Illya Emiya: to answer you, let me just say that Naofumi and Raphtalia came from some time after the Post-Cal Mira training arc. They don't remember anything past that, but know something is up. As to those other characters they could recruit. Spoilers.

4:23:52:31

The timer ticked down in his vision; before leaving Melromarc's capital Naofumi had the foresight to at least register himself to the Dragon Hourglass. He didn't know whether or not the Wave would be at Lute again, so he still needed to register to know how much time he had left. Thankfully, he only received scowls for his presence rather than anything truly morbid.

Still, they had three days before the big meeting, the Wave would come two days after that.

Naofumi checked his party one last time as they left the killing fields.

Naofumi Lv29
Raphtalia Lv30
Keel Lv30
Rifana Lv30

With the two weeks of extra time they had, Naofumi pushed his party to the limit the local hunting grounds provided. They were far stronger than they had been the first go around.

Plus, it was incredible just how much having extra time, having double the people, and having the ability to read contributed so much to making gaining money much easier. Unrefined monster loot was worth garbage in comparison to finished products.

In terms of liquid assets, he had something around 500 silver, but in terms of saleable goods, it was much, much higher. Once he was back in Melromarc Castletown, he knew he could sell off all of the accessories and medicine to meet his goals quite easily, especially if the other Heroes brought with them fat sacks of coin. Coin that would be used to upgrade everything his party had.

Speaking of his party, Naofumi turned to the group behind him.

Keel's height now reached just under where Naofumi's chin would be. She still looked somewhat boyish, especially with the way she kept her hair styled, her relatively undeveloped body, and with the simple clothes she wore, clothes that were currently covered in frog slime. Over her shoulders sat her spear, from which four buckets full of dead frog-salamanders were stuffed in. Her level was high enough she could easily carry that many, but balancing them however proved to be difficult. "I know these things are tasty and all, but is the demand for them really that high?"

"Yup. This has somehow become the biggest money maker for effort that we've got," Naofumi replied offhandedly. Some time ago, a certain castle investigator came by to the village of Lute to make a small family run inn and tavern cook poisonous swamp monsters; Naofumi took care of the problem by serving the frogs like one might serve a pufferfish. He removed the poison sacks and taught the cook how to do it. He even got a mildly useful shield in the process, but he didn't really see much point on stacking poison damage. "You know you don't have to carry that many of them, right?" He said to Keel.

Frog Salamander Shield
Equip Bonus: Poison Duration Increase (minor)

Keel turned his gaze away, not entertaining the question. "Hmph!" she grunted, despite needing to overcompensate an imbalance just a step later.

Naofumi shook his head. He supposed that girl wanted to prove something given her current stature.

To her side were Raphtalia and Rifana, both having grown to be young women.

Raphtalia looked exactly the same as she had been before she had been sent back to childhood, minus the clothing and armor. Though Naofumi had enjoyed getting to spend time with Raphtalia as a child without his anger issues clouding his judgment, it was good to have her back to what he would consider "normal".

Meanwhile, Rifana had grown to match her. It was as if she really was meant to reflect a more… girly Raphtalia, especially with that pink hair of hers. She looked pretty without even trying. "I can see why Raphtalia wasn't looking forward to this. They stink!" she complained.

Both of them had buckets of frog-salamander, neither enjoyed carrying them..

Naofumi tried not to think about it too much. He knew it stunk, but this was lots of silver for the amount of effort they were putting in. The family run tavern in Lute paid very handsomely with how much demand there was for the frogs. "Dirty jobs pay because no one wants to do them."

Rifana frowned.

Raphtalia gave her friend an awkward look before turning towards the beast the Shield Hero rode on. "So, are we going to name it? Because Master Naofumi hasn't, yet."

Naofumi looked forward and patted the head of his latest acquisition. While Imposter had very little use in his bags, his knight dragon was more than enough reward for taking him down. The creature didn't even have a slave crest and yet it was so unbelievably docile. Was it wrong that he kind of wished Filo had been like that? Yes, because he wanted his gluttonous somewhat disobedient filolial queen back. "Not sure yet about keeping it."

A very large boss frog-salamander was being dragged behind the knight dragon, a sack cloth underneath the dead amphibian prevented friction from tearing it apart. Naofumi wondered how much he could get from its body and whether or not the knight dragon would be able to pay for itself as is.

He had been letting it level with the party, as whether or not he sold it or kept it, it'd be more valuable the higher its level.

Raphtalia sighed. "We really should have someone following you at all times, just in case something like that happens again." She was still upset about the whole incident that happened a few days ago; how while they were training, Naofumi met an imposter and effectively robbed him blind with approval of the village.

"Maybe I should be alone more often," Naofumi replied. "We got free bread loaves, a rideable mount, and several silvers worth of junk."

Raphtalia looked like she wanted to protest, but said nothing about that. Instead, she brought up something else entirely. "Master Naofumi, who are those people?"

Naofumi turned.

They had just arrived back at Lute. Right by the entrance of the gate was a small caravan of wagons, but it was not the traveling merchant that came by Lute every other day. As Naofumi drew closer, it was clear that the entire group was made up of demihumans and beastmen.

"Not sure, but I think I know who they are," Naofumi replied. After all, last time, Lute was not visited by demihumans and beastmen; the difference was that this time, he had told a certain diplomat that he was in Lute and wanted a delivery.

As Naofumi approached the entrance, a … panda in armor and a guard were arguing over the toll.

