Chapter 14

~qO At the Manor Op~

"Hmm~ so... Lady Rider, you come from Sakura onee-sama's home world, correct?" ~ Rishia looked up at the tall beauty, fidgeting a little as she tries to start a conversation.~ "What is it like?"

"Compared to what?" ~ the statuesque woman replied while following after her.~ "I haven't seen enough of your world to make a meaningful comparison."

"I... I see. How did you meet Sakura onee-sama?"

"Why do you refer to her like that?" ~ the woman's tone was dry, but not really hostile,

"Sakura onee-sama told me to... she rescued me from an awful place, so... I'm willing to do anything for her sake."

Rishia felt the woman stop, so she turned around just in time to see her smile and starting to walk behind her again, with a slightly gentler impression this time.

"Please tell me about Sakura's activities in this world." ~ Rider says as she starts walking by Rishia's side.

"Y-yes!"

So, Rishia excitedly starts talking to Rider about the past few days with her Onee-Sama: about Sakura having been summoned as the Hero of the Bow, the incoming waves, her experiences as a slave and her subsequent rescue, Keel and Rifana's rescue, and about the deep respect and admiration she feels for the violet-haired heroine. Even if she doesn't notice, her voice growing warmer and more determined as she speaks, her posture straightening up, and by the end she's 'talking with her hands' while sporting a large, shining smile under the warm gaze of Medusa.

They have been walking and talking for a while, simply going around the manor, moving up and down the hallways without an specific destination until Rishia decides to see if the children are alright.

"Ah! Lady Rider, I need to go check on the children. Is it alright if I leave you alone for a few minutes?"

"I do not see why it would be a problem, but neither do I see a reason I cannot simply go with you."

"F-fuee!? Y-you like children, Lady Rider?"

"I like the things and people that Sakura likes." ~ Medusa replies calmly

"...I see. Then, this way."

Rishia guides Rider to Rifana's room, not that she needed to, of course. The Servant had already pin-pointed the location of every person inside the manor, but she is quite content to let Sakura's 'adopted little sister' show her the way.

"Keel, Rifana, I am coming in~ " ~ Rifana calls softly as she opens the door, and finds Keel sitting on the edge of the bed as the girl sleeps.~ "You know, Keel, you shouldn't bother her while she sleeps. Come on, let's see if we can prepare some sweets to surprise Sakura nee-sama with when she comes back."

Keel looks at Rishia, then back at her sleeping friend before nodding and standing up. Indeed, the puppy girl is dangerously weak to sweets in particular, and to food in general.

"...!?" ~ she stops in her tracks when she exits the room and spots Rider looking down at her. Then blushes from tip to toe.

~qO Ren's POV Op~

"Tersia, are you feeling alright?" ~ Ren could see that the green haired, blue-eyed girl had been nervous and skittish all day. He couldn't blame her. It must surely feel nerve wracking to give yourself over to another person like that, and she is almost sure to be having second thoughts now.

"Ah, y-yes Ren-sama, th-there's nothing wrong at all, hahaha..." ~ the girl looks away by the end.

"Hm. I think I know of a way to help you feel better. Since its just us right now, I think you are bound to be nervous about the slave brand, so-"

"T-that's really not it, Ren-sama, I... I believe in you...!"

"Yes, well, I am glad to hear it, but I think deeds speak louder than words, so come here for a minute." ~ he grabs Tersia's hand and pulls her out of the crowd and into an alley.~ "Hm. This should be a private enough place." ~ he nods to himself.

"R-ren-sama... I..."

"Listen up, Tersia, this is an order from Ren Amaki, your master." ~ he declares in an strong, clear voice, causing the girl to twitch and look up at him nervously.~ "This is an absolute order, and will take priority over any other I give you henceforth, either knowing or unknowingly, understood? Tersia, you are free to ignore any orders."

"Muu~ ...eh?"

"Well, since Sakura-nee loves teasing me, I did consider stringing you along for a couple of days first, but ultimately decided against it. Tersia, I didn't trick you into being my slave. I am thankful to you for believing in me, and want you to know that. My one and only order is: If I happen to say something that may sound like an order to you, it is your choice whether to follow it or not, understand? It would be really awkward if we ever got into an argument and I told you to... ah well, you know what I mean. Just... don't ever do anything you don't want to do, just because I tell you to, alright?" ~ now Ren was awkwardly scratching at the back of his head, looking away and looking troubled.

Tresia couldn't help but feel like she understood Sakura's feelings of wanting to tease this honest boy, at least a little.~ "Yes, master."

"Oi, Hey!"

