Chapter 6 / Overcome Fear
"Raphtalia, I know it's bitter, but you won't get better if you don't drink up the medicine."
"Cough… Cough… A-alright…"
As Raphtalia took the medicine into her hand, she took a deep breath. Drinking a few times already didn't change how it tasted. She couldn't get used to the bitterness, after all. She already wasted a few of them the first time that Naofumi gave them to her, but seeing that her Master was making the medicine from scratch, it felt wrong to spit it out.
"Bleh… It's still yucky though…"
"Please put up with it for just a little bit longer."
Her nervousness faded as they spent more time together. She was being more open about how she actually felt instead of keeping her thoughts lodged next to her heart.
Even so, Naofumi softly laughed at the reaction, rubbing her head as a sign of a good job. Her ears twitched, but she didn't move her head much. They actually quivered as if she was enjoying the headpats, letting her giggle at how gentle her new Master had been.
It had been about a week since Raphtalia was bought from the slave trader. Getting her cleaned up, letting her eat properly, having her take medicine to resolve her coughs—Naofumi did everything he could for her during that time.
Although Raphtalia was scared at first, she came around and warmed up to the hero. Although he didn't really want to, he still did need someone to fight for him. With Erhart's help, Raphtalia was provided with a basic dagger to serve as his damage against monsters. He was even able to buy her some better clothing instead of keeping her in those rags.
However, she was rather reluctant to fight in the beginning and Naofumi never tried to force her to do it. It took a day of following behind him, but she decided to help out after seeing what Naofumi's hardships were.
Afterwards, Naofumi was able to grow stronger than before. Unfortunately, the weapons he unlocked from Itsuki's materials had a level requirement to them, so he couldn't actually use them. And he had been getting unlucky on the percentage rates on the luck-based strengthening methods. He then remembered the recommendation that his friend gave to him.
With the map they received from Erhart, Naofumi was able to set course to a nearby mining town. That was where they were headed as of now. It would only take a day, maybe two, to get there.
When night came around, Naofumi and Raphtalia would sit around a campfire, finishing their meals before they were to head off to sleep. It was dangerous to have both people dormant, so Naofumi told Raphtalia to sleep first. In the meantime, he was still trying to get some good medicine for Raphtalia using a shield he had unlocked.
It could have been done automatically using the shield, but he discovered that if he manually made it, the quality could go up based on his performance. It was a lot more work, but if it helped Raphtalia, he wouldn't mind putting in some elbow grease.
However, he always kept close to Raphtalia just in case her night panic returned.
She would always be calling for her parents in fear, as if something terrible happened to them. He wasn't going to ask, especially if she was uncomfortable about it, but if they found her inside a slave market, he didn't want to imagine what must have happened. He knew he wasn't a fit to be a parental substitute, but by holding her hand, she would calm down and return to a sound sleep.
They were able to arrive at the village before the end of the next day.
There was an entry fee to enter, but thanks to Raphtalia's efforts, he could easily afford it. For now, it was a good idea to be refreshed and get rested for tomorrow's work for mineshaft exploration.
Compared to the capital, it was less rowdy. He would dare to call this place to be rather peaceful with adults coming about their slow days and kids running around, playing with each other.
Raphtalia's gaze rested upon the passing children. As she solemnly looked, she felt Naofumi's hand hold onto her head, rubbing it a bit as if to knowingly soothe her. Naofumi couldn't remove the fact that he was basically stripping Raphtalia's childhood from her by making her help him.
"Now that we're here, we should probably find some food."
She nodded. "I'm feeling hungry."
Over to the next corner, they found a cozy little restaurant.
A waitress brought them over to their table as they got seated. Menus were already laid out on the table as Raphtalia looked to see what was available. She never had the option to pick as a slave, but her new master was very nice. As long as she could finish it, Naofumi would allow it.
It was almost like how her parents told her to treat her meals, but she wasn't sure what would be nice to eat. Her attention swayed away when she noticed another child eating with a family, specifically his meal. The little boy was treated with multiple portions of food, ranging from potatoes to meat with some pudding on the side. Her mouth almost watered when she saw it.
Something like that didn't slip by Naofumi's attention; that, and it was easier for him. He didn't actually know how to read the language here, so the menu looked like scribbles.
"Uhm, excuse me?" he called over to the waitress. "I'll take the cheapest meal here while the girl will take whatever that child over there is having."
The waitress returned with the meals not before long, leaving Raphtalia with sparkling eyes to the meal in front of her. In comparison, Naofumi received a simple plate of some bacon and vegetables on the side.
"Are you… sure that's all you'll be eating, Master Naofumi?" Raphtalia looked at him with concern.
"This is already enough," Naofumi said, gently smiling at her. If her master was saying it was alright, she didn't have the place to complain. She had the habit of eating with her hands from her time in slavery, so Naofumi had to slowly reteach her the table manners.
"There's no rush, Raphtalia. I'm not forcing you to eat quickly here," Naofumi laughed. "A meal should be properly enjoyed whenever we get some quiet time like this. I remember when Motoyasu first got a taste of my cooking, he…"
His mind caught on to what he was going to say. It was so natural for him to talk about his friends that he didn't realize the mere mention of Motoyasu would have sent his memories back to the trial. A bitterness suddenly welled up in his chest as his words trailed off to obscurity.
