Chapter 5 –
They Call It a Slave
Homura looked down at the little girl staring up at her from the cage, subtly grinding her teeth, trying to keep her emotions from showing to the slave trader.
"Oh? You'll take her? Then how does 100 silver sound?" he crowed happily. For a moment, the magical girl almost immediately accepted, but then she stopped. She'd heard of this kind of game; back and forthing over a price, overly high, overly low before settling on a number. Haggling wasn't a skill most people in her world developed nowadays. Most people went to the store and just paid the price listed, but in this world haggling was much more common.
She regarded him for a moment. "20." She finally offered. She'd heard it depended on the person, but typically offering something too low would be insulting. But considering the price she expected it to settle on, she felt comfortable with that price.
And wow didn't she feel dirty, haggling the price of a life. Yet another new low for her. But she wanted more money to put towards outfitting the girl. So she would add yet another mark on her soul that she would have to pay back later.
The slave traders paused for a moment, his smile actually shrinking into almost a grimace. "You say you want the girl, then offer so little?"
Homura tilted her head to the side slightly, staring him down. "You yourself said that she would be lucky to survive a few more days. If I am to feed and nurse her back into a useable condition, that will require farther funds. Not to mention if she does truly have night terrors, then that is even more work that I will have to put into making her useful."
Homura smirked internally at seeing his grimace. Apparently, he just realized what kind of mistake he had made, probably thinking of her as a child that would know no better. "40 silver then, madam."
She contemplated it, it was already lower than the 50 silver she had be hoping to settle on. "30. No higher." She put down instead.
Seeing him pursing his lips, she interjected before he could counter-offer. "Consider it me paying you for a defective product out of my good will. At least this way you're guaranteed something from her other than an infected corpse." God, she felt so dirty. It was so hard to ignore the coughing and whimpering coming from the cage behind her, as well.
Finally he started laughing loudly, slamming his cane on to the floor repeatedly. "Marvelous! Simply marvelous!" he cackled. Finally he looked at her over the rims of his glasses, his grin back on to his face. "You, Madam Shield, have all the qualities in a great customer. The good and the bad." He crowed.
Once again, Homura struggled to keep her emotions from showing as she fought off the urge to shudder. Slimy penguin indeed.
"Very well then. 30 silver for the young raccoon demi." Clapping his hands, he stepped away from the cage as a large man stepped out from the shadows with a ring of keys. "If you'll follow me, we shall prep for the slave binding ceremony. My assistant here will bring her behind us."
Homura looked at the large man for a moment. "If she arrives in any condition than what she is in now, then you shall pay for the damage yourself." Deciding the assistant suitably warned, she turned and followed after the slave trader.
Soon they arrived at a cleared-out section near where she had descended into this basement. She followed the penguin man to a crate that had a series of small bowls and brushes. Homura watched intently as the man grabbed an urn nearby that glowed faintly to her senses of magic. Nothing strong, barely registering at all, but still there.
The trader gave a small chuckle seeing her watching him as he poured a small amount of ink from the urn into one of the small bowls. After setting the urn back down her gestured to the bowl. "Now all I need from you Madam Shield, is a tiny bit of your blood mixed in with this here [Slave Ink]. Then we can apply it to the girl, and you shall receive the rights of her ownership."
Homura frowned for a moment before pulling out the hunting knife she had bought yesterday. She regarded it for a moment, some part of her finding it amusing that the first blood she should be drawing with this knife is her own. Carefully she pricked the tip of her finger, feeling her shield stir but not react since she wasn't technically being attacked. Drawing up a significantly large enough bead of blood she let it drop into the bowl of ink, which gave a soft purple glow for a moment before dimming.
Immediately after the glow faded, the assistant approached and grabbed the bowl and a brush before returning to Raphtalia who was currently shackled to the middle of the open area. Homura gave a noticeable small frown when he pulled the front of the dirty rags that could only barely be called a dress down, exposing the small girl's chest. On her chest was a circle that vaguely looked like it consisted of three dragon heads trying to eat each other. The assistant painted over the existing pattern with the [Slave Ink].
As soon as he finished the last stroke, Raphtalia began to scream as the sigil begun to glow.
{ Slave acquired. Now opening settings for conditions of use. }
A window popped up in front of Homura, it consisted of a checklist of various restrictions that could be applied, level of punishment for breaking the restriction, and a spot for custom restrictions. When she tried to close the window without selecting anything, another message appeared.