She giggled a bit, and they walked out of the alley, hand in hand.

"Hm, I think we had enough fresh air, let's go back to the inn, now." ~ he suggested after a few more minutes had passed.

"Ye~es."

"Thank you for sparing me the 'master' bit."

"It's not as funny if you're ready for it."

"Ugh... I may have made a big mistake."

"Don't worry, master, I will be considerate of your feelings."

"No, make that a huge mistake."

They went back to the inn, had a final drink at the bar, and made it up to their shared room. It felt odd to share such a large room with just one other person, but they had rented it two days ago and already paid for it. Now though, there was an slightly uncomfortable mood, so Ren decided to bring out the incubators and the eggs, as he shared with Tersia what Sakura had explained to him.

"So, this one is a rideable dragon?" ~ Tersia was sitting on her own bed, holding the egg (within its incubator) in her lap.

"One of them is. I can't tell which is which, though. The other one is a truly random monster egg."

"Hm. We'll need to keep in mind to look for inns with stables from now on." ~ said Tersia as she looked down at the egg.

"I guess you are right." ~ Ren placed the incubator (and the egg it contained) on top of the night stand, and took a look at it. The countdown timer on it marked 9:05:43, meaning it would hatch at some point during the morning.~ "Have a good night, Tersia."

"Is that an order, Master?" ~ teased the girl, causing Ren to glare at her a little.

'I wonder if the sword will shock me if I throw a pillow at her.'

"Tersia, turn around for a moment, please."

"What is it, Re-hmmph!"

ZAP!

'Worth it.'

The following morning, Ren was a gentleman and left the room until Tersia called him in, then washed and changed into his clothes after she left, before finally going downstairs to join her for breakfast in the common room, the incubators constantly by their side.

"Did you order already?" ~ he asked

"Yes, breakfast should be here soon." ~ his party member replies

"Hn." ~ Ren brought out the incubators. "There's just a little over an hour left, so it would probably make more sense to hold out on hunting until they hatch."

"Do you have any name ideas?" ~ the girl with grass colored hair inquires

"I assume you are talking about the dragon since we don't know what the other one will be."

"Right." ~ it would be awkward to name the unknown one 'Wan' and then have it be some sort of dog. Though Ren genuinely doubted there was anyone with such a lazy naming sense.

[Across the country, Naofumi just sneezed, hard.]

~qO Naofumi's POV Op~

"Are you catching a cold, Goshujin-sama?" ~ Raphtalia looks over from the girl's bed, talking softly enough to make sure Lin isn't bothered by it.

"Hm hu... I think someone may have been talking about me. Anyway, I just received a message from Sakura-san, so I'm going to step outside for a little bit. Just go to sleep already, you're still a growing child."

"Uuuh~ Goshujin-sama, I'm pretty sure I am already..."

"Sleep, now."

"...yes, Goshujin-sama."

Well, they call it rotlung in this world, but I'm fairly sure she had what we call pneumonia back home. Just because she's not sick anymore, it doesn't means I'm letting a growing child stay up past bedtime just for the heck of it. I'll make an exception for Christmas, though.

'Oh? You've fully embraced the role of her worrying dad, haven't you Naofumi-san?' - Ah, as expected, Sakura-san is just on time. No, maybe she had been here for a few minutes?

"If you were here already, you could have said hi to Raphtalia, Sakura-san."

"It would have made it harder for her to go to bed." ~ replies the beautiful young wife as she playfully walks out from a building's shadow.~ "Especially if she heard that I rescued two of her friends."

"Fumu. I guess that's true. Let's go downstairs to the common room and have a proper conversation."

"Alright, that sounds fine to me."

'Indeed, looked at her sitting across from me, I have to say Sakura-san is quite beautiful, but I can fully understand that wasn't even in the bow's radar when it chose her. She really is an amazing person.'

"The shield can't really make anything oh quality higher than [Good] automatically," ~ I explained while beginning to deposit box after box of [Good] quality medicine atop the table. Six boxes for 36 total.~ "But at least it can make them in bulk, now. Based off Raphtalia-chan's case, I'm sure a single box would be more than enough to help Rifana-chan, but these are for your party's stash. Feel free to use them as needed in battle."

"Thank you, Naofumi-san."

"These are for Rifana-chan," ~ I nod and wait until she has stored the medicine [Good] inside her bow, then take out the two boxes I made by hand and place them on the now empty table.~ "These are [High] quality medicine and nutritional supplements. Rifana-chan could probably recover with a single dose, but just in case, each box has six. Please make sure she drinks them regularly over the next three days."