"Master Naofumi?" Raphtalia's call pulled him out of his thoughts. "You haven't touched your food yet. Is something wrong?"
Naofumi didn't realize that he was lost in his own thoughts.
"I'm fine. Don't worry about it."
However, Raphtalia doubted him. As her master gave her safety and protection, it came in turn that she started worrying about her master. Maybe if Naofumi was distracted, he wouldn't look so sad.
Raphtalia split off a piece of her mashed potatoes to a spoon and held it up to Naofumi. She was a bit nervous to say anything; her arm was shaking quite a bit.
"R-Raphtalia…?"
She immediately realized what she was doing to regret it, being so embarrassed at doing something like that. Her hand slowly pulled itself back.
"Does the food taste good?" Naofumi's sudden question spurred Raphtalia a bit.
"U-uhm, yes, it is…I-I mean, it does. It tastes really good!"
"Then do you mind if I have a quick taste?"
"O-of course!"
Raphtalia's spoon went over to Naofumi's plate, hastily tapping the scooped mashed potatoes off. Now that she was mindful, there was no way she was going to feed her master. Naofumi took a smaller portion and quickly got a whiff of it before eating it.
They finished their meals in peace and headed off to an inn. Naofumi got changed out of his equipment and while it was easier to leave it out, it was better to be safe than sorry. He stored it into his inventory instead so that he could pull it out in the morning.
Raphtalia had been standing by the open window in the meanwhile, watching below to the people heading home and closing up stores. There was still one thing he wanted to do for her.
"Hey, Raphtalia? Come into the washroom for a little bit."
She walked over, following her master's voice to see that he was preparing a stool in front of a mirror. In his hand, there were scissors as Raphtalia gazed over to him in confusion.
"It was probably a bit late for this, but I was planning to have your hair cut. It'll be cleaner because you've been taking baths now, but there's only so much you can do when your hair's all unkempt and messy like that."
"You're going to cut my hair?"
"I hope you don't mind."
Even though he didn't have much experience in cutting hair and styling it, Motoyasu always did it for himself. He would occasionally give out a few pointers over casual conversations and from how he explained it, it shouldn't have been too difficult. The tanuki ears might serve as an interesting obstacle.
"S-sure…"
She hopped onto the stool, letting Naofumi do his job. It took more time than Naofumi would have assumed, mostly because he kept constantly second-guessing himself, but he was satisfied with what he ended up with. Though, his judgment was unimportant.
"Alright, all done. What do you think? Not bad, huh?"
Raphtalia immediately leaned forward, seeing her hair for herself. Suddenly, tears were starting to well up. It was probably the sight that made her realize that she didn't feel like a slave anymore, instead being shown that it was alright to be a normal girl again. She wiped the tears before they could come out, but whatever the reason, Naofumi came over to soothe her hiccuping cries.
"T-thank you…"
"Hey, now. There's no need to cry over something like this. I'll cut your hair whenever you need me to do so, alright? The next time will probably be better."
"This is already more than what I could ask for…"
As he was sweeping Raphtalia's departed hair off the ground, his shield started to react. It was similar to looking for materials to unlock new shields for him, but he couldn't figure out what the shield wanted that was in close proximity.
"Oh, it can… take in the hair?"
It took a few minutes for Naofumi to piece things together and while it was a bit odd to be absorbing a girl's leftover hair like that, it did give him another shield. It was something called a [Raccoon Shield]. If the shield took in Raphtalia's hair like it was another material, could that mean he could theoretically use it power up his strengthening—
—Naofumi stopped thinking about it. It was becoming more ridiculous as he went on, going off to throw out the rest of the hair in a bin. The shield itself would be something he'll have to remind himself to look at later, but for now, it was a chore to finish up.
As Raphtalia relaxed on the bed after taking a bath, Naofumi was working on making more medicine. He was able to make one that was easier for Raphtalia to take without instinctively gagging after stomaching it.
Her coughs were almost gone and all the extra that he was making could be sold the next morning for some good money. It would be a bit of a shame to stop practicing since he was getting pretty good at it, so he was going to keep making medicine and potions.
"Master Naofumi?" He dismissed his work temporarily. "Are you not coming to sleep?"
"I was just planning to sleep after I'm finished with this work here. I won't be up for too long. Sleep is important, after all, especially for someone of your age. Go ahead and sleep first."
"Alright…" She rolled over to one side of the bed, leaving the other half free.
"You don't have to stick to one side," Naofumi laughed. "You're allowed to take the entire bed."
Raphtalia genuinely looked confused. "You're not sleeping on the bed, Master Naofumi?"
"I don't need to. I can take out the sleeping bag and rest on the floor. I didn't really think about getting a room with two beds until everything was already settled."
"B-but…"
Her words trailed off as if she was nervous about something else, but Naofumi already had a feeling of what she was trying to say. "Are you scared that the nightmares would come back?"
Raphtalia simply nodded her head. "C-could you sleep with me on the bed? I feel a lot safer when you're nearby like that. J-just…" She looked almost terrified as she continued, as that nervousness transformed into a tremble. Something further than the nightmares had held her. "Just please… don't leave me…"
Before Naofumi could think, his arms reached out for Raphtalia, holding her against his chest.
"Don't worry. I won't leave you," Naofumi said softly. "I'll protect you, Raphtalia."
