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

This chapter's special thanks goes to Angel Wrath, for giving me some good ideas and materials for how Malty can tear into Abby the Bitch Lord.

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


The princess in disguise has to blink her eyes a couple of times. She has a hard time coming to terms with the graceful posture little Raphtalia is showing now, or what the raccoon - no, raccoon dog - girl said.

At the very start, she has seen Raphtalia as a possible challenger to herself: a rival for her Naofumi's attention. But the princess in disguise never expected the slave girl to come from equal standing as she herself. The princess of a royal family. Even if the nation Raphtalia descended from no longer existed.

In fact, if the princess of Melromarc gets down to the more technical level, Raphtalia technically outranks her. With the lost princess being the only child of her generation, and direct descendant of the last Q'ten Lo celestial emperor. She is the true heir to the leader of Q'ten Lo people scattered around different nations.

But that begs the question... what would Lord Isshin, the current leader of the largest group of Q'ten Lo people do to her once he learns her existence? Or better yet, what has he done so far for that matter? The current lord of the Siltveltian raccoon people is technically an usurper who allied with his younger brother's enemy and stolen the emperor's throne. The whole Siltvelt- Q'ten Lo war happened when the celestial emperor tried to have Isshin's daughter Lady Poko, and the companion of the Shield Hero and Siltvelt king assassinated.

Is the Sword Saint simply unaware of her existence? Considering the lack of assassins directly from him (those Siltvelt Ravens don't count as they don't follow Isshin's command), that certainly sounds plausible.

Which begs the question of what would he do once he learns of Raphtalia's existence and true identity? Considering her rare ability to shape shift, it'll be hard to hide her origin as Naofumi's exploits become more and more well known to the world. Will they have to worry about dodging assassins from Siltvelt, ironically similar to what Isshin and his daughter went through?

Will they have to start a war with Lord Isshin like he himself did with his younger brother sixty years ago? While Isshin lacks the backing of the entire Siltvelt nation after King of Rape's death, they themselves have even less assets to call upon.

There is the possibility of installing her Naofumi as the new Siltvelt King, and force Lord Isshin into fealty and obedience by default. But that option have too many variables and draw backs: who can say the other clan heads of Siltvelt will truly bend their knee to her Naofumi and not stab him in the back? Even King Mikage was imprisoned once by his supposed subjects when they betrayed him, and had to be rescued by the Martyr of Bow. Will the other three Cardinal Heroes, or Any of them willing to do the same for her Naofumi?

That's not even considering what that implies for her own political standing in Melromarc, if her future husband becomes the king of their most bitter enemy.

Not having Raphtalia use shape shift isn't a good solution either. The ability is simply too damn useful in a lot of situations. Plus, Towair the Deceiver was right there when Raphtalia grown into her adult size during their master bedroom scuffle. Sure, it was chaotic all around and he might not even noticed it, or mistaken Raphtalia's sudden growth with the standard beastman growth bonus. But can they bet on his ignorance?

While the princess is busy thinking her way out of their newest pending disaster, the Shield Hero has a different concern. He looks pensive since the conversation started: brows knitted together, eyes narrow, lips tightly shut. When he speaks, his tone was more grave than everyone was used to. Not exactly accusatory, but bereaved of his usual carefree muse and sincere awkwardness. "Raphtalia, did you already have your growth spurt before?"

Chapter 54: Bitch Lord, I am

"It was a little strange how Raphtalia's clothes grew and shrunk with her. Or how her clothes disappear, and reappear when using her animal transformation. Yes, it's probably part of her ability." Kyubey nods his head along with Naofumi's question. He looks away, continuing to mumble something Mein can't make out.

Just like that, the last true heir of the Q'ten Lo celestial emperor lost all her graceful posture. Raphtalia looks down at her feet, nervously kneading at the blood soaked mud with the tip of her shoes.

"I'm not angry at you, Raphtalia." Naofumi walks in front of the little girl, kneels down on one foot and runs his hand gently through her hair. "I just want to know what's going on."

"Yes... I grew up after we returned from that dungeon with the Spear Hero." The hapless child bites her lower lip between words. There are faint shades of red where her teeth must have left marks. "I... I shouldn't have lied to you. But you only kept me around because I'm young. I don't want to be left alone now that I'm grown up."

Wait, Raphtalia had her growth back in Balafon?

The princess in disguise has to blink a couple of times, trying to process this new information. She thinks back to the morning after their return from the abandoned laboratory, how the raccoon child acted in distress with her cloth torn to pieces...

Of course! The ripped clothes was her body's sudden growth, not from some violent nightmare induced extreme thrashing. And the way Raphtalia acted out after waking was almost exactly the same as how she was screaming at Naofumi when they were fighting the ancient thunder lizard.