"Oh? Naofumi-san, when we were summoned, you said that you were a university student. You wouldn't happen to have been studying pharmacology, were you?"

"Ocean Engineering, actually."

"That doesn't seems related at all."

"I do enjoy learning new things. And this is both interesting and useful, in many ways." ~ he shrugged.

"Well, how much do I owe you for these?"

"Eh? Sakura-san, you are spending time, effort and money to help those children. These only too time and effort. I'd feel like an scumbag if I accepted money for them."

"That's called trade, Naofumi-san. I'm paying for your know-how."

"No."

"...alright. If you are sure."

"I am."

"Hmm~" ~ Sakura smiled gently, and stretched her senses around the inn and into Naofumi's room, promptly and gently manipulating the deep shadows in the dimly lit bedroom, and having them wrap around Lin and Raphtalia's sleeping forms for a couple of minutes.~ "That should be... oh my."

"What is it, Sakura-san?" ~ Naofumi looks at her while sipping from a wooden mug

"A hundred and two, sixty, and eighty-nine. I see, demihumans really grow into an ideal body if you just give them the resources for it, don't they?" ~ she declares with an smile while writing things down on a piece of paper.

Pfft! "Sakura-san!?"

"As for Raphtalia-chan... she's really grown, ara ara...! Seventy six, fifty five and seventy nine. I'd say she's a 30B? Well, she's petite and lovely."

"Sakura-san!"

"And let's see... there you are~ " ~ she grins happily as the shadows reach out and catch an 'innocent bystander'~ "Let's see... oh my. Ninety three, fifty four, eighty four... you'd never think so just by looking at them.."

"Emiya Sakura-san!"

"Yes, I am here~ "

"What were you doing...?" ~ he looks at her with a rather bad feeling.

"Well, if you are not going to take my money, next time I just have to come bearing gifts, Naofumi-san."

"Fine, fine. I'll charge you for the (Good) quality stuff the shield made, then. I'm still not charging you for the stuff I made by hand, that's my way of helping Raphtalia-chan's childhood friends."

"I think it should have been the other way around, though? I mean, you spent your personal time and effort in the (High) quality stuff, after all."

"I'm free to charge you however I want."

"Yes, yes. Alright." ~ she pays him for the (Good) quality stuff, then brings out two small hemp bags with medicinal herbs and plants.~ "These are from Motoyasu-san." ~ she explains, then brings out three more bags.~ "And these are from Ren-kun. We weren't sure if you'd have enough to help Rifana-chan, so everyone pitched in."

Naofumi looks at them for a couple of moments, then sighs and nods. "I see. I'll make sure to process them and give them a fair cut." ~ he scratches at the back of his head.~ "Its kind of hard to stay upset at them when they do stuff like this."

"They're not bad people, Naofumi-san. Just... people."

"I know. Thank you for going through the effort to play transport and delivery for us. I'll have more for you by tomorrow night."

"Thank you. By the way, Naofumi-san." ~ says Sakura as she opens a mindlink with him.~ 'What sort of underwear do you prefer on girls?'

"Sakura-san!" ~ a beet-red Naofumi Iwatani cries out as a giggling eggplant poofs away in a cloud of shadow.

'You're terrible, Sakura-san.'

~qO Motoyasu's POV Op~

Motoyasu opens the door, and sneaks out into the hallway, then walks barefoot until he's downstairs, finally letting his breath out and donning his shoes once he reaches the door.

"You know Motoyasu-san, you could always just use the Portal Spear to teleport outside instead of having to sneak out like this." ~ says Sakura as she looks down at him with pitying eyes.

"Aghafkwht!?" ~ Motoyasu's heart does its very best at fleeing up his throat and out his mouth.~ "Sakura-chan, you nearly killed me!"

"Are you sure you should raise your voice like that? You're not quite out the gate just yet."

"...fine." ~ he uses the spear to teleport out into the castle town's main square.

Sakura pops in after a moment, looking quite happy with herself. The violet-haired young wife is grinning softly, hands behind her back as she leans back and forth.

"Sakura-chan, surprising people like that is quite rude, you know?" ~ Motoyasu complains and sighs

"I was making a point. You shouldn't have to sneak away from your own companions, Motoyasu-san."

"Well, that is..."

"I am only going to say this to spare you a blow, Motoyasu-san. The princess is shooing away any girl that happens to be more loyal to you than her."

"What?"

"Your group has a pretty high turnover rate, doesn't it? I only recognise the princess and her two flunkies from your original line-up. How many girls have joined and left by now... six, seven? You seriously do not think that's strange?"

"I am not going to force anyone to stay and risk their lives, Sakura-chan. What we do is both scary and dangerous."

