabric over them. Not soon after, the metal bar gate is torn open with a loud clunk as a lanky shadow peers inside. "Who's there!?"

"Hmm?" A small squeak is followed with a sudden ear piercing screech, before complete silence.

"See, Mouse? Told you it's a vermin. Hope I didn't nail a nephew, or niece- HAH ACK!" A loud scream follows after as Raphtalia hears the sound of a big body violently drop on the floor. "...AH! Son of bit- you psychotic cunt!"

"I'll show you what a psychotic cunt I am, next time you joke about me relating to vermin!" The sound of two metal blades grinding together paired with the squeaky yell of 'Mouse' makes Raphtalia's teeth ache. "It's your balls next time."

"Fuck YOU! Hey, isn't that the little toy we brought for the boss? Is he..." The sound of a few dull slaps echo inside the small prison cell.

"Yeah, the little worm's dead." Mouse lets out a huff, a few thuds can be heard by Raphtalia again, followed right after with the other bandit's grunt of pain. "Make yourself useful, and take the worm with you. The boss' little pet will love to have some extra snacks tonight."

"Pushy bitch..." Raphtalia can hear the bandit throwing the body of the dead boy on his shoulder, and the metal gate clanks again. The sound of leather boots clicking on hard stone drifts further and further, until they finally disappear in the distance.

She let out the breath she didn't realize she was holding as the arms relaxed around her. She falls face first onto the dry hay covered dungeon floor with a loud pant. The survivor of the first Wave has to take another few good, deep breaths to calm herself before she finally looks back at her captor/savior. For a brief moment, she thought she's staring right into the face of a revenant from Port Harp.

The woman wasn't very tall, maybe only a head taller than her, and much a good one or two heads shorter than Master Naofumi, or big sister Mein. They are covered from head to toe with dark, tight clothes that's obviously designed for infiltration that's further strained down by belts. Even their face is completely obscured by a layer of dark fabric mask that only leaves her prominent big nose visible underneath. Their eyes are covered over by some kind of extra wide monocles fixed firmly by a rigid strap. The only visible armor on their body is a cap helmet over their head.

"Who, who are you?" Raphtalia can't help but crawl back till her back hits the other side of the wall. The woman brought her back to her senses before she was discovered by the bandits, and said they are on the same side. But she certainly never met, or even heard of anyone like this.

The clothes were different from the dead woman in red they found last night near their camp - The Queen's shadow, the adults called her - because no skin is showing like the dead woman. They don't look like the people Father warned her about either. The kind great grand uncle Isshin would have sent after her family, because she isn't wearing traditional Kutenrou clothing either. There's always a chance she was lying, and the dark dressed woman may kill her now the bandits are gone.

Big Sister Mein warned her about how everyone is only out for themselves... but Master Naofumi, or Big Sister Mein herself, or all the nice people in Master Naofumi's party (she's still not sure how to feel about the scary beastman Farkas yet) have all been nice to her. Could she trust this woman too? She did save her from those bandits...

"No one you'd know." The dark woman's low hiss makes Raphtalia press her back extra hard into the cold, dank stone wall. Her hands slowly reach down to the dagger she's been carrying since they left the big, scary looking yet kindly smith from Melromarc Castle.

The survivor of Port Harp is thankful that her spirit animal transformation lets her keep all her items close to her body.

The dark woman squats down to look at Raphtalia at eye level, even if she still can't see anything through the face mask, or the wide monocles. "Put your hand away from your dagger before you hurt yourself. You'll more likely cut yourself, with how your hands tremble. Look, we are wasting time here, and we are on the same side because my boss wants the Shield Hero safe and sound. That's all you need to know here."

"Okay..." Raphtalia feels her head grows empty and numb, she can only nod along like an absent minded fool.

"Good girl." The dark woman reaches over and fondles her ear and hair with one hand, it makes Raphtalia shudder again. "Now listen. I already combed through the dungeon before I noticed you appear in this cell mumbling and trembling. The Shield Hero isn't here. That leaves the lord's master bedroom on top of the keep. You'll get there much easier than me with your animal transformation, so find the stair that'll lead you to the central tower and go. I'm going to stay down here, look for some way to open the keep for my comrades and yours... and see if I can cause some tummy aches to these raider fuckers."

