Note: Three to four chapters have been released in quick succession, make sure you didn't skip any before reading ahead. Also, go read Rise of the Cute Heroes at some point and say 'Maglad sent me'. It's a pretty fun fic outside the double and triple-chapter long fights.

Chapter 16

~qO Naofumi's POV Op~

The old man's shop sure feels nostalgic after all this time.

"Oh, shield kid, it's been almost a week."

"That would be correct, yes. How have you been, old man?"

"I have a name, you know? Also, is that cute girl little Raphtalia? Dear gods, she sure grew up into a cute mink, didn't she?!" ~ the old man laughs, and Raphtalia gets all bashful-like, blushing while looking away and poking her index fingers against each other. Eh... so this old man was a lolicon? You can never tell by their looks, uh? Well, I guess this level of harassment is still light enough to be considered joking, so I'll let it pass. He, more than me, should know that she's actually a ten-years old inside, after all.~ "Anyway, what can I do for you?"

"Well, the wave is hitting in... a little over 40 hours, so we came for our last minute preparations, and that includes getting our equipment maintained and upgraded." ~ I explain.~ "And for that, Lin's countrymen sent a care package, apparently."

I nod towards her and step aside, letting Lin-chan step forth and placing the box on top of the counter.

"I'd be grateful if you didn't comment on the origin of the materials," ~ is what she said.~ "I'd rather not waste the pain and effort of those who volunteered to get them here."

Are they illegal goods? Uhm... well, they're already here, so I'm not going to complain. Ultimately, this is for the sake of saving the world, so I'm not going to make a fuss over breaking a few rules. Still...

"Lin-chan, did your people hunt some endangered species for these materials?" ~ I ask her, and see her twitch for just a moment.

"No, these come from an extremely rare and holy Yasashibaka bird." ~ she replies after a moment, looking like she just ate a whole basket of lemons.

I wonder if its some kind of endangered, delicious non-flying species, like the Dodo back on Earth? Either way, the old man smirks a little and pops the box's lid, looking intrigued. He focuses for a moment, and sends a ball of light at something inside, then stiffens and looks up at Lin-chan.

"Oi, this isn't funny." ~ he says.

"It certainly it is not. Please." ~ she's bowing pretty deep.~ "My sister sent these herself."

"...I see." ~ the old man scratches at the back of his head while looking at Lin-chan with an slightly blue tint to his face.~ "Siltvelt, is it? What an scary place..." ~ he turns towards me ~ "With these, I could make you something amazing, you know? Which kind of armour do you want? Another chain mai-?"

"Not chain mail." ~ I feel like I'd puke if I wore such a thing.~ "Never again."

"Fumu. That's pretty much your standard for medium-weight armour, though there's a few other rarer types I could prepare if you wanted something in that weight class. Then again with these materials, I could probably make a field plate with featherweight on it."

"Featherweight?"

"Yes, its an enhancement that makes the armour weight ten times less than it should."

"Isn't plate really restrictive, though?"

I look around, and find one supported against a wall. It feels like something you'd see in a museum, except that this one is brand new and meant for combat. The metal is black and vaguely reminds me of a giant beetle.

"Who told you that? Good plate armour is far less restrictive than chain mail, you know? It goes on top of a gambeson and is strapped to a series of belts and a harness, so the weight is evenly distributed all throughout the body instead of resting solely on the shoulders, thus it is much more comfortable to wear over long periods of time and provides excellent protection while taking exceedingly well to all sorts of enchantments. I'd say its only bad point is that it takes about five minutes to don it with help, and three times as long if unassisted. Then again, chain mail still would take you a minute at the least so, if you get ambushed in the buff it won't really make much of a difference."

Oooh, as expected of an expert, the old man sure knows his stuff.~ "So, could you make me a plate armour with those materials?"

"I couldn't, but I could modify the one you were looking at with them. You'd be able to dash around the battlefield like a shusaku would, too! Just keep in mind that plate is the heaviest type of armour. Anything lighter would actually let you fly."