The first princess of Melromarc has always prided herself in her ability to read people. That's something her goodie-two-shoe well behaving little sister lacked. Or rather, her sister never bothered to develop the skill to observe others thanks to Mother's constant support.

Yet she missed such obvious tells ... it's enough to make her want to slap herself.

"I'm not angry at you, Raphtalia. And I'm not leaving you along." Naofumi edges closer to the lost princess of Q'ten Lo, and envelops her in a hug. Muffled, broken sobs start to come out of the child. "Your body is grown, but your mind is still a child. You don't have the life experience to make good decisions like a real adult. Hell, adults make stupid decisions all the time. Remember me when I told you to hide in the wagon? I'll be here, we'll all be here to help you figure it out. And we'll stay with you even after you truly become an adult, if you want us to."

"Th, thank you." Tiny arms coil around Naofumi's bulky form and squeeze tight, returning his embrace. "It was horrible... losing Father and Mother... Big sister Sadina and her family... and my friends Rifana and Keel... I don't want to be alone again."

"And you won't be. Master Naofumi and I will hover over you, beating boys wanting to court you away with sticks. A princess has to have a little standard in courtship." Mein also hops over with some help from Éclair. "You'll know you are truly grown up, when you start to get tired of us two shooing boys away from you."

"You are a bad influence on Raphtalia, Mein. Just like Zylden." Naofumi relaxes his arms around Raphtalia. He turns his head to reprimand the undercover princess. But the thin smile on his face shows he bears no bite with his chastise.

"I, I don't care about boys. I mean, Raki was nice. But I want to stay with Master Naofumi, and you, big sister Mein." Raphtalia pulls away from Naofumi too. She takes a few steps forward and holds Mein's hand in her left, while hanging onto Naofumi's hand with her right.

"See, still a child." Mein smiles at Raphtalia, she hears a cough behind them and turns to look. The princess meets the steel gaze from Farkas.

"What do you plan to do with your adult form? Are you still going to stay looking like a child, now your body is already grown?" The wolf man narrows his eyes to glare down at the girl, showing his ability to ignore other people's feelings. "You need practice to use it effectively."

"I don't like staying an adult... It's hard to control myself. I get angry, or sad easily." Raphtalia looks down and starts to take interest on the soil beneath her feet once again. "But... but I want to help all of you fight. I can fight better with my adult body... I think. I know I'm stronger."

Naofumi runs his finger on his chin once again, his eyes turning in his socket. "Why don't we do what Mein suggested?"

When did she suggested anything?

"Remember when I argued with Lautrec? When he tried to force you to kill a monster?" Naofumi looks down at Raphtalia. The princess has almost forgotten about the insane lizard man by this point. They haven't overheard something like a village getting massacred by a mad beastman yet, so that was probably a good sign. "Mein suggested you try to work over your fear slowly, take your time and get used to it. How about we do that for your adult body? Maybe we spend some time every day after sundown, so you'll get used to it?"

"I and Sir Yatsuhashi can also teach little Raphtalia how to fight. So you know how to properly wield a sword when you need to." The Seatto knight looks over at the Miyamoto Clansman. "I mean, if that's agreeable with you?"

"No need for the 'Sir' honorific, Miss Eclea. I was never knighted. Midgardian lords don't do that." The gentle sworn shield holds his hand up. His face is redder than normal, but It's hard to tell if he's blushing with embarrassment or if he still hasn't fully recovered from his near exhaustion. The giant young man looks over at Raphtalia, his head cocked a little to the side. "I'm not sure I can teach anything useful to little Miss Raphtalia other than the breathing technique. I'm used to relying on my strength for my fighting style and she's clearly a more agile fighter. But I can spar with you. You can use the experience of fighting against a heavier opponent."

Raphtalia nods her head furiously through everyone speaking. She looks over to the princess and smiles. "And I'll still practice my magic with big sister Mein, and try to learn sling."

That's a lot of different things the child is training for. It seems despite her young age, Raphtalia will develop into quite the versatile fighter assuming she can achieve at least basic proficiency in them all.

"Then that's decided!" Naofumi let go of Raphtalia for a brief second to clap his hands together. He gives Raphtalia's hair another ruffle before grabs her tiny hand. "Don't feel pressured to learn everything fast, Raphtalia. I don't want you to overwork and hurt yourself. We still have time before the 3rd Wave. And even if you don't get it down... there's the next Wave after."

"Okay." The lost princess looks down. But this time, she has a content smile pasted over her face.