"You need to pay this much for the toll with this many people."

"And I'm telling you that the fee is too high," the panda replied back. You wouldn't expect a panda to have a very high pitched voice, given the vocal cords, but magic was likely involved. It was honestly like how in a TV show, monstrous or animalistic characters would have voices that did not match their bodies, but rather would match how the director wanted the character to be seen as. It was likely a woman.

"Are you from Siltvelt?" Naofumi asked.

The panda and all of the caravan's guards turned towards him.

"Because if you are, you're probably looking for me," Naofumi patted his Legendary Shield.

The panda turned to face him. "And how do we know you're not a fake? There's an awful lot of Shield Heroes around."

Naofumi raised a hand. "I know you're here to meet me specifically because I asked a representative to make a delivery to the Shield Hero. How many people know that?"

The panda woman raised an eyebrow, still skeptical.

"It's him!" a man stepped into view, leaving one of the wagons. Naofumi recognized him as the emissary that came to see him a while back. He was dressed in a simple set of pants and boots this time, rather than a concealing robe.

The mercenaries shifted their attention. If there was any tension in the air, it was gone.

Naofumi reached into his pack and pulled out his merchant's pass. "They're with me."

The guard looked hesitant to accept. He probably thought it was improper for a merchant to waive the fee for strangers who were supposed to pay for their own toll, but said nothing. He stepped back from the gate and the wagons were let through.

"You didn't have a merchant's pass?" Naofumi asked.

"Our provided pass was lost," the panda explained. "I'm Larsazusa, by the way. I'm a mercenary and this is my merry band. We were contracted to escort these people who wished to deliver to you, Sir Shield."

The emissary spoke up. "Yes, we hired a group that was familiar with the local language and laws. Not too many Siltvelt mercenaries have that feature."

"My name is Naofumi Iwatani. Now, follow me." The Shield Hero guided the wagons towards the house he rented. Naofumi counted that there were about 4 wagons, all pulled by beasts. There were about 4 people per wagon and one knight dragon mounted wolfman. It seemed to be an even split of mercenaries to merchants as well. That was actually a problem now that he thought about it.

"You seem disappointed," Larsazusa spoke.

"Yeah, I was expecting only a single wagon's worth of goods. I don't know if this is appropriate, but I need to extend your contract to deliver these goods to Melromarc later today." He had been planning on going back to Melromarc tomorrow, but with this development, he'd need to change his plans. He didn't have enough people or animals to man each wagon. And that was discounting all of the goods he already had. "I might also just need to add everything I have to for you to transport as well.

Larsazusa turned towards the emissary.

"We are eager to serve. We can deliver these supplies to where they may be made use of." The man spoke.

Naofumi considered asking about having them fight in the Wave. It wasn't against the rules, though it might be seen unfavorably by Melromarc. At the same time, he didn't care about his reputation being soiled; he'd endured far worse when he was a novice. He'd have to check in with them, maybe he could see if they were willing to go to the meeting first?

Turning to the mercenaries, Naofumi gave a quick suggestion. "It's almost lunch. You're welcome to eat with us while I dispose of these frogs."

Larsazusa nodded and told four of her men to stay behind and guard the wagons. Four others instead took one small box each. "We will escort you then, we can discuss some of what you're getting."

Naofumi saw no harm in that it was merely time efficient.

The three girls were very eager to be rid of the frogs and practically ran off to sell their burdens.

The group crowded out the small family business, taking up more than half of the available space. Fortunately, there was no hassle. The knight dragon was even docile by its post.

The family that owned the restaurant was understandably hesitant about selling poisonous swamp monsters as food, but Naofumi saved their business from an unreasonable customer. The recipe he came up with was simple and so the family that owned the place had replicated it without flaw: the monsters had poison glands extracted, their flesh thoroughly rinsed and detoxified, their bones fried into a side dish. It was practically the place's signature dish at this point.

The mercenaries however, had no such reservations about eating poisonous monsters. Plates were devoured readily, poisonous swamp monster origins or not. Lasrazusa, as the leader, was the only one who didn't eat like they were starved.

The Shield Hero sold the frog-salamanders by the literal bucketload.

"Thank you again," the woman who owned the place spoke as she handed Naofumi what he was owed.

Naofumi gave his thanks before turning to meet his visitors. It seemed that Larsauza was being interrogated by Raphtalia and her friends on one table. Meanwhile, the Siltvelt emissary sat on a table by himself.

Naofumi was somewhat interested in the panda therianthrope, but figured that the girls could handle her fine. He could imagine a much more naive version of himself gushing at the sight of her… but he wasn't that guy right now.

He took a seat opposite the emissary. "Sorry about that, but now you have my full attention."

The emissary did a gesture that reminded Naofumi of a… blessing? "It is fine. You likely did not expect us." The emissary then pulled out a scroll of parchment attached to a wooden plank. He handed it to Naofumi.

Naofumi looked over the paper, noticing a listing of various goods and a quantity in a weight unit that he did not know. It was also in Melromarc's language, as opposed to Siltvelt's. "I assume this is your transit manifest?"

The emissary nodded. "These are the general goods that have been given to you, yes. When Siltvelt heard of your plea, many clans went out on hunting expeditions for various monster materials as well as mining."