Naofumi underestimated how odd it would feel to have a child cling onto him as he slept. While being careful not to toss and turn, it probably took an extra hour to close his eyes for the night.
-/IV/-
"Where did you get these potions?"
The merchant at the village held up one of the vials from the set Naofumi brought onto the table.
"I picked it up a while ago," Naofumi merely responded. "Anyways, do we have a deal?"
"Fifty silvers for all of this? You certainly got yourself a deal."
Receiving a considerable fraction of what pocket change the king had provided to him, Naofumi had been counting the coins to make sure everything was correct.
He finished up his business at the store and called out to Raphtalia, who had been mindlessly browsing the knick knacks and candy they had on the side. She had her eyes on a certain box, prompting Naofumi to slide two copper coins to the merchant.
"I'll be taking a few of those ones as well."
The merchant chuckled. "Yes, of course. Go ahead."
Naofumi reached out before Raphtalia's sight, making her jump a bit, before grabbing one for her. Naofumi popped one in his own mouth to make sure it wasn't too heavy on the sugar, but to his surprise, it was pretty well-rounded. It resembled hard candy back in his world.
Raphtalia happily took one and stuffed it into her mouth.
"By the way, there's a mineshaft around these parts, right? I heard about it from some friends, but I wanted to make sure I got the right place."
"There's one on the outskirts of Riyute. We're a mining village, after all."
"There'll be people there already?"
"You won't find anyone," he said, shaking his head. "Haven't you heard the news? The mines are dangerous right now. Ever since the wave of destruction hit Melromarc, there's been sightings of strong monsters taking refuge inside of the place."
"I'll keep that in mind. Thanks for the heads up."
"No problem, kid. Stay alert and stay safe."
It took about an hour to travel over to the mine.
There were buildings made here to serve as resting posts for workers of the area, but it's been long since abandoned. There were holes in the walls, minecarts flipped over, and unkept surroundings.
It was like a small little ghost town with a mine at the far back of the area, attached right into a large mountain. It was like a perfect setting out of a video game, giving Naofumi a few shudders. After a few minutes of resting, Raphtalia was good to go..
"Master Naofumi? If we're going mining, shouldn't we have some tools?"
"Yeah, I was thinking about buying some equipment for that back at Riyute, but when I heard that there was an abandoned station in front of the mines, I thought that there might have been something we could use here. Let's take a look and hope we don't have to walk all the way back."
The locks on the doors felt weak. In fact, they were—a single tug from Naofumi was able to pull it off rather easily, giving them access to the nearby building. As luck would have it, it appeared to be a storage facility of equipment. He started looking through it, trying to find what they were here for, but in the meantime, there were a few things that the shield wanted to absorb for unlocking.
One of them was a piece of rope.
[Rope Shield + 0] 0/30 - C
(Equip Bonus Skill) : Air Strike Shield
(Special Effect) : Rope
"A skill? Hmm…"
Reading the description, the skill apparently launched a transparent shield in his desired location, as long as it was within range. Switching to the new shield, he decided to try it out now. It would have been problematic if the first time he used it was in the middle of an actual battle, but he had a concern.
Did he really have to scream out the name of the skill?
"[Air Strike Shield]!"
"Aah!"
The sudden appearance of her master's shout, followed by a floating shield nearly gave Raphtalia a heart attack, making her jump in place.
"Sorry about that."
"I-it's okay, Master Naofumi…" Raphtalia took a moment to catch her breath before walking over with a tool in her hand. "Anyways, I think… I found something that might help us."
"Oh, a pickaxe? Just what we needed!" Naofumi took up the tool and practiced a swing with it. He was afraid that the shield might dislike the idea, but he didn't feel any shock. It was probably because he was mining with it, not fighting. "This is perfect. A bit rusty, but I think it might fit the job."
He noticed that even the shield wanted to absorb the pickaxe. He asked Raphtalia to bring him over to other pickaxes, if they were any and when he could confirm that there were some, Naofumi let the shield eat it up to unlock—
[Pickaxe Shield + 0] 0/20 - C
(Equip Skill) : Mining I
Glancing at the "equip skill", it appeared that it would have been better to have this shield out as he was mining. Apparently, it made the process easier to mine.
He then headed off to the mine with Raphtalia. They brought a lantern for sight while Raphtalia brought another pickaxe with her, despite Naofumi saying that all she needed to do was hold the light for him. Her eagerness managed to push him off the issue.
"Remember, Raphtalia." His words echoed softly off the walls. "If there are any dangerous monsters in here, like that merchant said, we're going to escape."
She nodded in response.
The path inwards felt a bit silent between them. Naofumi was listening carefully, in case there was anything coming at them down the tunnel. Not before long, they managed to see some light. Naofumi and Raphtalia headed into the cove.
A beautiful scenery unraveled as they stepped forwards, immediately seeing a waterfall sparkling its water vapor into the air. Along its walls, the aforementioned ores were at rest, shining so brightly that they didn't need their lanterns anymore.
"Time to get to work."
Naofumi did think it was a little odd. As he set down the lantern in his hand and pulled out the pickaxe from his inventory, he still had a concern looming over his head. There was the fact that the merchant said that they were dangerous monsters, despite them not encountering a single one yet.