Once again, Raphtalia can only nod.

"Good, don't get caught. I'll meet you again outside." The dark woman drips a cloak over herself, she becomes a blur in the shadow as she slowly edges the metal gate open and slips away.

A chameleon cloak? She remembers reading about them in grandfather's book collections that survived the Great War. It's not an invisibility cloak... but they are still hard to make. Definitely not a commoner like her friends, even Big Sister Sadina doesn't have one!

Raphtalia shakes her head to clear and refocuses herself using Yatsuhashi's breathing technique before transforming into her raccoon form again. She gives one last glance towards the now empty prison, where a human boy died among his demi-human captors like her best friend Rifana... and runs away from the dungeon before the ghosts of her past can drag her down.


The dark corridors of the ruined Rabier Keep is like a maze. She runs across patrolling, or chatting bandits almost a dozen times before finding the correct staircase that'll lead her up to the lord's master bedroom. She makes sure she stays on the edge of the bandits' vision and in shadow, and they only make some half-hearted effort to swipe at her with their weapon as she quickly scurries away.

All the bandits, except the big mountain like one playing with their bonedog look sick. With dry hay like hair or discolored skin on their bodies. Maybe that's why they didn't try very hard to catch or kill her the few times they saw her. They are probably too tired to go after a small and agile pest.

As she climbs closer and closer to the top of the keep, she can hear the sound of metal cracking against metal. Almost like the sound of a hammer falling on an anvil. She edges towards the opened wooden door and peeks inside, wondering why the bandit decided to turn the former lord's master bedroom into a smithy.

The room was in fact, not turned into a smithy. In fact, judging by the bedroom of Viscount Consevatie, it seemed to have retained most of its former glory. The carpet covering the cold floor is discolored and dirty, a thick layer of dust has fallen over a small bookshelf. Yet, the fine poster beds, desk, chair and a liquor cabinet constructed out of golden-hued dryad wood still stands. Even the silver pitchers, plates, and candle stands still sit on the desk long after the demise of their owner. She can also make out a few vintage bottles of wine inside the liquor cabinet like the ones Father had.

Master Naofumi is being tied on the chair with thick ropes made of monster leather. The big mountain-like dog demi-human wildly swings their mace prosthetic and hits him on the head like a clueless smith hammers their anvil. Her surrogate father's head rolls back after each hit, clearly having long lost consciousness.

Raphtalia has to fight back the urge of letting a distressed squeak as she quickly sneaks into the room and hides underneath the bed. After what feels like an eternity, the cracking finally stops and she hears a deep breath coming from the huge dog demi-human. "Hmmm... who's your daddy?"

The survivor of the first Wave can't do anything, except pressing her face deep into the dirty carpet and holding down her ears.

"My lord! You have to- HAH ACK!" The pained scream is followed by a gurgling sound before a loud thud drops on the floor.

"Don't disturb me when I'm having fun." Raphtalia slowly nudges former to the edge of the bed as she looks out.

She can see a pair of boots on the floor of the opened doorway, and a lanky girl with mousy grey hair and a pair of rat ears on her head steps over. She wears a shirt with a collar lax enough to expose most of her chest, the only armor on her body is a pair of leather greaves and bracers. The same squeaky voice reveals the identity of the speaker. "I won't complain you took out another piece of trash, boss. But you have to come down. Them Ravens are back."

It only occurs to Raphtalia, that the big mountain-like demi-human she met face to face, when she first slipped inside the keep through the cracked wall was none other than the Bitch Lord herself.

"What? Now?! Fine! You two, get this meat out of my sight." The Bitch Lord strolls out of the room with Mouse, the boots at the opened doorway nudging a couple of times, before it slides back out of the doorway.

Raphtalia waits another dozen breaths before she crawls out under the bed. She looks up, and sees her Master Naofumi's head hanging low from his shoulders, like a puppet with its strings cut. Blood dripped down from his face.

No, NO! NONONONONO! Was she too late to save Master Naofumi too?

