Hello once again, the Opulent Neckbeard here, and welcome to the second chapter of this crap shoot we call a story. And first order of business, reviews!

Maskedkeeper: The first part actually has an answer to it so far, and it is that Zofie only ever lowered her hood once, and that was the night before the adventurers picked the heroes to accompany. King Aultcray, nor Myne have seen her with the hood down, hence the kinder treatment from the king.

Secondly, I appreciate the concern about the whole ship possibility. That wasn't my intention whatsoever, rather since she is still rather young and impulsive in mind, she sees Naofumi as an older brother figure. At some point, likely after she helps out with the first wave, she will venture on her own while the rest of the canon story happens.

For the third part, again, Zofie is young (in mind) and impulsive on the emotional end, but is also extremely curious about humans. Her actions against Malty towards the end of the last chapter had nothing to do with foresight, and more of her seeing Malty's true colors much sooner than the others since she is looking at everyone's behavior much more closely than the Heroes are.

I understand your point of view in all of this, and I will do my best to improve on things like this. Of course, that being said, Zofie did help Naofumi early on, so he won't be anywhere near as grouchy as before, so I will have to write him a little more cheerful, and grow into the tactician he ends up becoming later on. Don't worry though, Malty won't be out forever, so she will be back to enact revenge for being humiliated. Also The Church may target her due to her affiliation with Naofumi, so there's that too.

Guest 1: I started this the night you posted the review, so don't worry. It is only when I lose motivation will I take some time away from the story.

Bill Draconic Cipher: I hope I know what I'm doing for this story. Never had a serious plot in mind, just going with the flow in most cases.

Neb: This Xeno'jiiva, now Zofie Jiiva, is the one from base game, but I will more than likely add some Iceborne things to the story, so please ask for things you want to see like monsters, or monsters turned to demi-humans., or what have you.

(Space for more reviews just in case)

With reviews done, I did state that Zofie is about level 75 in Shield Hero standards, but I have a question for everyone. Should Zofie break the level cap like Fitoria being a level 250, or should I limit her to Level 100 like the rest of the Heroes?

Anyways, Story Time!

Chapter 2: A Taste of Humanity

(Shortly after the Trial, Castle City)

Naofumi and I headed to Erhard's shop to grab the armor after the trial, having a short discussion about what happened without making me rile up again. My hair hasn't fully returned to normal yet, so it was a 'thin ice' situation. Erhard is a nice guy though, so I had no reason to be mad at him.

It was then that I remembered that I still had the pouch in my hood, so I pulled it out, and handed it to Naofumi. He put it in his shield, which looked odd, but I guess it worked? I don't know how that worked to be honest, so I just blinked a couple times, trying to process what happened. Both of the males chuckled at my expression.

"Hey shield kid, you still looking for companions? I might know a place where you could find one or two." Erhard said, looking to the pair of us.

"Hmm?" I was curious as Erhard pulled out a map of the world, at least I think it is. It was made of a fabric like material, and had drawings on it, really detailed ones too. I didn't understand any of the words that were on it though.

"Here is where Melromarc is on the map, over here is Siltvelt…" Erhard pointed out the locations to Naofumi and I, and Naofumi made notes on the map in his native language once a copy of the map was made. I could read that much better than before, so I can understand that language when written. "Anyways, I would head either to Shieldfreeden, Siltvelt, or maybe Faubrey. They are more likely to treat you better than here." Erhard suggested, getting a nod from me.

"Thanks for everything, old timer." Naofumi said as he began to leave.

"I ain't that old, shield kid." Erhard chuckled before waving us goodbye. We went to grab some food to eat afterwards, followed by some level grinding.

Now outside the walls, I watched mostly as he flailed around to try and hit some orange things. He managed to get a couple on his own before I finally stood up, and grabbed on from behind, holding it still.

"Would you like some help, Naofumi?" I asked, and with a moment to catch his breath, he just punched that until it was dead… or until it popped in my hands at least. This went on for a few hours, but he managed to get a little stronger at least. In the meantime, we also looked at some flora. It just got sucked into his shield all the time, but it changed as well to see what it did. He told me some had certain skills while others had better stats, whatever those were.

We headed back to Town to eat, and stay at the Inn again. All in all, an eventful morning, but a boring rest of the day.

