Unwavering heart

by Proxy4818

When an an ordinary university student named Audrey finds herself unable to buy groceries, she ends heading to a public library where she chances upon a fantasy novel which sends her to another world to defend it as the legedary bow hero. Now with her life on the line will she struggles to survive in a world that is crueller than she could have ever thought.

7. New arrival and scheme

Okay we're finally here with the next chapter sorry for the long wait but it's finally here.

Disclaimer I don't own rotsh.

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The four cardinal heroes were all gathered within the throne room with their respective parties. Aultcray looked upon them with a mixture of scrutiny (mainly when it came to the sword and spear heroes) and disgust (directed at the bow and shield heroes). "As promised when all of you had first been summoned here I have had rewards set aside for all of you in light of your accomplishments."

An aid walked in front of Motoyasu handed a bag of coins to him whilst the king addressed the hero of the spear. "Lord of Motoyasu as thanks for your part in holding back the wave that would have otherwise consumed our kingdom I've decided to give you 4200 silver pieces, please continue your vigil and safeguard my benevolent daughter."

Both heroes of the bow and shield had the repress a scoff at that, after everything she had done Malty was a long way from being benevolent, hell she couldn't be further from it.

The king's gaze turned to Ren. "And in light of the courage you've shown we've decided to award you 3800 silver pieces. We all have high hopes for you." Ren grunted in annoyance at the fact that he was being offered less than Motoyasu but accepted the reward none the less.

Aultcray's attention turned to Audrey next and his expression became stoic. "Lady Audrey, in spite of your unbecoming decisions and questionable stances you took when the shield's true nature was exposed for all to see you still defended our kingdom from the wave and will be awarded 2000 pieces."

The aid walked over to Audrey as the king continued. "You've still performed your duty as a hero and brought an end to the wave, as such I believe you've rightfully earned this though it is my hope that you'll change your stance on who you side with in personal affairs otherwise I will be left with no choice to continually refuse you any further support beyond rewards until you do."

Audrey just silently took her reward and stared attentively at Aultcray, honestly she was rather surprised at the prospect of receiving an award at all, granted it was visibly reduced compared to what Ren and Motoyasu received but even what she got at all could be considered. Another part of the bow hero was rather suspicious, knowing the trash king he didn't care at all for obligations, his actions at the party the previous night were proof enough of that which begged the question of what his angle was.

The king finally set his gaze on Naofumi and scowled. "Shield hero, not only have you done nothing during the wave but you even left lady Audrey to fend off the chimera alone leading to her being injured."

So that was the SOB's goal, accredit Audrey so he could in turn critizise and slander Naofumi and likely….

"As such you will only receive the bare minimum of 500 silver pieces." ….reduce his reward as much as he could. Audrey could only sigh upon seeing this, after everything the king has done she should have expected this. Still at the very least the shield hero was being given something as opposed to nothing.

The aid walked and motioned for Naofumi to take the reward however when the shield hero reached to take the money the aid retracted their hand keeping the bag out of Naofumi's reach much to his irritation along with Audrey and even Bluebell's and Raphtalia's.

"Or rather that would be the case if not for the fee for the removal of the slave crest, your reward will go towards the payment of the fee so you'll receive no funds at this time."

Audrey was extremely close to summoning her bow to her hand and sending a flurry of arrows at the pathetic excuse of a human being that ruled Melromarc before Bluebell placed a hand on her shoulder and shook her head.

It took a lot of will power especially after what Aultcray pulled the previous night, enforcing a duel when he had no right and trying to sabotage it on top of that. Still at this point Audrey should have expected this but even so to see this world go so far to torture the one hero that was actually concerned with saving them.

"Hold on, that's hardly fair." A voice suddenly said, drawing everyone's attention and seeing that it was Ren of all people that had just spoken out.

"From what I found out Naofumi actually helped with protecting the village that was attacked by the wave and you decided to have the slave crest removed of your own accord even after your daughter violated the duel."

"Mien would never do that!" Motoyasu exclaimed only to be ignored by everyone present.

"Naofumi's entitled to a reward like the rest of us." Ren said.

Audrey had to admit this was probably the first time Ren wasn't showing his usual arrogance and sense of self superiority actually and now that she thought about it, she could kind of recall Ren actually speaking up on Naofumi's behalf after the duel but she couldn't really recall much since she was nearly caught up in her own anger upon seeing Naofumi pushed to the absolute brink simply because of people world going out of their way to see him suffer, the king and princess wanting to sabotage him at every turn, and Motoyasu's sense of entitlement when it came to any female that was on good terms with shield hero.

All that aside it seemed that in spite of his usual high and mighty attitude he was better than Motoyasu, that wasn't to say he was a good hero by any means but at the very least he was capable of spotting some obvious bs that the king and his hell spawn of a daughter keep spewing though the key word mine as well be "some" since he like everyone else still believed that Naofumi was a rapist even with flaws Audrey pointed out during the trial.

Aultcray scowled and motioned for the aid to give Naofumi the reward. "Fine, just take it and begone from my sight."

Naofumi snatched the reward before immediately storming out of the place with Raptalia, Audrey and Bluebell all following close behind. Once the group was outside the shield hero released a sigh before switching to his currency shield and storing the money he was given.

The tanuki demi human laid a hand on the shield hero's shoulder. "Naofumi it's okay."

Naofumi just exhaled a long breath before he felt his anger quell to a more manageable degree, no one could really blame him for his soured mood after he was nearly denied any reward through the use of warped reasoning and lies.

Still there wasn't anything anyone could do for him. While he was far more deserving of a reward than any of the other heroes herself included, there wasn't anything she could do, the King wasn't going to give him anymore than he already did, the people still thought he was a rapist so they wouldn't provide him with anything to help assuming they ever could, the church was out of the question for reason that were pretty much a given.

The guild wasn't going to allow Naofumi any work let alone offer him any form of compensation for his part in the wave. Granted it should have been obvious she'd arrive at this conclusion since it was pretty much a given from the beginning but it still seems that Audrey was the only person on Naofumi's side aside from his companion and her own.

Sighing, Audrey changed her weapon to its currency form before storing the reward into it and following up by doing the only thing she could to right the King's wrong towards Naofumi when she withdrew half of her own reward and held it out the hero of the shield drawing looks of surprise from the hero in question as well as his companion. "Here, this is all I can do for you since no one else is willing to help you."

"Audrey you don't need to do this for me, you've already done more for me than anyone in this world ever has."

"You're a lot more deserving of a reward than any of the three of us, especially after what you did for Lute."

"The three of-Audrey you don't need to lump yourself with Ren and Motoyasu, you helped the villagers too."

"Yeah but not for the right reasons."

Hearing this caused Naofumi to raise an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

"Where you did it because you saw that no one else was coming to their aid I only did it because of a lack of confidence."

"A lack of confidence? I don't understand how helping me amounts to that."

"You know how we're only at half the level of Ren and Motoyasu right?"

"That's something I wish I could forget a lot of the time."

"Because of that combined with the knowledge that we could actually die if things go wrong I decided that helping the villagers along with you was the best option, I basically tried to take an easy way out while leaving Ren and Motoyasu to take care of the boss since they were at a higher level."

"Okay, but I don't think you need to paint yourself in a bad light over that."

Audrey found herself taken aback by Naofumi's reply whilst the shield simply continued. "You may have done it because you weren't sure you could help out with the boss fight or even survive it but no one can really blame you for that especially when as you said we could honestly be killed if we lose."

Bluebell found herself unable to help but smile upon seeing the shield hero reassure Audrey practically in the same way she had done for him. "He's right you know, it's just the nature of living beings to value their lives, besides recklessness never leads to anything good and even in spite of your initial reasons for heading to the village you still managed to help save many lives."

"I guess you're right, still I don't think I did anything anymore worthwhile than Ren and Motoyasu."

"Audrey if what you spoke of with the shield hero earlier is anything to go by you stopped him from needlessly throwing away his life needlessly when the fight with the chimera took place."

Naofumi placed a hand on Audrey's shoulder. "She's right I wouldn't be standing here if it weren't for you; while I'm thankful for your offer you should keep it. I'm not happy with that trash king only giving me the minimal amount you earned every last bit of your reward and at least we don't have to deal with any of them anymore."

Hearing this brought a smile to Audrey's face, Naofumi was right they didn't have to put up with Aultcray and Malty trying to wrong him at every, Motoyasu trying to deprive him of anything or anyone he had gained, or Ren and the Nobles verbally slandering him at every turn.

"Anyway let's head over to Erhard's place and look into getting better gear."

"Alright." Audrey replied before putting the money she had pulled out back into her currency bow and followed the others who were already heading into the city.

On their way to the blacksmith's shop whispers about Naofumi were once being passed between the towns folk which of course were tuned and ignored by the two heroes but their respective party members noticed something different about the whispers in question.

Instead of the usual slanders against Naofumi along with the occasional ones questioning Audrey's steadfast stance when it came to the shield hero's situation, they were on the subject of the former's actions in Lute.

From what was said it seemed that some people were beginning to question what type of person Naofumi really was though the key word was some since many more were still steadfast in their belief that Naofumi was a rapist. Still hearing opinions starting to shift in a different direction stirred up personal hopes in both teammates.

Raphtalia now realized why Naofumi had become rather bitter and closed off but he still had a kind nature underneath the hardened surface of his heart. Now though it felt as if after the duel with the spear hero he seemed to be in higher spirits than before, especially after Audrey made him see that he had more worth than the king and spear hero's companion tried to claim. Now she had hoped that Naofumi would be able to regain his trust in people in the future and come to place the same faith in her that he seemed to have in Audrey and on that same note. "Naofumi, I'd like to get my slave mark replaced."

This drew looks of surprises from everyone in the group, possibly Naofumi more so than anyone. "Raphtalia there's no need for you to go back to being my slave."

"Naofumi even I realize that aside from Lady Audrey that you're longer able to truly trust anyone thanks to the wrongdoings committed against you. The only way you'll be comfortable with me remaining in your party is if I'm made a slave once more."

"But are you really okay with that prospect?"

"Of course, I want to stay by your side and I know you're not the type to treat me like a slave."

Bluebell couldn't help but smile at this as it truly showed that Naofumi had found someone who would truly fight by his side though when it came to the matter of the desire to grow closer to him Bluebell felt she had to support Audrey in that endeavour, speaking of her.

The subtle sign of change within the people also gave Bluebell hope that Audrey would view them in a better light since they're actions up to now towards the shield hero hadn't left Audrey with any positive impression, in fact it was more or less accurate to say that she was in question about whether the people were even worth saving at all after watching them go to great lengths to ensure that someone she cared for suffered.

Assuming the king didn't do anything to undo the start of the restoration to the shield hero's reputation, Audrey might find reason to truly want to help the people of this world. The legends revolving around the cardinal heroes often said that the bow hero was someone who was dedicated justice and in that regard Audrey was at least steadfast in doing right by Naofumi which was more than a little admirable considering everyone else was against him but the problem was that seeing what had been done to him from the moment he was summoned had warped Audrey's view of the world and it was only becoming even more impossible to blame her when one of the few people she cared for was being blatantly wronged at every turn.

Now that opinions were starting to shift, maybe it would show Audrey that the people of this world weren't just scum who were out to impede and ensure Naofumi failed in his duty. There were many of those who were suffering especially now with the waves appearing and Bluebell was hoping that the cardinal heroes would be able to ease the burdens that the people were going through.

Even if her reasons for doing so weren't downright ideal in terms of heroics it still showed she had the potential to help a lot of people who were in need.