Naofumi looked it over. There was enough metal and gemstones that could easily make a whole line of accessories and Erhard would easily still be using up the pile when he went to Cal Mira. Cloth and pelts were in abundance too, many of which came in patterns Naofumi hadn't seen in Melromarc. There was also a neat selection of bones; Naofumi had considered trying to make jewelry out of bones before he got sent back.

"Does something bother you?"

Naofumi shook his head. "Nothing major." With this many items of a particularly "savage" bent, Raphtalia and Old Man were going to put him in that Barbarian Armor again for sure. Moving on, Naofumi noticed there were four small boxes in a vertical pile next to the emissary, the same four that Larsazusa's men brought in. "What are those?"

The emissary took the top box and handed it to the Shield Hero. "There are gifts from Siltvelt's ruling council. This one belongs to the gemnu elder."

Naofumi felt the name sounded familiar; it was close to the name of the Black Tortoise or the "Genbu", but that could have been coincidence. He opened the box and found two books and a letter. The first book was a large tome labeled Melromarc-Siltvelt Translator's Guide while the other was a small yet dusty book that had a title that Naofumi couldn't read.

The letter clarified things. The book was a copy of a famous alchemist-sage's recipe book. The letter did not bother much with flowery words and merely expressed a desire for Naofumi to come to SIltvelt when he felt he was ready. Overall, Naofumi felt somewhat excited to instead of having to relearn old recipes, he'd be getting something new.

"What do the gemnu look like?"

"The race has close ties with turtles, but they occasionally have snakes for tails in therianthrope form," the representative explained. "This next one comes from the aotatsu's leader."

Naofumi took the new box and determined there were several uncut sapphires. They hummed faintly with some sort of energy. With his appraisal skill, Naofumi could see the name.

Dragon's Eyes

An odd name, but maybe this was symbolic? The letter similarly was very professional, almost like a carbon copy of the gemnu's. "Are they dragons?" Naofumi asked.

"Yes, blue ones."

Naofumi started to understand. If the aotatsu are blue dragon demihumans, and the genmu were turtles with snakes for tails, there might be a pattern? Come to think of it, "blue dragon" could be read as "aotatsu" if put into kanji. And there was one specific blue dragon that held a particular importance in his homeland.

"Next we have the shusaku."

This box contained what appeared to be leaves and a letter. The leaves looked very distinctly like maple leaves but came in a strange orange-amber coloration. The letter, which was positively dripping with flattery and praise, indicated the leaves were used for making potent medicines.

Experimentally, Naofumi took one of the leaves and placed it into his shield.

Amber Leaf Shield
[Locked] Equip Bonus: absorption ability 2

Wait, he recognized the name of that ability. It was the same skill on his Leaf Shield except at a higher level. Naofumi recalled it boosted the quality of objects he gathered. That might come in handy very soon.

"I'm guessing, the shusaku are red bird demihumans?" Naofumi asked. After all, the previous two seemed to correspond to specific mythological beings, there might be more connections. Shuzaku sounded like a corruption of the "Suzaku" or the "vermillion bird".

"Yes, that's quite right," the emissary confirmed. "I take it you didn't know this until now."

Naofumi nodded. So that meant, following the patterns, the last of the four races would be one thing. "I take it that means the last are white tigers?"

The emissary nodded. "The hakuko of Siltvelt send this as their tribute."

Naofumi took the box. Inside was the shell of what might have been a giant sea snail that seemed to radiate a light that had every color somewhere inside of it. It was very pretty looking. The letter accompanying begged for forgiveness if the offering was insufficient, and most chillingly, a promise to exact retribution on the collector for failing to please… Naofumi really hoped not all hakuko were like that.

Figuring there was no way he could make use of the shell any other way, he put it into his shield.

Rainbow Limplet Shield unlocked
[Locked] Equip Bonus: Defense +10, Mining Skill Increase (Major)

Given its name, the snail this came from must have been a supersized version of the rainbow limpet from his world, with a double emphasis of having a rainbow on its shell. The shield he got basically looked just like the curved snail shell had replaced his shield. The shield had really good base defense. Nothing crazy, but it would do well until he got the chimera viper shield again. The mining skill likely had to do with the rainbow limplet from his world being known for digging and occasionally destroying boats because of it..

Realizing someone could probably die if he voiced displeasure, he turned to the emissary. "I approve of the gifts." In fact, it was no lie. Naofumi found himself wondering just what kind of mineral riches he could plunder with his increased mining ability and absorption quality.

The emissary bowed.

"Do you have the sand from the Dragon Hourglass?"

The representative took out a small pouch for his waistband. "This sand came from the Hourglass."

"Thank you." Naofumi promptly poured it into his shield.

Dragon Hourglass Sand Shield
[Locked] Equip Bonus: Skill: "Portal Shield"

Naofumi wasn't going to be able to use it until level 50, but having it now meant that when he got to that point, he'd have a good utility tool.

Naofumi looked outside and saw the knight dragon, still stirring at its post. He still didn't know what to do with it; though an idea had crossed his mind. Siltvelt might appreciate a gift and he assumed they would treat it well. "Well, now that that's taken care of, how'd you like me to give you something instead? There's a funny story on how I got it."

Raphtalia was glad that she could order actual food instead of cooked toxic amphibians. Back during the first time, Master Naofumi had tricked her into eating the fried bones of one. She usually loved her Master's cooking, but that day, she found her limit. Since then, she had gotten more tolerant of the things, especially Master Naofumi made it a habit to cook any monsters they killed to save on money but she would still rather have normal food.