The next morning, I woke up early, and had breakfast. Some of the people complimented me on my clothes, and how I looked like an angel. I tilted my head when they said that, and they made weird noises as they placed their hands on their cheeks. Some humans I will never understand… At least Naofumi was awake now to get me away from those people. Luckily I gave him some of the breakfast I had left over since I am still learning that this body can't intake that much food compared to bioenergy. He thanked me and ate quietly.

"Hey Naofumi, you have any plans for today? I want to check a couple places out since I am getting curious about them." I asked since I didn't want to get in the way of his level grinding if I could avoid it.

"Not that I can think of, outside of getting out of here." Naofumi grumbled a little bit, but didn't seem too cynical about it. It has been a couple of stressful day for the both of us.

"Okay, mind if we look around for someone else to join us for a bit? We still have about 350 silver left." I said, counting to the best of my abilities. I at least counted that far, with a few more left.

"Alright, we can spend a couple hours looking, I have a feeling I can't rely on you forever, so having someone when you do leave to keep me company will be a good idea." Naofumi said, thinking about things logically.

"Hopefully we don't get a repeat of Redhead…" I said as that brief moment of mentioning her angered me.

"Yea, I think that we all got the point that you don't like her considering you almost made her head into a trophy." Naofumi said, finishing his breakfast before he went and paid the tab. When all things were said and done at the Inn, we went on our little scavenger hunt for companionship.

I began to notice that not only did the big people that ran the country didn't like Naofumi, but neither did the normal people. All because of what he was. They were nice to me when I asked for help, but they looked at Naofumi with anger. We then split up for a little bit, and I ended up encountering the Bow Hero and his party. I wanted to see if he could help.

"Hello… Itsuki is it?" I asked politely when I got close. The party he had seemed to judge me a little for knowing him so casually.

"Itsuki, who is this kid, and why does she know you?" one of the men in the party asked, Itsuki piped him down with a hand gesture.

"You know how I mentioned there were five of us summoned? She is one of them." Itsuki said before looking to me. "So what brings the occasion of meeting another hero like this?"

"I was wondering if you know a place that Naofumi can find a companion for his adventure… after yesterday, we don't want to run into that problem again." I said, a small frown on my face.

"Hmmm, I say check an adventurers guild, people from all over go there for quests. There is one a couple blocks away from the east gate. It will have a big sign on it." Itsuki said since he was there earlier in the day, and his party were going to complete their quests for exp.

"Thank you, Itsuki." I bowed a little bit with a smile on my face. I saw some people do that, and figured I would give it a try. He seemed to be happy about things as he then lead his party out of the area. I made it back to Naofumi soon after to give him the news when I saw him with a couple of other people, both in some sort of robes. When I got closer, they looked to me with a skeptical look.

"Are you the one that has been accompanying the Shield Hero?" one asked, a deep male voice coming from him. I nodded politely, and they gave a slight bow. "Thank you for keeping him safe. We are from Siltvelt, and would like to have the Shield Hero come with us there since Melromarc broke the treaty for the hero summoning."

"Hmmm, I am still pretty low level, and the first wave isn't too far away…. For now, I would like to stay here, and I can see about heading there after the first wave." Naofumi said. The robed ones seemed to be a little saddened at the prospect of waiting, but ultimately agreed.

"Very well, it was a pleasure to meet you, Shield Hero, and to you young one. May we know the name of which has protected our hero?" the other robed person asked, a feminine voice this time.

"Zofie Jiiva, an Elder Dragon trying her best to not repeat her past mistakes." I introduced myself with a bright smile, and whether my positive tone, or words got to them, they both froze for a moment. "Are you two okay?"

"Ahem, pardon our disrespect, we didn't know the full context of the situation." The male said.

"I don't have any problems with it. You just worried me a little bit is all." I responded with a small laugh.

"We are grateful you care for our wellbeing. We shall head back to Siltvelt then. The Queen of Melromarc would certainly like the news that the Shield is being guarded like he is." The female one said.

"Queen? So she's been away this whole time? I found it a bit odd we never saw her." Naofumi said.

"She is the one that holds the real power here, that is why." The male said. "We should make haste home, we shall meet again, Shield Hero, Elder Dragon." And like that, they vanished.

"Uhhh…. What was that all about?" I asked a bit dumbly, nearly forgetting about what I even came there for.

"They were envoys from Siltvelt. They wanted me to go with them to avoid here. Felt kind of weird as they looked like they worshipped me a little." Naofumi said, giving a small laugh.

"Oh, I talked to Itsuki on my search, he suggested we try a Guild to find companions. Maybe someone there will help." I said, a smile on my face.