"Raphtalia, sorry I have to bring it up again. But was your father Takeru, Mr. Takeru Hirata?" Kyubey comes out of his soft mumbling. It's always hard to tell what he is thinking with his expressionless, statue-like face and emotionless voice. If the princess can hazard a guess, the rabbit man looks serious this time.

"Does it matter?" The Shield Hero's face contorted a little when the rabbit man mentioned the name 'Takeru'. Mein has to wonder if the obvious Q'ten Lo name has some special meaning. Or perhaps the interloper's bleeding heart dislikes Kyubey opening an old wound for Raphtalia once again.

"No, it's okay. Master Naofumi. I... I'm okay talking about my family now." From the way Raphtalia sucks in a breath like a cracked bellow, she is clearly still NOT okay with her dead family. But the raccoon child continues. "Yes, my father was Takeru Hirata."

"I KNEW it. The name Yamato was familiar. He was the first head of Melromarc Hirata family, and he had a son, Mr. Takeru Hirata." Despite the detached voice, there is a certain firmness in the rabbit man's words that let through a glimpse of his passion. "I know Mr. Takeru had a daughter. The heiress to Hirata family and fortune, the richest demi-human family in Melromarc, and the true builder of Port Harp. But nobody knows who his daughter was, she never attended any social gatherings."

Raphtalia's shoe starts to knead the blood soaked mud once again as Kyubey rambles on. It's rather strange, no, completely unthinkable to the princess of Melromarc, but it seems the last heir and true ruler of Q'ten Lo people doesn't like the idea of living up to her status.

If Mein herself has Raphtalia's birthright, she would make sure to flaunt and rub it in the face of everyone she meets. Status give claim to rights, after all. If her ancestor Queen Evangeline wasn't the descendant of the rulers of the old Hibernia, she would not have had enough influence to have the nobles to rally behind her, and there would have been no glorious Melromarc to pass down to her mother.

"I can't believe it... the daughter of Mr. Takeru Hirata. All this time everyone thought you were being sheltered at home, or secretly sent to some influential family friend in Faubley to keep safe. You are running around in the dirt with all the other urchins. I saw you plenty of times running in front of my shop with your friends."

"Yeah. Father didn't want me to grow into a conceited noble, chasing after baseless dreams of what we lost. He wanted me to be a normal child, to be thankful for what I do have." Mein knows the little raccoon girl doesn't mean it, especially considering Raphtalia doesn't even know her real identity or past.

She still can't help but feel she got slapped in the face by the confession.

"Come to think about it. Wasn't you there that one time some kid broke the window of my shop?" The former shopkeeper turns to stare into Raphtalia's eyes. "Pretty sure I heard her yelling your name when you were running away."

"That time Keel got a sling." Raphtalia is starting to turn red at the mention. "I'm so sorry, Mr. Kyubey. I should have stopped her... or I should have stayed behind and paid you back. I was afraid of what Father would say when he found out..."

"I can pay you back now, if you still want it." Naofumi looks between Raphtalia and Kyubey, the good natured Shield Hero offers for the former shopkeeper. "Don't want any hard feelings between you two."

"It's alright. I own her father more than a broken window or two." Kyubey walks forward, putting his good hand on Raphtalia's shoulder and shakes his head. "Mr. Takeru lent me the coins to buy my shop."

"I heard plenty of good things from Father about Mr. Takeru too." Éclair mumbles beside Mein. She begins to raise her voice when she notices everyone looking at her. "It bodes ill to speak of the dead... but from what I heard Mr. Yamato was not exactly... generous with his wealth. He spends money only when he knows he'll gain much more back. Mr. Takeru on the other hand is willing to spend money without return, if he can help someone less fortunate."

"Father didn't care for his status as the grandson of great grandfather Emperor Kajirou. But he's always willing to help our people. I think he felt sad for everyone losing our homes... great grandfather was the one who released the stored up magic in the ancient ever-blooming Holy Sakura to wipe out Siltveltian invaders. He'd rather destroy our land than letting Mikage have it. 'Because it's better to be shattered jade'." Raphtalia nods her head along. She looks up at Naofumi, whose sight is locked onto her now. "Father... he always speaks softly to Mother, and myself. But every time he speak about great grandfather, he always sounds so angry..."

"Of course, 'shattered jade'..." Naofumi narrows his eyes, his voice sounds bitter.

Raphtalia pulls his hand a couple of times, probably trying to distract him with whatever trance he is in. "Yeah. Just like your voice now, Master Naofumi."

"Don't worry, Raphtalia. I'm okay." Naofumi runs his hand through the girl's hair again to placate her. "To think your great grandfather self-nuked his country. I'm so sorry for what you went through."

