Rifana woke in a bed on a small room unsure of what had happen but she knew that she was no longer at the slave tent, analysing the place she seemed to be in some average bedroom and she also seemed to have been put on a simple white dress with pink details instead of the rags she was used to which was quite weird for a slaver to do for their slaves

"Someone must have *cough* brought me..." She says quietly,she was sure that her life would end in that horrible place but now she was not sure why someone would buy her in the state she was in,but she was sure it would be for some horrible reason like before, perhaps she had become a slave for se-

"Rifana!" Raphtalia screamed happy to see that her friend was awake,she was now wearing some much nicer red and brown dress

"Raphtalia? You're *cough* here too?" Rifana says as she tries to get out of bed but is stopped by raphtalia

"Yes,now just stay in bed you need to recover" she said as she went and grabbed a bottle from a close by desk

"I don't...why are we..." Before she could ask more questions, a bottle was put in front of her by her friend

"Here,this is some medicine for you" Raphtalia said as she handed the bottle of medicine to her friend

Rifana took the medicine and powered through the bitterness of it, feeling that her throat was a little better but she was still not sure what was happening,this felt weird almost like a dream, but that bitter medicine was too real for a dream

"Raphtalia what's going on?..." She asked

"We have been freed Rifana! Our prayers were answered!" Raphtalia said as her excitement over having her friend awake was overcoming her

"Freed? No way we-" before Rifana could continue, Raphtalia lifted her dress to show her friend the lack of a certain cursed tattoo

"Your slave mark..." Rifana was speechless, those crests don't go away unless they or their owner dies then how-

"It's gone! Just like yours!" Raphtalia said while pointing at Rifana chest

"What?" Rifana looked under her dress and found her mark gone, which only made her more confused

"How? Why would someone have freed us? How is any of this happening?!" Rifana asked, unable to understand how and who would do this, was It lady eclair?

"Because the Shield Hero saved us!" Raphtalia said as she couldn't control her excitement over the whole ordeal "they found us and freed us from slavery, they have also been taking care of us and making us medicine, although I wish it wasn't so bitter..." Raphtalia added before she remembered the taste of said medicine

"The shield hero..." Rifana was left in shock, as tears began to flow through her eyes and a weak smile appeared on her face "the shield hero... saved me..." She began to laugh and cough which worried raphtalia

"Rifana you should not laugh that strong you still recovering" Raphtalia said as she tried to calm her friend down

"Where is he?! I need to *cough* see him in person!" Rifana fanatically said as she grabbed raphtalia's shoulders and began shaking her for answers "I can't wait to see the man I will marry!" Rifana Exclaimed as she began to think about their wedding party

"A-about that, well uh, you see..."

Creak

"Raphtalia I brought some soup for dinner and-" Toriel stops once she see's that the weasel girl she had been treating had finally awaken

"Oh good you're awake!" Toriel happily exclaimed as she placed the bowl of soup in the table

"Huh...who are you?" Rifana asked, was she the owner of this place or a servant of the shield hero-

"Heheuhh... Rifana, meet miss Toriel, the shield hero..." Raphtalia awkwardly introduced Toriel, hoping her friend would take this news well

"Hello child, nice to finally speak to you, raphtalia said very nice things about you" Toriel said as she kneeled down close to the bed

"What..." Rifana whispered, her brain unable to process the information in hand

"I will go and grab some for you too-"

"NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!" Rifana screamed with every fiber of her body from that reveal, bursting into a waterfall of tears

"Oh heavens! What's wrong?! You're hurt or -"

"The*sniff* shield hero is a woman! Waaah!" Rifana cried out as she was making a scene

"Uh?" Toriel was more than confused by that proclamation

"Rifana had a crush on the shield hero... she wanted to marry him if she ever got the chance..." Raphtalia shyly explained, knowing how awkward the situation at hand was

"Oh...oh!" Toriel gasped in embarrassment

"I'm uh... sorry for not living up to your... expectations my child, please don't cry" Toriel tried to comfort Rifana but she really didn't know what to say in such a situation

"*Sniff* it's okay, you definitely act like the shield hero should *sniff* is just, I was really hoping to have a relationship with *sob* a legendary hero, just like in the stories..." Rifana said as she began to recollect herself, is not like she could blame her for being born that gender, she could only lament that she and the shield hero wouldn't do 'adult-stuff' like Sardina had said

"Uh well, if it brings you any comfort Rifana, miss Toriel is kinda of a parental figure so you two could have a family dynamic, since she is already taking care of us..." Raphtalia said, even if it was only been two days since toriel had rescued them, raphtalia had been quickly warming up to Toriel, she was just so nice to be around

"Please don't say that, as much as I like that you see me in that light, I can never fill the same place as your parents did in-"

"I guess having the shield hero as my mom is the second best thing..." Rifana said as she finished wiping her tears

"Eh?! Really?!" Toriel said in quite the surprise, the girl was just crying about not being able to marry her childhood idol, but was now ready to call her mother that quickly?