"Hmm, you know where one is?" Naofumi asked.

"I think he said one was a short way from the east gate…. Big sign." I said, thinking back to what the Bow Hero said.

"I think that's where the Slave Trader is too… If we don't find anyone at the Guild, we will not have much of a choice." Naofumi said as he seemed a bit sad about it. He didn't seem like he wanted to, but could be forced to if he has no other options. Then an idea struck him. "Wait, if I play my cards right, we might be able to adopt someone instead."

"Adopt?" I tilted my head slightly, and Naofumi looked away. It seems that my innocent gaze has an effect on people.

"Adoption is when you pay money to add someone to your family. There's usually paperwork that needs to be done as well, but it's all legal." Naofumi tried to explain, but it sounded a bit off.

"So Slavery is bad, but Adoption is good?" I asked, my tone confused as Naofumi nodded.

(To the Guild over yonder)

It was a total failure, the Guild was. Apparently word went around quick while we weren't paying attention as most of the women avoided us, and the men looked at Naofumi in disgust. I hit my head on the table after a half hour has passed… and promptly broke the table with the shape of my head being left behind. Not expecting this, I fell face first on the floor, and grumbled at my dismay. Most of the Guild either laughed, or were surprised that I broke the table that cleanly. Having to accept that we won't get help here… to the Slave Trader….

Going there alone made me want to go away, but Naofumi insisted that I helped out despite my reluctance. It wasn't that it had to do with Slavery itself, it was my dragon senses that were bothering me. It smelt bad, I heard lots of unpleasant noises, and I was miserable.

A chubby man introduced himself as a man by the name of Beloukas, and I didn't like him that much. He did take a look at me, before saying something that made me want to throw up.

"So how much would you sell this young specimen for?" he asked, a wide smile on his face.

"She isn't for sale, we're here to adopt someone, not buy a slave." Naofumi said, his tone a bit more serious than usual.

"Oh? I see you have a clearer head on your shoulder than most, perhaps you are one of the Cardinal Heroes?" Beloukas asked, his smile not fading at all.

"And if I am?" Naofumi asked, his eyes narrowing slightly.

"Then you are in good hands. I will let you look through my inventory to see if you can find the one who will accompany you." Beloukas said, made a bow, and followed the Shield Hero inside. I refused to go inside since my anger was growing a little to be noticeable. The task lasted for about 10 to 15 minutes, and eventually he came out with a small Tanuki girl, coughing up something serious. I glared at Beloukas from under my hood as I went to check on the girl.

"Her name is Raphtalia, Zofie. She's a Demi-human from what Beloukas here has told me." Naofumi said. "She will be joining us from here on… and yes, she said she would."

I ignored the business side of things after I handed the money pouch to Naofumi, helping Raphtalia up to a crate that was nearby. We introduced each other just fine, but her coughing concerned me. This is something I don't think I am capable of dealing with, so I will have to talk to Naofumi about seeing someone who can. I mostly comforted her when she mellowed out, already grown attached to my similarly sized new friend.

She is precious, and must be protected. There, I said it.

"Zofie, Raphtalia, you two ready to go? We will need to stop by a few places to get her cleared up and what not." Naofumi said with a smile. He then looks to Raphtalia. "Welcome to the family." This seemed to make the Tanuki girl rather happy if her coughing didn't get in the way.

"So… what first, Naofumi?" I asked, tilting my head. He turns away for a moment, muttering something before looking back.

"A doctor first, then food, then Erhard. That should cover today. Tomorrow, we will begin level grinding again." Naofumi said as we left.

"Wait… clothes, then food. She could use them." I interjected as Raphtalia kept close to us. "Also…. We won't be needing these anymore, will we?" I then asked as I removed the metal pieces around Raphtalia's neck and wrists, with relative ease since they were fragile.

"Wow, you must be really strong to do that…" Raphtalia said in astonishment before coughing. I helped sooth the pain a bit once she simmered down.

"I am an Elder Dragon, of course I can." I said a bit proudly to the young Demi-Human. The people around us looked at Raphtalia and I, mixed feelings being felt. Most didn't like the fact a Demi-Human in rags was in the streets, but when they saw me, they kept to themselves to avoid my temper. We ultimately got to our destination of the Doctors, or Apothecary as Raphtalia said… wait, she can read? Anyways, we entered to get materials for some medicine, which were paid for, and Naofumi's shield absorbed. What can't that thing absorb?