The problem that stood in the way of that happening (aside from not having a full party to take on bigger endeavors) was Audrey's willingness to do so being shaken due to her impression, if her will to lend her aid to the people was restored to what it likely would have been before sir Noafumi's kangaroo trial then Audrey could ease to burden and pain of those who were suffering.

Sir Naofumi had that same potential, though his heart may have been scarred and hardened by the cruelty of the king and his daughter, he still retained a kind and caring nature that both Audrey and Raphtalia both noticed and cherished him because of it.

While how much he could do was rather mitigated at the moment, if he could obtain more resources and more party members he'd be able to do a great deal of good for the people and discredit the king's claims against him.

What it came to the sword hero Ren it was a bit more questionable, his blatant sense of self superiority and entitlement didn't make for a very positive impression, in fact all he showed was a great deal of delusion arrogance, at least until after the duel.

After that terrible ordeal was over he showed unexpected clarity in seeing that the king's daughter interfered with the duel and even spoke up along with herself and Audrey. While it was uncertain how much good he could actually do for the people, Bluebell could only hope for the best but be prepared for a different case scenario.

When it came to the hero of the spear, to say it was rather hard to hold any hope for him was an understatement, at this point it felt more akin to a fool's errand.

When she had initially heard about how the spear hero stole Naofumi's armor during the event where he was framed, she was reluctant to believe it seeing as he was one of the cardinal heroes. However with each encounter the spear hero appeared less and less heroic by the second.

Even with the realization that he was being manipulated he still didn't show any prospect of someone deserving to be a hero, the closest thing he's ever done involving helping anyone had the underlying goal of bedding the person in question out of a sense of entitlement to their chastity and ideals based on delusions.

At this point Bluebell held no faith in the prospect of the spear hero doing any real good for anyone, if anything she had a foreboding feeling he was going to do more harm than anything, especially considering he was eating out of the princess' palm and supporting her and the King's agenda. The question that was left in the wake of this was just how much harm the spear hero would cause? Bluebell could only pray it would be a mitigated amount.

"We're here." Raphtalia announced before going inside of Erhard's shop with the others following close behind.

Erhard smiled the moment he saw the two heroes and the companions. "I was wondering when I was going to see guys again."

"We would have come sooner but a lot has happened." Raphtalia replied.

"Makes sense with the wave you guys fought off and all."

Naofumi glanced around the room before setting his gaze back on Erhard. "Is my new armor ready."

"Of course, in the time you've been away I finished making the new set of armor. It's right in the back, I can get it in a moment." The blacksmith replied before turning to Audrey.

"I take it that you're ready to have your armor refitted since you're here?"

"You could say that." Audrey replied.

"Alright with the shield hero's new armor done I don't have any custom orders to work on so it'll only take a single day. Assuming you have the armor somewhere on you of course."

Since the time Audrey had woken after fighting off the wave that appeared at Lute she hadn't been wearing any of her protective gear save for the grey cloak she received around the same time Naofumi was given his green one along with his current set of gear.

After waking up she decided to store it away until she could finally get around to having it refitted.

"It's right here." Audrey replied as she summoned her bow to her hand before following up by summoning the leather piece she had been wearing along with the amulet she had since she initially met Bluebell from her weapon's item storage.

Erhard gave the leather corset a quick look over spot all the tears and holes it had from skirmishes Audrey had been in leading up to and during the wave before settling his gaze on the amulet with a razed eyebrow.

"Where'd you get this thing? I don't recall selling it to you."

"In a cave on the day I met Bluebell by some off chance."

"Really?"

Bluebell who had been silent up to this point shrugged. "Well I was actually on a quest looking for the amulet but by the time I had arrived Audrey had already defeated the monster guarding it."

"Oh, so that's how you two met." Erhard mused before looking at the amulet once more seeing the pattern of symmetrical vertical and horizontal lines carved into it.

"I'm guessing this thing's got some enchantment to it?"

"Near minimal slash resistance along with minimal fire resistance and hp regeneration."

Naofumi placed a hand on his chin listening to Audrey's explanation."The amulet really has hp regeneration? It didn't look like any of your injuries were healing when the wave was attacking."

"Like I said it was minimal or in status terms "very low" so it wasn't working at a very visible pace."

"Point taken." The shield hero acquiesced realizing Audrey was technically right, if the accessory's hp regeneration was very low she wouldn't be healing at a rate where wounds were closing up on the spot like they would with a potion and to be fair the only time Naofumi looked at Audrey's health bar was after she was hit by the ram head of the chimera and even then it was only enough a glance to confirm she was still amongst the living.

"Is there anything you can do to enhance its current abilities?" Audrey inquired to Erhard who shrugged.

"My specialty lies more in armor and various weapons more so than accessories. Still if you acquire any materials with special properties I can use them to strengthen the current enchantment or even add a new one, same goes for any armor."

"Really?" Audrey asked. Now that she thought about it would make sense considering the rpg game like characteristics of the world. She had yet to lay eyes on any such armor, granted up the only parameters for armor she ever really looked at was her own gear, still a part of her felt that she honestly should have considered the possibility sooner.

"Yeah there a bit more to the process of making it compared to standard armor but it's doable."

"Ok, I might look into it in the future soon."

"It auto help you fight the waves and on your journey to get stronger." Erhard said before heading to the back.

"Enchanted armor huh." Naofumi mused before glancing towards Raphtalia. "That should definitely help us out."

"Same here." Audrey replied nonchalantly.

"You think Ren and Motoyasu have enchantments to their armor."

"Considering how much this world seems to resemble their respective games according to them and the fact that the king is handing them everything on a silver platter for the sake of appealing to them it wouldn't surprise me."

Naofumi let out a discontent sigh wondering why he was being forced to struggle to gain anything whether it was strength companions or in this case vital information to help him out on journey when as Audrey put it the spear and sword were given anything they didn't already have given to them on a silver platter.

He was extremely grateful that Audrey stuck by his side even if it put her in an unfavourable position compared to the other two heroes. If it wasn't for her actions he might have lost faith in everything.

Still when he had almost everyone desiring to see him suffer for something he didn't even volunteer for it was impossible not to harbor a high sense of resentment towards the world as a whole.

Soon enough Erhard had emerged from the back holding a new set of gear for Naofumi. "Hurry and try it on in the fitting room."

"Right." Naofumi said before taking the new set and heading to the fitting room.

Turning his gaze back to Audrey's gear Erhard further scrutinizing it.

"So what kind of upgrade are you going to give it?"

"I'm basically going to turn from leather into the next best material, iron."

"That should definitely help."

"I can assure it'll grant a boost in your defense which you could really use if your luck with fighting is anything to go by."

"I can equate it to misfortune on my part."

Bluebell could only sweet drop upon hearing the bow hero say that, while Audrey didn't necessarily give an inaccurate explanation per say the skyblue haired adventurer felt that the bow hero at least had better luck than herself since she was struggling to make money due to not being to get any decent quest that weren't beyond her ability to handle prior to meeting Audrey.

"Well try not to get into anymore skirmishes for the time being. From the looks of it you don't look like you're necessarily in peak condition.

"I have some fractures but I can still get around at least."

"Just the same, it's best for you to avoid encountering any strong monsters while I'm working on your gear."

"Believe I wasn't planning on it."

A few moments later the shield hero emerged from the dressing room donning new gear. In terms of appearance the new armor set definitely looked a step above his previous one with a metal plate over his chest, a set of gloves, leather patches along the side of his pants, his cloak also had a new fur lining.

Overall Naofumi's armor looked like something the leader of a bandit gang would wear. It suited him in an odd way, it had a bit of a more original taste compared to what the other two heroes donned which was something that counted as a positive if it really meant anything.

The shield hero looked himself over with a look of uncertainty before voicing thoughts matching the initial ones that came to Audrey's mind. "This makes me look like a bandit leader."

"You look amazing Mr Naofumi!" Raphtalia exclaimed in admiration.

Audrey couldn't help but sweetdrop at the tanuki's admiration for Naofumi's new look, still the bow hero had already admitted to herself that it had more originality to it.

Naofumi glanced over his status screen seeing the improved stats before shrugging "Anyway here's the money for the gear."

After taking the payment Erhard casted a final glance at Naofumi. "Before you head out the lady at the magic shop wanted to see you and the bow hero along with the Apothecary owner."

"Alright but first I need to visit someone I really don't care to see again." Naofumi turned to Audrey and Bluebell.

"You two should visit the other shops ahead of us."

"Um, alright." Audrey was off put by that suggestion but for the time being it would be worth seeing what the other store owners wanted.

With that both Audrey and Bluebell left the weapon shop leaving Audrey's leather piece behind in the process whilst keeping the cloak and amulet before heading to the Apothecary. Once there they were immediately greeted by the shop owner.

"Oh bow hero it's good to see you again."

"Right, I came because you wanted to see me for something?"

"That's right I wanted to thank you and the shield hero for what you did at Lute."

"It's nice to be appreciated but why?" Audrey asked out of curiosity. She didn't perceive to think she knew where the shop owner lived but she highly doubted it was in Lute, commuting between there and the capital took a few hours even with a cart so she did at least very much doubt he lived in Lute.

"I have a relative who lives in Lute, they survived the wave thanks to the actions of you and the shield hero."

"Well your welcome." Audrey getting ready to leave.

"Wait I also have this for you." The shopkeeper said before pulling out a book of sorts earning a curious look for the bow hero.

She already had a book so that she could learn to read and the shopkeeper was never made aware of her lack of ability to read this world's language so it wouldn't make sense for him to give her the same material plus from what little she had seen he didn't come off as the type to have that on hand. That begged the question just what type of material the book had within it; preferably something that would help Audrey expand her knowledge of the world that has the highest chance of helping her survive in this world.

"It's a recipe book for a few basic potions and concoctions, I have another I'm planning on giving to the shield hero as thanks for his efforts."

That was something that would definitely help the both of them. If they knew the recipes then they'd be able to make the potions they needed on the spot plus they could save up more money throughout the course of their endeavor.

Audrey was also surprised that the shopkeeper intended to also reward Naofumi but didn't say anything in regards to it.

"Thank you, this'll help me out a lot."

"Glad to hear it."

After that the duo left the store but not before buying a small number of healing potions, one of which Audrey downed in order to heal the remainder of her bone fractions. She still had a bit of soreness in her body but a day of rest would bring her back to prime condition.

Audrey was initially unsure where the magic shop even was since she had never personally been there but luckily bluebell was someone who had.

"Say Bluebell I was wondering was this place where you learned your fireball spell?"

"Yes back when I had initially come to start out as an adventurer I visited the magic shop to see what my magic affinity was."

"Which is what led to you obtaining your fireball spell I'm guessing?"

"Yes, along with fire I also have an affinity lightning"

"If that's the case then does that mean you have a lighting spell under your belt?'

"I would have but the spell book I bought back then got shredded to pieces when I got a bit reckless wanting to fight a strong monster." Bluebell confessed, a look of embarrassment at the memory evident on her face.

Audrey couldn't help but feel a bit sorry for her companion as she sweatdropped and began wondering if anything had gone right for Bluebell prior to their meeting or if she was practically a feminine version of the anime character Touma Kamijou with the amount of rotten luck she seemed to have. At this point Audrey could be certain her companion's luck was worse than her own back in her world.

"I guess that means we'll have to buy a new spellbook for you when we see what the magic shop owner wants."

"I won't deny I'd like a means to learn more spells."

"Alright." Audrey replied. It was easy to see where Bluebell was coming from, her swordsmanship was well above that of any amateur but having a bit more in her arsonal than just one single spell was something that would yield a higher number of advantages compared to what her current abilities were. Also magic was something Audrey herself was intending to learn to further her own prowess as well as the versatility of her own abilities and add to the options she could utilize in any future fights.