"Seriously!?" ~ I step forth to take a look at whatever is on the box, my curiosity piqued. Uhm, there's a bunch of stuff wrapped in layers of leather and silk to protect them during the trip, but the most eye-catching thing in the box are two enormous black wings so dark their colour almost goes deep enough into 'dark' to come out the other side into 'shine'. From what little I know of birds, the typical wingspan of a flying bird is three times the length of the body. Even folded, these are at least 7ft long, so they'd be 14ft to 15ft long if you were to fully stretch them? We're talking of a bird roughly the size of an ostrich, then? The Yasashibaka bird, uh? I'm somewhat curious about seeing it someday, now. For reference, Lin-chan's wings are only about 5ft long while unfolded. Well, she can't actually fly, though she does run and dash at mind blowing speeds with them pushing her forth.

Its a good thing it's both wings. If it was just the one, depending on how it was used, I'd run the risk of looking like some FF villain with mommy issues while wearing whatever armour these get attached at the end.

"Naofumi-sama's main strength is his high defense, so shouldn't you lean unto it?" ~ chirps Raphtalia from the side.

Is that so? I assume that means she'd like me to go with the plate mail, but... flight is just too tempting.

"Well, if we had enough meteoric iron or Q'ten Lo silver steel, I could make you a light enough plate armour to fly with." ~ the old man takes the wings out of the box and places them gently to the side so he can take a look at what else is under them. He has a really complicated expression while handling the wings.~ "Let's see... oh? The folks at Siltvelt went all out, didn't they?"

He pulls out multiple sheets of leather. Even I can tell from looking at its edges that it's not a single layer, but many sheets of different leather painfully stitched and glued together, though I have no idea how you'd glue something like that so it'd remain flexible enough to fold.

"What else is there...?" ~ he looks a lot happier as he handles the leather folds, placing them on the opposite side of the box compared to the wings, and unfurling the thick, mildly clear paper protecting the last of the materials.~ "Oh? Well, I guess you could think of these as the least important, yet more immediately practical thing in the parcel." ~ he brings out a deep green waist cloth, then fires yet another ball of light at it, and smiles.~ "You can put it on right away, but I'll be honest, I'd take a bath and change clothes first if I were you."

"It is that expensive?"

"Yes." ~ is all the answer he gave me while sporting a true shit-eating grin.

"It is to protect our important God, so no matter how Naofumi-sama treats it, as long as it is doing its job, everything is alright." ~ states Lin in a calm and serious manner. Ah, how dangerous. She sounded so mature and charming I almost forgot she's a 12y/o inside. All the same, I think I'll go with the old man's suggestion and take a shower and change clothes before wearing this thing. Let's just store it on the shield for the time being, yup.

"Anyway, with these many materials, I can make you an excellent set of leather armour. Since the wings will add the featherweight effect either way, it can be as heavy as you'd like and you still get to fly. Do you have an aesthetic preference?"

I scratch my head.~ "Sorry, I'm a... well, I was an engineering student, not an art major." ~ turning towards the girls, I ask for them to take over this part.

This was a mistake, as I just asked two little girls for what they think is 'cool'. Yup, we're going to be here for a while.

~qO Ren's POV Op~

"Sakura-nee, why Sentai?" ~ I ask her while looking back at her weird-looking party. She has a bashful, bespectacled Green Ranger (she's wearing her glasses on top of her face mask, too!), an exuberant Gold Ranger with massive wings, a happy-looking Black Ranger, a bubbly Pink Ranger, and... well Sakura-nee introduced her as Kamen Rider, but I just don't see it.

Isn't she just a fantasy-standard super high-class beauty in an ama- oops I almost fell into Sakura-nee's pace!

Sakura-nee has this huge smile on her. She heard me thinking that, didn't she?

"You were about to think amazing dress, weren't you, Ren-kun? Well, I can't blame you, Rider is just that beautiful, after all."

"Its not my choice, Sakura! It changed when I did that class-up thing." ~ said super high-class beauty said while trying to sound as calm as possible. I'm sorry to say, but its hard to miss that you're going through a full body blush... specially in those clothes.

"Right, what happened at the class-up? Did you change class? Are you still a Rider?"

"Yes, I just gained some new abilities and my parameters went up."

"Was it about as much as your coverage went down? Well, its still just barely enough to conceal any important information, I guess." ~ Sakura-nee really enjoys teasing the people she likes, doesn't she?