Rifana's tastes thankfully matched her own, but Keel would eat an old boot if Master Naofumi cooked it.

Speaking of Keel, the dog demihuman besieged the panda woman with a variety of questions, pertaining to therianthrope transformation and the mercenary life.

Meanwhile, Larsazusa had a stare off with Rifana of all people. "Just, get your class up first; there's manuals about it in the cargo."

Rifana meanwhile had this starry eyed look to her as she looked at the panda woman, who just scowled back.

"Rifana, don't stare too much," Raphtalia said back.

"Yeah, what's yer problem?'' The woman was eying Rifana up and down.

Rifana winced. "...I just think you'd look adorable with a bow…"

Raphtalia blinked, but then realized what this was about. She guessed it had to do with that "video" Master Naofumi showed them when it was raining and they couldn't leave their small rented house until it stopped. Before he came back, Master had been preparing to show her materials of his world, especially since he assumed that she would have been interested. Among the things that he brought for some reason involved "videos" of pandas. And now there was one right across from her.

Instead of hurting her friend, the panda woman just spat back, almost flustered. "Don't mess with me! Who'd wear that stuff? There's no way it'd look good on me!"

Raphtalia had to blink a few times. Come to think of it, the panda woman wasn't so much looking at Rifana, but at her dress. It wasn't anything fancy or anything, but she carried it well. "...We sell accessories, some of them might look good on you. Master Naofumi makes very good accessories."

The panda seemed to be very uncomfortable with that. "Well, if he's the Shield Hero, of course he'd make very good accessories!"

"We do have that bow with a jewel at its center. It'd look great!" Rifana offered. "Hm, it's a shame we don't know any tailors."

"There's one in Melromarc who does very cute clothing," Raphtalia recalled. That woman was a strange one, who clearly was passionate about her line of work. She made Filo's clothes out of magic thread.

The panda woman seemed to turn red despite all of her fur.

Rifana took out an unwrapped ribbon. "I just remembered I had this." She then tied it on the table and offered it to the panda woman. "And all you have to do is just put it on!"

Larsazusa took the ribbon in her grip. "No, no, I can't take it." She turned sheepishly as she looked at the other tables; it seemed like none of the others were paying attention, all busy ordering seconds and thirds of disgusting swamp frogs.

Ah. Raphtalia figured it out. "You don't want your men to see you like that?"

"I go all girly and they'll never take me seriously…or worse… what if they pay too much attention?"

Raphtalia frowned. She had a different kind of problem in regards to a certain man in her group.

Rifana then asked. "How bad would it be if we gave you a frilly outfit?"

"It'd be very embarrassing, I'm sure!" Keel declared. "You won't catch me in one!"

Larsasuza blushed more red. "...Hm, maybe I could try the bow." She lowered head down and Rifana placed the bow atop her head. Then with a command, some of her band came to look at her.

There were a number of whispers, all of which basically said she had a cute face and that maybe girlish clothing would work for her

Flustered, the panda woman tore off the ribbon. "This is too much… you'll pay for the embarrassment you've caused me!"

Her mercenaries, all were keen to agree.

Raphtalia, sensing a fight possibly brewing, decided to make a compromise. "Before we go, maybe you could see our inventory. We've got plenty to sell. Even if you don't want something girlish, there's plenty of men's accessories, too." After all, Master Naofumi did train her to be a sales girl.

The panda woman fell back into her seat, defeated. "Uh, sure alright, we can check it out for that. I mean, it's just a little window shopping, right?"

"Would you look at you?" Erhard said as he took one good look at the three of them. "I almost didn't recognize you kids. You were all skin and bones when we last met!"

Raphtalia smiled back, giving herself a twirl so the weapon shop owner could examine her more. It was great to be back to where she should have been, even if she really did enjoy the time she spent growing up with her friends. "Master raised us well."

Rifana was the next to be examined. She made a nervous expression as the smith examined.

"Sorry" he said. "I am just very impressed you turned out; you weren't in the best health back then."

"I'm… not sure how to feel about the change, personally," Rifana commented. "The people on the streets were suddenly very nice." Many of the people in Melromarc had completely changed their opinions of her master and her back then, despite the fact she was a demihuman. They did however like a pretty face; Rifana wasn't used to the treatment, given where they were before Master saved them.

Raphtalia gave her friend an awkward smile. After all, she did grow to match her; she would support her. "It looks good on you."

"You really think?" Rifana blushed.

Erhard kept looking at them before turning to Keel with a concerned expression. "Wait, 'man of the sea', when did you become a girl?" Apparently, he could tell despite Keel still dressing up as a boy.

Keel made a face. "Sea dog. I am a sea dog!"

Rifana supplied. "Keel found out she was a girl the whole time."

The dog girl groaned.

Raphtalia stepped in to try to save her friend from embarrassment. "We're here for new equipment. We'll trade in all of our old weapons and armor.

"Yeah." Naofumi added. "I'm thinking about upgrading to chainmail."

Raphtalia blinked. For the longest time, her master had always had this burning resentment of chainmail. It had something to do with his second day in her world. "I'm surprised you're considering that."

Master Naofumi shrugged. "I know, but I've… gotten over my issues with chainmail."

"What's wrong with you and chainmail, kid?" the weapon store owner asked. "Did something happen between you and chainmail?"

"It's a long story I'd rather not go into," Master Naofumi responded.