"Well, when it happens, just remember that twice as many girls were loyal to you than to the princess, and they all got bullied into leaving."

"Bullying? What? Girls bullying?" ~ Sakura looks at him as he says that, wrinkling her nose, holding her forehead with a hand and makes an expression as if looking at a very lost, very dumb but lovable overly trusting puppy, as she realises that he is genuinely surprised by the very idea.

"Yes, Motoyasu-san, girls can be just as mean as boys. Worse, actually. Much, much worse."

"Motoyasu-san, you should know, girls can hold scary grudges..." ~ then she gasps at the mental images that go through Motoyasu's mind. Two girls he trusted and loved, taking turns at stabbing him from the front and the back while having a shouting match and declaring that they'd be the one to kill him and themselves. That they'd each be the one to spend eternity with him.~ "Oh, Motoyasu-san..."

"I... I want to believe in my companions."

"I see."

Motoyasu felt that right now, Sakura's troubled expression looked really kind as she looked at him. It was the appearance of a friend worrying over him and how to help, trying to come up with a way to stop him from making some terrible mistake.

"Motoyasu-san, when it happens, please remember. Most of the girls in your group genuinely wanted to support and help you." ~she paused while thinking about something.~ "I delivered your supplies to Naofumi-san. He's making medicine for everyone right now."

"I am sure the royal doctors can do better."

"Maybe, but it won't hurt to have your own secret caché."

He rolled his eyes~ "I really don't need such a-"

"Just take it and be quiet about it!"

"...yes, alright."

"Why were you sneaking out, Motoyasu-san?"

Motoyasu freezes for a moment, much like a child caught with his hand in the cookie jar, and looks over at Sakura with pretty much the same expression. Somehow, Sakura can't help but to consider that despite their relative ages, the young man in front of her has a lot less life experience than herself. She tries and smiles at him as kindly as she can, then continues.

"Motoyasu-kun..."

"...-kun?!"

"Motoyasu-kun, you were sneaking out to try and level up, weren't you? I am sure it must be hard fighting alone while the girls do little more than cheer you from afar, having to split any experience you earn six ways despite you doing all the work..."

"That's not always the same." ~ Indeed, plenty of times, the girls help. Not all of them, but still...

"And those very same helpful girls are the ones that get bullied away." ~ Sakura frowned on behalf of those girls. Just how many lives was that princess going to ruin?~ "Motoyasu-kun, next chance you get, you should have a conversation with the girls that try and help you. Make it clear to them that you are grateful and want them to stay. And more importantly, make sure you say so away from the princess' ears. Can you at least do that much?"

"...yes, alright."

"Excellent. Now, I wanted to talk to you about having your own monsters, but on second thought, I am actually concerned about the princess poisoning them or something."

"Myne wouldn't-!?"

"Hai hai, you really think she's a kind little angel, I know. I hope you harden your heart enough that I don't have to pick up its pieces later on, Motoyasu-kun." ~He wants to retort, but sighs as she gestures for him to lean down so she can whisper a secret into his ear. Instead, she hugs him softly and pats pats at his head.~ "You are a good person, Motoyasu-kun. I just hope you'll stop thinking with your dick before it gets you killed."

Before he can retort, she's gone.

'Malty-chan wouldn't bully anyone... right? She better than most, should know what being abused feels like, after all.' ~ Motoyasu feels himself growing anger at the idea of Naofumi taking advantage of his friend. He turns around, and heads for the forest. He'll take his frustration out on the monsters.

~qO Tersia's POV Op~

Being chosen as a companion for the Sword Hero had been ...scary, and Tersia wouldn't be ashamed to admit so to herself or to anyone who asked. She was gifted in that she could use all elements, but only up to the Zweite(1) tier, which was... quite mediocre. Her swordsmanship was 'adequate' but would never be called 'good'. Honestly, if it wasn't for her family's tradition, she'd much rather use an spear, as it could double as a staff and thus help her focus what meagre magic she possessed into her attacks.

When she joined the Sword Hero's party, she was mostly sent to fight monsters and level up on her own. Most of her fellow party members seemed to resent but... she loved it. Being unsupervised for the first time, she could finally bring out her spear and use it in conjunction with her spells. Which, in turn, led to her outpacing the rest of the Sword Hero's companions growth speed. Yes, she'd knew she would have to use her family sword when the Wave hits in order to keep rumours from reaching her father's ears, but with how much stronger she was getting, she had full confidence that even while gimping herself, she'd still be able to provide a meaningful contribution to any fight.