The Shield Hero clamps up afterwards. He probably has nothing nice to say about the last Q'ten Lo celestial emperor, but doesn't want to bad mouth someone from Raphtalia's family.

"It's okay. I have never been to Q'ten Lo myself so I don't know what it's like. I still had my family and friends growing up, and that's enough." Raphtalia's eyes slowly become misty, she rests her face on the back of Naofumi's hand. "I miss them all."

"Well, well, well... the Shield Hero, AND the descendants of the rat king congregate together. Boohoo! Cry me a river! All of your dirty nobles are the same." A venomous hiss worms its way into everyone's ear before Naofumi even has a chance to comfort the lost Q'ten Lo princess.

Mein turns around like everyone else. She sees the Bitch Lord squirming, and struggling with her arms and legs. Probably trying to free herself. But whatever the Shiltfreeden shiv bounded her is strong enough to hold a level 40.

"Rich nobles like your father are the WORST! They pretend to care, and have everyone sing their praises!" Realizing she can't break the bound, the Bitch Lord glares at Raphtalia and spits at the girl's direction. "They don't care about the suffering of commoners, and even less for slaves!"

"I beg to differ. Mr. Takeru had no reason to lend me money." Kyubey raises his deformed arm. "He doesn't know if a mal-born like me can pay him back. And I'm hardly the only one he helped."

"You think disgusting freaks and meager commoners help matters? Or I haven't seen nobles EXACTLY like him before!? I have this world figured out long ago, not like you tail wagging walking dogs and bootlickers." The captured bandit leader spats at Kyubey next. "They leave you some scraps and have you all sing praises in their names, when they are still rich enough to binge on cakes and imported Siltveltian vintage wine every day!"

It occurs to the first princess that it's rather ironic that the dog demi-human and the self proclaimed 'Bitch' Lord is insulting others by calling them dogs.

The captive bandit leader takes a deep breath and sneers back towards Raphtalia. "People like you disgust me! Never know what real pain and suffering is like, and think yourself so high and mighty and noble when you give some pocket lint to the real downtrodden. You are no different than the Rabiers! Think they are some saint of virtue when they make sure all us slaves are fed extra slops, don't die from diseases, and invite us to join them in harvest feasts... WE are the one who broke our backs every day to put the food and their liquor on their table and filled their vault with coins!"

"Now, hold on here. I agree with you - it's bad to own other people like property, or cattle. But that has nothing to do with Raphtalia's family..." Naofumi puts his arms up and walks towards the Bitch Lord.

Privately, Mein considers it rather pointless to placate the bruised pride of a bandit leader. Her execution is already decided with her long history of crimes AND assisting a foreign power to subvert glorious Melromarc. But clearly her Naofumi can't help himself when the topic of slavery is involved.

"AND YOU! What have YOU done, oh mighty Shield Hero. God, and saviors of us 'beasts'." Bitch Lord's voice is full of mocking reverence. The animal is clearly incapable of any emotion other than contempt and scorn. An angry version of Kyubey, it seems. Much more dangerous than the rabbit man's passive servitude. "What have you done for us, the demi-human and slaves?!"

"Master Naofumi bought and freed us. Kyubey, Farkas and myself... and there was also Lautrec. But he ran off as soon as Master Naofumi freed him." Raphtalia winces when the Bitch Lord glares at her again, but the child doesn't back down. She is quick to defend the honor of the Shield Hero, unlike her own family.

"The only smart man out of you sorry lot! He knew a fraud and cowards can't be trusted!" To Mein's surprise, Naofumi positively recoils at the accusation launched from the captured bandit. Surely, he has no need to feel guilty from baseless accusations of a criminal. Or perhaps, he felt chastised when a demi-human and a slave accused him of not doing enough.

His bleeding heart truly is his biggest weakness.

"Hold your tongue when you want to besmirch my thane, meager cur! I might take the liberty to remove it from your mouth!" Yatsuhashi pulls his great sword up from his back with a teeth achingly loud scrape. His face hasn't turned into a full ogre yet, but it's starting to rear its ugly head.

"What, I hit somewhere it hurts? Go ahead! You bootlicker! I know the gallows await me anyway!" The Bitch Lord only sneers back at the bodyguard who is slowly losing his battle against his rage.

The sworn shield takes a step towards the downed bandit, but Naofumi puts a hand on his shoulder to stop him. The giant young man looks back, at the slightly shorter interloper who shakes his head. "She'll get a fair trial and what's coming for her. But please, no vigilantism. I already heard... and seen where that leads to. An innocent man died in Lute, because someone from Four Heroes' Church thought he was above the law. It's not worth it."