Raphtalia thought about how her master would look in that armor. It was mobile and reasonably defensive for its weight.

Master Naofumi shook his head. "But I think I'd rather go for Barbarian Armor, considering our materials. I know it needs plenty of skins and feathers, on top of bones for adding enchantments."

"Right, I think it would suit you," Erhard said with a big grin. "I'm surprised you know about it. It's not a popular armor choice because of how savage it looks."

Master Naofumi looked like he was about to reconsider.

Raphtalia could practically feel her master's thoughts on being a "bandit chief" again, but he said nothing.

"We have plenty of materials for other things as well," Master Naofumi replied. "I think we're likely to just provide the materials for all of the gear we want, so that means most of the price should just come to labor."

"I can see that," the blacksmith said as he looked at the windows that showed the area outside his store. The wagons with the mercenaries were right outside. "That's quite a lot of mercenaries…I'm surprised there's a panda standing so close to them."

Right outside, there Larsazusa was being greeted by children on how cute she looked with her new bow, which featured a shining jewel in its core. Their parents often would scoop the children away on count of being a demihuman mercenary. She seemed to like the result.

Someone from the caravan came by and brought a box full of animal skins, bones, and fabrics.

"So, uh tell me, is the Little Miss, your girlfriend?" Erhard asked abruptly.

"Don't get any ideas," Master Naofumi returned as his usual grumpy self. "She's not my girlfriend."

"I dunno, the way she looks at you…"

"Raphtalia wouldn't be interested in stuff like that," Naofumi said offhandedly. "She's kind of like my daughter…"

"Master Naofumi, please stop calling me that!" Raphtalia winced. She hoped he wouldn't say stuff like that, but understood; she had only just grown up again. And Master was always like this.

Rifana gave her a look. "Wait, did he really say that?"

"You get used to it, trust me." Raphtalia lied, mortified. She never got used to it; she just didn't want to have to explain it.

Continuing on and ignoring the previous conversation, Master Naofumi then ordered armor. "For Raphtalia, we're going to, heavy duty boots and gloves. We'll go with a leather breastplate and shoulder guard protecting the sword arm. I want something reasonably protective" Master Naofumi said. "We have some good leather, but some of their names are outright gibberish to me."

Raphtalia relaxed. It was nearly the same armor that she had before this mess; the only difference was that the material would be something stranger. "Thank you, Master Naofumi."

"I'd like a sword. A balanced sword, specifically," Raphtalia spoke up.

"Make it under 200 silver, take what you want from the pile." As both party leader and legal owner, Master Naofumi had the authority to prioritize how money was spent. That said, unlike before he did listen to input. "Rifana, you're up next."

"Uhuh. I thought about going for a full scythe that could double as a staff. I've grown so much that hand sized sickles feel awkward now."

"I'm guessing you want more reach after I fought you." She did fight a scythe wielder before, but L'Arc was a Hero who came from another world. His scythe was something like a Holy Weapon.

Rifana nodded.

"Rifana, we're going to have to fight a Wave in the next 5 days," Master Naofumi stated. "It'll be a big change to try an entirely new weapon type. The mercenaries outside might be able to give you a few pointers, but it might not be worth it."

"I suppose you're right," Rifana looked a little embarrassed. "I'd like something that's more appropriate to my new size."

"A larger sickle then," Master Naofumi ordered. "For armor, you want what Raphtalia has?"

"It's very practical," Raphtalia tried to convince. She did very much like her armor.

Rifana winced. She never saw the armor, so she probably was worried it'd make her look ugly. "Well, if you say so."

"We can always change the coloration," Raphtalia suggested, knowing what her friend's likely concerns were. Master Naofumi had this strange shield that could change colors at a touch, dyeing leather and fabric easily.

"Oh, well, maybe that's fine, then?"

"Keel," Master Naofumi barked up next.

Keel jumped forward. "Well, I was thinking the curved blade worked well, so, I'll take another one. But as for armor, I'd like something that would cover my torso." She was obviously still upset at how the two-headed dog fight ended up.

Master Naofumi saw the obvious problem. "It'll impact your mobility; more protection means more weight. Is that okay?"

Keel frowned. "Well, I want something very light despite that, I know it's not easy, but I'd like to keep my mobility."

Raphtalia knew what her friend was thinking. "We're not going to be swimming anytime soon, Keel."

Keel gave a disappointed sigh. "I know, I want to keep it as light as possible, but I don't want my midsection exposed… again." He then added. "Also, it's not a problem now, but I also want the armor to transform with me."

"What?" the weapon shop owner asked.

"Keel has always been obsessed with learning the therianthrope transformation," Raphtalia explained. "She wants armor that'd fit him even if she did change herself."

"A monster leather cuirass might be the best bet then; reasonable protection with a minimal speed penalty." Erhard responded. "I've never done shapeshifting armor before, but I've got some idea on how it works. I'll try my hand at it."

The price for everything came up to something over 12 gold, after Master Naofumi provided the materials for all of the various pieces to reduce the price. "We'll have the money within three days, but until then, you're free to keep our materials as collateral," he said. "We'd like the armor to be done by then, too. We need it to make ourselves look good for an upcoming event."

Erhard took a piece of leather and was currently touching it for something. "No problem, Shield Kid. Hm, I can definitely see what I can do with this thing."

The two men went to negotiate specifics, such as what material went where.

Raphtalia, satisfied, turned away. She found both Keel and Rifana chuckling to each other. "What's so funny?"