But now the companions that knew her were gone. It was just the Sword Hero, her, and two eggs, but she was confident they wouldn't know to tell her father, and that meant she could... what? Use her spear as much as she felt like around him, then gimp herself when the Sword Hero needed her the most, during the waves?

She sighed.- "Lord Ren."

"If you are just going to keep teasing me over the brand, I swear..."

"No, this really is not about that, milord."

Ren blinked and did a double take. She looked... serious. Well, he hadn't really interacted much with her... he hadn't really interacted much with any of them, so he shouldn't have been surprised when they left, come think about it.~ "What is this about?"

"Milord, I wish to fight using a spear."

Ren nodded, waiting for the important bit. And he waited...

"Is... that it?"

"Milord, I come from a family of knights. The sword is part of my family's coat of arms. If my father hears about me fighting with something else, he's likely to make a huge deal out of it. And I really cannot imagine it ending well."

"Is it really that important..? No, don't answer that, I can tell it is from your expression."

The Sword Hero crossed his arms as he thought. He had treated them all like extra equipment or NPCs, but Sakura had forced him to start thinking about them as people, and now Tersia was coming out with her own issues and circumstances. If this had happened a week or two ago, he'd had thought 'hooray, loyalty quest!', but it was different now.

"I assume you can't just make the effort to get better with a sword? Or rather, you are so much better with an spear that you don't think there's a point in trying to catch up, correct?"

"I am equally proficient with both weapons, milord. It's just that I can channel magic so much better with an spear. It doubles as an staff, you see?"

"Oh!" ~ well, then it simply made practical sense.~ "Why don't you just say I forced you to?"

"What... but...?"

"Naofumi got accused of rape." ~ Ren raised his hands to stop her from saying anything.~ "Whether he did it or not is not relevant right now. The uncomfortable truth is, I am fairly sure we Cardinal Heroes can basically get away with murder if we felt like it, so gaining a reputation for micromanaging my party members is not even going to raise any eyebrows. Besides, I already talked you into accepting an slave brand, did I not? Just say I told you to use a spear. I don't mind."

"...yes, master." ~ she smiled warmly.~ "Thank you."

Besides, he had already decided he wanted a middle-range fighter in his party, and a spear user fit that role perfectly, anyway. If a bird presented itself cooked and dressed on a silver plate just as he was pondering on dinner, he wasn't going to say 'no'.

At that moment, they heard a cracking sound, and turned to find one of the eggs beginning to hatch. Ren moved it closer and removed the incubator's top half so they could watch without it in the way.

Little by little, the shell began to crack and bulge, then a soft, wet maw began to show, pushing against the shell and making the hole bigger bit by bit, eventually beginning to bite at its edges, swinging back and forth to tear at it until with a soft breaking sound the entire top half of the egg cracked. A small and tiny lizard with mostly black skin and a red pattern of tiger-like stripes all along its body emerged from the egg and chirped at them.

"Wark?"

For some reason, Tersia thought the Sword Hero's expression looked much more troubled now than it did when she told him about her issues. Well, there's no way for her to know that Ren is looking at the dragon's eyes and thinking 'clever girl!?'.

~qO Sakura's POV Op~

After giving a dose each of medicine and nutritional supplement to both Rifana and Keel, Sakura sat down to rub the girl's body in order to help with her recovery, changed her into a simple camisole (Normal) that the Bow made for her using the [Sewing] skill, and tucked her in for bed.

"Mistress Sakura... c-could you stay with me?"

"...you are absolutely not an slave anymore, Rifana. Just call me S- waaait." ~ Sakura thinks about it for a second.~ "Could you call me Sakura-mom?" (2)

"Sakura-okaasan?"

"No, Sakura Ok-ah-cha-an"

"Sakura-Okaachan."

"Iiii~!" ~ As Sakura starts to vibe, Rider grabs, restrains and steals Sakura out of the room before she has a chance to hug Rifana to death.~ "Nooo! and Protect!"

It takes a minute for Sakura to calm down enough Rider feels it is safe to let her down on the floor, then has to grab her again when she tries to rush back into the room.

"Sakura, you are going to scare her. Calm down." ~ the stoic servant admonishes her gently.

"I am perfectly calm, Rider. I have calmly decided I am going to sleep with Rifana-chan tonight."

"You've just been doing whatever you want to, haven't you?" ~ Rider smiles a little bit.

"Hh... come think about it, Rider... where's your blindfold?"

"I was summoned without it. I don't seem to need it."

"...can you still use your mystic eyes?"

"I believe I can, yes."

They remain quiet for a couple more moments, before Sakura relaxes and smiles as her servant holds her.~ "I missed you."

