"This...this is unreal..." Toriel said as she sat on a chair, almost falling out of it as she was completely distraught over what she had discovered
"It's okay mom, we are still the same kids you took care of, we are just in grown up bodies" Rifana tried to comfort her but to little success
"But... this can't be right? you're species automatically matures and growns when you level up?" Toriel questioned as that seemed like a far fetch from logic, she didn't understand how such process could occur even with magic
"Well yes, I thought you would know that since you're a demi human" raphtalia said as she kind of expected her to know that, but she felt that it was her fault to assume stuff from a hero of another world
"No... Monsters in my world couldn't do that..." Toriel said as she put a hand to her face as she felt very confused before a realization came to her mind
"If I knew this would happen... I noticed that you two were a bit taller the last few days but I thought that was a growth spurt... I stole the childhood of you two! I'm a afront against heroism!" Toriel cried out as she had committed in her eyes a unforgivable action, to steal away the most precious and important years of someone's life, even if it was by unawareness, that was something so despicable that she committed
"No miss Toriel! you did nothing wrong! it was me and Rifana's fault if anything, we should have warned you" raphtalia said as she came to hug and comfort her crying guardian, she felt terrible from not warning her about that now, she would should have known she was going to act this way, most demi humans do not care much about it but some have similar reactions to as her caretaker was having
"Yeah, plus it is way better now for us to help you, I can wield my axe with just one hand instead of two now!" Rifana said as she spun her axe in her hand, she was more than grateful for her growth as it meant she could protect her friend and mother way better than before, she cut down anyone who tried to hurt her new found family
"This still feels awful..." Toriel said as no matter what the two could say, that still would leave a weight in her conscious
Toriel and her party traveled back to the capital and returned to Erhard's shop. There were some things she had to get in order before the wave. Namely upgrades since her armor was in pretty bad and both girls needed new clothes. As Toriel entered the shop with Raphtalia and Rifana right behind her, Erhart was beaming.
"How are you doing tor-" Erhard went to grab his stick to measure Raphtalia and Rifana, but stopped as soon as he saw the raccoon girl.
"The hell? That beautiful lass is little Raphtalia?" Raphtalia chuckled, taking the compliment well.
"And I assume the other one is Rifana, you two little girls grew quite a lot" Erhard said as he looked over the two, remembering how small the two girls were a couple of days ago, and now they were two fully bloomed flowers
"Thank you for the compliment Mr. Erhard!" Raphtalia thanked as she had never been called beautiful by someone that wasn't her parents
"How come he didn't call me beautiful..." Rifana mumbled under her breath slightly annoyed
"Yes I was shocked when I first saw them, I even fainted...you know you could have told me about that earlier" Toriel said as she looked at Erhard with a tad bit of annoyance
"Sorry... I thought you would have known when you left" Erhard said awkwardly since he did mean to tell her that but he was worried in how she would have reacted if didn't know already
"Well I assume the accelerated aging is done... please tell me is done..." Toriel asked concerned to Erhard who gave a affirmative nod, Toriel sighed in relief for not having to worry about Raphtalia and Rifana aging even more than they should
"So what do you need?" Erhard asked as he walked back behind his counter, with Toriel and her group asking for some new equipment
Raphtalia had received some new supplies. While her armor was nothing special, it had a few additions and enhancements. It no longer looked like the cheap starter gear she had prior. She had armored boots and leather gauntlets as her only real wardrobe additions. She also had a real long sword now and 10 or so throwing knives. Rifana gotta a bigger and stronger axe that came with a neat enchantment that allowed her to call it back to her gloved left hand after throwing it, she also received a good barbarian armor made of boar skin and a grey wolf's pelt. She had requested this suit before they left for Lute and despite being a bit loose on the chest, it all fit perfectly.
"Toriel is in desperate need of better armor! In our most recent fight against a monster, the chainmail armor she is using did almost nothing to protect her from that beast!" Raphtalia said as she pointed to Toriel before lifting up her cape to reveal the area that the two headed dog had bitten, which was heavy scratched and even had a bite mark in the armor itself
"I guess I do need some better protection, that dog was really something else with those bites" Toriel said as she passed her hand on the shoulder that was bitten by the dog, even after healing it with a potion and applying medicine, it still left a ghostly pain
"If I'm getting armor. I need something that'll last, I can't always come here to repair it." Toriel said finishing her purchases for Raphtalia's and Rifana's
"Well I have a few, but It'd probably do better to make a custom job considering your size and all that, what do you say?" Erhard suggested, he had many armor that could fit the goat woman but they were all made for men in mind
"Well I have some good materials I can use". She used [inventory] to drop the many salvaged metals from the mine as well as her good enemy drops.