Somewhat to the bow hero's surprise it turned out that the magic shop wasn't far from Erhard's own place in fact it was only a couple blocks down, once the pair reached their destination and entered they were both greeted by a middle aged woman wearing mage's attire.

"It's nice to finally meet the bow hero in person, it also seems that the rumors were true."

"Rumors?" Audrey repeated with a raised eyebrow. She heard whispers about her from the people whenever she was with Naofumi mainly questioning why she was so steadfast in remaining on his side throughout the ordeal caused by the crown but until now she never paid any heed to them.

"Yes many people were saying that the bow hero was actually a lady."

"Oh…." Was that all? Audrey was expecting something a bit more slanderous in nature, perhaps something that falsely accused her of something she didn't do. "Well anyway we're both here for two reasons. To find out why you wanted to see me and also to look into buying my companion here a new spell book."

The magic shop owner then turned her gaze to the skyblue haired sword wielder before her eyes widened in recognition. "Miss Bluebell! I didn't think I'd see you again so soon."

Bluebell scratched the back of her head in embarrassment. "Yeah I know, it's just as Audrey said I kind of need a new spell book preferably one with the same spell types."

"But the one you purchased during your last visit was a genuine copy, surely you would have learned something from it."

"I did, I now have the basic fireball spell at my disposal. But the book...kind of got shredded to pieces by a monster I encountered."

The shop owner sighed in exasperation upon hearing this. "My goodness it seems something is always going wrong when you're out trying to be an adventurer. I can see now why your father is worried for you."

"I feel like he's being overbearing."

"He just doesn't want anything to happen to you, you are the most important thing to him and you're destined to inher-...you realize what I'm trying to say."

"I do." Bluebell sighed before continuing. "But all that aside I need to purchase a new spellbook so I can learn new spells again, as you can see I'm now a member of the bow hero's party."

"I see, very well I'll provide you with a new spellbook for the same price as the previous one you let get destroyed."

"Of course."

"That aside." The magic shop owner turned to Audrey and smiled. "I'd like to thank you for your actions at Lute, both you and the shield saved the life of my granddaughter."

"Your welcome." Audrey replied.

"As a reward I'd like to show you what affinity for magic you possess."

Audrey had to admit that was one prospect that caught her interest considering she was just considering its benefits upon obtaining the mean to utilize it. Learning what her affinity was beforehand would simplify learning magic at least to an extent since she'll be aware of the best area to study after she learned to read the world's writing more fluently.

"Ok, thanks."

"Please place your hands on this crystal sphere." The owner said, gesturing to the item in question which sat atop a cloth on the front counter.

Audrey complied and within a few moments of placing her hands on the sphere it began temporarily glowing before the shop owner spoke up.

"It would appear that you have an affinity for earth and wind magic."

"Alright." With that information Audrey now had a starting point assuming it was possible to learn anything outside of one's natural affinity when it came to magic. "Say what types of magic are there?"

"Curious are you? To start with, the most well known are the four elements of earth and wind, as well as fire and water. There are even more elements outside of that such as ice, thunder, light and darkness."

It was mostly about what Audrey and probably anyone from any version of earth would have expected when one took all the rpg characteristics into consideration, though this world's magic wasn't just limited to the basic four elements which meant that magic was even more versatile.

"There is also magic that's more of a function rather than an element such Illusion, support and healing."

"So basically there's a variety of magic types for different purposes."

"Yes." The shop owner replied whilst turning and searching through a number of books and drawing one from the shelf and placing it one the counter.

"I believe this spell tome should suffice for learning magic within your affinity."

Audrey gave the shopkeeper a curious stare and was about to ask for the price before the shop owner spoke up seemingly reading her mind.

"There's no need to pay for this book, I'm giving to you as thanks for saving my granddaughter's life."

"Thank you."

"You're most certainly welcome, I intend to do the same for the shield hero for his part."

That part caused Audrey to pause for a few moments as she took it in. First the Apothecary and now the magic shop owner. Both intended to not only reward her but also the person who deserved it the most. Audrey was unsure of what to make of this new development, back at the Apothecary shop she hadn't gave it that much thought beyond her initial surprise at the discovery since she had only thought of it as a one time thing, it was difficult not to right it off as anything more than that since up to this point the people of this world saw fit to see Naofumi suffer. Now however, since the number of people was more than one single person Audrey began to consider the possibility that the view of the people was changing.

She was just short of smiling, while a part of her was glad to see that the people were finally actually waking up from their previous idiocy but another part of her could help but wonder why they couldn't do so before, granted the people were being lied to by the crown but still they couldn't stop and question why no one had heard any commotion at the inn during the night the supposed attempt at rape was supposed to happen amongst other flaws with the logic behind the crimes?

Regardless of all the semantics of the situation, it was good to see that Naofumi was going to receive more of a reward than the bare minimum of silver under the false pretense that he didn't do anything.

The shop owner turned her gaze to Bluebell. "As I told you upon hearing of your plight you need to purchase your book."

"Of course." Bluebell mused whilst pulling a small number of silver coins and placed them on the counter. "I assume this should suffice."

"Yes." Came the swift reply of the magic shop owner as she handed Bluebell the book she wanted before turning back to the bow hero.

"I am sorry I can't do more for either you or your fellow hero, I'd give crystal balls imbued with spells if I was able to but the King requested my entire supply."

"There's no need to apologize for that, besides from what I've been told even though it takes longer it'll have a bigger payoff to learn the spells from books rather than crystal balls."

"That's true, while crystal balls might instantly grant knowledge of how to use the spell learning from a spellbook will allow one to truly understand the finer points of individual spells and improve on them."

"I'm counting on it, anyway thank you for the books." Audrey said before leaving the store with Bluebell following close behind.

"Is there anywhere else you'd like us to stop by before we head to Lute?" Bluebell asked.

"No there's nothing more we need here." Audrey said before storing the spell book she was given in her bow's item inventory and pulling out the recipe book she was given at the Apothecary.

She was completely sure if it was doable but she wanted to at least see if she could mentally note down any recipes that were written in the book. She had spent much of her personal downtown learning to read this world's language and while she couldn't make out entire paragraphs as if it was second nature but she was able to make a fair enough number of sentences with a bit of effort.

Looking through the book's first entry she was greeted with the hand drawn picture of a potion that looked to be an hp potion. Looking over the text she found it started out by explaining the item's purpose which confirmed that it was indeed the recipe for an hp potion. Listed after the item's intended function was the list of ingredients needed to make the item.

Audrey smiled in satisfaction as she found out what ingredients were and including herbs that could be found in nearby areas all the materials listed were rather common meaning that synthesizing her own potions would be a straightforward task. At the same time the hero of the bow suddenly received a notification within her hub, opening her hub she was soon greeted with a sight that didn't surprise her all things considered.

Hp potion

?

?

?

?

?

Selecting the item that was now listed on her recipe tab it pulled up the required ingredients to make it which Audrey had essentially expected but she was also met was a second sight she didn't foresee, a new section of screen displaying titled "selected materials" with the materials required for her only recipe on hand and to the right of it was an arrow pointing to text saying "(low quality) hp potion 1" and beneath that was another tab with the following text "synthesize item?" With an option tab below it.

[Yes/no]

Audrey could already guess what the function of this new screen did but for the sake of confirmation and out of curiosity of how the process worked. She selected yes. A moment later the hub screen disappeared and an hp potion materialized right from the jewel of her bow.

Looking at the potion that was just created Audrey saw that its quality was low as the screen she used to make it said it would be, she theorized it was likely either due to the materials or that she needed to raise her ability to synthesize items if not a combination of both, whatever the case was she'd have to confirm it some other time.

Putting that newly created potion in her item inventory she resumed reading through the different recipes whilst taking slow and steady as to not misread anything. It took a bit of time but eventually the bow hero had a small number of items that she could make when the need arose.

Hp potion

Antidote

Mp potion

Medicine

?

?

Audrey smiled at the result of her efforts, the list of recipes she had learned so far may have been in the single digits, it was still a start.

On top of that she now had that new item creation method she could utilize, it was no less bizarre than any other game like mechanics but it would prove to make things much easier in the long run. The next time she saw him Audrey would make sure to let Naofumi know and show it to him.

XXXXX

"It's the hero of the bow!" A villager of the Lute settlement exclaimed as they spotted both Audrey and Bluebell arriving at the entrance of the village.

Upon hearing this a number of other residents including Lute's current lord.

"Lady hero we're happy to see again after all you and the shield hero have done for our village."

"It's nice to see you too." Audrey replied before glancing around the village and took notice in the various signs that the ones living there here began efforts to restore it.

Knowing that her and Naofumi's efforts to protect weren't for nothing was a welcome sight though the burn marks brought back memories that Audrey had to push from the forefront of her mind less they lowered her mood.

"Might I ask what brings you here?" The lord inquired.

"I heard there was a mine here where I could get resources for different pieces of armor and the like."

"Yes I can show the way there if you'd like."

"That'd be greatly appreciated." Audrey replied before both she and Bluebell were led to the entrance of the mine in question."

"Is there anything else we can do for you?"

"If there's an inn here by any chance we'd like a room there for tonight after we're done here."

"Of course, but the inn keeper will still need payment."

"I have the money to pay the fee so I'd just like assurance that there'll be a room available when I get back with my friend."

"I can assure you the inn keeper will have a room available, since the wave hit here they haven't seen much business so I'm sure they'll be happy to have you and your companion."

"Good to know and thank you." With that the duo entered the mine before Bluebell scratched the back of her head.

"Um Audrey."

"Yes?"

"I don't want to be the bearer of any inconvenient news but we might have to head back to find tools to mine any ore we find."

Audrey felt her eye begin to twitch in annoyance upon being informed of this, granted she couldn't really blame anyone but herself for being in such a rush to get to the mine when she and Bluebell had initially arrived at the village but she really wasn't in the mood to be forced to simply head right back out.

"Huh?" As if fate decided to throw the hero of the bow a bone she spotted a set of mining tools laid along the mine's wall.

"Umm Audrey?" Bluebell asked getting only silence as a response before following the direction Audrey was staring in and seeing the set of tools. "Well...that solves that problem I suppose."

"That it does." Audrey mused before an idea occurred to her that might prove to be beneficial at least in terms of adding more bow variants to her skill tree.

Grabbing one of the pickaxes before touching it to the jewel on the bow and to her relief it absorbed the entire tool in one swell swoop saving her the hassle of having to take or break it apart.

Pickaxe bow unlocked

Stat bonus: mining + 9 Atk + 4 Def + 5 Dex + 3

Equip effect: ore refinement (small)

Skills: none

Mining bow unlocked

Stat Bonus: mining + 11 Def + 3

Equip effect: mining + 15

Skills: none

Well it looked like the corresponding bow variants would prove even more useful than Audrey had originally anticipated.

"Audrey." Bluebell said while sweet dropping.

"Yes."

"I don't think any of the people who make a career of mining here in Lute will appreciate you feeding their tools to your bow."

"If push comes to shove we have the money to compensate them. Besides I now have two new variations of the bow that'll prove helpful with our task at hand."

"If you insist."

With that the duo grabbed two of the remaining pickaxes and headed deeper into the mine before they found an area with ore deposits. Upon seeing the said deposits Audrey equipped her mining bow before she and Bluebell began collecting what they were able to find within the immediate area.

The process was a bit of a longer one than Audrey was expecting and one she had to be surprisingly careful since one wrongly placed swing could end up breaking the ore.