She quickly scurries over to the unconscious Shield Hero. Thankfully, his skin still feels warm to the touch, and she can feel a weak but steady breath from his bleeding nose. She quickly transforms out of her spirit animal form, empties out a vial of healing potion into her mouth. She bites down her lips to keep her hands from trembling, holds down Master Naofumi's head steady and presses their lips close together.

Raphtalia can feel Master Naofumi's body tremble as she blows the potion into his mouth, and down his throat. His head slowly begins to rise, eyelids twitch a couple of times before they slowly open. "Raph... Raphtalia?"

"Yes, it's me!" Raphtalia shakes her hands in excitement, making the Shield Hero's eye roll back again. She quickly controls herself and holds him steady again. "I'm here."

"NO! They got you too!" Master Naofumi's eyes blind a couple of times more before he closes them again, head drops down. "Run, Raph... run..."

Raphtalia considers giving her surrogate father another vial of healing potion when she hears steps come up the stairs. She quickly jumps off Master Naofumi's legs, transforms back into a raccoon again and crawls herself under the bed.

"Of all the great plans from Lord Towair the Deceiver, you'll sneak the Shield Hero from the main road with a carriage?" Raphtalia can't see the face of the big bandit, but she can hear the sneer in their tone. "Are you going to bet on the man-animals being too stupid to think about the most obvious method?"

"The carriage is merely a decoy, my dear. Gather some men you are ready to throw away, and I'll have them armed, and armored like a proper merchant's caravan, escorting a fake up north. Meanwhile, my elite will carry the Shield Hero through the secret trail over Griffin's Spine..." The deep, almost silk-like voice suddenly stops at the doorway. Raphtalia can hear a few measured, almost rhythmic steps clicks forward to the chair Master Naofumi was bound on. "Why is the Shield Hero bloodied? I merely left him sedated with you. Could I not even leave him with you a single night before you mess something up?"

"Oh, don't act like you care about the brat, Towair. I know you and your comrade think he is a mere man-animal like the rest. All of you only want his other 'head', to make you some stronger children." A snort can be heard as a pair of boots stomps over. "These so-called heroes, they aren't so tough when they are down on their knees. If he dies after a few slaps, maybe he isn't worth the effort-"

The taunt is cut short when a loud and crisp slap echoes in the master bedroom. Followed shortly with a similar loud thud of a body hitting the ground.

"Don't act all coy with me here, mutt. You lack the charm to pull it off." Raphtalia nudges her body, one twitch of muscle at a time to turn around. She hears the sound of the sound of body shuffling, and a soft thud as boots meet carpet again. "I don't mind your failures, Abby. Before Gaia, we are all mortals after all, and as the saying goes failure is the mother of success. But this mission to take back the Shield Hero is my most important, and possibly final gambit in this wretched, spirit-less land. If you fail me now... you'll lose more than your pair of tits, and a hand. Am I clear here, my dear Abby?"

Raphtalia still can't see what's going on, but she hears the sound of a few light slapping. "Duly noted... my lord."

"Good, there's hope for you yet. Have your thugs fetch some healing potions - let's hope he recovers enough by daybreak for extraction. I don't want to wait more than I have to, the shadows of the Sow isn't the only thing we'll have to watch out for."

"Competitions from other nations, or trouble in paradise?" Abby walks over to the cabinet. Raphtalia can hear her open up the wooden frame and take out a bottle. "It's the old bird Jon Arryan, isn't it? Wasn't he your boss?"

"Arryan is a senile old fool unfit to lift the Bloodroar. And no, just because he's the Raven Lord of the blood and the Shield doesn't place him above the rest of us." At the mention of Arryan, Towair's voice rises. The words coming out of his mouth become more rapid. He manages to compose himself afterwards. "We, the Ravens of Siltvelt are the most well trained, and numerous secret operatives among all nations thanks to us all selected and trained since birth. Yet what does Arryan command our best to do? Clearing over domestic disputes amongst the bickering clans. We should be out here, striking down the heart of our enemies."