As Rider-san and I sigh together, I feel like we've somehow gotten closer. Now if only I could look at her without feeling like there's nowhere safe to look at...

"Right, so why the Super Sentai suits?" ~ I almost let Sakura-nee distract me from my original question.

"Well, the children wanted to keep their identity hidden until after the wave so Raphtalia-chan wouldn't get distracted at a bad time. They're her childhood friends, after all."

"That is... a surprisingly valid reason... I think? And what about the Gold and Green rangers, then?"

"Kya thought it looked fun, and I forced Rishia-chan to join in."

"Forced, is it?" ~ Rishia-chan, thank you for your valuable sacrifice and efforts in acting as the all-important outlet for Sakura-nee's mischievousness.

"Its not like you have room to talk?" ~ she points towards Niku-chan with a 'really?'-like expression.

"She's delicate and couldn't fight her way out of a paper bag, so I shoved her into the strongest box I could find." ~ I say softly enough only Sakura-nee can hear. She can just read my thoughts anyway, so there's no point in lying to her.

"Hmm~ But I can only hear your surface thoughts, you know? I don't go diving into people's memories, Ren-kun."

"Anyway, Sakura-nee, thank you... for... you know."

"The boxers? Don't worry about it, just tell your Onee-san when you need more, alright? Ah, how are you on socks, by the way?"

"...I could use some, please."

"Got it. I bet people never consider this sort of thing when they think about going in an adventure."

"Well, if we were told in advance, I would have... no, I guess you're right. Besides, I honestly thought this world was a game on the first day, so I wouldn't have thought of bringing anything really useful."

"You'd have brought some porn and snacks, wouldn't you?"

"Sakura-nee!"

"Its alright, Ren-kun is at the right age for that sort of thing, anyway. Do you have any immediate plans? I want to go out and let everyone try and get used to their new skills."

"Yeah, I'll do that too, then just rest until the wave starts."

~qO Naofumi's POV Op~

Later that evening, we went to pick up my new armour, finding that the old man was still working on it but just about to finish, so we spent some time looking at the goods he had laying around.

By the way, Raphtalia finally graduated from her bastard sword and was swinging her greatsword in the inn's yard earlier today, so she's good weapons-wise. At least until something obviously superior comes along... I wonder if I should place a custom order. I'll ask Lin-chan if she needs an upgrade while at it.

"Lin-chan, you've been using that same weapon from the moment we met, don't you need a new one?"

"Naofumi-sama?" ~ she turns towards me from where she was standing at, looking at the shields on display.

"Don't you need a new weapon? You have been wielding that one since the start, haven't you?"

"Oh, this was a gift from my teacher, so he gathered the materials himself, and its high-enough quality that it would be hard to replace. Unless something truly amazing comes along, I should be fine, Naofumi-sama."

"And armour-wise?" ~ I mean, she's wearing a two-piece set of cloth that I think just barely qualifies as armour, you know?

"Shusaku need to be as lightly armoured as possible if we want to use our wings. Besides, nothing here wouldn't fit, anyway." ~ Well, she's not wrong. Her 'armour' reminds me of a set of Egyptian clothes I saw in a museum once. I think that style of skirt was called... Chan... Chen...? Shendyt.

"Don't you just need it to be a two-piece? I'm honestly worried about your exposure levels..." ~ in more ways than once. Well, if I think of it as a swimsuit, then she's wearing an extremely proper top and bottom, though, plus a waist cloth. But only if I think of it as a swimsuit, and its meant to be armour, so...

"Shusaku have hollow bones, Naofumi-sama. If we take a blow, we'd take heavy damage regardless of whether or not we were cut, anyway. Honestly, I feel very safe while fighting under you. I am always grateful for your divine protection."

"F-fumu..." ~ this girl, I'm sure she has no idea on how much pressure she's placing on my shoulders.

With that, I look towards Raphtalia while begging her for help with my eyes and... hey, don't just look away! Help me out here! I can't believe you're leaving me out to hang like this! Someone, please!

"Its done. I had to hold back from rushing near the end. It would have been a shame not to treat these materials with the proper respect." ~ yes! The old man to the rescue!