"Hmm" Erhard was sorting through it quickly, a smile forming on his lips as he separated metal from leather. Each had a good quality to them and he didn't even need to use his [Appraisal] to see this
"You have a design in mind?" Erhard asked since it was better to get her opinion on this before he made a armor that she wouldn't like
"Outside of being resistant and comfortable... not really but I wish you could implement this to it" Toriel said as she took her robes out of her inventory and stretched out on the counter
"Could you put this simbol on it? If that isn't asking much" Toriel said as she pointed to the emblem in the center of the robe
"Sure, anything else?" Erhard asked again, already thinking on how to implement the symbol into a couple of armor designs he had in mind
"Well... if it could be a darker shade of purple compared to my cape it would be nice, but that's more of a nitpick than anything" Toriel said, she really liked how the purple made the whole design of her clothes come together with her white fur
"No problem, I agree that it would give more contrast wi-" He stopped his speech when he saw a pair of weaponized gloves amongst the pelts. They had dog faces carved into them and seemed to hold some magical effects. Erhard used [Appraisal] on them.
[two headed black dog Dusters]
[Rarity: interdimensional]
[16 atk, 8 agi]
[Bestial Senses: grants enhanced sense of smell and hearing while worn]
"Hey now, these gloves..." Erhard was interested, he had never seen something from this quality before and the title interdimensionalade made him question where it would be found in the first place
"Oh! they're very good right?. None of us can use them unfortunately, so if you want you can keep them to for yourself" Toriel began talking about it, she was surprised to have them in the first place as she rarely used the drop menu so when her ideas met the symbol she just had to see what it was, but when she looked at the gloves better, she could see it was shaped like the dog they killed and she didn't like how much it reminded her of the whole event, she had to put in her inventory as she couldn't place back in the drop menu.
"Plus I hate the look of them" Raphtalia added with a frown as the pair of gloves reminded her of the two headed black dog and she did no like it one bit.
"Don't get me wrong this would be a great addition but... What if one of your future party members ends up being good at hand-to-hand? I know it might be a stretch but it could be wiser to keep it just encase" Erhard suggested as this could come really handy for them if a brawler or a martial artist came to join the group of the shield hero
"Future party members?" Toriel put a hand on her chin as she had not considered that. Not the gloves themselves, but future party members "Maybe..." she said under her breath, but she would rather give it away since neither her or Raphtalia liked the look of the gloves, and Rifana didn't really cared about them. Toriel then remembering something from when the other heroes got their parties and from what she heard in the guild
"Oh! I remember that Ren had a party member who fought hand to hand, I can give him the gloves as a gift!" Toriel said as she found the idea a good way of making amends with Ren, she didn't know why, but the teen seemed very cold and dismissive of her, she couldn't blame him since they barely knew each other but whenever she tried to talk with him he just ran away trying to act as if they hadn't made eye contact, she assumed that he was a very shy and antisocial individual so maybe a gift could warn his heart up to her.
"That's very nice of you and considering the rarity of this, I bet he would accept it" Erhard said as a rare gift like this would be accepted by anyone who knew it's value.