"I don't know why you tolerate him then. Why not just get rid of him and be done with it?" Raphtalia hears the popping sound of a wine's stopper being pulled out. After a loud spit sound, said stopper bounces a couple of times on the carpet. She can hear the continued gulping afterwards, and the emptied wine bottle tossed on the floor. The Bitch Lord just downed a full bottle of vintage wine like it's cheap beer. "You are a Raven Lord too, aren't you?"

"It's not that simple, my dear Abby. Despite our dispute, loyalty means something in Siltvelt. Killing one of my fellow Raven Lords will have my title stripped, and my head cut off afterwards. If I'm lucky." Raphtalia finally turns around, and she sees the foot of a set of robes gliding with gracefulness towards the armored boots of the Bitch Lord. "Do you truly feel no shame at all, my dear Abby? I seemed to remember the son of House Rabier was quite smitten with you before the war. What was his name again... Icon? If the idiotic sow princess didn't start the Great War, he very well could have made you his bride. And if not... well, the mistress of the future Count Rabier would still be more than what you thin-blood usually get in this wretched land."

"Hmph! The little piglet! He's no different than those other pampered man-animal brats. A few encouraging words after he's picked on by the other rich brats, and a few lessons to show him how to properly throw a punch... He thinks I'm head over heels for him like a bitch in heat." The breath of the muscular bandit becomes ragged. "I made his mother kiss my feet before she died. It's the last thing he saw before I gutted him like the pig he was."

The dark cover over Raphtalia's head suddenly cracks open as the light of the torch glows down at her. She stares right into the ice cold eyes of the traveler from the night before. It's the same non-descriptive face, yet it is different and not because of the ring of raven black feathers just above his ears like a crown. Towa, or Towair's features, is devoid of the boyish awkwardness that seemed to mimic Master Naofumi when he was talking to Yatsuhashi. No, his face looks like an emotionless statue carved out of the most rigid stone right now.

It wasn't any different from the night before.


Big Sister Mein falls head first into the thick bush. For a moment, Raphtalia wonders if Big Sister lost her feet due to tiredness. But then everyone was jumping up to their feet and pulling out their weapons.

Mr. Gaston didn't stand up to his full height before he fell down on one knee, he pulled something off his boots and let out a labored yell before slumping down like big sister Mein. "Poison... needles!"

"You dirty cowards!" Yatsuhashi's large, curved blades turn into a gust of red hurricane in his hands. Rapid ping sound can be heard like a flurry, as something shining seems to fall like frost in front of them. Farkas charges forward, sword still in his mouth as he slams back a cloaked figure down into the ground. With a twist of his neck, the scary werewolf cuts the robed man in half before he can even make a sound.

"Get the antidote to Gaston and Mein, Raphtalia!" Master Naofumi looks back even as he erects an energy shield almost the size of a small house in front of them. Raphtalia's hand fumbles with the many veils in her cloth, she finally finds the right potion and jams it into Gaston's mouth. She bolts back towards big sister Mein when a winged shadow falls right in front of her, a short blade in his hand ready to pierce her heart, or cut her throat.

"Eek!" She throws her sling together with the pellet at the dark figure in utter panic. The red pellet blows up in their face, making them lean back with a yield of pain. A shining dart cuts through the shadow and plants itself into the Raven's head, making him fall over dead.

Raphtalia looks back, sees Kyubey with his mini-crossbow in his good hand. "GO."

The child flies over the dead body of her almost killer, she half runs, half rolls her way over to Big Sister Mein. It takes her three tries to pull out the antidote's stopper with her shaking hands, and holds the vial to big sister Mein's mouth.

Except she isn't drinking the antidote... the life saving liquid simply drips down her mouth and onto her chest.

No, NO, NONONONO! Is Big Sister Mein going to die, just like Rifana? What should she do?

Nobody gave her the answer, she only hears the frigid announcement behind her that puts her body into a glacier. "[Moonlight Caravan]."

Raphtalia looks back, and sees a hundred silver orbs fall from the air, cracking Master Naofumi's energy shield as they smash down on everyone still defending the camp. Wolfy and Firo got hit flying back, their feathers falling like snow. Yatsuhashi's sword drops down from his hand as he tips over like a statue. Master Naofumi gets an orb exploded right in front of his face and hits the ground even as he tries to cover Mr. Gaston...