He kept Raphtalia on lookout as he heaved the tool for the ores. Even if she brought a pickaxe, there was no way he was going to make her do manual labor like this. It was already rather difficult enough, even with the [Pickaxe Shield] out. He kept going at it, taking in the ores one by one into his inventory and unlocking another shield in the process.
[Light Metal Shield + 0] 0/30 - C
(Equip Bonus Skill) : Defense I
(Special Effect) : Magic Guard I
Although it was slow progress, it was still progress. Soon, he'll be catching up with Itsuki, Ren, and Motoyasu. He wasn't going to be dead weight for any longer, but it's still going to take some time. That's why he needed as much as possible.
As Naofumi built up a decent stack, Raphtalia noticed that there was another branching path that led somewhere else. At the angle they entered, Naofumi wouldn't have noticed it, but she rubbed her eyes when she saw something along the ground there.
It looked a bit like… footprints?
And as if that sight led to a reaction, she heard steps coming down from that tunnel. It was too heavy to belong to a person, but her eyes couldn't tear themselves away from it. A shadowy figure showed itself from the depths as red eyes sparked from the darkness.
Her breaths started to become erratic, her body started shaking, and her voice couldn't find itself. The lantern and pickaxe dropped from her hand.
"Huh? Raphtalia?"
She couldn't hear Naofumi. Her attention were too stuck to the monster that was climbing out from the depths of the tunnel. Raphtalia knew she should have tried to warn Naofumi, but her mind was shutting down. All she did was scream at a scattering volume out of pure instinct.
"H-hey! Raphtalia!"
Naofumi noticed the problem.
The monster, being taller than him, held its position at the tunnel, blocking the way that they came from. It had a black sheen to its rough coat and each head was moving with their own volition, but they were both snarling. They scratched the ground with their claws and saliva drooled past their fangs.
"Is that… an orthrus?"
It was frightening. Naofumi's heart pounded, ringing an irregular rhythm through his ears. He had never seen something so terrifying before in his life, mostly because he could literally see the bloodlust and hunger in its eyes.
His body wanted to freeze up, but he shook out of it, noticing that its attention was on the suffering Raphtalia. Whatever had happened, it looked as if she was having a mental breakdown, being unable to hear anything he was saying.
It started moving forward without any hesitation.
"N-no! S-stay away!" Raphtalia's scream arose throughout the room once more. Naofumi's thoughts momentarily disappeared. His body moved before he had the chance to think.
Before he knew it he leapt to Raphtalia's side and threw out his shield in order to intercept the attack. The fangs, meant to sink into a child's flesh, instead bit down on metal, but the force behind the crunch was strong.
"C-crap…! That hurts more than I thought it would!"
It released its grip and bashed its thick skull against the surface. His arm felt the migrated extent of the impact, but the weight behind it was still significant, throwing him off balance as the second head closed in for another strike.
He managed to recover to defend it, but the second impact was just as heavy as the first. It even pushed him backwards before Naofumi could grind it to a halt; it kept persisting, trying to conquer his resistance. His body nor his stats were built to last long against a monster of this caliber.
In a burst of tension, he pushed everything forwards to force the monster to jump back a distance and re-evaluate its approach from the uncalculated defenses that its prey had.
"Raphtalia. We have to leave!"
Her eyes were still locked in a single place.
" Raphtalia!?"
She was in a traumatized trance.
If Raphtalia was his only source of damage, he didn't have any means to threaten the monster away. He could attempt an escape, but to be honest, he didn't have much confidence in running from a dog monster with a child in his arms.
She was about to scream again, similar to the nightly panic attacks.
"No! Get away! NOOOOO!"
"D-damn it…!"
The shrill voice alerted the monster that an opening was likely there and it ran over to try and catch Raphtalia in its jaws. Naofumi grabbed her and jumped out of the way before it could connect. Landing on his shoulder wasn't particularly planned, as the waterfall's crashes sounded louder than ever.
The monster went to rush them down relentlessly. In a panic, Naofumi pushed himself backwards and felt the ground underneath him disappear. He rolled off the edge with Raphtalia in his arms, plummeting into the underground lake below.
He didn't realize how frightening falling head-first next to a waterfall would be until now, hitting the body of water with a splash. It was colder than he would have wanted it to be, but he managed to grab Raphtalia's shaking body and bring himself to shore. The currents weren't strong enough to sweep them away, so there's that blessing to be had.
Naofumi found himself gasping for air, but his discomfort was only a distraction. Raphtalia was acting like she was having a spasm, much worse than how she acted during her nightmares.
"Are you alright?" Naofumi held onto her shoulder, trying to shake her out of it gently. "Hey, Raphtalia? Listen to me…"
Raphtalia blindly reached out and grabbed Naofumi.
"D-Dad… Mom…!"
This was worse than any panic attack that she had so far. She wasn't listening to a single thing that he was saying. He needed to calm her down, but he wasn't being calm himself. Especially when the space they had against the monster wasn't as big as he would have hoped.
The monster glanced over the cliffside and started jumping down, using some of the ledges to safely land in front of the pair. Raphtalia kept her face buried into Naofumi's chest. With a snarl, it started running towards the unprotected pair. Naofumi found himself stuck in his own terror.