It took nearly two full hours but once they were done the duo had thirty plus pieces of iron ore and ten plus of steel ore. Once nearly all of the ore was stored away in her bow's monster drop inventory Audrey kept one of the pieces out before switching to her pickaxe bow.

'Now to find out what this equip effect does exactly.' With that thought in mind Audrey activated the pickaxe bow's equip effect and with a moment the ore had been changed into an ingot of pure iron with various cracks and chips here and there.

Iron ingot: (quality slightly low)

The result from her appraisal of the ingot earned a shrug from the hero of the bow, all things considered she was at least grateful that the pickaxe's equip effect allowed her make a legitimate ingot at all and the quality was leaning towards being fair so she'd be able to use it to forge new item or equipment if not sell it.

"We've harvested all we could from this area."

"I know, as far as basic metal goes, this is a good haul for the time being."

"So does that mean we can head back to the inn?"

"Yeah, we'll have to figure out what we're gonna do next, tomorrow morning."

"Any ideas?"

"Assuming we can make it to the capital in order to get my refitted gear and back here in a decent enough amount of time we can either find monsters around our level and get stronger or look into finding more party members."

"For the first option there's such monsters in an area near here, though you likely won't find all that many new bows to add to your arsenal."

"What about the latter?"

"I can't think of anyone that I personally know, the simplest options would be either the guild or hiring mercenaries."

"I...probably should have figured as much." Audrey said letting out an exasperated sigh.

Neither of those options were very appealing if they were even the least bit acceptable, considering how the guild was intent on denying Naofumi any work Audrey had the foreboding feeling that any members she found to help her would actively clash with her when it came to her stance of standing by Naofumi and that was assuming they didn't just leave the party all together because of it. The idea of hiring mercenaries held no more appeal, they generally cared for money above all else which on its own wasn't outright unacceptable but the problem was that it meant that odds were they'd have no true loyalty which in turn meant that under the right circumstances they'd be liable to abandon or even betray her outright.

Since that was the case and Bluebell didn't know anyone she could truly turn to all Audrey could do was either tame a monster of some kind by getting possession of an egg or travel to nearby settlements and hope to find the right type of person as she did with Bluebell.

Between the two options it was probably best to obtain a monster egg but she'd either have to find a place where any said eggs were either for sale or at a location where the bow hero could obtain in the wild.

'I suppose I'll have to ask Bluebell about that tomorrow.' She thought before using her weapon to absorb the iron ingot she created to unlock a new bow variant.

Iron bow unlocked:

Stat bonus: Atk + 10 mining + 8

Equip bonus: Atk up (very small)

Skills: thunder arrow lv1 of 7

Audrey was all but taken aback by this development. While the equip bonus wasn't much considering she had the silver bow which came with a better one the skill it gave her wasn't something she was expecting.

That being said Audrey was by no means ungrateful for the new ability she had obtained when she may have expected it the least, it would be another option she'd be able utilize during future battles. For the time being however all that was left was to head back to get a room at the inn.

XXXXX

The following day proved uneventful since it mainly just consisted of Audrey and Bluebell heading back to the capital. Back when they reached the gate of the village the sentry who was keeping watch had informed the bow hero that Naofumi arrived and that he had some kind of gift that he wanted to give her that was supposed to help her out.

The prospect was one that caught Audrey a bit off guard considering Naofumi was the one who was hurting for resources. Still a part of her was happy at the prospect of getting something from him. She informed the sentry to let Naofumi know she was returning to the capital to receive her custom order and that she'd return as soon as she could.

Luckily since the two got up at the break of dawn it was only the middle of the morning by the time they had arrived at the capital.

"I forgot to ask you this the last time we were there but is there anything from Erhard's shop you needed?"

"Not that I can really think of, my iron shield is still working for me and since I have a magic coated weapon I don't need a wet stone to sharpen it. The best item I could think to get would be a magic sword but it would be better to learn more magic."

"Okay. What exactly is a magic sword."

"A special type of sword that's aimed more at attacking foes that don't have physical bodies and draining those that do of all their mana."

"It sounds like it could be the bain of any magic wielder."

"In the right hands it certainly can."

"And what type of person would be required in order to use it to that extent."

"Someone who's both skilled enough with a blade and proficient with magic."

"While I can understand where the requirement of being to properly use a sword comes into play I have to ask where magic proficiency comes into play."

"For starters you need to channel your mana into the hilt in order to manifest the blade and the strength of your magic combined with how proficient you are at utilizing it will determine just how potent the magic blade is to an opponent."

"So basically how much damage you'd be able to do to a non psychical monster of someone's mp is basically proportional to the strength of your own magic stats."

"Yes."

Now that the subject had come up Audrey grew curious to see what the current stats on her own magic. She could already guess that there'd be no available spells since she had yes to learn a single one but sure she'd have to have some amount of something along the lines of magic attack and resistance and mp points.

Opening her hub screen to find out where she could find that information.

Audrey Alethea level 31

Weapon: legendary bow "locked"

Equipment: cloak: Def up (very small)

Amulet: fire resistance (very small) slash resistance (small) Hp restoration (very low)

Hp: 1457/1457

Sp: 796/796

Mp 581/581

Sta:251

Mag 197

Def: 82

Agi: 423

Dex: 376

Rst:97

Skills: quick dash lv3, scouting lv1, transport bow lv1, rain arrow lv 1, chain arrow lv1, thunder arrow lv1

Spells: none

If she wasn't certain before when she first saw the recipe tab's item creation feature she was now, all of the previous times she had looked up her basic stats they never showed anything pertaining to magic. So why was it now showing Magic points (mp), strength(mag), and resistance(rst)? Now that she thought about it she recalled how Noafumi had thought there wasn't a monster drop section in his hub until after she told him about it.

It was almost as if the hub screen was altering itself and adding new features the moments the user in this case being Audrey herself became aware of or at least acknowledged their existence. The latter being the case when it came to magic stats since Audrey was always aware of the possibility of being able to use it but before she learned her earth and wind affinity and received a spell tome the idea of magic was kept at the back of her mind.

Assuming that was true she had to wonder what other features she could possibly unlock and just how much potential her bow and the other legendary weapons truly had. Was it possible that Ren, Motoyasu were utilizing features that only they knew about? Considering the two were hardcore gamers back in their worlds the answer was all but a given in fact in fact Audrey felt it safe to just assume it was the case.

Unfortunately that scenario presented new problems, if the features both had to them were available were vital then sooner or later Audrey would need to find out what they were. The problem was she wasn't sure how to go about it. If she asked Ren he'd likely just make some snobby remark about how she should already know in his eyes and refuse to divulge any information. If she turned to Motoyasu he was likely to give her the info assuming his teammate didn't do anything to get in the way but knowing her she very likely would. On top of that the idea of having to plead with either of the two for help made her sick to her stomach, the sword would just use the request as a means to inflate his ego further and Motoyasu would try and seduce her in the process of helping her.

Whatever the case she'd just cross that bridge when she came to it but right she had other matters to attend one of which she was arriving at the destination for as the capital came within sight and from there she made her way to Erhard's shop.

"So the lady hero's here." The blacksmith said as soon as he saw Audrey and Bluebell enter. "I assume you're here to pick up your order."

"Yeah. What's the cost."

"180 silver."

Audrey wasted time handing the payment to Erhard.

"You know, bow hero, you never seem to try and negotiate for lower prices when you're here.'

Audrey just shrugged. "I'm no expert when it comes to being a business person like Naofumi. If I felt something was at an outrageous price I then I would look elsewhere to obtain it besides I want to be back at Lute by this upcoming afternoon so I want to get my order in the shortest timespan possible."

"Fair enough I suppose." Ehard replied whilst scratching the back of his head before pulling out the armor piece. "Here you are, this'll provide with a little more protection."

Audrey looked at the new piece of armor scrutinizing it. Overall it had the same corset-like shape allowing it to in case her lower and mid back along with her midriff and chest with the sole difference being that it was a grey coloring instead of its previous brown since it was made a thin flexible iron rather than leather. That wasn't nothing that Audrey wasn't expecting though however what did was an unexpected factor in the armor piece's stats

Iron armor + 1: Def up (small) impact resistance (very small)

The bow hero allowed a slight smile to don her face. The "+1" implied that its overall was boosted albeit only slightly but it counted given the situation she was faced with as one of the cardinal heroes and the impact resistance was something she certainly appreciated after being rammed by the goat head of the chimera with enough to literally send her soaring through the air and almost kill her. It would be a big help in combination with the stone variant of her bow going forward

"I take it you're satisfied."

"That I am, you really came through for me."

"Glad to hear it, I made sure to give nothing short of my best, still aside from the slight impact resistance it's only a basic armor piece."

"It'll do." Audrey replied before going into the fitting to put the refitted armor piece on. It didn't take long, only just under a full minute. Once Audrey emerged from the fitting room Bluebell smiled at the sight of her wearing her new armor.

"Now we shouldn't have to worry about you getting hurt as much as before."

"As much?"

Bluebell sweet dropped in embarrassment. "Well you do have a knack for catching the attention of strong monsters."

Audrey groaned a bit upon hearing that before checking her status.

Audrey Alethea level 31

Weapon: legendary bow "locked"

Equipment: Iron armor + 1: Def up (medium) impact resistance (very small)

Amulet: fire resistance (very small) slash resistance (small) Hp restoration (very low)

Hp: 1457/1457

Sp: 796/796

Mp 581/581

Sta:251

Mag 197

Def: 82

Agi: 423

Dex: 376

Rst:97

Skills: quick dash lv3, scouting lv1, transport bow lv1, rain arrow lv 1, chain arrow lv1, thunder arrow lv1

Spells: none

"Alright now that I got the refitted armor let's hurry and get back to Lute."

"You seem rather eager." Bluebell mused as the two left the weapon shop.

"Like I told Erhard when we arrived I want to get back there by this afternoon, that way we still have time in the day to level up or look into other tasks we might be able to do to add to our funds."

"Speaking of which, what about all the ore we mined? We could sell it for a fair amount of money."

"I might sell it in the future but for the time being I want to hold on to it in case we find another use for it."

"Are you thinking of trying to make anything from it?"

"The idea occurred to me of having it used to forge future gear or at least accessories for us and any potential other members for our party we might come across down the road."

"When you put it like that it's easy to see why keeping for recourse could benefit us."

"That's the idea, anyway let's hurry back to Lute."

Bluebell couldn't help but smirk at Audrey's eagerness to get back to Lute suspecting another reason aside from making sure there was time for menial tasks.

XXXXX

When the two arrived back at the village to see if there were any major jobs but the closest thing that the villagers really needed was any nearby monsters picked off so they could continue the repair efforts without worry of being attacked during the process.

Before heading to do just that the two inquired as to the shield hero's whereabouts. According to the villagers the other group basically heading to level via monster extermination themselves with something they called a filolial so Audrey and Bluebell made sure to head to a different area so neither hero was hindered in gaining experience.

Since the nearest monsters mainly consisted of remnants from the wave the experience wasn't too little for the two to make any gains but the said gains proved to be limited by the time the area they were in was cleared.

Audrey Alethea level 33

Weapon: legendary bow "locked"

Equipment: Iron armor: Def up (medium) impact resistance (very small)

Amulet: fire resistance (very small) slash resistance (small) Hp restoration (very low)

Hp: 1602/1602

Sp: 883/883

Mp 672/672

Sta:276

Mag 205

Def: 91

Agi: 512

Dex: 406

Rst:102

Skills: quick dash lv3, scouting lv1, transport bow lv1, rain arrow lv 1, chain arrow lv1, thunder arrow lv1

Spells: none

Looking to the hub showing Bluebell's level the bow saw that her companion had made it to level 31.