"Grab the Shield Hero and go." The man who single handedly took down the Shield Hero's party commands his remaining comrade while he leads Farkas on a chase. Two dark figures glide over to Master Naofumi, they each throw an arm over their shoulder as they fly into the night.


The man with the broken flail is standing right before her. And right now, a silver ball of light is connected on the end of the chain as he swings down the deadly weapon on her head.

"MEEP!" Raphtalia flips away with instinct more than any skill, she quickly darts out of the room, half running and half rolling over her body.

"DAMN! I liked that bed!" Thankfully, only Bitch Lord's frustrated cry follows her out of the room into the corridor. She coils around the top of the stone stairs, listening to the last bit of exchange before she composes herself enough to not fall all the way down. "Is Towair, the Raven Lord of Moon afraid of a little vermin raccoon?"

"That's not a raccoon, you dimwit. It's a raccoon dog, native on the island of Kutenrou before King Mikage the Conqueror destroyed them. They called it 'tanuki' in their native tongue. Those dirty refugees settled in Harp must brought the vermin." Once again, the voice of Towair is a bit higher than his usually composed self. "Gaia damned raccoon dog. Gaia damned Kutenrou. They are the worst combination of devious cunning mixed with sanctimonious smugness."

As much as Raphtalia would like to help Master Naofumi, she decided it's best to go back to everyone else after her brush with death. She already knows where Master Naofumi is being kept, and she gave him a vial of healing potion before being interrupted by Towair and Abby. She's not strong enough to rescue her surrogate father by herself, and trust is the better virtue to live up to now.

The trip back out of the keep is decidedly much easier than her way in. Now that she's higher than the ground, she manages to climb out of a window onto the wall. The braziers and torches are lit, but there's not enough men on the walkway to notice a small, dark bundle hiding or crawling beneath their feet.

She easily dodges out of the way for the patrols by staying perfectly still around the corners, and then bolts past them as they walk by. Throughout her journey, she constantly looks up towards the top of the tower, where the lord's master bedroom is, afraid a shower of silver orbs will fall on her like stars.

Thankfully, the Raven Lord didn't make another attempt on her life as she sneaks around the keep. She finds a darker spot between a torch and a brazier where a branch from the distant tree reaches over. Raphtalia climbs up with her raccoon body, and hops over onto the tree breach. The following climb down was truly child's play she can do without staying as her spirit animal. She quickly makes her way up the hill, where Big Sister Mein and the rest of Master Naofumi's party await her, transforming back into her child body as she runs towards them.

Big Sister Mein is stomping around while everyone has their weapons out and ready. Raphtalia wonders if Big Sister Mein is about to run over to embrace her, when the much older adventurer tenses up. Same goes for everyone else in Master Naofumi's party as they hold their weapons up towards her direction.

"Come over quickly, Raphtalia. They aren't safe!" Big Sister Mein's words make her confused for a moment before she turns around her heel to look back. Sure enough, seven figures all dressed in dark, tight cloth and face masks with the wide monocles are walking behind her. All of them short, only a head, or maybe a head and a half over Raphtalia's own height.

"Stay your hands, companions of the Shield Hero. We only wish to aid you in liberating the Shield Hero from the clutch of the Siltvelt Ravens." One of them speaks, Raphtalia can easily tell it's the same person who helped her back in the dungeon.

"Do you take me for a fool?" Big sister Mein's sword is still pointed towards the dark woman, even as she runs over and pulls her back. "I'll be damned to rescue Master Naofumi from the Siltvelt Raven, and then give him to Shiltfreeden Shive."


End Note:

First, apologies for not updating this chapter earlier. Ace-Triad had this chapter edited early in the week, but works been rather brutal for the past week and two, so ended up taking a break to relax myself.

This chapter was a bit of pain for me to write. Since I been trying to emulate people who are supposed to be somewhat savvy politicians (probably failed spectacularly at that) for so long, it's hard to get into the mind of a young child. As Angel Wraith pointed out in their feedback, a lot of times Raphtalia sounds too much like Malty in this interlude. I still aren't confident I gotten this sorted out even with Ace-Triad's help, but I have to face the music eventually.