He grabbed Raphtalia and instinctively jumped out of the way, but the monster was quick on its toes. It pivoted where it landed, pushing its momentum to bash Naofumi backwards. If the shield hadn't been there, Raphtalia would have been the one to suffer the attack; it didn't result in much as Naofumi landed roughly on his shoulder, trying to use himself as a cushion for Raphtalia.
Having a shield had its uses, but the disadvantage was that he did not have any means to attack this monster outside of Raphtalia. What was he supposed to do in this situation? He was sure that if Ren, Itsuki, or Motoyasu were in his shoes, they would be able to easily deal with this problem by themselves, even if they were the ones to be stuck with this shield.
He himself was bumbling around without any rhyme or reason to his actions.
No matter what his friends might have said, they were going to be the ones to defeat the waves of destruction while he would do nothing except stand there and cheer them on. If he faltered here, how was he supposed to stand by his friends when the waves of destruction came to this land? Was it possible that he was the one that hadn't been taking it seriously, rather than his friends?
"GRRR!"
The dog monster leapt to Naofumi once more before he could get on his feet properly and without any way to move out of the way, he did what he could only do.
With the rest of his strength, he grabbed Raphtalia and tossed her aside.
"Ah!" Raphtalia rolled over a few times before stopping, having that crash break her out of her trance. She didn't know what was happening upon waking up, but when she looked up, her eyes widened in fear. "M-Master N-Nao… f-fumi…?"
There was blood on him. His blood.
Naofumi didn't have time to turn his shield to block the fanged attack. The monster was able to bite down on his shoulder, drenching his clothes and equipment in blood. A dazed reaction was all Naofumi could muster as the pain surged through him, but he bit down on his scream.
With a fist, he desperately punched the orthrus' head repeatedly, forgetting for the moment that his attacks did nothing. Raphtalia's legs felt weak as she collapsed onto her knees. Through one way or another, he remembered the balloons on his body and pulled one off to have it bite the monster. It was strong enough to distract the monster, releasing the bite, but it wasn't enough to weaken anything else.
The dog wacked the balloon out of Naofumi's hand with its tails, both killing the balloon easily and stunning the nerves in Naofumi's hand, and it followed up by kicking him back with its hind legs. Naofumi landed roughly, trying to get a hold on his footing, but it was much more difficult than he expected. He somehow managed, but he could still sense Raphtalia was nearby.
"M-Master Naofumi, you're…"
"Leave."
Raphtalia's eyes widened even further.
"Run! Just run and don't look back!"
"What about you!?"
"I'll be fine! Worry about getting yourself out!"
The dog monster dashed in once again, trying to overpower Naofumi's defense. This time, he was able to react by lifting his shield, but the force behind its headbutt was too strong against him. Even so, he dug his feet into the ground to buy as much time as possible.
"Raphtalia! I'm begging you, get out of here!"
"I-I can't… I-I'm…!"
If he didn't have anything to offer to the table during the waves, maybe it was better for him to die here. His friends were more than enough to save the world, while he struggled to save even a single little girl. He couldn't even call himself a hero.
The dog flicked its head, pushing Naofumi's shield upwards and struck Naofumi down against the ground. He tried to move out of the way, but its clawed feet stomped against his chest, preventing him from moving. He couldn't breathe normally, feeling his ribs being crushed underneath its weight.
Its face was brought closer, almost growling in amusement that it managed to catch the bigger prey, but Naofumi heard the footsteps in the distance.
Raphtalia must have made up her mind and followed his instructions. If that was the case, he started counting in order to give her enough time to escape before he could stop resisting the jaws of death. His fingers were already loosening their senses.
He slowly closed his eyes.
"Sorry, guys…" he whispered under his breath. "I… I guess this is it, huh?"
However, the weight suddenly moved off from his body.
The monster retreated and shrieked as Naofumi opened his eyes to see it bleeding along one of its hind legs. A small wound, hastily thrusted inwards by a dagger. He slowly looked back, seeing Raphtalia's shaking body while holding out her weapon in distress.
She was scared of the blood, but there was something she was even more scared about. It was the reason she acted, even if she had to push through her mental problems in a burst.
"I don't… want you to die, Master Naofumi…"
"R-Raphtalia?" Naofumi gazed at the demi-human slave with a dumbfoundedness to him, but she quickly approached him and held onto his clothes tightly. Almost as if he was going to slip away from her. "What are you…?"
"I already lost my parents to the waves of destruction," she wept. "And I don't even know if my friends are safe…! I don't… want to keep losing people in my life…! I don't want to keep losing people I care about!" Her grip only got tighter. "I thought you said… that you wouldn't leave me…"
He was a bit stunned to answer anything, mostly lost in thought of realizing that Raphtalia's life was ruined by the waves of destruction, the thing that he was sent to this world to fight for. He always knew that her nightmares were fueled by a serious trauma, but he never expected it to be something so ingrained with his role as the Cardinal Hero.
"Please, don't die…!"
Her words made him realize something.
The orthrus closed in on them with a straightforward strike, but it found itself to be stopped by a swinging shield against the side of its snout. Although there was no damage to be dealt, the monster was still spooked by the sudden retaliation. It quickly backed off to reset and regain that momentum, but little did it know that it was giving Naofumi the time he needed to find himself again.
Raphtalia flinched in his rash defensive maneuver, but by being held by Naofumi, he was ensuring that she wasn't harmed by it. She looked up to the hero, who had sighed heavily, being disappointed in himself for giving up so easily.