"Old man, nice timing!"

"Eh?" ~ he clearly has no idea what I'm talking about.~ "Alright? Anyway, here we go. This is the [Shusaku Lord] armour, it weights basically nothing despite the thickness, offers excellent protection against bludgeoning and slashing weapons, near immunity to [Wind] elemental magic, has a built in [Taunt] effect, and lets you dash about like the missy over there."

"I have gratefully received it, can I try it now?"

"Sure, you know where the dressing booth is." ~ he nods in the right direction, so I go change.

I get a lot of mixed reactions as I come out from the booth. The old man looks understandably proud of his work, Raphtalia looks excited, and Lin is trying to smile despite big shiny tears running down her face. Is it really that amazing of a change? Except for the white fur around neck, the armour looks like something the gold saint of Sagittarius(1) would wear, except that the leather plates have been dyed matte black to try and match the wings. Fumu, it is a good thing that the wings fold down the way they do, otherwise it would be hard to walk through doors or take a seat, not to mention that whenever I inevitably get punted into a wall or smash through a pillar, the wings won't automatically get shredded on the spot.

Pillar-smashing is a shonen-staple, after all. There's no way a fantasy fight can go on anywhere around a pillar without someone getting punched, thrown or kicked through it, definitely. Ah hold on, I was forgetting to attach the waist cloth... there we go.

"Its really light, I can barely even tell I'm wearing it at all. How much do I owe you, old man?"

"Nothing." ~ he replies in deadpan.~ "Shield brat, the missy over there would be upset if I said too much, so all I am going to say is this: That armour represents the sincerity of the Shusaku clan and its literally priceless. The materials it is made of speak leagues about their honest feelings for you. Don't you dare sell it, understood? Whenever you want any upgrades, come see me and I'll charge you a fair price."

Alright, even I am not dense enough to miss that something weird is going on here, but I'll wait for a bit and see if Lin-chan feels like telling me herself.

"In my world, you tip 10% the value of a product to the salesman, so if I wanted to express my gratitude that way, how much would I have to pay you?" ~ I ask while looking him in the eye.

"...I'm not taking money for that armour, lad. Just drop it."

"Fine, thank you for your hard work."

We leave the old man's shop, and I practically smash into Motoyasu at the door, the fool about to step up into the old man's shop.

"Naofumi? Weren't you at some remote village or something?" ~ he looks at me, and steps back so there's enough room for me to walk past.

"That is completely accurate. I was indeed, but the wave is coming so my party had to come by for Raphtalia's Class-up and other minutia..." ~ looking at him, he seems to have pretty good gear himself.

Ugh, if only he wasn't dragging that Bitch around, I could probably have a conversation with him without feeling like I want to puke. I step down unto the street and move to the side so we're not blocking pedestrian traffic. Raphtalia and Lin-chan come out of the shop and line up behind me.

"Oh? Are these your companions? Sakura-chan did say you had found reliable people to party with, but I never thought such cute girls would dare follow you around." ~ he's eyeing both Raphtalia and Lin-chan from tip to toe while wearing a rather nasty smile. Wait, me! This guy comes from a parallel Earth and doesn't seems to have any demihuman in his own party, so he probably doesn't knows that he's ogling little girls, right? I should be understanding, take a deep breath and explain to hi- "You lovely ladies, don't you know what this guy was accused of? Do you feel safe following him around?"

Alright I changed my mind, now I just want to punch him. No, wait a minute, he genuinely thinks I'm a rapist, so he's just giving two beautiful girls a heads up. Control yourself, me! Deep breaths, calm down...

"Motoyasu, I thought Sakura-san explained to you that I was falsely accused?"

"Sakura-chan is an angel. She either believed your lies, or forgave you. I on the other hand, have to look at the face of your victim every single moment of every day, and apologize for letting you roam free despite your grievous actions, Naofumi!"

"Sakura-san can read minds, Naofumi, do you sincerely think either of us could lie to her about anything at all?"

"That... is a good point." ~ he seems to calm down and looks like he's starting to think about it...