"Anyways, Can you work with these materials?" Toriel asked getting back to the question of her armor
"Of course. But I gotta ask how you got your hands on some of these, like those dusters for example" Erhard asked since some of this stuff seemed like it wasn't even possible to obtain, like this [Balloon's gloves] that looked like something only capable of being developed in Faubley
"That's a exclusive thing I have for being a hero as far as I know. Sometimes I gain items upon a foe's death. I have about... 4 shields that boost the chances currently, so the chances are decent." Toriel said as she had been getting a few of these items ever since she got that [four leaf clover shield, the [horseshoe shield] and the [bunny feet shield, she thought those would give her a luck boost but they just increased the chances of getting special items from the drop menu
"I see. So some of these things are either harder to find normally or straight up don't exist without a cardinal weapon's power... Yeah, I can really whip you up some good armor... oh" Erhart was pulled from eyeing the materials and put on a more serious face. "It would take nearly a day to make. How long until the wave?" he asked since if the wave was in a few hours, he might just have to let her borrow one of his already made armor sets
"I don't know exactly when is going to happen... is that something I should know?" Toriel asked slightly worried since she didn't know when the wave was going to happen
"W-what? ma'am! Are you telling me you don't know!?" Erhart looked dumbstruck at the goat lady
"How could I know?" Toriel asked worried, were they informed about this in the castle but she was not paying attention to it? she must have been distracted when they said that
"Go to the big church near the center of town. They have this big hourglass there that can tell when is going to happen and even teleport you to the wave" Erhard said in a agitated tone,
"Really? wow then I better hurry up and get there". Toriel said as she looked at both raphtalia and Rifana before going to the door
"Go ahead and start on that armor for Toriel, or else I'm going to-" Rifana's threat was stopped by slightly annoyed raphtalia who picked her by the collar of her armor
"That's enough Rifana. I'll be back as soon as I can and forgive Rifana for her attitude, she has been like this for a while" Toriel apologized as she looked at Erhard while raphtalia left go of her best friend
"No problem, wish you all good luck" Erhard waved to the group as they exited the shop
"Now let's go to the church" Toriel said as she began to walk in a slightly accelerated pace compared to normal
"Yes, Mom!" The weasel girl quickly followed behind toriel, with raphtalia tailing behind as well
They left Erhart to his work. "... that lady always surprise me with how kind she is, but I hoped that stubborn weasel would have learned a thing or two about discipline when I was training her" Erhard said before grabbing some of the materials in the counter and going to work
"Top of the line, custom armor? New sword and axe? That Mr. Erhart is looking out for us, huh?" Raphtalia talked as they walked the street while looking around for the church
"Yes. He's been a great friend and I'm quite thankful to him. He does what he can to watch out for us because he has a kind heart."
"That must be a rarity around here" Rifana commented sarcastically as she could see the annoyed and irritated looks of some of the people they passed by
'I'll do my part to watch out for you too lady Toriel' Raphtalia said in her head as she looked over to the goat heroine
Toriel's party were able to enter the church with no resistance at the door, although the guards gave looks of disgust that was something Toriel and Raphtalia were used to at this point, Rifana whoever responded by giving a terrifying stare at them which made both look away. A nun intercepted her only a few steps in.
"And to what do we owe your visit today shield hero?" She responded,the nun seemed decent enough in Raphtalia's eyes but Rifana just saw her as a devoted fanatic of the three heroes religion, which she hated because it depicted the shield hero as the Devil while putting the other three in a golden pedestal.
"Oh! well the wave is bound to hit soon. So I wanted to register while I have the chance and get to know when is going to happen" Toriel explained and the nun nodded in agreement.
"Ah, of course. Please follow me." The three followed the nun in silence for roughly a minute. Upon actually seeing it, the hourglass was a bit more elaborate than Toriel expected. It seemed to move in all kinds of weird ways, but it was very pleasing to look at it and the details were very impressive to say the least
Toriel stepped forward "So, do I have to touch it or-" Suddenly a beam of light shot from the gem at the center of her shield towards the large golden hourglass. After a moment it faded.
[20:48:31]
[20:48:30]
"Is this a timer?... We have less than a day!? hopefully we can manage that...somehow." Toriel said with her voice briefly trembling, she was worried about how little time they had, it felt almost overwhelming
"Is that Toriel-sama!? hey how have you been!" the voice of motoyasu called out from behind her, he waved at her before noticing Rifana and Raphtalia on her sides
"oh you got company...and quite the good looking ones" Motoyasu said under his breath, quickly analyzing the two girls 'barbarian weasel girl, flat chested but with some nice thighs and fine skin, the shortest of the group and probably has a more outgoing personality, and a raccoon sword's woman that has a nice balance of features, rounder cheeks in comparison but overall the definition of universally attractive, solid in all aspects, very nice, very nice' Motoyasu mentally remarked as he was quite impressed that Toriel had found such beautiful gems for her group, his party members were still more attractive but he couldn't denie that the two were beautiful
"Is great that you finally found a party. You're still wearing a bit of a noob armor though... I don't want to be rude but is it because of your size?" Motoyasu said as he found the chainmail armor that Toriel wore was pretty much irrelevant at this point, plus it didn't allow her natural features to shine, even more annoying to him was that the design of the chainmail had a perfect space to exhibit a little of the lady busom but it was covered
"Yes... I placed a custom order today, they don't make a lot of armor for tall women like me and the one's I saw were... reveling to say the least" Toriel said as most of the armor in Erhard's shop that fit her frame ended up showing too much of her legs, arms and middle section, they were fine and strong but Toriel did not liked to show that much of her body, it felt skanky. motoyasu just nodded but he was internally a bit sad
"Who are these people lady Toriel? friends of yours?" Raphtalia asked since they seemed very close acquaintances with one another
"Glad you asked, this is-"
"Greetings, fair maiden. I am Motoyasu Kitamura the cardinal hero of the spear. As you're a party member of lady Toriel, I hope we can work together to save the world" Motoyasu said as he went up to raphtalia and held her hand, kissing the top of it in a chivalry manner and proceeding to do the same with Rifana
"Motoyasu-sama, don't. She's a filthy demi-human. We don't have the luxury or time to greet these... things." Malty insults without realizing the sudden death glare from Rifana and the slightly annoyed look from Toriel
"What did you say young lady? that's not how you greet people and it was frankly quite rude, didn't your parents teach you that?" Toriel said as she gave Malty a small scolding, her parental glare just served to remind Malty of her mother which caused the red head to roll her eyes, Toriel did not like that attitude.