Then Yatsuhashi takes a few deeper breaths, slowly calming himself back down. He returns the curved greatsword to his back once more. "Of course, my thane."

"What, am I supposed to feel thankful towards you?" The Bitch Lord scoffs right back at the Shield Hero's kindness with more hatred and defiance.

"You aren't obligated to feel anything. But I want to help the slaves, stop slavery if I can." Naofumi's face is once again solemn, without any of his usual awkwardness. Moment like this reminds Mein why he was chosen amongst his peers by his mentors as one of the four Cardinal Heroes to be send... sacrificed for their world. "It's too late for you, but I want to hear your story. Why do you hate us so much?"

"Yeah! Master Naofumi isn't a fraud, he's even less - a coward! He's been nothing but kind to us. He made sure we are all fed, healthy, and safe!" Once again, Raphtalia puts in a valiant, if useless effort to defend the Shield Hero's honor.

The princess would have given the pretentious bandit a piece of her own mind. But she probably can't stop herself from executing vigilante justice like Yatsuhashi almost did a moment ago. It's probably better she controls herself, and let the Bitch Lord stay in one piece and alive when Naofumi brings her to the authorities. No need to trade short term satisfaction for long term prestigious gain after all.

"He's the Shield Hero. He is useless by himself, and he needs others to swing a sword for him. Just like those fat and filthy Rabier piggards needed us slaves to work their fields! He took cared you all because he had a use for you!" The Bitch Lord spats at the raccoon child, making both the lost princess and the summoned hero flinch once again. The cur probably feels vindicated when she mistakes Naofumi's leniency for admission of guilt. She moves her head slightly back, eyes narrowed in smugness. "Tell me, oh great Shield Hero who wants to end slavery. Why have you only helped four slaves so far, if you cared so much about slaves like us? Do you not know there are hundreds... if not thousands of slaves in every province of this wretched land!? Why do you not have more slaves trailing behind you!?"

"I... I can only help so many." Naofumi looks down in shame. "I know I haven't nearly done enough... but what good if I free slaves but can't protect them, or make sure they won't end back in slavery? Even my companions were almost taken from me by the king after the 2nd Wave!"

"So you know the nobles are the problem, and you did NOTHING about it! Why aren't you out there carving a path across slavers and dirty noble piggards!? Spill their blood from their neck, and have them wet their pants between their legs!" The Bitch Lord snarls at the Shield Hero.

Mein feels her blood runs cold. She guessed the bandit leader to be a faithless lowlife barely worth whatever slop she ingested as a babe to grow up. Working with those animal scoundrels from Siltvelt more than proved it. But is the Bitch Lord serious trying to convince her Naofumi to start a war on nobility at large?

She needs to put a stop to it! The last thing she needs is for her Naofumi to become the current Hammer Hero, and start a rebellion against all reason.

"Don't listen to this insane rube, Master Naofumi! I know there are corrupted nobles, but there are also good ones! Our lord Count Ascart takes care of all of us, and he never used slaves!" The princess in disguise quickly throws herself onto Naofumi's arm and shakes him. "We'll be left without a protector if he is gone. And even he can only do so much to defend us if the whole nation is at war with one another! Especially with the Wave still going on!"

"Don't worry. I don't want to start a bloody revolution, or war. It's not good for anyone to collapse the social order even without the Wave." Naofumi turns around to look at Mein in the eyes, she can clearly see the sincerity and knows he's not just giving her empty platitudes.

"So you refuse to punish those responsible for the injustice, make excuses, and go back to kiss the asses of those piggard nobles. And you don't think you are a fraud and a coward?" Naofumi's face falls once again at the Bitch Lord's accusations. "You want to know my story? Fine, wash your ears and listen to how I did more for slaves than you, a so-called legendary hero, ever did!"

"Have you, any of you ever eaten a meal prepared by your own mother, you pampered piggards? I haven't! I don't even know who my mother or my sirer are! A slave born into slavery, all I ever had to look forward to is fighting over scraps and leftovers with other slaves to fill myself, and work my hands raw in the field. And for what? So the noble piggards who owns me from birth can gorge themselves with roasts, and wine everyday!"

"But you see, turns out I wasn't fated to be a slave forever and fortune smiled on me. The Rabiers, they weren't respected by their fellow noble piggards. They were only commoners over two hundred years ago, and they never married any of those big name families either. And they had a fat little piglet of a son named Idol."

"One day, he ran away from his home into the field I was working in. You see, he's a little shit crybaby who can't throw a punch, or even properly hold a fist and he got his face punched bloody by some fellow noble piglets. I taught him how to make a proper fist, and how to punch people. Earned him enough respect from his fellow noble piglets, and the little shit worshipped the ground I, a slave walks on afterwards."