"Motoyasu-sama, don't get roped in by the Shield's lies! He's using some sort of suggestion magic on you, just like the shield devils of the past!" ~ aaaaand the Bitch had to open her mouth to puke a bunch of nonsense at the world. What the fuck is she talking about? Suggestion powers? If I had such a thing, I wouldn't have struggled so hard up until now, you know!?

"Is that so?" ~ he looks at me again.~ "How despicable of you, Naofumi!" ~ then he switches to Raphtalia and Lin-chan.~ "You two, be aware that this man is a rapist! There's no way two beauties such as yourselves would be safe around him, you know!?"

I know he has good intentions, but I really want to punch him right now. No, wait, shouldn't I punch Bitch instead? She's the one feeding him bullshit, after all. She's basically a radio station broadcasting 'hate the Shield' bullshit 24/7 on his ear. Still, to be called a rapist in front of the child I've taken care of and the girl that was entrusted to me pisses me off like nothing else. Is this what a father would feel, being insulted in front of his own child?

"Motoyasu, listen here-" ~ I'm about to reach for the neck of his armour to begin shouting at him, when I feel Raphtalia and Lin-chan's hands pull me back by the shoulders as they step forth.

"Motoyasu-sama... is it?" ~ Raphtalia looks at Lin-chan, and they seem to decide she's going first.~ "Did you know that Naofumi-sama and Sakura-sama often talk about you with worry? They truly and genuinely care about your well-being and worry about the company you keep. That being said..." ~ SLAP! Motoyasu nearly fell over from the thundering intensity in Raphtalia-chan's slap.~ "I don't know how Naofumi-sama manages to hold back, but this is as far as I can manage! How dare you spout lies about my hero with a straight face!? Even if you genuinely believe you are telling the truth, I cannot forgive you!" ~ Raphtalia is trembling with rage. I'm touched that she can get this angry on my behalf, but is her hand alright? She's actually holding and rubbing it.

"Motoyasu-sama, on behalf of the people of Siltvelt, I'd like to make sure. Are you aware that the state of Melromarc is the faith of the Three Heroes? Three, not four. In fact, the state religion in this country demonizes the Shield Hero, and your own companion has already called Naofumi-sama as the 'Shield Devil' in front of you. What lengths do you think the people of Melromarc are willing to go, in order to fight someone they perceive as the literal devil?"

Lin-chan is so mature, I need to re-evaluate my opinion of her.

"Shut up you filthy animal! Motoyasu-sama, are you alright!?" ~ Bitch finally snapped out of her shock and rushed over to tend to Motoyasu's burning red face. Well to be fair, the burning red bit its just the imprint of a rather slender feminine hand, really.

"Motoyasu, open your eyes, you're in the company of racists and zealots. It sickens me, but lets imagine for just a moment that Bi- I mean Malty, is actually a good girl and a devoted believer in her country's faith. To what lengths do you think she wouldn't go to make trouble for the devil?"

"Motoyasu-sama, don't bother listening to the lies of these violent criminals! My poor hero, let's just ignore them and hope they all die in the Wave." ~ Bitch is so annoying when she is pretending to be a good girl. Ugh, its stirring bad memories in me.

"That is..." ~ Motoyasu looks at me.~ "If I find out you've been abusing these girls, I'll not hesitate to run you through with my spear, Naofumi."

"...fair enough."

I mean, if I found that Rabier guy abusing Raphtalia-chan's friends, I want to think I'd do a lot more than ending things with a punch or sixteen. Momentarily, we step aside and let Motoyasu into the old man's store, then head out our own way. From my talk with Ren and Sakura-san, it is too late to add a monster to the party and have it be ready to help in time for the wave, but we'll definitely acquire one or two after the wave is done.

Thinking like that, I'm about to use the Portal Shield and return us to Ryuuto so we can get used to our new skills and wait for the wave when I sigh and go back to the old man's shop.

"Naofumi-sama?" ~ Raphtalia looks at me like I grew a second head.

"I forgot to give Motoyasu his share of the medicines and nutritional supplements."

Now both Raphtalia and Lin-chan are looking at me like I turned pink and grew two extra heads.

"Fair is fair, he did his share of the work collecting materials for it, so he should get his share of the goods." ~ I sigh.