"Hm. Rishia told me about it. You've been busy."

"How long has it been back home?"

"...I noticed you disappeared, woke up Shirou, he called Rin, and she confirmed you were alive but displaced. That was three hours ago."

"Hmm... so its roughly an hour a week. The flight from England to Japan is roughly twelve hours. That means it'll be almost four months before they can do anything." ~ Sakura sighed, and sunk into Rider's hug.

She was sure they'd work something out. Shirou got spirited away into other worlds so much over the years, they had already come up with ways to follow after him. Yet it always took the both of them to do so. Now they had to find a second magus who'd be amenable enough to help, which should be ...hard?

[Across space and time, a drill-haired ojou-sama felt as if someone was talking about her, and couldn't help but to check over her shoulder despite being alone in the bath.]

"Hm~ let's give medicine to Rifana-chan and Keel-chan, and go to bed. I'll have a surprise for everyone in the morning~ " ~ Sakura reached up before her to take hold of Rider's hands on her own, then straightened to guide her towards 'her' bedroom.

~qO Rifana's POV Op~

Darkness. It was always dark in the dungeon, but Rifana preferred it that way. The lord Rabier was human, and he needed light to see, therefore light was the herald of his approach, a symbol of pain and misery and things that hurt but that she didn't understand. Dragged into the light, she was often chained to the lord Rabier's hard wooden furniture, beaten and whipped for no reason she could understand before he tried to fit himself inside her.

Rifana couldn't understand. It was just beyond her. It hurt in weird places, and it felt as if she was tore apart every time the lord tried to move inside her. No matter how she cried, no matter how she begged, it only seemed to drive the lord wild with the need to hurt her and go into her, and sometimes it wouldn't end until his lamp ran out of light.

The darkness was safety, it was her friend. Even as she got the rotlung, even as she coughed so hard she felt her insides tear, and even when she couldn't cough any more, drowning in her cell as she fought for every breath(3), and even when she understood that moving took her air away... the darkness was comforting. It was safety, and it was welcoming her into rest.

And then the light came, and she shivered in fear because she knew lord Rabier was coming downstairs, and he took Keel from the cell and bound him to that horrible hard furniture with chains and began to hurt him and try to get into him and all she could think was about how she hoped the light of the lord's lamp would run out so he'd go away.

And then the darkness moved. It bubbled and slid and rose and sung, turning sharp and hard and filling her heart with an strange happiness as she saw it slice the lord Rabier apart and swallow him whole. Not a single drop of the lord's blood escaped the dark, and the lord was gone. She thought the darkness had saved them, and she was right.

Sakura-kaachan had saved them. She was the Bow Hero and she was the darkness and more. She was kindness, warm but not to the point of suffocation. Sakura-kaachan had saved everyone, everyone who was still alive. As soon as Rifana looked into her eyes, she knew that Sakura-kaachan understood.

When she held her up and gave her a wet cloth to suck on, she didn't know it was medicine, but she trusted in the darkness, she trusted in Sakura-kaachan's gentle darkness, so she did as she was told, and fell asleep. When she woke up with a cough, Sakura-kaachan was there to soothe and feed her and give her medicine by the spoonful.

Sakura-kaachan and big sister Rishia took care of her in turns. Washed, fed and rubbed her pain away. Sakura-kaachan called it a massage, and said it was important. Even as she was positioned like a doll, rubbed and felt in places that hurt and made her shiver at the memory of lord Rabier, she trusted in Sakura-kaachan, and began to feel better by the hour. Soon, she was talking, then she was sitting on her own, and eating.

She hated it when Rishia turned on the lights or opened the curtains, though, but it was alright as long as Sakura-kaachan was nearby, and then it was alright as long as Lady Rider was nearby. She felt like Sakura-kaachan, she felt like a shadow, and she felt like someone who'd get angry on her behalf.

And when Sakura-kaachan came back later that night, she was finally strong enough to hug her back. And after Sakura-kaachan gave her a bath, dressed her in the softest thing she'd ever wore, had her drink down a little flask of cherry-flavoured medicine and tucked her down for the night, she may or may not have smiled as she fell asleep.

~qO Ren's POV Op~

'Uh. For some reason I was expecting a wyvern, but it has four proper limbs plus wings, so it counts as an actual dragon.' - Ren looks as it finishes escaping its egg and stumbles unto the table, trying and failing to stay aloft with its small, wet-looking wings.

"Is it red with black stripes or black with red stripes?" ~ Tersia reaches out and picks it up with both hands, placing it down before her and cutting a tiny bit of ham for it.