"Huh, now what was that about soup?" The weasel girl asked now with a soft smile on her face

"Oh sure" toriel went on to pass it to the girl

"You gonna love her Rifana! Just wait until you taste the pies she makes! They are just divine!" Raphtalia said almost salivating, the pie she had taste was like heaven and she had eaten all of it to the surprise of toriel

"Hehe, guess I will have to see then" rifana laughed while taking a sip of the stew


in a shop at Castle town

"What do you think Motoyasu-sama? Blue or orange?" Myne asked as she held two dresses in her hands

"Blue, it nicely contrasts with your hair" motoyasu said as they bought the dress, Motoyasu and myne were just about finished with their shopping for the day, as they walked around the various shops across the street

"Soo, what is the next stop in our date?" Myne asked

"Huh how about -"

"Ouch!" Both motoyasu and a another person screamed as they bumped into each other

"Hey watch where you going- oh Is you Itsuki?" Motoyasu said as he gazed at the bow hero

"Ah Motoyasu, I see you're in a another date..." Itsuki said as he waved at him and myne, so far, Itsuki had only seen motoyasu going in little dates with his party members and especially Myne through out the city, he really wondered if motoyasu was trying to be a harem protagonist instead of a hero

"Yup!" He cheerfully responded

"Have you even being leveling up?" Itsuki asked, if motoyasu was laying off grinding and strengthening himself to date girls, he would shoot him in the foot

"Sure I am! I'm level 27!" Motoyasu proudly announced

"Huh, we are about the same then..." Itsuki said, surprised that Motoyasu was actually doing something else besides spending time with girls

"Oh good, wonder how Ren and toriel are doing?" Motoyasu pondered

"I'm sure that Ren is probably over leveling himself, the guy seems like the type to take everything to serious" Itsuki said, ever since their first encounter, Ren gave off those vibes of a super paranoid person, the type that would walk around with pepper spray and a Taser to just walk to school

"Yeah, guy is just like one of those anime edge-lord that hates colors or something" motoyasu said, guy was a total buzz kill in his eyes

"We don't need to worry about him in that regard, the one I'm worried is lady Toriel" Itsuki said, he couldn't help but worry about her, she was stuck as a useless shielder in a country that hates her because of her appearence, she must be having a hard time

"I think she is gonna be fine, she is definitely one hot and tough cookie haha" Motoyasu joked, but Itsuki didn't get it one bit "but she is so sweet, I hope she's fine..." Motoyasu commented

"Sir Motoyasu, we won't have no need for such monster" myne responded rudely as she went to a shop to look at their shoes

"Myne..." Motoyasu faced palmed because of her comment

"Wow I didn't know you had a racist party member as well..." Itsuki spoke out, surprised that Motoyasu had someone like that in his team...then again, he would probably forgive a serial killer if they were a woman and just said 'I'm sorry' the guy was a total incell

"I'm trying my best to... wait what?" Motoyasu asked in confusion at such a statement

"Yeah... remember Mald?" Itsuki asked, wanting to talk to motoyasu about his teammates

"Who?" Motoyasu replied, aside from his teammates and the other three heroes, he didn't actually know the names of anyone else, he didn't even remembered the king's name

"Right you only remember women... remember that big muscle guy with fancy armor and mustache?" Itsuki said as he felt he was talking with a child or a donkey

"I think I sort of do..." Motoyasu said as he saw Mald in his memories as big metal ball with a mustache

"Let's just say he has being saying some... mean things about Demi humans when he sees them" ever since that day Itsuki has been noticing the constant unfairness that demi humans suffer, but he couldn't do anything because it was against the law to free slaves, which was infuriating, and to have one of those who supported that in his team was less than pleasant, but Mald was a good combatant and he was very supportive of his justice ideals, so it was not like he could just throw him away '...he just needs time to see the true light of justice that will cure him of his racism...yeah...' Itsuki thought