After that, it was to Erhard's, which he was happy to see us, especially after Raphtalia took some medicine when we left, and was feeling better. There, she got her hair cut, new clothes, and a couple of small daggers for self defense, though I also offered to let her borrow one of my blades since I haven't used them yet. Erhard thought that having something smaller would work better for Raphtalia in the short run, so I cant argue. He does the weapon thing after all. We bid our farewells for the time being, and head off to go get something to eat.

The Inn we were staying at tonight was closer to the gate, meaning when we wake up, we could head out early so we can help Raphtalia out. The food was good too, better than the other Inn, but the service was a bit worse since Naofumi and Raphtalia got a lot of mean comments thrown towards them. I restrained myself despite me not being happy about it, and promptly clocked in for the night.

While Naofumi slept in one bed, Raphtalia and I shared another, my arm getting squeezed at certain times of the night. I was jolted awake when Raphtalia started whimpering something about her parents, it getting progressively worse over time. I sit up, pulling Raphtalia close to comfort her. This seemed to work as she fell back asleep soon after. Since I am awake, I want to try a couple things before the others did.

First was seeing if I could modify this body at all. Sure being a small, adorable looking pseudo human kid is fun and all, I miss my old body since I could shoot beams out of my mouth and stuff. So how do I start? I guess doing what I did earlier by focusing? I try that, but instead of letting it out, I let it sit in my body for a bit. Moving it to my hands, and I noticed my nails grew a lot, looking more like claws. Not a big change if you ask me. Moving that energy to my arms, and the clothing I wore grew similar extra skin to my dragon forms forearms. Doing that also made my senses more attuned with the world's bioenergy.

There was a LOT of it. I moved my Dragon Energy some more through my body until I felt a sharp pain in my back, and I blacked out. What hurt me, I didn't know, but it didn't feel good at all… When I awoke, my butt hurt as well. Must have fell off the bed or something. Opening my eyes more, I ventured slowly over to the mirror in the room, letting my vision clear a bit. My eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets when I saw what was going on. My wings and tail were back where they should be, and they were brimming with Dragon Energy. I may or may not have made an inhuman noise that awoke Naofumi and Raphtalia , both of them looking at me jumping in place with a high pitched giggle.

"They're back, they're back~" I said in a sing-song tone before turning around, freezing in place, quite embarrassed. "Uhhh, hi?" My face and hair were bright red, making Raphtalia giggle a bit. Naofumi looked more surprised than anything.

"I'm guessing that is normal for you, Zofie?" Naofumi asked, sitting up more properly. "Knowing you, it probably is." He then teased.

"It is normal, and I'm really happy about it. Maybe I can see about trying to fly again." I gave my wings a quick flap, not enough strength yet. "Or not…" I pouted, getting another laugh from Raphtalia.

Heading back downstairs for breakfast, now I was starting to get rude comments too, but they were tame thanks to my draconic features. I lowered my hood finally since I had other parts of my old body, so no point in hiding them anymore.

Again, the food was good, the service not being great as the three of us went to the fields to train. I stuck with Raphtalia, and helped her when the going got tough. Turns out she was really scared of monsters, at least this worlds version of them. The ones back home were much meaner. I won't be telling her that any time soon. We started small with the balloons Naofumi and I were familiar with, and that went about as well as expected. We had to hold them in place for a while so she could stab it.

Considering I was bored, and enough hours passed for us to have lunch. Thank goodness we packed extra, and by extra, I mean the shield being able to hold food somehow. I did try siphoning Bioenergy from my tail, and while that did work a little bit, it seemed that this body didn't need it so much. It was hardly enough to even change the color of the grass, so I guess that's a win?

We got back to training after lunch, this time Raphtalia was a little more confident with taking care of balloons. She even started chasing some away that got too close despite Naofumi and I being immune to their attacks. We found this out when Naofumi caught some with some shield work, and had them all bite me at the same time. Sure it wasn't a smart idea, but he said something about me being Level 75 with crazy stats, so this was harmless fun. Raphtalia ended up getting bit by one, so I walked over and popped it, and gave her a potion that Naofumi tossed me.

I didn't gain any levels today, but Naofumi went to about Level 8, and Raphtalia at Level 7.