"And we grow up together like that. He gave me food stolen from his family pantry, and wine from the cellar to me. I teach him useful things a noble piglet like him won't ever learn from his bootlickers and fellow piggards. The piglet even talks about marrying me when he grows up, or runs away with me if his father forces him to marry some noble swine. HAH! As if I want anything from the filthy piglet other than his wealth. Honestly, if everything continues like that, I might have settled as his mistress. Who knows, maybe I'll stab a knife into any noble swine he married, kick them down the moat once he's Lord Rabier, and be his Lady Rabier like the piggard wanted. But something even more fortunate happened."

"You see, the Red Swine started a war with Siltvelt and she got betrayed by her ally, and this land was invaded by those pure-breeds. I suggested to the piglet, and he convinced his piggard of a father to take all the slaves into their keep to 'protect' us from the Siltvelt army. It's easy, oh so easy to slip more liquor into their gate guards than they can take, and convince some of the other slaves to open the gate for the army."

"As for the little piglet... Well, I made his mother kiss my foot before I gutted him like the pig he is. The look of pure despair on his face... I treasured that memory. That was the greatest day of my life..." The Bitch Lord takes a deep breath, and she hisses in pure ecstasy as she relives her memory.

Mein can feel her own breath become rugged too although for a different reason. She quickly tries to force her back into the Miyamoto Clan breathing rhythm taught to her. The Shiltfreeden shivs are gone, there's no more miracle pills to save her if her heart is about to rupture again. She hesitates to look towards her Naofumi and little Raphtalia.

The Shield Hero's eyes twitch with barely contained loathing. Raphtalia's eyes are wide open, mouth hangs even wider with what can only be described as a silent scream of pure, abject horror.

"Well, at least I'm more human than this thing. I was a smug braggart and downright fool, but even I don't bite the hand that feeds me like a rabid dog." Gaston crosses over his arms and sneers down at the Bitch Lord like something he scraped off his boots.

"There are plenty of demi-humans in Siltvelt who knows the meaning of loyalty and honor." Farkas scoffs at the Bitch Lord too. "Clearly, this treacherous land can only rise deceitful animals who needs to be put down."

"HOW COULD YOU!" With what can only be called a snarl, Raphtalia completely loses control of her emotions and lunges at the Bitch Lord even in her child body. She'd probably harm herself as much as she hurt the bandit if Naofumi didn't quickly grab him. The child still screams and kicks even in his arms. "YOU BETRAYED THE TEACHINGS OF THE LADY! OUR PATRON GODDESS!"

"The Lady, HAH! She's a goddess invented by those brutal noble piggards to preach submission!" The Bitch Lord spits right back into the child's face. "You should THANK me! After those Siltvelt inbreds left me in Rabier County, I freed more slaves than your precious hero!"

"What are they talking about, this lady?" Naofumi looks around at everyone, trying to understand the religious context he is clearly missing. "Was she the same one she talked about back in Whiterun?"

"There are three 'ladies' in our faith..." Éclair also has to take a good, hard breath to speak. Her even tone is clearly forced, with some emotion leaking out. "Actually, there's some religious debate if there are really three, or three different faces of the same goddess... but the one Raphtalia is referring to now is Lady of the Sword. The Eternal Bride of Chief God, goddess of loyalty, patron of the weak, downtrodden and slaves. Legend has it she was born a slave. Our Chief God freed her when he was still a man walking the earth and not a god, in return she gave him her eternal loyalty, never leaving his side. And when he ascended into our pantheon, she ascended by his side as his bride."

Naofumi blinks his eyes a couple of times. He mutters it under his breath. "That's not a good lesson..."

"What, have nothing to say back? But what can you bootlickers and piggards say, when I, the Queen Bitch of Rabier County did more to punish the evil piggard nobles and help slaves than your precious Shield Hero! You can hang me, but you'll always remember I did much more for the slaves than you'll ever do with your ass kissing!" The Bitch Lord breaks into maniacal laughter as Raphtalia slowly goes quiet in Naofumi's arms.

Mein balls up both of her hands into fist, to the point she feels like her appendages are about to explode into blood and gore. There is a thick, heavy fire that seems to burn in her chest as she tries to keep it under control. On a rational level, she knows what she's about to do isn't smart. But if she holds herself back, she might burst her heart from the Bitch Lord's incandescent smugness.

So the first princess of Melromarc takes a few steps forward, till she stands right beside the Bitch Lord. Who is currently too busy enjoying her last laugh to notice.

And she kicks the Bitch Lord's head with all her might.