So, after a lot of chapters showing how people at the top of society being decadent, evil bastards, this current running mini-arc shows what happen when people start at the bottom being no better than the oppressors they hate because they are twisted by such hatred. And the Bitch Lord turns out to be a Siltvelt asset they groomed since The Great War to undermining Melromarc from within, basically the front man for one of the four Siltvelt Raven Lords. Oh, mine.

Towair the Deceiver is mostly inspired by the conniving foreign agent leader from Iris Amelia's novel S̶h̶i̶l̶l̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶A̶u̶t̶h̶o̶r̶'̶s̶ ̶P̶e̶t̶ Accomplishments of the Duke's Daughter with the same name. Although obviously his canon counterpart was not a highly leveled beastman holding one of the four wonder weapons from CoD WWII Nazi Zombies The Frozen Dawn map. I don't know who they'll pick for his VA if this particular novel also get an animation adaptation, but I'd personally pick Kevin Conroy doing his Batman voice.

And the secret agents from Shiltfreeden also show up, because of course they would. At least she saved Raphtalia from being discovered, and killed by the bandits so that's a good thing, right?

:P

Guest review time.

To LaBahia:

I can definitely understand the sentiment. Because at this point I lost count how many times I get irrationally triggered by Mass Effect fanfiction that simply have System Alliance (or any other faction from various other crossover) rolls in and simply smash everything to pieces in a show of utter smug self-entitlement. Yeah, I'm talking about the 'Human FUCK YEAH!' (I personally call it Human Fuckweed Spunkgargleweewee, because that's the kind of plot fit right into Spunkgargleweewee sub-genre of shooters written by total hacks) sub-genre here. Of course, since I do want to touch actual sensitive issues spawn from real world with my story and present them with a bit more depth than sesame street, there is always the risk of tipping into endorsing atrocities (which canon RotSH proudly jumped head first into that rabbit hole), rather than simply depicting atrocities.

I still haven't decided if the author of RotSH actually wanted to write a true deconstruction of Isekai or not. But the end result is either they were too incompetent to pull it off, or worse: They didn't intend to write a real deconstruction/subversion to begin with, and only used the pretense to make their narcissistic, dumb power fantasy stand out among the rest. Personally, I lean towards the second hypothesis. While I can't guarantee I won't make as much, if not more mistakes than RotSH's author (especially in the competence department, or rather the lack thereof), I do want to stick my story to an actual subversion of common JRPG fantasties by inject just a degree of realism into it. What my competence allows, anyways.

Huh, I honestly didn't even realize the term 'Woke' originated more from racial tension, considering the term is generally thrown more at issues that are driven by gender politics these days. So thank you very much for that clarification!

To Night:

Glad you enjoyed Malty's personal journey so far. As I admitted before, I didn't plan or expect this to happen during the planning stage of my story. But when I'm actually writing... it just feel real for her as a person to slowly become more empathetic towards the few people she forms a personal connection with. Or as someone else puts it: corrupted by the Light Side.

:)

There are actually Isekai stories where the narrator isn't the 'hero' so to speak. Although so far, I haven't read any that's particularly good (because you can bet I'd be trumpeting it all over my author's note if there's finally a good deconstruction/subversion of Isekai genre). They are either too predictably reveal that the narrator is actually also a hero later, or just paint the summoned 'heroes' as irredeemable pieces of humanoid garbage (which granted in Isekai, they often ARE) and goes full edgelord into the main character being a hero killer.

One of the lateral example got canceled after one single issue because they apparently got an angry cease and decease letter from 12 pissed off Isekai writers bigger than they are, since they were either too arrogant, or too incompetent to hide who their 'inspiration' were (Sword Art Online, and Overlord being 2 of the 12).

That was the most epic 'BRUH' moment I witnessed in Isekai manga history, and it was way more entertaining than the actual manga.

XDDD

I'd say the closest thing to an Isekai deconstruction I am aware of are either 'Helck', or 'Level 1 Demon Lord and One Room Hero'. Although both are more reconstruction of JRPG Hero genre (popularized by Dragon Quest) than Isekai. Since no otherworldly incarnate/summon with cheat ability is involved. But definite recommendation on both.