"Myne, you can't say that..." Motoyasu said as he put a hand to his head and scratched it, going up to Toriel "Sorry for her attitude, she might have woke up with the wrong foot" he said as he was assuming Myne was just jealous of Toriel and her party because of their looks
'or she is racist, like almost everyone in the country' Raphtalia thought as it wasn't far fetch for her to assume such a thing, she sighed before seeing that Rifana was circling around Motoyasu and looking at him very closely
"Rifana what are you doing?" Raphtalia asked worried but Motoyasu seemed okay with it, if anything, it was almost liked he enjoyed it
"...Is just like the books say, you heroes are otherworldly handsome!" Rifana said as she looked up to the eyes of the spear hero, a soft smile on her face
"Huh! thanks, I get that a lot" Motoyasu said as he smiled back at her, both staring each other with a slight romantic tension
"Those beautiful eyes, the smooth chin, the perfect golden hair... I wish I could see how well defined those muscles of yours are under that armor" the weasel girl said as she lightly passed her finger across his chest
"I assure you tha-"
"What are you trying to do you beast?!" Malty said as she physically pulled Motoyasu away from Rifana
"Nothing you have to worry about, I'm just checking him out that's all. With how good looking he is, I bet he gets that a lot" Rifana said while looking at Malty with quite the sassy look 'the spear hero is a definitely piece of hot gorgeous meat, but he already has a harem from the look of things and judging from how this one is reacting, she doesn't want me to get close to him... she is probably the main girl of the group, which means that I would have to go through her if I want to be main wife... a lot of effort but he seems worth it if not a bit guilable' she thought, but she decided to see what the other two heroes had to offer first before deciding on who to chase after
"Yeah Myne is fine, this used to happen all the time back in my world" Motoyasu said as he was unbothered by this, he was very used to getting this types of glares from girls
"Forgive Rifana, she has always dreamed of dating and marrying a legendary hero..." Raphtalia said as she hit Rifana in the head from being so thirsty during her first time meeting a hero other than the shield and in a church no less
"No problem, I bet a lot of girls dreamed the same thing, after all we are celebrates around here" Motoyasu assured, having a girl act this way towards him was something that brought pride to him, and gave a nice sense of importance
"Well still we shouldn't hav-"
"You guys are here too?" the voice of the bow hero cut in as he saw both Toriel and Motoyasu standing next to the hourglass
"Itsuki! how nice it is to see you, I should probably introduce you to my party members, Raphtalia and Rifana" Toriel said as she approached the young archer and extended her arm to show the two demi human girls
"It's a pleasure to meet you two" Itsuki extended his arm out to them in a friendly manner 'two demi humans, knowing her she probably bought and freed those two... I can't believe they make the process of removing a slave mark more expensive than simply putting one! and they lose protection from the law! so injustice...' the bow hero mentally grunted as he still found all of this slavery deal so hard to believe, after a bit of investigation under the guise of buying a monster ride, he wanted to shoot down the man running that purple tent for what he was doing but he couldn't as in the end the law stopped him, he learned so much from that brief interaction and yet he wanted to forget it all
"Equally. I look forward to see you in action, Toriel said great things about you" Raphtalia said as she finished shaking his hand, but then she noticed Rifana swarming the bow hero, who was very much confused
"Short, but it makes him have a more cute vibe rather than a handsome one" Rifana said as she put a hand to her chin 'do I want a handsome husband or a cute one? hard to decide... wish I could get both' she thought as she compared the two, both were just right for her, she could already imagine how dating them could be especially if her assumptions about them were correct
"...What?" Itsuki asked in confusion at the odd remark that the weasel girl said, not understanding what was she even referring to
"She is checking you out, you know the normal" Motoyasu said nonchalantly, Itsuki's eyes widen as a slight blush appeared on his face
'for a guy like you maybe!' I have no idea what this even means!' the bow hero screamed in his head, he had gotten attention from girls before but never like this, it was usually praise, not 'checking him out' which he was still unsure what it was but thought it was more sensual in nature.