After the loud bang the grating laughter stops, and for a short time there is only the peace of silence as the sun slowly rises above, bathing everyone in soothing morning light. "Shut up, Bitch."

Nobody stops her. Naofumi was too busy making sure Raphtalia was still okay. Nobody else has any sympathy to spare for a faithless criminal.

The Bitch Lord blinks a couple of time, slowly recovering from the dizziness caused by a traveling boot to her head. She hisses at Mein with full scorn when she comes to. "Have no words left to defend your precious hero, so you are silencing me with brutal force now? You bootlickers truly are predictable!"

"No words left? Hardly. You are the one who started a war you are unarmed to fight. My lord." The princess in disguise turns her nose at the downed bandit, mocking her self-proclaimed title. "You mock the Shield Hero for not helping enough slaves. You claim he only helped as many as he did because he needed to exploit the manpower just like the nobles needed to exploit their own man. Perhaps there is certain truth to that... but answer me this, how are you any different? How are you better than the slaves you freed yourself?"

"I punished the evil noble piggards! I granted the slaves freedom! How can you even compare me to those piggard-" The Bitch Lord's spat is interrupted by Mein when she gives another kick to her head.

"FREEDOM !? Is that what you call it ?!" Mein spits on the Bitch Lord's face, she stomps her foot on the mouth of the fallen bandit to stop her squealing. She puts more force behind her legs as her breath becomes more and more rapid. Anger is the only thing fueling her at this point. "And all the innocent people you hurt, lives uprooted with your banditry... All you've really done is just give people in this country EVEN MORE reason to hate demi-humans! Congratulations! You've worsened the lives of demi-human everywhere and made people hate your kind even more ! Absolutely brilliant ... my lord."

The princess of Melromarc turns her head to look at both the Shield Hero, and the Q'ten Lo princess. Both of them frozen like statues, clearly shocked at seeing her outburst. She turns to sneer at the scum of earth below her feet again.

"You say Raphtalia and Naofumi don't understand anything? You are the only one not understanding a single thing! You think having someone to love, and loving them back makes them pampered? It only hurts more when their loved ones are taken away and they can't do anything to stop it! Raphtalia's home is a ruin, everyone she knows is brutally murdered in front of her. Naofumi was killed in his own world so his soul can be summoned to save us here in Medea, he can never return to his loved ones!"

She hears an unintelligent squeaking gibberish that sounds like the summoned hero, but he doesn't say anything. Perhaps he still hasn't found his voice back.

"And they still cared about others more than themselves! Showing uncompromising kindness, loyalty, to everyone around them and bravery against everything threaten Medea. As for YOU!"

"Your men lived in squalor. They looked malnourished and sick! And let's not forget... you sold out the man under you to those Siltvelt crooks you yourself too busy kissing the behind to keep your power!" The first princess continues to kick, and stomp the Bitch Lord. She puts more force behind her legs as her breath becomes more and more rapid. "And for all your posturing and pontification, where were any of your men!? Why didn't any of them follow you if you were such a great leader!? Why did you leave them behind to die, when you escaped to the Rabier Keep's master bedroom besides your damned SILTVELT MASTER!"

"I'll tell you why. Because you DO NOT CARE about anyone but yourself! You see all those slaves you freed as a tool for you, no different than the nobles, and the Shield Hero you supposedly despise! You are even worse! You don't even take care of them!"

"You said you saw enough nobles to know they are bad? You think I haven't seen enough of the likes of YOU?!"

"You are a vain *KICK*, selfish *STOMP*, greedy *KICK*, sadistic *STOMP, KICK* worthless piece of trash, and you only care about YOURSELF! YOU BITCH!" With one last kick, Mein sends the Bitch Lord flipping over onto her back. She is about to pursue the scum of earth and brutalize her some more till she feels arms around her.

"STOP! Stop it, MEIN! You have to remember breathing!" Naofumi's voice makes the princess in disguise realize once again how ragged her breath has become, and how fast her heart is beating out of her chest.

Mein opens her mouth, but no sound comes out again. She takes some more breaths to control herself, calming enough of her heart beat to say the only thing she can manage. "I- I'm sorry."

"There's nothing to be sorry for! But it's not worth it. Don't get so angry at Bitch Lord for me, or Raphtalia and kill yourself!" As the princess feels the comforting arms of her Naofumi around her, the world in her sight begins to blur. "NO! Please, please don't cry! I don't know what to do when a girl cries!"

Her Naofumi, Shield Hero is completely wrong. She didn't get angry enough to kill herself at the Bitch Lord for him, or little Raphtalia.

She was angry at this... this creature so much, because she sees her exact reflection within the Bitch Lord. And she HATES it!