"Wait, we don't know what it eats yet!" ~ Well, Ren is fairly sure dragons are carnivores, but probably not right after being born. Probably.

The tiny dragon tries to do something with its tail, but it is too stubby for whatever it was. Frustrated, it struggles to steady itself on its four legs while flapping its tiny wings, then stretches its neck up to bite at the bit of ham being offered to it.

"Isn't it eating well?" ~ Tersia smiles as she sees the tiny hatchling nibbling on a piece of ham roughly a third of its head's size.

"Most babies will try to take anything and everything into their mouths," ~ Ren deadpans.~ "I'm more worried about digestion. Anyway, do you have any name ideas?"

"Is it a boy or a girl?"

"...I have no idea whatsoever."

Would dragons count as a type of bird, or as a type of reptile? And how do you tell the gender of a newly born chicken? For that matter, how do you tell the gender of a newly born lizard, either way? Maybe a name based on its traits, then? A gender-neutral name may do it. Tigers are orange with black stripes, so maybe Tora? Ah, but it is red, so maybe Rouge, Red, or Aka?

"It should be fine if we give it a name based on its looks, right? Something like Tora, Rouge, or Aka."

"Tiger? Red?"

"The sword's translation function must have activated." ~ Ren makes an 'aaah' sound followed by a 'kah' sound.~ "It means red in my country's tongue. And the first word was also in japanese and yes, it does mean tiger, but I think it's a very dashing name as well" ~ then he tries his best to spell 'Tora' without triggering the sword's translate ability.

"So Rouge, Tora or Aka..." ~ Tersia looks down at the hatchling, and sees it trying to stalk the ham.~ "I guess it does look tiger-like."

"Well, its much better than naming it Ryuu just because its a dragon." ~ For some reason, Naofumi is sneezing a lot today.~ "Besides, it sounds like a gender-neutral name, so it'll be fine either way."

Tersia nods and pauses her play-feeding of the little dragon so she can dry it with a handkerchief, causing Tora to chirp in happiness. Ren in the meanwhile, turns to look at the other egg.

"You know, its hatch timer reached zero almost at the same time as Tora's did..." ~ he comments, and opens the incubator after some hesitation, bringing the egg up to his ear.~ "I can hear something... oh, it bumped into the shell."

"Is it too weak to break the shell?"

"That doesn't make much sense though? I'm fairly sure nature wouldn't give animals a shell too thick for the baby to break from within."

"I think traders use magic to make eggs indistinguishable from each other, for the gacha. That might mean some eggs are magically toughened to look like kiryuu eggs, no?"

"Aw crap, you're probably right."

Ren places the egg on his left hand and starts hitting at it with the head of an spoon. If it wasn't because the egg is melon-sized, he'd feel like he's just trying to crack a hard-boiled egg. It takes him a few moments, but he can soon see a very, very soft-looking set of pink nostrils sniffing at the world outside.

"I think it was about to suffocate." ~ he says with some relief as he starts pulling the shell apart with his own fingers in order to reveal an almost spherical ball of white fluff with a delicate little nose.

"Its ...an usapii, isn't it?" ~ Tersia comments while caressing Tora's back with a finger.

"Those rabbit-like things? I guess its a bust, uh?" ~ Ren picks up the trembling ball of fluff.~ "I guess this one's only good for soup, then? ...we shouldn't name it, I guess."

"That's... you are probably correct."

No matter how cute the ball of fluff is, its the second weakest monster in the world, with only the balloons having the honour of being weaker than it. There's just no way it'll be useful in a fight as anything but monster chow.

Ren peels back its fluff from around its nose to reveal a pair of still-closed eyes.

"Well, we brought it into this world, so the least we can do is raise it until it's strong enough to let it go in the wild. There's no way selling a single usapii will make us enough money to get back a hundred silver coins, anyway." ~ Ren lowers the usapii unto the table and calls at the tavern keeper, then orders a glass of milk.

"You are actually a softie, aren't you milord?"

"Am I?"

Ren thinks about it. He remembers the egg gacha from the game he used to play, but the lowest possible prize there was a giant spider, and even if it had near zero offensive power, it could shoot webs and poison to cause status effects on a player's opponent, so there were still people who favoured it for stun-lock type builds. An usapii is just... not game-like at all.

~qO Rishia's POV Op~

It felt strange to wake up in lord Rabier's manor, but Rishia knew that while common sense pushed for them to leave, Sakura was waiting for the children to recover to the point where they could be moved without endangering their health.