"I believe that's the last of the remnants of the previous wave, at least in this area."

"I've noticed. Assuming Naofumi and Raphtalia got rid of all the ones in the area they went to it'll be a weight off the villagers' shoulders."

"That's true; there's still a few more hours left in the day. Is there anything you'd like to do once we get back to Lute."

"Try my hand at finally gaining a spell to use. You should join me."

"I'd like to learn a lightning spell and further perfect the fireball so I can cast it with more ease."

"You mean like getting through the incantation faster."

"That would help but if one masters a spell they'll be able to cast it without the need of a verbal incantation."

"I'll have to keep that in mind going forward."

With that the two headed back to the village once they arrived the two asked the settlements lord of the village where they could use an area to practice using magic to which they were pointed to an open dirt field.

Once they both pulled out and opened their respective spell tomes and began looking through them.

The first few pages of Audrey's spell tome appeared to go over the history and specific characteristics of how magic worked. It didn't personally interest the bow hero and it only felt as if it was just consuming her time since her reading skills in terms of the world's language were mediocre at the best of times but she made sure to absorb all the information she could to make sure she had some understanding about how magic worked.

Bluebell meanwhile had walked out onto the field and held her hand raised over her head and began reciting an incantation. "As the one who commands the source of power, decipher the laws of nature and create a bolt to electrocute my target." Bluebell her hand down. "Fast thunderbolt" a line of thunder manifested and shot from Bluebell's hand scorching the ground in front of her black.

Audrey smiled upon seeing the result of her friend making progress. "It looks like you finally have another spell you can use."

"With it I'll be able to help you out further but I want to learn at least one more spell before we head back to the inn."

"I'll be counting on you and on the other note I'm hoping to at least gain my first spell before we're done here."

"You've been making a steady amount of progress in learning to read our language and have gotten to the point of being able to make out recipes. So it won't be much longer if you keep at this pace."

"Thanks for the encouragement, it'll be more fulfilling when I'm actually able to perform magic."

With that Audrey continued reading through the spell tome. After seeing Bluebell cast that fast thunderbolt spell she was now certain she had absorbed the information she needed.

All the general factors of Bluebells spell corresponded with what she had read. For any general incantation one needed to first identify themselves as the one casting whatever the intended spell was, give a description of what they wanted the spell to do in order to give it shape and lastly recite the name of the spell in order to shoot and activate the spell in question.

With that in mind Audrey began reading over the first few spells finding that there were still some parts here and there that she could make out leaving without pieces of information she needed to learn them. 'It looks like I gotta improve my understanding of this world's language a bit more. Regardless I don't want to give up on gaining at least one spell just yet.

The bow hero went over a few more earth and wind spells such as fast tornado, earth hole, and the like but she couldn't seem to grasp all the information that she needed to even attempt casting them until she suddenly came across a section that was glowing.

With a feeling of intuition that told her the section had more to offer she began reading over and absorbing all the vital aspects of the spell it spoke before closing to spell tome and storing it within her item inventory.

Extending her out in front of her Audrey closed her eyes and proceeded to begin using the knowledge of what she had learned and began an incantation. "As the hero of the bow I command you, decipher the laws of nature and form a wall from soil beneath my feet to protect me from harm."

Opening her eyes she declared the name of the spell. "Earth wall"

A slab of earth separated itself from the rest of the ground and began rising from a horizontal position to a vertical one until it was standing straight up essentially acting as a makeshift wall.

Audrey was only able to admire her success for a few moments before a weight crashed into her side followed by an embrace. "You did it, you can use magic now!" Exclaimed an excited Bluebell.

Audrey couldn't help but chuckle at the praise she was being given. "I'm glad I was able to succeed in what I set out to do."

"Gwaahhh!"

Both women turned to the source of the sound they heard and were beheld with the sight of a white ostrich like bird watching them. Curious as to what exactly it was. Audrey glanced at the information on it displayed by her hub.

filolial "filo" level 14

A filolial, the name of that monster sounded familiar- wait now that she recalled it she did hear about Naofumi having such a monster with him. Could this be…..?

"Filo why did you run off so suddenly!?" Exclaimed an exhausted Raphtalia running after the Filolial with Naofumi following close behind.

"I think she's excited by something." Naofumi said with a slight chuckle.

Once the other group reached the dirt field they noticed the bow hero's party. "Audrey, Bluebell, did you two just return?" Raphtalia inquired.

"No we've been back for a little while now, I figured it was a good time to see practice using magic or in my own case at least learn to use it."

"Have you made any progress?" Raphtalia asked curiously before receiving a reply from Bluebell.

"I've learned to use fast thunderbolt and I'm now looking to see if I can achieve at least one more spell before the day is over and Audrey has learned how to perform earth wall."

Naofumi placed his hand under his chin whilst using his other to pet the Filolial who let out a content "gwa" sound. "I'm guessing that's where that makeshift wall of dirt came from."

"Yes."

"So I take it that it means that Audrey's affinity is earth."

"That along with wind apparently." Audrey replied. "What about yourself?"

"Healing and support, Raphtalia has an affinity for light and dark magic and apparently an inherent talent for illusion type magic."

"Those will be a big help for you in the grand scheme of things." Audrey replied.

Even though his magic like his weapon lacked any offensive properties being to heal was always a plus especially since it could more often than not prove to be more effective to items in a fair amount of rpgs. Support though not utilized as often in games (at least to Audrey's personal knowledge) proved to be a major factor in battles potentially determining the outcome of battles depending on how status changes are utilized.

As for Raptalia's light affinity, if general rpg logic was anything to go than it was likely both offensive and defensive but somehow Audrey doubted it was all the defensive or at least it wouldn't have any healing spells since any of those by the world's logic as far as she knew fell under the category of healing magic since if the case was otherwise it wouldn't make much sense for healing to be its own affinity.

As for darkness Audrey assumed it was purely offensive at least for most if not all intended purposes. The question was if it could inflict status afflictions. Assuming it followed Earth's logic in terms of rpg games it wasn't hard to imagine what the said afflictions would be.

"Have either of you made any progress with learning any spells?" Audrey inquired.

Naofumi scratched the back of his head in embarrassment. "I have to learn to read this country's language first."

"Oh. I should have figured as much considering what the magic shop owner told me."

"You about how the king reserved magic balls for you and the other heroes."

"Maybe for Ren and Motoyasu but I was never given any."

Naofumi became surprised upon hearing what Audrey said. "Does that mean you had to study the world's writing like I do?"

"Yeah, it was a good thing I started early before the first wave came, thanks to that I'm now fluent enough to properly mark most sentences."

"Makes sense considering you already got your first spell down."

"Yeah and I got a few recipes registered to my tab for them."

"There's a tab for them."

"Really I don't recall ever seeing one in my hub."

That response only served to strengthen Audrey's suspicion about the hub menu the cardinal heroes possessed but assuming she was correct in her theory Naofumi's should be able to find the tab in question now that she told him of it making him aware of it.

"You might not have been able to find it before but you should now that you know to look for it."

"If you say so." Naofumi said before looking through the tabs and surprisingly enough (to him) finding the tab recipes were listed under.

"It's really here." Naofumi mused before looking through and seeing the recipes for potions he had already learned to make through trial and error.

"Do you by any chance have any recipes already listed?"

"Yeah, the ones for items I already learned how to make on my own." Noafumi replied.

"Alright I have something to show you." Audrey quickly opened up her recipe tab and from there the item create menu before selecting an hp potion and making it.

Naofumi was stunned when he saw the potion emerge from Audrey's bow at first he thought that she may have just pulled it out of her item inventory the potion would have manifested in Audrey's hand if she had done that and she of all people wouldn't have shown him this if it wasn't something vital or something he already knew about.

"This is something I discovered when I got my first recipes. Apparently you can create items instantly so long as you have the required ingredients in your drop inventory."

"Okay where's the menu to do it."

"Right there in the recipe tab."

"Huh, are you su-...It really is here!" Naofumi exclaimed. "I could've sworn it wasn't there before."

"It might not have been." Audrey said confusing Naofumii.

"Wh-what do you mean."

"When I had initially begun learning recipes for the sake of knowing how to make them on the spot myself it didn't seem to be there at first, it felt as if the hub added it when I had learned the first recipe."

Naofumi placed a hand on his chin. The idea that the hub system was adding new features for them was hard to believe, it might have made sense if the world was actually an online game and it was being updated but even then it would make more sense for all essential features to be there from the very start.

Still looking back on the subject Naofumi did remember that his monster drop inventory and item inventory didn't seem to be where they were supposed to be before Audrey had told him about them and it was the same with the levels to his individual skills until Audrey told him of her power up method.

Flashback

"Naofumi any skills you've unlocked should have levels that you can raise." Audrey said whilst the two heroes were on their way to have the shield hero register at the dragon hourglass."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, they're listed right next to the skill names."

Naofumi felt a bit unsure of what he was being told but if it was indeed there then it was something that would help him down the road. Looking through the names of the skills he had Naofumi soon saw that Audrey was indeed correct.

Skills: air strike shield lv1 of 7, shield prison lv1 of 5

'The levels really are here. How did I miss them before? It doesn't matter, I need to find out how to raise them.'

"Audrey how do I get my skills to the next level?"

"By using materials from your monster drops but warning the amount you have to use for even a single level is ridiculous."

"Okay." Naofumi replied before trying to. Raise the level of his air strike shield to level two only to discover that Audrey really wasn't joking when she told him about the required amount.

"Yo-you've gotta be kidding me."

"I'm guessing you're annoyed with the amount needed to perform a level for your skills?"

"Yeah, you should have put emphasis on the word "ridiculous" when you told me how the system worked."

Audrey couldn't help but chuckle at that, thinking about now perhaps she really should have made sure to hammer home how outrages the required amount was beforehand.

Naofumi smiled none the less in spite of the inconvenient factor. "Thank you Audrey."

Flash back end

"Alright if the system's really not showing us everything from the start then that begs the question what features are we still unaware of." The shield hero mused.

"I wish I knew, there could be any number of power up methods and other features we're in the dark about and if my theory's right then noether of us can use them unless we're made aware of them." Audrey replied. 'But then why did the item creation feature show up in my menu even after I learned the first recipe? I didn't even have the slightest inkling that it existed.'

"You think Ren and Motoyasu know about features neither of us do?" Naofumi

"Considering their knowledge derived from the respective games they probably do."

Naofumi grunted upon hearing that answer nor finding the prospect any more appealing than Audrey did for similar reasons if not the same. Asking Ren and Motoyasu for any type of help was something that made him sick to his stomach. "We'll be better off finding them on our own."

"Naofumi are you sure?" Raphtalia inquired.

"Yeah I really don't want anything to do with those two."

"I can't say I blame you Sir Naofumi at least when it comes to the spear hero." Bluebell mused.

"Ren may be easier to deal with between the two of them but even he has a stick up his ass."

Bluebell scratched the back of her head unable to refute that point since she has become aware of Ren's misguided sense of self superiority, Raphtalia on the other hand groaned in disapproval really wishing that Naofumi would get along with the other two heroes the same he did with Audrey...minus the rival part for his affection of course, just Audrey alone would be hard enough to compete with so Raphtalia didn't want anymore rivals.

"That aside Audrey I have something I wanted to give that might help you out a lot."

Naofumi then pulled out an egg.

Audrey stared at the object for a few moments before Bluebell spoke up.

"Is this a Filolial egg!?" She inquired.

"Um yeah. But how could you tell?"

"By its shape and size. Many monsters lay eggs but they differ in size and shape and I studied a bit about them before I started out as an adventurer."