"Oh, nothing," Rifana gave a smirk. "I just don't think 'Master Naofumi' would apply 'daughter' to either of us."

Raphtalia felt a wave of panic. She did suppose Master Naofumi did treat her differently. "It's… just because we've known each other for very long… And he did help me because so big."

Keel pointed. "Same for the rest of us. I don't think he'll call me his 'daughter'... Course, I'd be upset if he did. Or maybe he'd be like our older brother?"

Raphtalia felt something in her tremble. Granted, her two friends were basically her only family left right now; just not by blood. And she did suppose Filo did wonder if she was Master Naofumi's "daughter" as well. She did not want to think about it too much… "We should get you your slave crest."

"Hey, don't change the subject!" Rifana snapped.

The last stop for today was the slaver's tent.

Raphtalia didn't want to enter, but Keel had to get the slave crest and she had to check up on her "arrangement". Rifana made her distaste very visible, whilst Keel was the only person who seemed eager to go in.

Master Naofumi seemed quite annoyed entering it, but his face hardened as he entered. Raphtalia tried to copy that.

That slimy man hovered over them as he practically danced around. "Sir and Miss," he said with that greasy smile. "My, I can definitely tell, you were right about your pricing, Miss. Perhaps you even sold yourself short. I could definitely see how you'd be worth 20 gold coins for a woman who has been deflowered."

"Wait, I haven't touched her!" Master Naofumi commented.

"30 gold coins then?"

This was for everyone. Raphtalia held her ground, despite her discomfort. She did not like having a money value placed on her life. At the same time, she was in this timeline, not merely former merchandise to the slaver, but a… customer. He hadn't addressed her like this before.

Rifana hid her fear by standing behind her master.

The slave trader, Beloukas, wagged a finger. "And you turned out very healthy yourself; your price isn't that much lower. Not bad, Sir."

"We're here for business," Master Naofumi stepped in. "We can handle the pleasantries later."

"Right this way," the slave traded did a bow.

A stool was set up for Keel. She willingly sat on it while the slave ink was placed in her chest.

It was at the back of the slaver's tent, just right outside where Raphtalia and her friends were hidden. She caught a glimpse of some of the children there and felt a knife twist in her guts.

The small creatures hid in darkness and wallowed in suffering. She did not have to go inside to imagine what their reaction would be to being taken into the light. "...I'm sorry… don't hit me…"

Raphtalia saved her closest friends from that fate, but others were there.

"We can't afford it," Master Naofumi whispered in her ear. "Maybe another day."

She turned away.

"This shouldn't take too long," the slave trader said. "But I must inform you of some news of our arrangement, Miss."

"Firstly, I have seen fit to inform the Queen through her most trusted agents on the 'Replica', but have not informed them of the source. I can arrange a meeting with someone with the correct credentials with your approval."

"That is acceptable," Master Naofumi answered.

Raphtalia nodded as well. "Queen Mirellia has always favored you; this could be a good thing."

"That mostly had to do because the others were incompetent," Master Naofumi spat bitterly. "Tell your contacts that I approve of the meeting. I'm likely to be in Lute for a week after the Wave is over. After that, I'll be hard to reach."

"Yes, Sir!" the slaver declared. He then turned to Raphtalia. "As to your 'order', we have begun securing members of your village in Zeltoble. They will be held in my Clan's estate until you are able to afford them."

"You're making us pay for them!?" Raphtalia shouted. She forgot, the slimy merchant wanted money. The knowledge she had given him must not have been enough.

Around this time, Keel got up from the stool and joined Rifana. They were content not being involved with the slave trader, Raphtalia wished she could be like them.

Master Naofumi grabbed onto her shoulder and grounded her rage. "I take it it has to do with the accommodations as well as the cost of buying them in the first place."

"Indeed, Sir Shield Hero!" Beloukas ordered. "Without a tangible product and merely the words of an oracle, my Clan wouldn't do anything for free! I managed to convince them that there was a very particular customer who wanted slaves of a specific region and knew a certain dialect and that he was very important and will likely be rich!"

Raphtalia saw his glass turn into gold. She did not like the idea of being a slave master, but ifi t saved her friends, she'd do it. "I suppose I should have expected this. We shall pay when we have the funds," she felt like she was being corrupted. Was this why Master Naofumi was prone to weirdness?

Master Naofumi held on tightly to her.

"There is however one complication," the slave trader did a bow. "There is another buyer seeking slaves of this village as well. They have made an offer to buy the slaves off of you." he held out a letter.

Master Naofumi took the letter and read it in an instant. "The letter doesn't reveal much about the sender; but it is legitimate. They want to set a time and place to meet up and discuss terms."

"Why is someone else buying slaves from our home village?" Raphtalia asked. The only thing that came to mind were the fiends that sold them into slavery in the first place and that just seemed redundant.

"Maybe it's someone from your village?" Master Naofumi offered. "I don't know much about it, but if there's anyone from your village who remained free or had money, they might be trying to save the others."

Hm, there was one person who might have fit the bill, someone who remained unaccounted for when the Wave hit and the knights destroyed the village. "...there's one person I think might be doing this. Is the buyer an orca therianthrope? Or demihuman? Sadeena has both forms."

The slave trader's eyes lit. "Ah, aren't you well informed, Miss? Yes, I heard that the buyer might be the famous 'Nadia' who recently swept the tournament scene of Zeltoble. She is an orca demihuman who has the therianthrope transformation; not very many of those."