"Well... changing subject, are you guys here to synchronize with the hourglass?" Itsuki tried to move pass this whole thing, although it was obvious that's why they were there and not because they practice the Melromarc religion
"Yeah, plus I can get the sand from it and unlock a pretty great spear" Motoyasu responded with a smile, thanks to his game knowledge and Myne's advise he would soon unlock fast travel which would be a life saver for making travels more easy for his girls
"Like a sand spear? Does it allow you to create sandstorms?" Toriel asked innocently as the other two heroes just were caught a bit surprised by her question
"What? oh yeah you're new to this, basically you can absorb the sand of the hourglass and get a teleportation skill, very useful for fast travel". motoyasu explained as he forgot for a moment that Toriel had never played a game like this before
"I can confirm, they will give you a bag with the sand for you to absorb" Itsuki said in agreement, he had come earlier and got a bag of the sand when he registered in the hourglass.
"Really? Maybe I should get some" Toriel pondered because teleporting was a mighty ability to have in hand, it could make travel faster and get them out of dangerous situations with just a activation of a ability.
"Funny how we weren't offered any..." Rifana said as she looked with a angry smile at the nun in the room with them, the same nun leaves with a small drop of sweat on her forehead when she makes eye contact with the weasel
"Oh great... you guys are here" the condescending voice of Ren speaks as he approached the others
"Mister edge-lord himself decided to show up" Motoyasu responded as he crossed his eyes and frowned, he didn't like Ren, he tolerated him most of the time but the attitude of his was getting in his nerves already
"whatever" Ren replied as he looked away in the direction of the hourglass but was stopped from doing it when Toriel blocked his path
"Ah Ren! you were just the person I was looking for" Toriel happily exclaimed while putting her hands together
"...Why?" Ren asked, weird out by the fact she was looking for him for... something, but he quickly rationalize 'does she want tips from me? I guess it makes sense since she is a shielder, but right before a wave? that would be useless'
"I have a gift for you" Toriel says as she approached him and takes the black dog gloves from her inventory "I recently got this from a difficult fight I had and since none of us can use it, I thought that one of your party members could make use of them, I remember one of them used martial arts right?" she said as she held the gloves in front of Ren gesturing him to take them
"..." Ren didn't respond immediately as he took in the gesture, surprised she would just... give him a item she got from a fight, a difficult one at that.
"Huh!? why does he get gift?" Motoyasu was flabbergasted by the fact Ren was getting preferential treatment, why would he be the only one to get a gift from Toriel? that made him boil with frustration
"Do you have anyone that uses boxing gloves or fights in closer quarters?" Itsuki asked as that seemed like the reason she gave him the item 'or do you allow your party members to fight like at all?'
"No but... Agh! that guy is always getting the good stuff..." Motoyasu replied as hint of jealousy could be seen, he was getting tired of getting overshadowed by Ren in the guild and now he got a special gift from Toriel who the guy treated like a untrustworthy monster.
'interdimensional? that means it comes from a wave! so this thing must be one of a kind...' Ren said to himself in his mind, she somehow found a powerful monster from the first wave and killed it, instead of keep it's unique loot to herself she decided to give it to him... he didn't expect such kind act, especially from someone he had been dismissing all this time
"Thanks..." Ren let out as he looked at the gloves, his face no longer having the serious expression he always had which made Toriel herself smile
'You could have shown a little more gratitude punk!' Motoyasu clinched his fist in anger, Itsuki was surprised how fast Motoyasu changed in emotions whenever a woman is involved, but that only made him spend less time by his side.
'the sword hero looks good but this attitude of his could make him a bummer, oh well they can't always be a 10' Rifana pondered as she couldn't get a closer look at his body, his attitude was not something she wanted... but if he was shy and soft on the inside and just trying to hide it with a cold and ruff exterior then she could definitely have fun with him. Raphtalia hit her, despite not knowing what her friend was thinking, she knew it was horny because of the look she had.
"here is the hourglass sand, shield hero" the nun said as she came back with a brown and stitched up bag, Itsuki found this weird seeing he got a blue one with a gold nod in perfect condition but he then realized that the nun did this probably because she was being racist, like everyone else in the capital it seemed.