~qO Motoyasu's POV Op~

My face stings. Who would have thought that such a cute, petite girl would have such a heavy hand. Honestly, I think she really trusts Naofumi from the bottom of her heart. Well, I want to believe he learned a lesson and has been behaving as a hero should, but even if he had, I don't think that would excuse what he did or make it fair for him to skip on receiving his just punishment.

"Motoyasu-sama, are you alright? That animal, how dares she lay a hand on you!" ~ Malty sounds like she's besides herself with anger, and... didn't she just call that girl 'an animal'? Well, I suppose it would still apply if an angry girl who doesn't knows any cuss words tried to insult another... probably.

No, wait, wouldn't she call her 'a beast' instead? The distinction is subtle, but its there. I think.

"Malty, is that how all demihumans act?" ~ I throw her as bait.

"Indeed, those animals are a lawless bunch who only know how to bite and growl, barely fit as slaves, and only if you keep an eye on them! Before father's time, they often crossed the border and attacked us looking for slaves and treasure!"

"...I see."

So she actually has discriminatory feelings against demihumans, but it is based on a history of bad blood between rival nations. I am sure every people who was ever invaded or raided in the history of ever, defaulted to a similar 'us vs. them' mentality, demonizing and dehumanising the enemy in order to feel better about themselves. Plus, if there's any truth about what that other girl said, there's also religious reasons behind it, right?

Ugh, I hate to admit it, but Malty, and by extension everyone else in the party, are likely to be heavily prejudiced against demihumans, and perhaps Naofumi as well? Would it be enough to throw a false charge of rape at someone? No, even if everything else is true, the way in which Malty was crying while holding from my and shivering like a leaf couldn't possibly be false. She's have to be some sort of manipulative, cold-blooded schemer, and I can't believe that.

I sigh, and turn towards the old man that owns the weapon shop.~ "Sir, can you do anything about my companions' gear? The wave is almost upon us now, so I'd like to be as prepared as possible for it."

"Right... well, even if they are wearing cuirasses and the like, your party members are all casters, right? Have you considered going to a magic tailor and commission robes or accessories to empower their spells?"

"That's fine, because I want to prioritise their health and safety over my own convenience."

"...you're actually a fairly decent guy, aren't you? But if you are taking them to the battlefield, you should keep in mind that monsters don't have a sense of honor, and the waves are named that way for a reason." ~ the old man sighed.- "How do you plan to fight off thousands of monsters while babysitting a bunch of girls who don't know the first thing about an actual fight?"

"How dare you!? You peasant, I can have you flogged and exiled!" ~ Malty called out while stepping up to the counter.

"And will that give you enough fighting experience to survive when thousands of monsters close in on you from every conceivable direction, your highness?" ~ the old man raised an eyebrow.~ "Spear boy, for their own sake as much as yours, you should think really hard about whether or not it is a good idea to keep dragging these girls around. Now, like I said, I could help you wrap them up in armour, but unless you're willing to do as the Sword Hero did and dress them up in a metal box, you may want to visit the Magic Tailor instead."

"Hm~"

Well, the waves shouldn't be that bad, right? I mean, this is barely the second wave we're talking about. In the game, it was basically part of the tutorial. Though later waves are a different matter altogether, so... I may need to give it some thought.

"Well, for the time being, please sell us some armour so they can survive the incoming wave."

"...fine, I'm running a business, after all, and I think I showed enough good will for a day."

With that, we bought five sets of medium armour, specifically five cuirasses made from leather and bronze plates with enchantments for cleanliness and deodorization, before we left. And then it was my turn to almost run into Naofumi, who was apparently waiting for us at the door.

"W-what is it you want now!? Motoyasu-sama, these beasts were waiting to assault us again!" ~ Malty called out while clinging to my arm and moving behind me, the poor thing.

"Tone down the crocodile tears a little, would you? It gets in the way of actual, proper conversation." ~ Naofumi sighed, his callousness in front of Malty's obvious distress causing me to stiffen a bit.~ "I just forgot to give you these."

He places both hands in front of him, and three small wooden crates appeared into them after his Shield's gem flashed for a couple of moments. I see, he took these out from his inventory just now.~ "These are your share of the medicine, or what is left after Sakura-san was done looking over the children. I am sure she told you about that, right? This is your share."