"Good morning, Rishia-chan~ " ~ Sakura greeted her with a smile as she walked around with Keel on her trail as the gender-confused girl helped set the table.~ "Did you have a good night?"

"Ah, yes Sakura-oneesama..." ~ she considered for a couple of moments, then continued.~ "...but, when are we leaving? There should be barely a week before the wave, and every minute we delay..."

"As soon as Rifana-chan can outrun you." ~ replied her hero.

"Fuee?"

"When she can outrun you." ~ repeated Sakura

"That is..."

"It'll be fine." ~ Sakura explained while bringing the food out of the oven.~ "I have summoned a lot of shadow elementals since last night. They've been hunting in the woods and keeping people away from the house. Haven't you checked your level as of late?"

"E-eh?"

Indeed, she had gone up five levels.

"I'm just waiting for the children to be healthy enough they can grow to their very best. I got some amazing nutritional supplements and medicines from Naofumi san, so I'll add them to the party as soon as their [Malnourished] and [Sick] status goes away... sometime this evening, probably. Then we can go."

Sakura served their breakfast to everyone, and Rishia turned around to see Rider walking into the room with Rifana in her arms. The demihuman girl looked much healthier, and even her hair looked shiny and clean. For some reason, Rishia thought she looked a bit too comfortable in the taller woman's arms, almost like a princess on the back of a prize dragon.

Greetings were exchanged, and Sakura took custody of Rifana, pulling her into her lap to feed her during breakfast as their not-so-small-anymore group shared a tasty breakfast. Sakura made sure everyone had enough, then had each of the kids take their medicine and nutritional supplements before taking Rifana and Keel for a bath.

It was just as amusing as it was endearing to see Keel try to run away, only to get swallowed by the darkness and deposited in Sakura's arms. Silly Keel, you can't escape the Sakura.

Rishia had to hold back from squealing in delight when she saw Rifana and Keel in matching, simple one piece clothes(4) made by Sakura herself, including a hair lace in appropriate colors. And once everyone was fed, washed, dressed up and warm, Sakura called everyone around to watch a baby gryphon fight its way out of its egg, prompting a bit of a war over its name, as well as who's turn it is to pet and fed the little chick.

In the end, the chick was named 'Kya', which means 'Heaven's Treasure'. It was nice to watch Rifana and Keel forget about their problems and act as regular children around the chick. And Sakura was right, as Rifana was running from or after Kya by mid-evening that day.

~qO Author Notes Op~

You know, I've been thinking about this for a while... if the legendary weapons automatically translate all languages automatically, is there any reason for the spell tiers to be called first, second, third and fourth in German beyond the Japanese weird infatuation with it and the author trying to sound cool? Plus, I am fairly sure that Rin and probably Sakura would actually know German, so shouldn't they just hear 'first' when it is said in German or otherwise? I mean, Sakura has definitively been talking with Rishia about the magic systems of this world and the magecraft of her own, however casually, and if I recall correctly, most heroes start learning magic after the incoming wave in the original story, right?

Also wtf Sadeena in the LN is described quite differently from the WN Sadeena.

1 – BEHOLD! The first and last time I bother with using german words for first, second, etc!

2 – Like I said, I've been thinking about the legendary weapons translation function a lot. Okaasan is the formal way to call one's mother or someone else's mother, while okaachan is how small children would use it. An non-ironical 'mommy', basically.

3 – I had pneumonia at the same time as COVID, so I know what I'm talking about. Its not fun at all, and the idea of a child dying like that horrifies me. Like I said, the chapter where the kids were rescued was very hard for me to write, for multiple reasons.

4 – Honestly, children's clothes were basically unisex dresses for hundreds of thousands of years of human history. The gender-specific clothes are a modern invention, just one more sign of how well-off we are compared to our ancestors that we can afford the luxury of worrying about children's fashion nowadays. We live better than kings, people, stop complaining about dumb shit!

And because I'm genuinely afraid I'd forget if I stop writing this at the bottom of every chapter:

Keel → Goodest girl thinks she's a boy. Puppy, must get all the treats

Rifana → Weasel. Weasels have really really delicate digestive tracts, must be careful with her diet.

Naofumi lvl 36 → 44

Raphtalia lvl 31 → 40

Lin lvl 61 → she needs too much exp compared to the others, there's no way she's leveling up before the wave.

Naofumi's party → Lin, Raphtalia, Keel (at some point)

Ren's party → Tersia, ?, dragon (Tora).

Motoyasu's party → Bitch, whore/cheerleader squad

Sakura's party → Rishia, Rider, Keel and Rifana and a gryphon (Kya). Will probably keep Rifana and hand Keel over to Naofumi.