"Thank you" Toriel accept the bag and put inside her gemstone
[Dragon Hourglass shield LV 1] (locked, higher level required)
[Ability Teleport: Allows you to teleport into a location you have visited up to 3 times before recharging]
"So since we are all here maybe we can discuss about how to fight in this wave tomorrow" Toriel said as since the three young heroes seemed so knowledgeable about fighting these creatures and other stuff she hadn't even dreamed of, perhaps they already had a battle plan for the wave
"What is there to talk about? we just swoop in and kill the boss, easy" Motoyasu said as he was confident that this wave was gonna be a absolute cake walk
"I think we should focus on what Toriel will do in the wave, out of all of us she is the one with less experience and I assume levels" Ren responded, now seeing Toriel in a slightly better light. The other two heroes nodded as they also worried about her, Itsuki thinking she would be overwhelmed by the event and Motoyasu because he didn't want a lady to get hurt.
"That would be correct, I'm level 19 and I'm still not sure how this waves are going to play out aside from what the king had told us". the shield heroine said as, despite everything so far, she still had doubts on how she was going to deal with these Waves of calamity.
"Well I would say for you to take the damage since you're a tank but truth be told I don't think we need you there for the fight, but you could be a good support if we didn't already have ours..." Itsuki tries to see what Toriel and her party could help in the fight, but it was kind of hard considering how well prepared they were, he could probably deal with the boss on his own but having Motoyasu and Ren was of value for the fight thanks to the extra DPS while a tank... wasn't.
"Yeah you can just relax and sit back while we do the hard heroic stuff, that goes to your party as well" Motoyasu said, he was sure that they could handle it fine and he wouldn't want his girls or Toriel's party having to go through the trouble of fighting the unpleasant minions of the Wave
"I... I suppose, but what if we get teleported to a part of the city or a populated area?" Toriel asked as even if their battle plan was... solid for the most part, they should have some sort of team or work strategy in case they need to rescue people while fighting the monsters from the waves
"Pfft, nah it's probably gonna be a forest or something" Motoyasu dismissed the idea, in Emerald online it was quite common to bosses have their own special areas where they reside and the ones that weren't like that required you to kill a certain number of monsters before he would spawn
"Still, if I can't help you three in the fight then perhaps I should just fight off the weaker threats, this waves do seem to be large in scale" Toriel suggested, the other three heroes seemed confident in their strength and Toriel thought it probably because they must have been very prepared to have such a confidence in their skills, and so maybe they wouldn't need her, so she and her team could help any nearby villagers who might be attacked by the waves
"It would be the safest option... you would also get a much better feel for this is going to be like later on" Itsuki said as from when he and her went on that quest to find the missing people, she did a phenomenal job at protecting him and some of his party member, way better than Mald who was the tank of the team
"I guess you're right on that" Ren said as it was probably the best thing for her to do as a shielder
"See? if we put our heads together, nothing can st-"
"You didn't contribute in anything on this conversation" Ren cuts Motoyasu off as he wasn't going to allow this fool to take credit for doing nothing again
"Yeah? let's see who contributes more in the wave then, smartass" Motoyasu retorted back as he looked at Ren, ready to show him how inferior he was in the wave, since this guy thought he was so better and didn't even appreciated receiving a gift from such a beautiful lady
"Fine by me, not like you had any chance" Ren responded, more than prepared to show Motoyasu why he should respect a pro player like himself
"guys this is not a competition..." Itsuki said as he tried to act as the more mature out of the three, although he continued in his thoughts 'and even if it was, I would totally win it' he thought, confident that the two wouldn't stand a chance against him in the wave
"He is right, the point is to fight together and protect this world. Now I'm going to leave for a inn but I wish you all as much luck as possible for tomorrow" Toriel said as she and her party took her leave as she waved at the heroes and their group
They made it to the inn they would be staying in tonight as to not disturb Erhard while he worked. The whole time they traveled Raphtalia didn't said a word. She was somewhat lost in thought, only replying to when Rifana or Toriel asked her, in truth her mind was thinking about the mine back in Lute and her time in slavery as if she was comparing herself now to what she was before.
The following day, the trio entered the now all too familiar shop that had in a way become a friend's house. Erhart had some bags under his eyes, but forced a smile as they closed the door.