The Bitch Lord is a worthless, filthy half-breed demi-human slave without any claim to her name. The first princess of glorious Melromarc descent from the royal house of Hibernia kingdom, one of the seven oldest human nations in history. Her line also has countless prestigious bloodlines, other old royal families, and hero lineage ingested into her breed. There should be nothing similar between the two of them.

Yet the way the Bitch Lord insatiably lusts over everything she doesn't have, and willing to go through any length, willing to stab everyone in the back to get it. How is this Bitch any different than she herself, who wants to sit on the throne after her mother above all else?

Uncle Aldrecht was right, of course he was right. She knows her father was making a huge mistake in summoning all four heroes, and antagonizes the Shield Hero in particular. Yet all she thought about was how to exploit the situation for her own gain. Instead of thinking about how to fix the situation, or stand together with Father to weather the coming storm.

Even now, she still isn't even trying to fix what's broken between Father and herself. She isn't even trying to tell the truth to her Naofumi, even if she knows he'll be more likely to forgive her for lying if he hears it from her than someone else. Because she knows how much her Naofumi detests politics, and he only wishes to live a simple life.

If he knows that she is the first princess of the nation that hates him, he'll make her choose. Stay with him and live the simple life of a commoner, or break away from him to pursue the throne by herself while he goes to save the world and then live his simple life. She'll lose her only possible advantage over her younger sister: the support of a competent and prestigious hero. She will lose everything, for what does she have over her younger sister other than being able to ride a hero's coattails?

She can keep telling herself that she had no choice. She already started in this game of thrones, and you either win or you die when you play. But the truth is, she is in the game, because she wants the throne herself. Nothing short of sitting on it will satisfy her.

She IS the Bitch Lord. Always was, and always will be.

The first princess of glorious Melromarc can only close her eyes and weep.


End Note:

If anyone was wondering. Yes, what happened with Mikage, Poko and Isshin sixty years ago in my story is basically what happened to Naofumi and Raphtalia in LN. Just with BS cheat code Japan nuked itself out of existence instead of conquered by the Shield Hero in question. But that's not a big lose, considering Mikage already had Siltvelt bend their knee to him at the time.

And yes, in my story Raphtalia is actually aware of her lineage. We'll actually delve into this later in the story. As her growth spurt, yes, she already had her adult body halfway into Bio-plant mini-arc. She's just been hiding it because she's afraid what Naofumi would do if he knows she's already 'grown up'.

As for the meat of this chapter, Abby the Bitch Lord. Just like I suspected Idol Rabier was created as a foil for Naofumi, she too is created as a foil. In this case, both for Raphtalia and Malty (although one can say those two are already foils of each other). She has a backstory more similar to Raphtalia, but her personality is all canon Malty.

And once again, yes, I'm not even hiding how her backstory with Idol Rabier was transparently emulating what happened with Naofumi and Raphtalia. But in this case, the slave turns out to be psychologically manipulating her own master the whole time, and she betrayed him in the worst way possible. And yeah, their backstory is also written with canon in mind. I think having his entire family killed by the demi-human girl he loved since a boy would give him a strong reason on why he hates demi-human (especially children) so much, he takes the hobby of torture them to death for fun later in his life.

While the whole 'equivalent exchange' is Fullmetal Alchemist's most famous theme, I think that whole 'chain of hate' concept for the Ishval plotline also shouldn't be understated. What happened to Abby and House Rabier is a good example of what happens when the chain isn't broken.

Guest review time:

To Guest(s):

Melty is slow to appear in this story since my ultra slow pacing, but don't worry! There will definitely be some sisterly fluff between them (ironic, I know), as well as some jealousy on Melty's part when she sees Raphtalia hogging her cool older sister who used to take her for joy rides, and read her stories.

XD

Okay, I confess I didn't take different social standard of different culture into consideration. And you give me something more to think about. Actually, when I do take into consideration of how Eastern (not just Japan) culture differ from Western culture with us easterners usually being more authoritarian and hierarchical, a lot of the author's creative decisions made more sense.

I don't know how accurate this translation is, but in Chinese translated Japanese works there is a very prevalent term used to describe employees of a company, which can be translated into English as 'corporate cattle'... which implies even less dignity and autonomy than western equivalent of 'corporate drones'. And if most Japanese seeing working for a company as being cattle for them, it certainly explained why the author didn't see anything wrong with embracing and glorifying slavery.

Yeah, consult both doctor and pharmacist when taking prescription in real life, but it doesn't have the same ring to just 'consult the doctor'. And I think RotSH's world haven't divided the role of doctor and pharmacist yet, and they would probably all known as healer.

:P

Also, congratulations on being spot on for Raphtalia's growth!