When we got up the next day, someone from a village down the pathway we were heading down told us about a few monsters from the previous wave hiding in a cave up the mountain. We packed our gear after a light breakfast, and headed up. The monsters were weak… too weak for me as whatever one I hit died right away. Naofumi was doing his job in guarding Raphtalia, who did her best to focus, but was in all reality rather scared. This only came to a head when we got to the main area the person who told us mentioned. Laying there was a familiar creature to what I was used to, well, not exactly.

Sleeping peacefully was what could be seen as a Lunastra cub, with underdeveloped wings, and the Crest hasn't formed yet. The coloration was darker than normal, but that might be because it's young. I look to Naofumi and Raphtalia, giving them a quick rundown as to how to fight it. It stemmed down to me using a burst of Dragon Energy to weaken it significantly on the damage front, as well as its health since I knew I could easily kill it in one shot. I did this more for Raphtalia's sake.

Oh, and Naofumi got a new shield with a skill. That might work for this because this attack would have a wide range. Giving the signal, I start to build up some Dragon Energy in my hands as I approached the unsuspecting cub. A tail flick was what Naofumi needed to do his part.

"Air Strike Shield!" he said as a transparent green shield formed in front of them about 5 feet from them. I forced my hands into the stone, overloading it with Bioenergy, enough for the area to explode shortly after. This flung the waking Lunastra cub into the air, but a problem occurred, Raphtalia was frozen with fear. She couldn't muster any strength when she saw it begin to spark with weak flames, reminding her of something that I didn't know yet. Seeing this, I jumped back from my initial spot, sliding myself next to Raphtalia. Seeing me next to her, she thought something happened to me, but I gave her a bright smile.

"I believe in you, Raphtalia." I said to her, the cub then giving a weak roar.

"B-but I can't d-do it…" Raphtalia said, her voice shaken as she spoke, and tears in her eyes. Naofumi blocks a strike from it, but does get bit not long after, it's attack higher than the defense of his armor in that spot, and it drew blood. "Naofumi!"

"Don't worry about me, we can buy you time to run. Now go!" Naofumi yelled out as he understood what I was aiming to do. It was simple when you think about it, but I wanted Raphtalia to be confident in herself for a change. I don't know how a slaves life is like, but if it makes someone like Raphtalia sad, then it's not good to me.

Raphtalia stood still for a few moments, thinking as to what to do. She could run, but wouldn't learn the lesson of fighting past your fears. Naofumi faltered in his defense some, his legs buckling some. While the Lunastra cub was weak, it was still an Elder Dragon like myself, so it was still rather strong. It seems that seeing Naofumi hurt this badly gave her the motivation to strike.

Running towards it at a full sprint, she snags one of my blades from its holster, her focus solely on the Lunastra cub. It noticed too late as a shadow covered its vision in the shape of the young Tanuki girl making a stabbing motion into its skull. Blood jetted out from the wound made from my blade in her hands as it writhed in pain for a couple moments, it falling over dead soon after. Raphtalia then ran over to hug Naofumi despite his shoulder hurting like it was from the bite.

I walked towards the now dead corpse of the Elder, and stuck my tail in it, feeding off its bioenergy, but left some for Naofumi to add to his shield. It is risky business leaving an Elder to rot where it was since the expansion of bioenergy could be sometimes as bad as sucking it all for oneself, even if they didn't have that much. What was done was done though, and we rewarded ourselves with Lunastra Stew that night, and a go ahead for the village to start mining there since that was the reason for everything. Shiny rocks or something like that.

I think I'm starting to understand what it's like to be… humane? And I can thank Naofumi and Raphtalia for that. If I outlive them, I will never forget them from the bottom of my heart.

And that is the chapter done. A lot happened, and that's because the show also sped through the first couple episodes. There will be a small time skip to the Second Wave next chapter since not much happens from this point onwards to then. After that, Zofie will try going solo for a bit to train since she is way over leveled for the beginning of the series. I might introduce Zofie to Fitoria, causing an awkward, and silly frenemy situation since Filolials greatly dislike dragons… and if we have seen, Zpfie is proud to be an Elder Dragon.

I am also beginning to nail down Zofie's personality since I am writing her more now. She is the type to go with the flow of things, but is angered by things that are morally wrong, Malty, or the Three Heroes Church when they start making moves. When in a normal situation, she is decently intelligent, if not aloof at times, or even down to a clumsy streak (#RIPGuildtable you will be missed). Overall, mostly a not serious character.

I hope things have improved a bit, and do not forget to post reviews for criticism and suggestions. Opulent one out!!