"T-the devil of the shield is trying to poison you, Motoyasu-sama! Don't take those!"

Naofumi clicked his tongue.~ "Whatever, you can use your spear to identify what they are when you take them into storage, right? Handing these over to you is as far as I can care, after this point, do whatever you want."

He shoved the boxes against me, and I instinctively grabbed them, then he let them go and began to turn around.~ "Hard as it is to believe, It would have left a sour after taste in my mouth if you died like a fool. Well, I wouldn't mind the bag of lies to get popped during the wave, though."

"Oi, don't talk about Malty like that!"

"Whatever."

And then he left. I looked down at the crates, and stored them away into the Spear. Sure enough, it displayed [6x (Good) Quality Medicine] as soon as the first box was stored away. I guess he has enough of a conscience to be mindful of other people's lives.

~qO Sakura's POV Op~

The countdown was almost done. Sakura knew she could count on Rider to watch over everyone in their group. If the kingdom's knights could take down the monsters of the wave, there was no way Rider would have trouble doing the same.

Still, she was worried about the children. To be honest, she'd love to send them as far away from danger as she could, but there was nowhere she could think of that was safer than within her sight right now. She had micromanaged their diet, exercise and rest with the foreknowledge of their accelerated growth gained through Naofumi's experiences with Raphtalia, and so her adorable girls had grown into traffic-stopping beauties with more than enough training to take care of themselves in a fight.

Perhaps she had gone a little bit overboard? Maybe? Well, no, there was no way a mother's love could be too much, right?(2)

Nodding to herself with an smug, self-assured smile, she looked over to Rishia. ...there was a project she would need to pour a lot more work into still, but Sakura was confident she'd manage to nurture the bespectacled girl into an excellent self-reliant maga before long. Not for the first time, she wished Rin was here to take Rishia under her wing, as her own Shadow Magecraft was too far outside of this world's magic system for her to be of much help in Rishia's education.

'On the bright side,' ~ she thought.~ 'her spars with Rider means there's no way she'll just run around like a headless chicken while screaming 'fueee' at the top of her lungs during the wave... right?'

Sakura looked at Kya, and smiled. Well, that one would probably be alright. Yup.

And with that, time run out and the world seemed to break.

~qO Rider Notes Op~

Rider: Apparently I'm in charge of these segments now. Shouldn't miss Fujimura do this kind of thing? And why did you review and send so many PMs to the weir- I mean, author!? Also, he says "About the post canon holiday themed arcsknowledge, I simply didn't read that, but the two reasons I'm writing this fic are, in order: Because the way in which the original author wouldn't recognise proper game balance if it bit him in the ass bothers me, because I wanted to have fun with Sakura unleashed, and because I wanted a less gynophobic story. That being said, please let me know about these things in advance, as now its too late to change it." ~ Rider looks at the author.~ Those are three reasons, you know? ...uh, he says he refuses to do the Spanish Inquisition skit but is happy to reference it in passing. Weirdo.

He also wants me to ask if you want the wave to be a lenghty play-by-play fight or just want him to breeze over it to get to the duel and more Sakura unleashed action? And finally he told me to mention: "I had been writing Myne as Mayne all this time and nobody called me out on it until proofreader B noticed. Likewise, proofreader A pointed out that magus in the english fateverse is used wrong most of the time, because female magus are correctly called maga, the plural of which is magae, and only the singular male is magus, while their plural is magi." ...sure sounds like the author´s OCD is being encouraged by the proofreaders, doesn´t it?

1 – Sagittarius Cloth, google it up. And with the Super Sentai, Kamen Rider, and Saint Seiya references, now you have a good chance of guessing just how old the author is.

2 – Yeah well, unlike in the original work, there's no way in hell Keel could pass for a boy now, is there? Sure, she's still a bit tomboyish, but that's it.

And because the author is genuinely afraid he'll forget if he stops 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 51

Raphtalia lvl 44

Lin lvl 62

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

Ren's party → Tersia D. Schwertschwingen, Tora Amakimusume, and Niku Usagi

Motoyasu's party → Bitch and her cheerleader squad

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