Raphtalia's heart leapt.

Even her friends stirred, upon hearing of the possibility of finding who was effectively "Big Sister" to the entire village.

"'Nadia' might be a stage name?" Master Naofumi offered. "If it's her, that is. Though, three points of coincidence are a bit much." He then made a face. "Damn, there was a chance we could have met her if we just took that trip to Zeltoble!"

"It's not your fault, Master. We just… didn't know." But now they did. "We should organize a meeting with her."

"She's super strong!" Keel added with excitement. "If she's super strong, it's gotta be her."

"She does occasionally fight in the 3-man team tournament by herself," the slave trader suggested.

"I… don't know how powerful people in that tournament are, but that's… impressive." Master Naofumi shook his head. "We're not going to have a consistent schedule after the wave, so I don't think we'll be able to have her meet us. It might be better to simply go to her once we finish our business." He wrote something on a piece of paper.

Raphtalia felt her shoulders relax. She could almost imagine Sadeena coming to see her and her friends. She would wonder how such a thing even happened, but she knew the orca demihuman was trustworthy. Maybe she could tell her about the future she experienced?

She turned to slave trader. "May we send letters to Nadia, too? She might be our friend."

The slaver smiled. "But, of course, Miss. If it helps facilitate business, we will do it."

Raphtalia ignored him and began to write. She hadn't seen Sadeena at all last time and now, somehow, her changes to events might have brought her closer to seeing the large orca that protected her home for so long.

"Don't reveal too much. We don't know if it's actually her. It's just there's very few people who it could be." Master Naofumi warned.

To Nadia,

If you are Sadeena. It's me, Raphtalia. I've been through quite a lot since we've last met. There is so much I want to tell you about, especially things I don't think I can share in a letter.

I've changed since we've last met; you might not even recognize me because I've leveled up so much. I got sold as a slave, but I managed to find someone who would help me and my friends.

It's been hard, but I hope one day to rebuild our home…

She found herself writing about her experiences with Master Naofumi, taking about the adventure she had with him and her friends. She was tempted to write about the time before, but that might have been too much or caused too many questions. Besides, there was plenty to talk about in this month alone.

Rifana then spoke up, whilst writing her own letter. "Sir Naofumi, I just want to say. Please don't do anything involving alcohol around Sadeena."

Oh, that's right. Raphtalia had almost forgotten Sadeena's promise. She recalled how Master Naofumi could eat rucolu fruit without suffering any effects; if Sadeena caught wind of that… she did not know what'd happen. "And no eating rucolu fruit, either!" the tanuki girl added.

"Okay, why?"

"Because she'll marry you."

"Wait, what?"

Ren Amaki allowed himself a smirk of satisfaction as looked at the Guild's job board. Several of the highest paying contracts were being taken down, all because he had just turned them in. The coins jingled nicely in the sack; a wonder of simsense through a DNI connection. VR was truly incredible.

"Oh! Hey, Ren!"

Ren turned to face the newcomer calling his name. It was Motoyasu.

"Are you farming pocket money with your party, too?" the Spear Hero asked abruptly.

"Ah, Motoyasu. Yeah, something like that," he said, turning to his group. Mald was currently handing out payment to his guild. The Sword Hero then eyed Motoyasu's party, noticing quite a few new faces… Did Motoyasu have six girls with him? Only two of them were recognizable, that princess and one other. "Now that I look at it, your party members have changed alot since then, haven't they?"

Motoyasu rubbed the back of his head with a big grin. "Ah! Yeah, my party has quite a high turnover. Many girls want to party up with me, but there's a lot of bloody gore and grinding, so I decided not to force them to stay."

Ren immediately thought about the Spear Hero getting stabbed, but then realized that he had already had that happen to him already. Some people never learn. He examined the Spear Hero's party. It consisted entirely of young women… almost. There was a… teenager, younger than himself or the Bow Hero, with fox ears hiding behind them; she could have been maybe 12 or 13? "When did you get a demihuman?"

Motoyasu gave an awkward smile. "Oh, you mean Beryl-chan? I had her before we left for Zeltoble." While the three Heroes all went to Zeltoble to unlock Shooting Star weapons, among other things, none of them really met up with each other in such a way to show off their full-parties.

Ren just stared. The fox girl hid behind the larger women.

"Not you, too!" Itsuki walked into view, followed by a party of four. There was a new woman with green hair and a fully armored knight behind him. "Tell me you didn't get a slave just because Naofumi got three!"

Motoyasu made a face. "Uh, I won't then?"

Ren was surrounded by bleeding hearts who cared way too much about NPC's. This was troublesome.

"You can't be seriously thinking of bringing that runt into fights," Ren warned.

Motoyasu nervously rubbed the back of his head. "Oh, well, I'm not! She's just… you know, sitting back with the rest of the girls; there's seven of us, so I have to level her separately… but she's mostly doing chores. Isn't that right Beryl?"

"Uh, yes!" the fox girl said.

Ren supposed that meant the Spear Hero at least used his brain more than someone else. She wasn't meant to be a load in combat, just a typical camp follower who got the occasional exp... Maybe that's why she wore a maid dress.

Itsuki however, did not see that as a positive. "Wait, you have her as a servant?"

"...Yes?" Came Motoyasu's reply.

"That is very… wrong!" Itsuki declared. "She shouldn't be your slave!"