"Well that Mald guy might be racist, but myne is nothing of the sort, she is just jealous of lady Toriel magnificent body!" Motoyasu said to justify the actions of his party member, who thankfully didn't hear that

"You can't be serious..." Itsuki faced palmed as he couldn't believe that Motoyasu would think of that sort of thing instead of the obvious answer, he really had a blind eye when it came to woman

"I'm just stating a fact, have you seen her killer hips? She is build like a-"

"Stop being a creep! She is a nice, respectful older lady and you make her sound like a thirsty swim suit model or something!" Itsuki stopped motoyasu before he could finish, not wanting to hear motoyasu's thoughts about toriel

"I'm not a creep!" Motoyasu replied a bit angered by the assumption, he was not like those weirdo's who stalks girls, he was a righteous gentleman that treats all women with respect

"Yes you are!" Itsuki responded, only a creep would talk about women bodies so freely like that

"Motoyasu-sama, you're staying behind!" Myne said as she was going out of the shop and into further in the street

"Coming!" He eagerly said while waving, a oblivious smile on his face, running after her like a pet dog

'that guy needs to start thinking with his head instead of his...oh who I'm kidding?' Itsuki sighed as he went back to his walk


Erhard shop

"I will be heading out" toriel said as she went to go to the front door, she had to collect more herbs and complete some simple guests on the guild along with killing...monsters

"Wait for *cough* us!" Rifana said as she tried to follow her

"Oh no you can't go out! You're still very sick and weak, you need to rest and take the medicine I made" Toriel said in her parental tone, if she was going to be the surrogate mother of this two, she had to act accordingly

"But I..."

"No buts you have to get better and as for raphtalia, she can look after you and help erhard around the shop right?" She stopped Rifana's speech before looking over at the blacksmith

"*Sigh* fine but I don't like being a babysitter" Erhard responded, he didn't want to have this kids around his shop but he knew that he couldn't just put them out of the place, especially since they were demi humans and because toriel was counting on him, and he hates to disappoint a good client or in her case a good lady like Toriel

"I will see you all at dinner time" Toriel said as she exited the shop

"No fair, we have to do something!" Rifana said as she puffed out her cheeks

"Uhh Rifana, we are just kids and miss Toriel is a legendary hero what help would we be?" Raphtalia said as she was still eating her stew

"But we can't just be here abusing her good will! We should be out there *cough* helping her fight monsters!" Rifana explained, she wanted to go out and help her hero, not stay behind and eat soup

"You're just saying that because you want to live just like the books you read" raphtalia said almost unimpressed as she just continued her meal

"It's not that! Is just... I want to make sure she is safe, the books always said the shield hero relayed in his teammates when it came to fighting and she is all alone" Rifana explained, she had her wish granted, the shield hero had saved her from dying and now she had to repay that

"Rifana...I worry about her too, but we would just get in her way, we don't even know how to fight" raphtalia spoke as she stared at Rifana, she could understand were those feeling were coming from, but what would they do?

"Then we will just learn how to!" Rifana said with determination in her voice

"Huh?" Both raphtalia and Erhard were taken back by this

"You will be her sword! And I will be..." Rifana looked around the shop for a bit "...her axe!" She proudly proclaimed as she lifted a small axe over her head, with Erhard picking the thing out of her hands

"Kid you're going to hurt yourself with this, you don't know how to handle a weapon" Erhard said as he looked over the girl with his arms crossed

"Then teach us sir blacksmith!" Rifana asked as she pulled his apron

"Why would I-" Erhard stopped as Rifana pulled out her puppy-eyes and began pleading

"Ugh...fine, but it's only for self defense okay? You two could use a way to protect ourselves when she is not around...just don't tell Toriel" Erhard sighed, hoping she wouldn't find out

"Deal!" She happily accepted

"Come on raphtalia! Let's *cough* train ourselves!" She said as she pulled the arm of her friend

"What b-but we... okay, but let me finish my meal" raphtalia reluctantly agreed as she was finishing her stew

"I'm gonna fight for the shield hero!" Rifana cheerfully exclaimed

[author's notes]

do you think the characters are written right here? leave a comment

i wanted this chapter to be longer but it is what it is