"Yeah," Naofumi whispered solemnly. "I guess I did say that."
With more confidence in his posture, Naofumi properly got his feet on the ground. If any of his friends found out that he died in such a way, his grave wouldn't be able to get any peace from them.
His entire purpose as the Shield Hero was to protect people. Not to sacrifice himself.
"This isn't the place for me to die. Not here." He held up his shield, trying to ignore the pain in his shoulder. "I still have people I want to protect, and even more people that need to be protected. Even if I'm facing danger, I need to survive in order to keep protecting others."
His eyes narrowed at the dog monster who growled in threatening retaliation.
"Raphtalia? You don't need to talk much about it, but I'm guessing that this monster has to do something with the waves of destruction." It was the only logical thing to assume, considering how badly she was reacting to it, combined with what she had just said. "Is it one of the creatures that spawned from it?"
"I-I'm not sure, but there was one that came into the village… and started killing as many people as it could…" Raphtalia gulped. "T-that one had three heads."
"Then it's not the one you're talking about. Can you fight it?"
She started to tremble on that mere thought, almost dropping her dagger, but Naofumi reached out and held her hands. Her fingers were cold, but he adversely felt warmth as she calmed down.
"No, that's not the right question to ask," Naofumi retracted, shaking his head. "Raphtalia? Can you trust me? Can I ask you to be my sword to protect those we need to help?"
"I-I…" Her voice shook for a mere moment before she held onto the dagger tightly. "I want to fight for you, Master Naofumi! If that means you won't die, then I want to help you! You took care of me! You saved me! You showed me that there was still hope in my life!"
Raphtalia strengthened her voice through her tears.
"I will always follow you!"
The orthrus had enough of watching its prey and started to make its move once again. Naofumi clenched his body and prepared to become the hunter here, not the hunted.
"Then let's take down this monster, once and for all. If we can do this, we'll be able to prove to ourselves that we can help during the upcoming wave of destruction. Let's make sure no kid ever goes through what you've had to go through."
"Yes!"
As the monster came closer, Naofumi kicked off from his position and ran with the shield facing forwards. The two forces collided with one another, staggering Naofumi back a bit, but he was able to stay firm in the ground after the initial hit. It was pushing onto the shield with its heads, as if it wanted to run him over as to not be interested in him.
Naofumi hadn't hurt it yet, but Raphtalia has. Considering how much reason it had in its combat ability, it wouldn't be difficult to imagine that it would eliminate the highest-threat enemy first before working its way down.
"Raphtalia! Now!"
As it was distracted, Raphtalia came around to his command and tried to capitalize on the situation. The dagger dug right into the neck of one of the heads, but the wound couldn't get deep enough before it resisted, throwing both of them backwards. She landed some distance away, dropping her dagger in the process.
With a deep growl and flaring red eyes, it turned its toes towards its assailant and ran over.
Before it could even start on its straight path, Naofumi leapt and bashed his remaining good shoulder into the monster to push it away. He ended up with a lousy landing, but it was enough to stall for Raphtalia to scramble for her dagger.
Naofumi needed to find a way to keep it down for longer, but his body raced much quicker than what his mind could perceive. The monster was still on the hunt for the demi-human, so he leapt over to grab Raphtalia as it crashed down its claws where she had just stood.
They both rushed back in, but their heads were quick. They lunged over to Raphtalia, but Naofumi intercepted the attack. Behind him, Raphtalia sped up around the clash and pounced into the air as he knocked it head away from her direction.
Her dagger fell down onto the monster as she did, striking one of the heads and making it scream out in pain. Blood splattered onto her, causing her breaths to quickly become unregulated and short. It was the verge of panic and Naofumi could hear that trauma welling up in voice, but she kept strong and persisted. She kept pushing down, trying to kill one of the heads right now.
However, it broke out as the dagger was lodged and it shook off Raphtalia quite easily. Naofumi backed off and caught Raphtalia with a slide, grunting a bit as she landed. The good news was that she wasn't injured, but when he checked on her, he noticed that her dagger was missing.
"Hold on, don't tell me…"
"I-I'm sorry, Master Naofumi," Raphtalia said, pointing at the monster.
Naofumi looked over in exasperation, though through no fault in Raphtalia's part. He had simply wished this hadn't been the turn of events here as he laid eyes to where their only weapon had gone.
The dagger was stuck in the second head.
"W-What do we…?" Raphtalia's face went pale, seeing that their only manner of attacking was taken away from them, but Naofumi got her on her feet as he stood up.
"I'll think of something." His health bar was still relatively low, so anything he tried to do had to be executed perfectly or else he was going to die here.
The lone head howled, mourning its brethren, and chased them over for another attempt. They both dodged out of the way, but in different directions, causing it to miss and gallop around the room to turn back. Its target remained to be Raphtalia, but perhaps if he could control its attention somehow, he'll be able to do something for that.
Instead of running for Raphtalia, Naofumi ran to intercept the monster and as he got closer, he leapt on the orthrus and grabbed onto its fur. His weight pulled it off track to completely miss the child, but it wasn't done as it tried to shake off the hero desperately.
Despite that, he managed to pull himself up onto the back and grabbed the neck of the surviving head. He would have wanted to get the dagger, but it was still out of reach.