"That explains it. Anyway back when I initially got Filo's egg from a lottery I was offered a deal to get a matching egg for a few more silver so I took it thinking I could repay Audrey a little for all she's done for me. Filo's able to help fight off monsters and on top of that she turned to be a really fast riding animal."

Audrey found herself unsure of what to make. First Naofumi turns down her latest offer ensure he received a just reward for his part in the wave and now in spite of how dire his situation was he still decided to get something that would not only provide her with a new companion once it hatched and grew to an appropriate size and a fast way to travel.

Naofumi might have just solved two of her problems of expanding her party and enabling her to travel to further places. Audrey felt extremely grateful for what Naofumi was doing for her but at the same time she couldn't help but worry about her fellow hero since he already had the least amount of resources out of anyone, but even so. "Thank you." Audrey said as she took the egg for herself.

"Also you'll need this incubator to keep it warm." Naofumi said before producing the said item from his item inventory and handing it to Bluebell.

"From what I was told by the guy I bought it from the one you have still has a bit of time before it hatches."

"That's fine. Tomorrow I'll be staying in this village the day assuming nothing comes up. Anyway after Bluebell learns one more spell we'll be heading back to the inn."

"Alright we'll see you tomorrow."

With that Naofumi and Raphtalia left whilst Bluebell resumed her studies.

"Say if you don't mind me asking what spell are you planning on learning?"

"One known as the fire bullet."

Audrey raised an eyebrow ever so slightly. "The name makes it sound like it's more or less the same as the fast fireball spell."

"It's easy to be led to believe it's the same thing but there's a major key difference which I may be able to show you if I understand the incantation well enough." Bluebell replied as she closed her spell tome and raised her hand.

Audrey watched with anticipation wondering if she was going to get to see the spell in action or if she may have to settle for a mere description. She was pretty confident it was going to be the former, even if Bluebell didn't perform the spell this time she'd immediately resume studying it until she was able to so it really wouldn't be a matter of if Audrey got to see the spell be rather when.

"As the one who commands the source of power I command you, decipher the laws of nature and send numerous projectiles to incinerate my target to ash." Bluebell swung her arm downward until it outstretched in front of her. "Fire bullet."

The moment Bluebell said the spell's name numerous small fireballs manifested in front of her and shot forward pelting the ground in multiple places leaving numerous scorch marks on the ground.

Seeing the result Audrey smiled in admiration of her friend's success who was beaming with excitement at having a third spell under her belt. "Yes, I did it! My luck is finally turning around!"

Audrey couldn't help but giggle a little at Bluebell's excitement before her companion noticed and abruptly stopped out of embarrassment. "Ple- please forget you saw that."

"It's fine, you learned two new spells today so I think you can take a little joy in that."

Bluebell could only scratch the back of her head in embarrassment "Ri-right."

"Well if you're done let's head back to the inn I like to retire for the night while it's still a decent hour so I can get early in the morning."

"Fair enough." With that the duo headed back to the inn to end the day.

XXXXX

Audrey awoke the following morning before glancing at the filolial egg laid on the incubator before getting up and walking over to it. Upon immediate inspection the egg didn't show any signs of being close to hatching anytime soon.

Removing the egg from the incubator she proceeded to place the item within her item inventory leaving her at an impasse with what to do with the egg. She couldn't leave it in the room since it could either die from lack of a warm enough place or stolen if she did that but bringing with her posed another problem.

She couldn't just hold it in her hand the entire day since she'd need them for any menial tasks she might perform but where could she put it? Her pocket? No, that provided the egg a warm place to keep but all it would take is one wrong movement and the egg would be crushed.

Maybe her bow's item inventory? But how would the egg fair? As if to answer the question a new notification popped up in Audrey hub screen.

Egg is categorized under item until it hatches, if put in item inventory the egg will be put in a stasis type state until removed but its life will be preserved.

'Well that's convenient.' Audrey thought. If she was to trust this notification she got then she could safely put the egg into her item inventory without worry with the only downside being that it's essentially frozen in time meaning that keeping it in the item inventory will extend the time it takes for the egg to hatch.

Overall it was acceptable since it meant the egg would be preserved. With that being the case Audrey placed the egg in her item inventory before the door to the room swung open revealing a frantic Bluebell practically panting before addressing the bow hero.

"Audrey we have a serious problem!"

Audrey tensed up upon hearing this, one of the things she's learning about Bluebell is that when her demeanor switches from her normal enthusiastic and supportive one to a more serious one it was because there was a bad situation on the rise or taking place. "What is it?"

"It's Malty and the spear hero are here causing trouble!"

"What- are you fucking kid- nevermind let's get outside as fast as we can."

Once the two were outside they saw a large crowd gathered within the village center with the Naofumi and Raphtalia at the very back.

"Oh lady Audrey." Raphtalia said, greeting the bow hero.

"Hi Raphtalia, is what I heard from Bluebell really true?"

"Welllll…." The Tanuki was unable to bring herself to say anything further. Audrey turned her gaze to the village plaza to see that the redheaded cunt and asshole spear user were indeed at Lute along with a battalion of guards. With the former holding a document of some out for everyone to see.

"Listen up, in light of his exploits saving the crown has decided to award Motoyasu and appoint him as the new lord of this village."

The village's residents were taken aback by this declaration unsure of how to take this news, Naofumi scoffed while both companions of the two respective heroes aside from the spear looked on with uncertainty not unlike that of the villagers with the only notable difference being that Bluebell harbored more doubt towards the idea that any good could come from this. Audrey found herself sighing in irritation at the sight of what was happening.

Just when things were finally taking a turn for the better, two of the three last people she or Naofumi wanted to see had to appear just so they lay claim to a reward they weren't the least bit deserving of. The bow hero could only wonder if this was supposed to patch up Motoyasu's bruised ego for not having Raphtalia in his clutches or fuel Myne's pigheaded nature….it was probably both. "As of now anyone entering or leaving the village will be required to pay a fifty silver piece toll to help with repair efforts."

That announcement was met with audible cries of outrage and protest and understandably so from the point of view of any individual who had any semblance of common sense or morality but none of that seemed to matter to Myne. "Silence, to defy lord Motoyasu is to defy the crown."

"But we can't possibly pay that toll, it's ridiculous." One of the residents said.

"You'll pay the toll if you want your village repaired."

Upon hearing this many of the residents turned to each other hoping someone would come up with some type of solution that would get them out of the predicament that the princess and hero of spear were unjustly forcing upon them and before long numerous people began realizing that both Audrey and Naofumi were present.

"Shield hero, bow hero please help us, we can't afford to pay such a toll." One of the villagers pleaded before others began following suit leaving Audrey at a bit of a crossroads.

Had this happened the previous day she probably wouldn't have cared for any plight these people were being put through especially after seeing the pain Naofumi was wrongfully made to endure when he was forced to take part in an unfair duel that was meant to strip him of the only true companion he had, but after seeing that the people were actually acknowledging his actual deeds rather than rumors with a lot of holes in them Audrey realized that the people weren't simply puppets to the crown's wrong doings against Naofumi so maybe there was something to them that made them worth helping.

One problem still stood in the way of Audrey taking action however and that was the question of how the bow hero could go about stopping this. While one's first thought might be to just attack right then and there it wasn't quite that simple. If Audrey or any of the others actually tried to attack Malty or Motoyasu right there on the spot the ordeal would escalate to a full blown fight throughout the settlement that would drag the residents into it and knowing the knights along with Malty and Motoyasu, people would surely be caught in the crossfire especially when the knights got involved on Malty and Motoyasu's behalf.

After what she and others had been through to safeguard the village Audrey didn't want to do anything that would result in its destruction as well as that of its remaining residents.

Maybe declaring an official duel might work? No Malty would twist the terms so that it was unfairly in their favor likely by forcing Naofumi to be the opponent since it would put odds in her favor due to his lack of offensive ability and that wasn't counting the factor of her cheating outright and without Ren or someone in the right type of political position to stop her she would just wrongfully declare her side the winner in spite of whatever actually happened.

"Hey Motoyasu, do you even realize what you're about to do to these people or are you just letting your teammate lead you on?" Naofumi suddenly called out snagging the spear hero's attention.

"Of course I do, we're helping the people repair their village."

"By exerting them out of money and leaving them with nothing?"

"We're not taking everything from them, paying taxes is just a normal part of life even in our world."

"How much money do you think it cost to stay a single night at the inn?"

The hero of the spear found himself unable to answer so Naofumi did it for him. "One silver and anyone living here at best makes only maybe two or three pieces a day."

"What does that have to do with anything?"

Audrey could only facepalm at the sheer idiocy of that inquiry. How someone like Motoyasu got into any type of collage she'd never know unless it was through sheer bribery considering his IQ was proving to be lower with literally every word that came from his mouth. It was starting to feel pretty miraculous he could even function in any type of society.

"With that type of income they can't realistically pay fifty silver pieces just enter and leave their own settlement."

Many of the villagers began voicing their agreement before they all began protesting Motoyasu's new lordship until Malty spoke.

"Silence, none of you have any say in this." The red haired liar then turned to both Naofumi and Audrey.

"And you both should leave, this land belongs to lord Motoyasu so you have no right to even be he….!" Malty stopped in mid sentence and at that same moment a group of cloaked individuals wearing metallic masks over their eyes appeared seemingly out of thin air around her.

Malty's face shifted from shock to rage before she finally regained enough of her composer to speak. "Wh-what are you doing here?"

Audrey couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at the scene playing out in front of her, a part of her was a bit wary since she was uncertain of where these new arrival's loyalties lied or more so to the point whether they were enemies or allies.

If it was the former that would just add to the already numerous hindrances for Naofumi which was the last thing he needed and one Audrey wasn't completely sure she could handle since their levels ranged from 56 to 68 meaning that even the lowest level person amongst them was significantly stronger than herself in terms of levels.

If they were allies by some extreme off chance then at the very least Audrey hoped they would force both Malty and Motoyasu to back off and end this ridiculous charade of theirs for the sake of the people living here. At the very least she could safely assume they weren't Malty's cronies but that still left the question of where she and Noafumi stood with them.

"Her majesty requested us to give you this." One of the cloaked individuals said before holding out a scroll which Malty's groaned at the sight of before snatching it from the cloak individual's hand and opening it.

As she read through its contents it became apparent that she wasn't the least bit happy with whatever it said which gave the bow hero hope that whatever the scroll said would end the red haired bitche's sham to steal from these people right then and there until she shot her gaze towards Naofumi.

"You, race us for the right of lordship of this village."

"...Huh?" Naofumi found himself almost dumbstruck by that request, while he had no desire to see the people suffer because of Malty's sick nature he wasn't exactly keen on the idea of competing in any type of competition with her chosen hero especially with the heartache the previous one caused him before Raphtalia and Audrey made him realize that he wasn't alone in the world. However in spite of whatever reluctance he may have harbored the villagers were desperate for his help and weren't shy about showing it.

"Please help us shield hero."

"We can't afford to pay those outrageous taxes."

"We beg of you, help us, we'll give you anything!"

Naofumi scratched the back of his head finding himself unable to refuse before sighing. "Alright I'll help you."

The current lord bowed his head to Naofumi. "Thank you lord shield."

With that both Heroes were led to the edge of the village where they both readied their respective riding animals, Naofumi's being Filo of course and Motoyasu's animal being some sort of bipedal reptilian creature, according to Audrey's HUD it was called a riding dragon. It didn't look much like one someone from any of version of earth would expect, it lacked the key feature of a western dragon which was it the form of its wings and she highly doubted it could breathe fire and any feature the eastern version would have whether it be a long eel like body or whiskers at the end of its maw were non existent.