The girl stirred. A blonde haired woman kept the girl from fleeing.

Ren did not want to deal with this drama over NPC slavery. They were just there to make the world more fleshed out and satisfy certain tastes; unless there was a quest involving it, there was no point caring. "Can you two not waste my time?"

Itsuki stared back at Ren, unsatisfied but said nothing.

"So, uh, did you guys hear about Naofumi wanting to set up a loot exchange?" Motoyasu asked.

Ren squinted his eyes. "A loot exchange?"

Motoyasu nodded his head. "In a few days, he wants us to meet and exchange treasures and loot. I've been saving up!"

Ren rolled his eyes. What could the one person with the worst class undergoing a self imposed difficulty challenge offer him? He was probably under level 10 still.

"Saving up?" Itsuki spoke up first.

Motoyasu nodded. "An exchange between the four of us before each wave; any loot we don't need, maybe someone else wants. I've been preparing for that so I can get a whole lot of stuff. He told me he'd leave a message at the Guild in Melromarc once he found the location he wants me to meet him. Something similar should be there for you guys, too."

"I guess that makes sense…like a trading game?" Itsuki commented.

Ren gave that a thought. Trading and exchanging goods and services did seem… possibly useful. Besides, it's not like they were trading secrets and knowledge; that was the really valuable stuff to hoard. "I suppose it would save me the effort of going wherever you went already."

Motoyasu seemed very pleased with the response. "That's almost exactly what Naofumi said, too. He said he made his guild do it, for exactly the same reason."

Ren scowled. He didn't want to rely on others, but at the same time, he couldn't ignore the time savings. He supposed that as long as he paid for the exchanges, that was fair. Still, the idea that Naofumi of all people would plan this? That was preposterous. "So, Naofumi had a guild?"

Motoyasu chuckled. "Not sure on the details, but I figured it had to be pretty well done. So either way, we can go meet him in Melromarc in maybe three days?"

"I suppose I should," Itsuki sighed. "I intend to duel him anyways."

Ren scowled. The other three Heroes meeting up meant that he couldn't afford to miss the exchange… But all he had was gold at the moment. Still, Itsuki's declaration of dueling Naofumi brought attention to him. "Duel him?"

Itsuki puffed up his chest to make himself seem more authoritative. "I have been advised by my two senior most party members, that I should duel him to settle my differences." He then turned towards a mage and a large man in his party before turning back to face the Heroes. "Slavery is immoral, so I will challenge him for the right to free his slaves!"

Motoyasu looked nervous, his eyes moving towards the small girl behind him.

Rolling his eyes, Ren immediately saw the flaw in Itsuki's plan. "Aside from the obvious of Naofumi having no ability to attack, he isn't going to abide by that since he will only lose something if he partakes. He has nothing to gain from you."

"Yeah, only a complete idiot would challenge someone to a duel where you could take something from him if you win, but he doesn't get anything if he wins!" Motoyasu declared.

Itsuki scowled at both of them, but mostly to Ren. "I would have thought you'd understand."

"I don't care, I just think it's stupid," Ren pointed out. "But I'd rather we stop talking about him. Did you do anything important? I went and did some monster exterminations."

"I met some girls, delved into a dungeon to get a rare artifact to solve a famine, made soap…" Motoyasu listed out.

Ren just blinked. He knew enough about Motoyasu to know that flirting with girls was how he dealt with them and dungeon delving was expected from Heroes such as themselves, but making soap? Was that really important?

Motoyasu just smiled sheepishly. "I'll explain that later."

Itsuki spoke up next. "Well, I went to Ivyred estate and handled their problems because my employer encouraged it. Big payday there, too."

"Fueh…" the green haired girl in Itsuki's party made a nervous whimper.

"Rishia," the Bow Hero gently urged the girl.

"...Sorry, Sir Itsuki…" said the girl.

Ren scowled, looking at the bag of coins in his hands. His recent adventures seemed rather mundane. Sure, exterminating monsters was fun and all, but dungeon delving for a rare treasure and helping members of the nobility were the sorts of things people really talked about.

Maybe once the Wave was over, he could set his sights on something higher? Something that would really have those priests emphasize the Holy Hero in his job description.

Mald passed a sheet of paper to the Sword Hero. It was gibberish to him. It was clearly a bounty bill.

"Anyone unlock reading skill?" The Sword Hero asked.

Itsuki shook his head.

Motoyasu frowned. "Not quite yet, but I'm getting there."

Ren squinted. So Motoyasu of all people found a way to start unlocking reading. "What're you doing?"

"Oh, I have this girl called Rino teaching me!" he turned to one of his companions, that blonde woman holding that slave. "Myne helps, as does Leshy, but it's mostly Rino."

Ren squinted; so that means it was an unlock skill that you need to go do a quest for? That would take a while. More time than he had spare.

"What does it say?" Ren turned to Mald, holding the paper.

"Dragon slaying," Mald promised. Resourceful as always, Mald seemed to know what he was thinking.

Oh. Ren smirked. Perfect.

The "Lute Village Gastronomy Riot" in Menu of the Shield Hero served as the basis for the entire restaurant scene.

Lasrasuza and her band were apparently in Siltvelt during the time of Lute's wave, according to Reprise. I decided to give them a cameo.

For those of you who read Light Novel 01's Motoyasu chapter, you can probably figure out something is very different with his party, especially if you know his timeline.