The speed started to pick itself up in a desperate attempt to fling him off and although it became tough to hang on, it played into his favor as once they got close to the cavern's perimeter, he heaved the body's direction into the wall.
They both crashed, leaving a dent in the surface and it caused Naofumi to let go and fall off. Slamming back onto the ground proved to be more painful than he expected as he struggled to even stand back up again. However, the same went for the monster.
"Master Naofumi! Are you alright!?"
"I'm fine, but forget that!" Naofumi spat. "It's dazed right now, so get the dagger!"
"R-Right!"
Raphtalia ran as hard as she could and approached the monster on its left, grabbing the dagger and pulling it out. Blood leaked from that skull like a broken pipe, causing her to flinch backwards and trip over her own feet. The hemophobia rose up within her again, but Naofumi was in no condition to quickly push her out in time as the monster recovered quicker than he did.
That's when he remembered the skill he tested out from before and as the monster turned to see Raphtalia right next to it on a silver platter, Naofumi changed his shield and pointed it towards them. For what the Shield Hero lacked in attack, it made up with its utility.
"[Air Strike Shield]!"
The monster tried striking down on Raphtalia, but the same transparent shield from before appeared in between them and knocked it back upon impact. It desperately tried to back off, but from the injuries it sustained, it certainly wasn't as fast like before.
And as such, Naofumi forcibly deactivated the shield to let Raphtalia through.
In other words—
"It's wide open! Raphtalia, do it now!"
The child was verging on shuddering, but she still stood up, able to shake off that fear of blood during the moment. Seeing the opportunity that her master made for her, she held the dagger with both of hands tightly. She did her best to turn off anything that would inspire fear in her and took her steps forward, leaving no more for hesitation.
She wanted to live. She wanted Naofumi to live. That's why she had to move forwards.
She thrusted with all her remaining might into the chest of the monster with one scream.
Its blood pelted her with the open wound, but she didn't hesitate this time. She dug the dagger deeper within and pushed far as she could, hearing the wailing shrieks of the monster, trying to struggle from the inevitable. After all, Raphtalia had landed a direct hit on the heart, whether she knew it or not.
Naofumi watched as the orthrus cried out its final screams. It stole the dagger out of Raphtalia's hands once again, causing her to freeze in place again. [Air Strike Shield] was still on a cooldown, so Naofumi found the last of his strength and ran over to get Raphtalia away from its rampaging range. He was scared that such an attack wasn't enough, seeing the monster raise its front legs up into the air to slam it down on them.
And yet, the retaliation never came.
The monster crashed down onto the ground. The body laid still and limp, letting his jaw hang open for a few seconds as he tried to figure out what happened. That being said, the Status Magic was keen to let him know exactly what he needed to know.
[Naofumi] [+340 EXP]
[Raphtalia] [+430 EXP]
"It's… over?"
He had never been so relieved to see experience points pop up before his eyes.
His legs gave out once his adrenaline realized that he was safe once again, leaving out a deep sigh. The pain was starting to settle into his body, causing him to wonder as to which body part hadn't been screaming right now, but that's besides the point.
He turned to check on Raphtalia, but he was surprised to have her essentially run into him, embrace and all. He couldn't tell whose blood was on him, but it didn't really matter.
She was crying once again, but he could feel its warmth on his shoulder.
"H-Hey. Careful now." His smile returned to him rather naturally, letting out a small chuckle. "The wound still hurts, Raphtalia."
"Thank goodness you're alive, Master Naofumi," she sniffled. "Thank goodness." Even though it was the same tears from her fears, it had a different meaning to them.
"Promise me you won't die," she cried. "Please don't leave me alone…"
"Don't worry," he said softly, affirming what he had been saying. This time though, he really meant it, through and through, after understanding what weight those words truly have for Raphtalia. From what she had to go through already, Naofumi would have been cruel if he pushed her away. "I won't die. If there comes a day that I die, that just means I couldn't protect you."
Even though they were tired, they were still in the middle of a monster's region. They had to get themselves out before they were attacked again, but Naofumi couldn't find the strength, both physical and mental, to move away. Raphtalia was clinging to him far too much.
"... Hey, Raphtalia?"
"... Yes, Master Naofumi?"
"Shouldn't we get moving now?"
"Just… in a little bit…"
As Raphtalia held herself against his chest, Naofumi couldn't erase that soft smile on his face.
[SKIT 026 : Medicine Taste]
[Raphtalia] : "M-Master Naofumi? Couldn't you make the medicine taste better?"
[Naofumi] : "I know it's bitter, but that's proof that it works. They say that the more bitter a medicine is, the more effective it will be."
[Naofumi] : "It's not as if I want you to spit it out."
[Raphtalia] : "I'm... sorry..."
[Naofumi] : "No, it's nothing needing apologies. I could probably look into making it fruit-flavored."
[Raphtalia] : "Could you make it ranget-flavored!? That's my favorite fruit!"
[Naofumi] : (... I have no idea what that is.)
[SKIT 027 : Naofumi's Cooking]
[Raphtalia] : "T-this is delicious, Master Naofumi!"
[Naofumi] : "I'm glad to hear it. I have some pride in my cooking skills."