The only thing that really stood out about the thing was the intense staring contest it was having with Filo speaking of which the spear hero had taken notice of her and walked to get a closer look at the Filolial whilst wearing a smug expression that neither Audrey nor Naofumi found the least bit appealing.

"Are you seriously going to race me using that thing?" The spear asked condescendingly annoying both the other heroes present as he continued his rant not noticing the angry stare from Filo. "It's not even a dragon, that's seriously lame."

Audrey found wishing someone or at least something would kick the sh…..

Faster than anyone could perceive Filo's leg shot out and sent Motoyasu airborne quite a few meters and right into a pile of hay. But what really pleased both the bow and shield heroes was when Motoyasu was laying in the hay holding his nether regions in pain with his previous smirk gone from his face. Naofumi wrapped his arms around Filo's neck hugging her affectionately much to the Filolial's delight. "Filo you're the best monster ever." He said earning a cheerful "Gwa" from Filo.

"Mr Naofumi you shouldn't praise Filo for hurting someone." Raphtalia said chastising the hero of the shield.

"Why not? Motoyasu's done nothing but put us through hell from the moment we met him."

He wasn't necessarily wrong since whenever Motoyasu wasn't trying to support Malty he was trying to deprive Naofumi of those he cares about. Suffice to it was impossible not to take joy from the sight of him getting knocked down a peg. As far as Audrey was concerned Naofumi may have really hit the jackpot with Filo. Maybe once her own Filolial hatched she'd train it to also kick Motoyasu's jewels god knew the last thing any world needed was him reproducing.

In the meantime after Motoyasu recovered both he and Naofumi climbed on their respective riding animals.

Audrey stood with Raphtalia and Bluebell silently wishing Naofumi luck and for his victory.

The town lord stood in front of the two racers ready to address the two heroes. "Both of you will race around the entire village no less than three times and whoever completes this goal first shall be declared the winner." With that Lute's lord gave the signal for both to begin and immediately afterwards both heroes took off at speeds that were nothing short of impressive.

As the Filolial and riding dragon ran around the village they appeared to be neck and neck until the second half of the first lap where Filo began pulling ahead bit by bit until she had a clear lead on the riding dragon.

Soon the both heroes completed the first lap passing by the spectators most of which were delighted to see Naofumi in the leaf with the only exception being Matly and the soldiers who all scowled at the sight before them.

"You can do it Mr Naofumi!" Raphtalia called out cheering for the person who had saved her and given her a new purpose in line and who she had grown to believe in and love.

"Everyone here is counting on you sir Naofumi!" Bluebell called to the Hero who had proved to have the potential to be a genuine hero for the people of the world.

Audrey merely smiled silently holding no less faith than her two friends. She knew Naofumi had more worth to him than the sick bastards who sought to unjustly torture him claimed.

Unfortunately Malty had no intention of letting things stand and began whispering to the soldiers around her and they began sneaking off to various places out of sight and just outside the track.

As both the shield and spear heroes began their second lap Motoyasu suddenly began gaining on Naofumi which caused Audrey to tense up a bit with worry in her mind. While Naofumi wouldn't have anything taken from him personally Audrey nor the others wanted to see his efforts of protecting Lute rendered pointless by Malty and Motoyasu.

Regrettably Motoyasu continued to catch up until both him and Naofumi were side by side once more and they remained like that for a bit further into the second lap before Motoyasu began taking the lead.

'Come on Naofumi, don't give up.' Audrey thought. Much to her and the others' dismay however a hole suddenly appeared in his path forcing him to veer to the side narrowly avoiding it and nearly falling to the ground along with Filo.

Audrey shot her gaze towards Malty and saw the cunt smirking. It would have only taken mere moments for Audrey to summon her bow to her hands and fire an arrow straight into Malty's head and end her life on the spot. Had Bluebell not grabbed Audrey's arm that scenario would have become reality.

"Lady Audrey I understand your anger but you can't act rashly, if you kill Malty here we will be forced to fight the soldiers here as well as the spear hero." The blue hair sword wielder pleaded.

"I'm tired of that bitch doing this." Audrey retorted. First she tries to trick Naofumi into buying an expensive sword she couldn't even use, then she betrays and frames him for a crime he didn't commit, then she interferes with the duel from the other day to ensure he lost Raphtalia and now she was trying to interfere with this race just so she could harm the people however she pleased. Honestly if it meant ridding the world of one of the most pathetic excuses for a human being to ever exist it just might be worth it but Bluebell felt differently.

"I know but if we murder this kingdom's princess here in broad daylight we'll be deemed enemies of this entire kingdom and likely so will Naofumi and even Raphtalia along with us."

That caused Audrey to stop her contemplation. While she might not have necessarily cared if she alone suffered the backlash of her own actions the thought of her friends Bluebell, Raptalia and Naofumi suffering for it was another matter altogether. Reluctantly Audrey calmed herself down realizing that all she could do was hope Naofumi could win regardless.

Turning her gaze back to the race taking place and her eyes landed on Motoyasu and his riding dragon for a moment before Audrey saw something that she did not like.

Riding dragon level 35 status: Spd up (medium)

That explained how Motoyasu was able to catch up to Naofumi when Filo was previously proving to be the faster animal, his own animal had been given a buff. Regardless of the disadvantage she may have been faced with Filo was still determined to win.

With renewed vigor Filo began catching with the dragon and even passing it as both racers were about to end the second lap and began the final one. Malty and her men also noticed this and immediately were overcome with frustration. They casted a speed up spell on Motoyasu's riding dragon and even put a hole in the shield hero's path in hopes he would fall ensuring he lost but instead he managed to catch and even retake the lead.

Malty bit her bottom lip before deciding to have her men unveil their final trump card and ensure the shield hero's downfall in this race, signalling the soldiers with a nod one of them which was hiding just on the outside of track began an incantation. "I who command the great power beseech thi, decipher the laws of nature and weigh down my target." The soldier stretched a glowing hand in Filo's direction. "Speed down."

Back in the main crowd of the spectators Audrey watched with renewed faith after seeing Naofumi retake the lead however that faith was soon replaced with worry when she could of sworn that she saw Filo's body glow for just a little more than an instant, she might have dismissed it as her imagination if not for what followed when Filo visibly slowed down allowing Motoyasu to get ahead once more leaving the bow hero with a bad feeling about what that glow was.

Focus on Filo Audrey HUD soon showed filos status and confirmed her worst fears. Malty's men had casted a debuff on Filo to reduce her speed by a medium amount if what the HUD showed was of any type of hint. Malty would truly do anything to ensure she got her way but Filo was still determined to win the race even with the debuff in effect.

Audrey and likely neither Rapthalia or Bluebell were sure if it was just from sheer will power or something else but Filo managed to somehow regain her previous speed and began catching up to Motoyasu. For a moment Audrey almost thought the debuff was gone or undone but when she looked at Filo's status it was still very much in place, the sight brought a smile to the bow hero's face seeing that Naofumi found another reliable companion and she now held higher hopes for her own egg when it hatched.

As luck would have it one last hurdle appeared before the shield hero when Motoyasu repositioned his riding dragon making it impossible for Naofumi to pass him without riding on the same path that the hole had previous spawned was on but at this point he had no intention of being beaten because of Malty's schemes so he simply egged Filo forward towards the hole before extending his hand outwards. "Air strike shield!"

An ethereal green shield manifested horizontally over the hole acting as a makeshift platform and allowing Filo to go over it unhindered and get just about side by side with the riding dragon.

The two continued for the finish line as fast as they were able to. Every single spectator watched on in tense anticipation as both heroes came closer. The people who lived in Lute placed their hopes in the hero of the shield who defended their village from the wave when the soldiers initially ignored it and then set it blaze to save them from a bad situation once more, Bluebell wanted to see Naofumi to win and further prove that he could be the hero the people needed along with Audrey, Raphtalia held a deal of faith hope that Naofumi would win and that the people of the world would see that they were wrong about him.

Audrey was of an extremely similar mindset to Raphtalia believing that this race would not only show that Naofumi wasn't the scumbag everyone had made him out to be and that he had far more worth than people like Aultcray, Ren, Malty, or Motoyasu said he did.

As the two heroes approached the finished line Audrey along with every other spectator watched with bated breath as they came ever closer to the goal that now had a thin piece of cloth suspended over so they could tell who the winner was. It felt as if time slowed down when the two were just mere inches away from the cloth as everyone wondered if the village would be saved from this act that the crown was attempting or if they were going to suffer because of Malty's actions.

When the cloth tore in front of Filo Audrey, Bluebell, and Raptalia let out sighs of relief as Naofumi had won the race whilst the villagers all cheered knowing that they were saved from Malty's scheme. Speaking of the princess she watched the scene play overcome by rage and unwilling to accept this conclusion. She was supposed to have already had this village looted of any valuables that she was entitled to not humiliated by the worthless shield hero, she couldn't allow this to stand and she had no intention of doing that. "You cheated!" She yelled out drawing looks of annoyance from everyone around her. "There's no way you could have won if you or the bow hero hadn't used some sort of magic to cheat!"

Both Audrey and even Bluebell at this point were ready to retort but were beaten to it when one of the masked individuals spoke up first. "That's not possible, we've detected no magic used by either of them. Also the hero of the shield knows no spells and his affinity is support and healing and that of the bow hero's is earth and wind."

"Then the bow hero must have cheated. The hole that appeared during the race is proof of that."

Audrey felt her eye twitch ever so slightly upon hearing that outrageous accusation but kept silent since the masked person was already shooting down Malty's attempts to try and paint Naofumi's win as illegitimate.

"Not possible, the only spell the bow has within her arsonal at this time is earth wall. I daresay."

"Then one of their companions had to have done something with their magic."

"Like with the shield and bow heroes that is impossible. The tanuki has no magic spell she can use and her affinity is for light and dark magic as well as an inherent affinity for illusions and the bow hero's companion has an affinity for fire and lighting magic with her only spells being fireball, fire bullet, and fast thunderbolt."

Naofumi, Audrey, and Bluebell all had raised eyebrows upon listening to what this masked person was saying, while they were all happy that Malty's last ditch effort to discredit the outcome of the race was shot down this masked person and likely the rest of them knew too much about them. All three individuals found themselves with a sense of unease at this realization, the cardinal heroes were the main topic on everyone's mind since they were under threat from the waves meaning it would be a given for some rumors about what they were doing but for these people to have such thorough information about implied they had been watching the heroes too much for the comfort of any of the three. That begged the question of what they were after, at the moment they were stopping Malty dead in her tracks with her attempt at extorting Lute but that alone didn't solidify them as allies.

Whatever the case all Audrey and the others could do now was get stronger not only for the next wave but possibly for when it came to face these people.

The people living in Lute were extremely happy with the outcome of everything which its lord decided to personally express to Naofumi. The Otoku turned hero of shield simply decided to accredit Filo since her determination was a big factor in the outcome before the Filolial in question suddenly transformed in a puff of smoke going from an ostrich like appearance to a far plumper and over larger version of itself before leaving everyone speechless while she simply looked at Naofumi before letting a cheerful "gwa" sound.

The first person to regain their composure was Malty who pointed an accusatory finger at Filo before addressing Naofumi. "So you did cheat, you never told us that bird was a tub of lard."

"I didn't know until now."

The local lord decided to step in. "To be fair the Filolial didn't transform until after the race was over."

One of the masked individuals decided to add their input. "Plus we also detected traces of support magic casted by your men during the race and earth magic which created the hole that appeared during rave."

Malty became visibly nervous before turning towards the village gate along with all of her men much to everyone's relief before Motoyasu turned to face Naofumi. "I only let you win." With that he turned to follow the rest of his party out of the village.