"Oh my, did you get any sleep last night?" Toriel asked as she had a look of concern for the man
Erhart could force that smile, but that was the extent of his enthusiasm. "Heh, not a wink. This was kind of a last minute job, it's worth it though" he said as the blacksmith crouched down to grab the armor
"If you say so, but please take a nap afterwards" Toriel's ever so loving sympathy was still there so she still felt some level of concern
"You don't have to tell me twice" Erhard says while getting up and then putting a wooden box on top of the table
"Mr Erhart, thank you for all your hard work! The wave is today, so it was well worth the effort." Raphtalia gave some of her sincerity, she was thankful for the blacksmith ever so helpful spirit
"Of course lass. Anything for you 3." Erhard replied while passing his hand on his face, trying to keep himself awake while they were having this conversation
"Anything? So how about a discount." Rifana said as she looked at Erhard, unfortunately for her, the blacksmith wouldn't fall for that
"Really?... I'm already giving you a place to sleep free of charge, don't you think your trying your luck to much young lady?" Erhard retorted back at her and the weasel girl back off from asking for the moment
"... Anyway, let me put this on and see the fruits of your hard work." Toriel took the armor and went to the back to change outfit.
"Can't wait to see how Mom is going to look like" Rifana said, excited to see how her hero would look like in that outfit
"Your still calling her that?" Erhard asked, he still found that whole thing weird since the pair had only been with the shield hero for about two weeks yet the weasel girl already had fully embraced the goat lady as her mother
"Of course! and you better have made her the best looking suit you have ever made you hear me! nothing but the best for Toriel!" Rifana said, this was going to be her mother's big entrance to the world, after this wave the whole of Melromarc would know that the shield hero is here to safe it and as such she needed to look absolutely fabulous! heroic! and grandiose!
"Call down kid, you don't have to tell me twice" Erhard said, he wondered how such a small girl could such a rough attitude
"Sorry for her, Rifana is still a bit... Obsessive" Raphtalia apologized for her friend's behavior, she understood where Rifana's feeling came from but it didn't excuse her attitude some times
"No problem, I won't judge" Erhard said as he took no problem from it
'especially after she saved the girl from the state she was in...' Erhard thought as he looked at the two, he remembered how the two looked like when Toriel first brought them to his house, the two looked terrible especially the little weasel girl, to see them go from the small terrified, sickly, and malnourished to this two happy and healthy young ladies was truly a miracle courtesy of the hero of demi humans
Toriel walked out wearing her new armor (similar to the canon one Naofumi had in appearance except the symbol of Toriel's tunic is on the chest plate and the green parts of the original suit are a dark purple, plus no boots)
"What do you all think? Do I look good?" Toriel asked as she still was still getting a bit used to this armor, it has been quite the time since she put something like this on, it was a excellent suit but after using mostly loose fitting clothes, it was quite a change to wear something so tight and stiff, it still allowed her to move just fine as she used to but it was all a question of adapting to it
"Of course it looks good! I made it to be more distinct from my other leather armors, plus that logo gives the whole suit a more religious feel, like you're a savage paladin or a bandit chief turned into a righteous adventurer" Erhard said as he was quite puzzled in the beginning on what to do for the goat lady because although he could just made a normal leather armor, they usually looked more barbaric and wild, something that mostly aggressive and brutish people wore but that didn't match the personality of the kind woman that asked for this armor, and such, in a moment of divine inspiration Erhard had the idea of playing with implementing with the religious and angelic vibe that paladins had in their armor. if he could have made the armor fully out of metal he would have done his best to create a true holy crusader outfit, but for now this was the best he could give within the time limit
"Lady Toriel... You look great in that! Truly wonderful! It matches you so well! And the gifted purple cloak goes with it too!" Rifana had her hands together and sparkles in her eyes as she showered toriel with compliments
"I agree it looks great, it has a calming but powerful feeling to it" Raphtalia nodded and slowly clapped to the work Erhard had done, the blacksmith just chuckled at the gesture
Toriel was content with their compliments, she could see Rifana's tail waving back and forth, she looked at her hands and Inspected the armor with her status magic
[Barbarian Saint Armor]
[25% Def , 10% Mdef , Holy resistance (small) and Blunt resistance (small)]
[Threatening comfort: Enhances attempts at intimidation, but also enhances your attempts at comfort to a lesser degree]
Toriel was pleasantly surprised to see it was really good. 25% more defense? that's actually quite a bit since her base def and mdef were around 140 and with these bonuses it became quite a lot, so this was a really good thing for her role as an defender. Much better than her old chainmail armor. she looked at Erhart who was doing his part by looking at her in the smuggest of ways, obviously proud of his job.
"This is really good, how much do I owe you?" Toriel said as this armor was a really fine work for something made in a day, she was willing to pay any amount the blacksmith said, even if she didn't have all now she would eventually pay him back.