[Naofumi] : "Back at home, I used to be the one that did the cooking for my household, alongside a friend of mine. We shared recipes and we would always help each other out in the kitchen. Although if you went ahead and asked him, he would always say that my cooking is significantly better than his own, to the point where he claims to be a culinary student of mine!"
[Raphtalia] : "Ahaha! Your household is lucky to have someone as amazing as you to be cooking for them!"
[Naofumi] : "You're making me blush now. It's really nothing too special, if you look at how I do it."
[Naofumi] : "Just tell me what you like and dislike. I'll adjust the ingredients as needed."
[Raphtalia] : "I don't like vegetables."
[Naofumi] : "Except that. You need your vegetables to grow into a healthy adult, young lady."
[Raphtalia] : "... Aw."
[SKIT 028 : Blood and Battles]
[Raphtalia] : "I-I... I can't..."
[Naofumi] : "Raphtalia? Do you have problem with fighting?"
[Raphtalia] : "I-It's... It's the blood..."
[Naofumi] : (She's scared of blood? It's not ideal, but I don't want to force her if she's not comfortable on fighting yet.)
[Naofumi] : "We'll avoid the mammal monsters. When you're more experienced in fighting, we'll try again."
[Raphtalia] : "I'm sorry..."
[Naofumi] : "It's fine. There's no need to worry."
[Naofumi] : "I'm glad you told me. You looked like you weren't enjoying your time."
[Raphtalia] : "Should I... be enjoying it?"
[Naofumi] : "... Wrong phrase. Forget what I said."
[Naofumi] : (For a moment, I thought about Ren and his experience in BSO. That was close.)
[SKIT 029 : Riyute]
[Naofumi] : "So this is a normal village..."
[Raphtalia] : "Are you looking for something, Master?"
[Naofumi] : "Not in particular. I haven't finished taking in the sights yet. The only other city I've seen is the capital, so this is a new experience for me. It's exactly like how I imagined it, but it doesn't detract away from how peaceful and calming it is. I wouldn't mind stay here for a few days."
[Raphtalia] : "... Hopefully, it stays that way."
[Naofumi] : "Did you say something, Raphtalia?"
[Raphtalia] : "N-no... It's nothing."
[SKIT 030 : Kid's Meal]
[Naofumi] : "Do you like the meal, Raphtalia?"
[Raphtalia] : "It's very delicious!"
[Naofumi] : "I'll keep that in mind. I'll see if I can recreate it when I get my hands on the ingredients."
[Raphtalia] : "Recreate it? You can recreate this, Master?"
[Naofumi] : "It's a bit of a trick I have. Since I'm good at cooking, I can figure out how to make something once I get a taste of it."
[Naofumi] : (It was because of that which made my parents bring me out to restaurants in order to replicate them at home for cheaper. It puts a sour taste in my mouth when I think about it, but it feels much better recreating recipes for people I really care about. I don't think I ever complained about recreating a meal for my friends, not that they ever abused it as much as my parents.)
[Raphtalia] : "I-I'll look forward to it!"
[Naofumi] : "Haha! Good to hear!"
[SKIT 031 : Unlucky Rolls]
[Naofumi] : "Ugh, seriously? Another failure?"
[Naofumi] : "It's a 95% chance of success! How is the strengthening methods giving me such a hard time!?"
[Naofumi] : "And every time it fails, it resets!"
[Naofumi] : "I'm glad that Ren's methods don't suffer the same consequences, but if this is what the strengthening methods were like in Emerald Online and Dimension Wave, I'm glad I didn't play those game for too long. I think I would have gone crazy with the streaks of bad luck."
[Naofumi] : "Isn't there a method to raise those chance, so that I'm always playing with 100% success rate?"
[Naofumi] : "Never mind. I'll just have to deal with it for now until I can get my hands on ores."
[Naofumi] : "Hopefully, we don't run into anything too difficult."
[SKIT 032 : Riyute Mineshaft]
[Raphtalia] : "W-whoa... So pretty..."
[Naofumi] : "I didn't think something like this would exist inside of a mineshaft. It's too beautiful for me to take my eyes off of it."
[Naofumi] : "The glistening waterfalls... The glowing ores..."
[Naofumi] : "I'm sure that back where I'm from, there were places as sparkling as this scene."
[Raphtalia] : "It... feels almost wrong to extract the ores from the walls when it looks so pretty there."
[Naofumi] : "Yeah, I see what you mean. It doesn't change the reason why we're here though."
[Raphtalia] : "C-can I have a few moments to finish taking in the sight?"
[Naofumi] : "Haha. Sure. Don't take too long, alright?"
[SKIT 033 : Master's Situation]
[Raphtalia] : (Master Naofumi has been taking good care of me ever since he bought me.)
[Raphtalia] : (He's... such a nice person, but if that's the case, I don't understand why he was alone.)
[Raphtalia] : (Why did Mister Itsuki ask me to help him out when he seems like the type of person that wouldn't be by himself?)
[Raphtalia] : (Is there something else going on that I don't know?)
[Naofumi] : "Raphtalia? Do you need me to slow down?"
[Raphtalia] : "N-no, it's fine! Sorry about that!"
[Naofumi] : "Then stay close to me. I don't want to leave you behind."
[Raphtalia] : (Even if it could be something terrible, I don't know if I could believe it.)
[Raphtalia] : (Because I know Master Naofumi's heart is a gentle one...)