Once they were gone one of the villages walked next to the local lord holding a fairly sized bag of what Audrey and the others suspected were coins judging from the jangling sound they gave off. "We had the villagers gather up all the money we had so we could give it to you as a reward."

"There's no need I didn't stop the princess and Motoyasu from stealing everything from you just to do it myself." Naofumi replied.

"But there has to be something we can give you."

"Well I'm not sure if….." Naofumi trailed off unsure of if he should even finish the sentence but he really wasn't sure what he could accept while his funds weren't in a good thanks to the king he couldn't just strip Lute of the money it had.

Luckily the answer to what he should take came to him when Filo nudged him with her beak just enough to grab Naofumi's attention then gestured to a broken down wagon. "Do you like the cart Filo?"

The Filolial let out a cheerful "gaw" which Naofumi and the others took as a yes which gave the village's lord an idea.

"We can fix the wagon for you so you can use it in your travel's plus it'll be good for your Filolial as well."

"Really?"

"Yes, in fact Filolials actually have a rather extreme fondness for pulling carts."

"Are you sure they like carts that much?"

"Of course, it's common knowledge amongst any who handle them."

"It's true sir Naofumi." Bluebell said gaining his attention. "Filolials actually love wagons with quite a passion to the point that without one to pull they can actually become quite depressed."

"Okay….."

"I know it might sound hard to believe since it's unusual for any animal to have such a characteristic but Filolials really do value carts and get great joy out of pulling them which makes ideal traveling animals."

"Meaning me and Raphtalia and eventually you and Audrey after your hatches will be able to travel the country more efficiently."

"Well we could certainly use a more convenient means of travel."

XXXXX

It only took the rest of the day to fix up the cart and as a result Naofumi's party was ready to set out the following day with everyone to see them off.

"Thank you for everything shield hero." The lord said before pulling a piece of bronze with writing carved into it. "Also please take this."

"Alright but what is it exactly?" Naofumi inquired unsure of what he had just been given by the village lord.

"It's a merchant's pass, it'll allow you to enter any village without having to pay any toll."

"I see. This'll be a big help for us." Naofumi before casting one last look at all the villages happy to see faces of people who recognized him for who he truly was and not what the crown said about him and then to Audrey and Bluebell now knowing that if anything went wrong he could have faith that they along with Raphtalia would believe in him.

"I'll see you around." He announced before riding off with Filo seemingly having what may have been the best day of her life so far. Granted she was only a few days old but still. As the shield hero's party disappeared off into the distance Bluebell turned to Audrey and smiled. "I take you're also satisfied with how things turned out?"

"That should go without saying. For the first time things are actually going in a better direction for Naofumi and even Raphtalia too."

Bluebell smiled at this. "I suppose you're right. Do you realize that there's more to the people than just supporting the king's anti shield regime."

"I do now, it'll make it easier to bring myself to actually help them."

Bluebell was more than a bit relieved to hear that, it seems her hopes for both Naofumi and Audrey were coming to fruition now if the sword hero could do the same then it would be better for the world as a whole. "I'm glad to know that the crown's wrong doings haven't completely warped your view of this world but I digress. What do you have planned for us going forward.'

"Well for the time being I'd like to find somewhere where I can perfect using my new earth wall spell so I can cast it more efficiently when we have to fight."

"Do you already have a way to use it in mind?"

"Yeah it'll come in handy for all things considered."

"Perhaps you could try learning another spell while you're at it."

"I could try but something tells me I won't have too much hope of success until I improve my literary and reading skills in this world's language first."

"Fair enough. I suppose I'll also improve my understanding of the spells I'm able to use."

"It'll leave us better prepared later down the road." With that the duo found a new dirt field further from the village. Audrey began her training by casted the spell as quickly as she was able however there was a limit to how quickly she was able to get through the incantation which could potentially leave enemies with a window to attack under the right circumstances, the good news however was that the incantation only took a few seconds thank goodness and that she could cast the spell more than a few times thanks to all the levels she gained up until now.

After she at least made progress with improving the speed of her cast time she switched over the further improving her reading and writing so that she could have a better understanding of what the spell tome said and in turn learn more spells.

Bluebell had focused primarily on improving her magic and got to the point that she could conjure a fast ball without an incantation and improved the cast time for fast thunderbolt, she wasn't having much progress with flame bullet however since it was more complex compared to the fireball spell and it consumed more mp so she couldn't use it as much. Regardless she was still happy with the overall progress she made.

While the two were improving their skills one of the villagers suddenly caming running frantically in their direction which was something that didn' t escape the bow hero's notice. Whatever this person wanted it was frantic which left the question was it something good or bad. While a small part of Audrey had hoped it was the former since it would be preferable after everything that had happened up until now but the more logical part of her knew better, there was no reason for the villager to be coming to her so frantically unless a situation came up that was going to require her to resolve which guaranteed it was something bad.

"Lady bow hero, we need you back at Lute!" The villager called out before stopping to catch their breath.

"What's going on?" Audrey asked.

"There's someone who came to the village badly hurt."

It looked like that was all the information that the bow hero was hoping to get until she saw whoever the villagers were referring to. From the sound of it the unknown person in question was badly injured and needed healing at least but somewhere within the reaches of her mind Audrey had a grim suspicion that there was going to be more to than simply acting the part of a healer. Whatever was about to happen the bow hero would only find out when she and Bluebell got back to Lute.

XXXXX

"Quickly this way." The villager who went to get Audrey said as he led her to one of the other rooms of the inn that to her knowledge was previously vacant even when Naofumi and Raphtalia were staying at the establishment. There were occasional stains of blood on the floor which was already a clear indicator that this person's injuries were pretty serious.

"They're just in here." The villager said as they opened the door to the room, inside was the village lord along with another local who looked to be a nurse and the proprietor of the inn. The person that Audrey had been told about was a young woman around Audrey's own age perhaps a year or two older with shoulder length brown hair.

Her clothes were torn in multiple places exposing more than a bit of flesh though the sight was not one anyone would get flustered over since it had more than a few lacerations and full cuts that were still bleeding out. Whatever happened to this person it wasn't something to scoff at. "I brought the bow hero." The villager who led Audrey announced before the village lord nodded.

"Thank you, I'll explain everything to her, you can return to your normal duties."

With a silent nod the villager left whilst the local lord turned to Audrey who spoke up first. "So do you have any of the specifics about what happened?"

"All I know is that this poor girl's village was raided by bandits who decided to occupy it and take any survivors from their attack prisoner and she managed to escape."

So the girl was something of a refugee who wanted her friends rescued. Then that would mean Audrey and Bluebell would need to either dispose of the bandits or drive them off. With an idea of what she was going to have to do going forward Audrey turned to the Refugee.

"Is there anything else you can tell me?"

To Audrey's confusion and chagrin the refugee not only remained silent but gave her a wary look that even carried a bit of disdain. It would have been one thing if the Refugee was skeptical but they seemed like they resented Audrey outright which left her wondering what she could have done to earn their disdain. "Can you tell what village you're from."

"Cadia." The Refugee answered sharply.

Okay Audrey now had a location to head to but still a little more info would be appreciated so that she wouldn't be going in blind. "I see, is there anything you can tell me about the bandits."

"Only that they took advantage of my village being unprotected, anything more I'm only saying to soldiers."

Audrey was more than a little miffed at that, while the Refugee didn't say it directly the message was clear, they basically had no intention of speaking to Audrey any further which earned a sigh from the bow hero who decided that since this conversation wasn't going anywhere else she'd just hurry up and heal the Refugee.

Once she pulled at least three hp potions from her item inventory the Refugee scowled. "Don't even bother, I've already lost everything and I'd rather die here than accept aid from someone like you!"

That remark caused Audrey to stop dead in her tracks. "Do you have a problem with me?"

"You can put a front if you want but I'm not buying any of it, not after what happened to my friends and family, so keep your potions and let me die."

The local lord decided to intervene before the situation could escalate.

"I know you've been through a great deal of pain and loss but the bow hero means to help you."

The refugee grunted. "If she truly wants to help then she should drive off the bandits and save those who still have a reason to live!"

At this point Audrey was no longer in any mood to deal with this refugee. First they refuse to give her any information except the generality of what happened to their village, then they refuse her help to heal them, and they're acting hostile towards her like this whole situation was somehow her fault.

Leaving the potions she already drew out on a night stand Audrey left the room with Bluebell following her. "Audrey I know you don't appreciate the girl's demeanor towards you."

"That's a bit of an understatement. Honestly I'm starting to have second thoughts about helping her village at all if that's how she's going to act."

"I'm sure there's a reason for her behavior."

"Please don't try and use that excuse, I've seen and heard enough people try to justify themselves or someone else that was in the wrong just by saying they had a reason not every single one is a good one."

"Fair enough."

"Still I'll agree that I'm wondering why that girl seems to only be angry at me."

"We may find the answer soon enough. Are you up for saving her village? In spite of what happened with her it doesn't mean the survivors should have to suffer."

"I know and though I briefly implied otherwise a few moments ago I'm not going let myself be deterred by that refugee's attitude towards me. Do you know where Cadia is?"

"To the northwest of here it'll only take a little over half of a day to get there."

"Alright let's not waste time." With the two set out on their first mission that wasn't given to them by the guild. Audrey wasn't sure how dangerous the situation would truly be but she wasn't going to underestimate it. While she didn't have any real support except from Bluebell it would have to do. She highly doubted she'd be able to rely on any of the knights since they were trying to help Malty extort Lute (nor would she ever want to for that matter) and Naofumi and Raphtalia were already long gone so the duo were on their on, even so Audrey didn't have any intention of allowing either them to lose theirive on this mission.

---

And that's the end of this chapter finally I didn't think this would come out as long as it did.

Anyway first sorry not much happened aside from cannon there wasn't much I could have happen with Audrey in the chapter so I decided to focus on character development in the sense that now that the people are showing that there's more to them than just sucking to trash's every word they're actually worth saving. It might have seemed a bit much for Audrey to have been previous doubting that but I'm pretty more than a few of us were in question about if the world was even worth saving when watching the first few episodes especially during the duel when everyone in the audience was getting to seeing Naofumi lose. It was sort of the same thing with Audrey except her view of the world was even worse since Naofumi is someone she personally cares about and that changed when he was finally being treated fairly by some of the people.

Also I know someone amongst the readers is thinking "oh my god is Audrey's party and adventure just going to be an imitation of Naofumi's?" In annoyance right? but I assure you that is NOT going to be the case, she's not going to be going around selling stuff like a merchant and doing the same things Naofumi did. There's only going to be one key aspect that's there which is also present in Naofumi's quest and that's only because of the general lore which you'll understand when it's shown.

The reason her egg is also a Filolial is because there is literally nothing more ideal for pulling a cart which is something Audrey is going to eventually get since it provides a better mode of transportation and it can be used to hold supplies, remember Audrey item inventory only has a maximum capacity of 15 items. Also while I received some suggestions such as a dragon (which was out of the question because while I'm normally a big fan of them they're kind of...complete degenerates in the rotsh world) and a kitsune (which I was far more tempted to go with but I can't see it pulling a cart) but I had already decided on a Filolail beforehand.

Also as some people pointed out in the reviews Naofumi isn't as bitter as he was in canon thanks to Audrey which I tried to show when he was a bit more affectionate towards Filo and showed more concern to the village when he turned down their money.

Finally as some of you guessed Audrey is going to be doing her own thing going forward which is where the real challenge is going to start since this means I have to (mostly) think of my own custom arcs and make them entertaining for you guys. Hopefully this first one is off to a good enough start even if it was sudden.