"Normally a job like that would cost around 3 gold and 34 silver, but you can have it for free" Erhard responded, although he normally didn't do this sort of thing since he had a business to run but he was willing to make Toriel the exception this time since she was kind, friendly and suffered from the racism around the capital everyday which none of his other clients had.
"But... I insist, for your hard work I should pay you back" Toriel said as she couldn't leave the man without paying for his good work and for him pulling a all-nighter
"You're going to be dealing with a wave for the first time and as long as you save us from it I'm fine with it" Erhard said as he found it unnecessary, he knew that she was probably not making that much money, probably getting scammed by people without noticing so he felt bad of asking money from her
"Here's 1 gold and 13 silver, all I have". She quickly placed the coins on the counter
"You don't have-"
"I insist" Toriel interrupted while pushing the little mound of coins, innocent smile on her face but a tone of voice that clearly indicated that she was not going to give up on paying the man
All four of them were quiet a moment and they all shared this time contently. It was Erhart who broke the silence.
"Alright then. Lock my door on your way out, I'm going to bed get some well deserved sleep" He turned away, waving them off as he went to his bed.
They did as they were asked. Toriel anxiously looked up to the wave countdown
[00:01:13]
"We have just a minute or so to go" Toriel said out loud so Raphtalia and Rifana would know, her face still showing some anxiety
Raphtalia wanted to say something, but was finding it hard to find the words. Toriel saw this and misattributed it as nervousness due to the traumatic experience she had with the waves.
"I know the idea of a wave scares you, even more to fight in one, but if we don't help there will be more victims of the waves... just like you. Besides, I promised to protect both of you remember?" Toriel said as she tried to reassure raphtalia and Rifana, she still felt that it was wrong to bring the two with her to the wave, she herself also didn't know how she might react to such a event but she was called to help fight against for the sake of the world so she couldn't back down, in the most ideal circumstances she would be tackling this alone while the two girls would be in a safe place like Erhard's house, but the two were very insistent on coming with her no matter what, so the best she could do was try to make sure that they were safe and mentally prepared for what was about to happen
[00:00:47]
"Lady Toriel. I'm truly grateful to have met you. You freed me from slavery, gave me cloths to wear and food to eat, you saved rifana from her illness, you helped me drive away my nightmares and made me want to live again. So no matter what comes next, I will be by your side and be your sword" Raphtalia spoke as she had gained the last bit of resolve she needed to speak her gratitude towards the shield hero.
Toriel stared at her a moment. She didn't know what to say or think. She knew that the once small raccoon girl had changed her mind and wanted to live again, but to see how courageous she was looking in comparison to how she was back in the mine... Toriel didn't know if she should be proud or jealous, after all she herself was doubting her own capabilities to fight in this wave while the once scared little girl had a look of pure determination on her face, something Toriel wished to be able to put on herself
[00:00:35]
"Yeah! I will do everything in my power to protect you too! no matter if my bones are broken or my limbs fall off, I will always rush in to fight against anything that threatens you! because you're the shield hero and I promised myself to do anything in my power for you" Rifana spoke up with her own speech, all her life she dreamed of marrying the shield hero but that was impossible now... but even if she could never fulfill her initial childhood dream, she would do all she could and battle anything that stood between the safety of Toriel
Toriel for a brief moment considered what she said, how the once sick weasel girl she treated was willing to fight against anything for her no matter how damaged she was. Toriel couldn't bare the thought of seeing this and yet... she knew it would happen, she knew that she couldn't protect Rifana forever and that it would come a time she would need protection.
[00:00:28]
"Thank you, both of you" Toriel said while placing her right hand on her chest, she could feel her own heartbeat slow down back to normal
"I don't know if words can describe how grateful I am, but I'll show how much they meant with my actions." Toriel says as she grabbed the two girls hands and holded them, she took a deep breath while closing her eyes. Whatever happened next, Toriel would make sure to protect these two all the way and she now was certain that she could also trust in them to protect themselves
[00:00:00]
[author's notes]
Hope you liked the chapter, leave a comment as it helps
I quite like writing these more friendly interactions amongst the three heroes and Toriel as that is something we barely saw in the series (aside from later on and even still it never felt genuine on Naofumi's part, at least for me)
It might be a while before a new chapter for this fanfic come out, but I will try to write it when I'm not working on the superman fanfic (which might take a while before I finish a new chapter, studies and procrastination have been my biggest enemies when it comes to writing that fanfic)