{ Error: Slavery requires a condition to be enforced. }
Homura scowled internally and decided to check off the girl had to obey her orders or be lightly punished. After that the window finally closed, and with it the light coming from the sigil, and Raphtalia's screaming. Underneath her mini status, Homura saw the slave sigil appear along with the name Raphtalia and a health bar.
The only time Homura had been more disgusted with herself was after killing Madoka to keep her from turning into a Witch that one timeline so long ago.
"The ceremony is now complete. Congratulations on your first slave, Madam Shield Hero." The penguin cackled. "Now your payment if you don't mind."
Homura looked at him before pulling out 131 silvers from her shield and dropping it on to the crate next to them.
"Hmm? It appears you overpaid by a large amount…" he muttered confused.
"30 silver for the girl. 100 silver for a Filolial egg. 1 silver for the leftover ink used in the ceremony."
He looked at her curiously before he began cackling once again. "Oh, Madam Shield, if you're not careful, I might start falling for you. I've never been one for younger girls myself, but for one of your absolutely exceptional quality, I might make the exception!"
Homura edged away from him slightly, her previously emotionless eyes narrowing into a glare. It only made him coo in delight. "Oh, such wonderful eyes. Is this what they call bloodlust?"
"My egg and the ink, trader." She growled out softly. "Then I shall be on my way. I have far more important things that I must do today."
All she got was a chuckle before the man guided her upstairs back to his more, legitimate, business. Making sure Raphtalia was walking in front of her, Homura followed him upstairs and to a section of his tent that had an arrangement of eggs.
"While I usually would run a monster egg lottery, I like you enough that you can have your pick from my Filolial eggs. Yes ma'am." He cooed at her.
Homura only gave him another small glare before gently pushing the slightly terrified raccoon up to the arrangement of eggs that looked about the size of ostrich eggs she'd seen on tv in her world. "Pick one for me Raphtalia."
Raphtalia only looked at her confused, before grimacing and clutching at her chest in pain. Homura could only sigh to hide her wince. "It will only continue to hurt until you listen to me. It matters not to me which you pick, just please decide on one for me."
Raphtalia turned and shakily reached out. The second she did so the pain from her seal eased away, and with it a part of her shaking. She looked unsure before suddenly grabbing one from the side at complete random.
Making sure to not drop it, she hesitantly pulled the large egg to her chest. Homura gave a small nod. "We'll take that one then."
The monster trader nodded before dipping the brush into the ink and painting a similar but different sigil on to the egg which only glowed faintly before dimming. Homura frowned when no pop up occurred this time.
Seeing this and guessing what it was about, the trader answered her unasked question. "What I just painted on the egg was a [Monster Crest], it's similar to a [Slave Seal], but different. Without a [Monster Crest], it is near impossible to get a monster to listen to any commands, and completely impossible to get one into your party. However, until the monster hatches, there is nothing for the crest to actually latch on to. So until that time nothing will be added to your party list."
Homura regarded him for a moment, before nodding. If he was lying, she would know where to find him. "And about how long until the egg hatches?"
"About 2 days once we put it into the incubator." Was her answer.
Homura gave another nod. That made sense. "Raphtalia, please help the trader put the egg into an incubator. Then you can come back to me." Seeing the girl begin to shake, Homura gace her a small smile. "Do not worry, I'll be watching."
Getting a hesitant nod in return, Homura watched her follow the monster trader. Keeping an eye on her as promised, she grabbed the bowl of little remaining ink and absorbed it into her shield.
{ Slave User Shield I conditions met! }
{ Slave User Shield I
-Abilities Locked- Equip Bonus: Slave Growth Up (small) }
Homura made a face at it's abilities. That added an annoying wrinkle to her plan to release Raphtalia as soon as it was safe to. If her guess about what Growth Up was, between her Companion Shield I and this new Slave User Shield I, Raphtalia and possibly her Filolial would receive significant bonuses to their stats. The practical side of her brain said it was worth the tradeoff. But the side of her that was still a 14-year-old girl was beyond disgusted with the idea of owning slaves.
Plus, she still didn't know if it was retroactively applied, or if it would stay or disappear upon loss of conditions. Just more wrinkles and complications. She of all people knew of the advantage of being as best prepared as possible.
She finally remembered that she didn't actually check her Companion Shield I to see if it had been unlocked or not with everything that had happened this morning. So she quickly navigated to it in her [Weapon Book]. She was surprised to see that apparently the Slave User series was an off branch of the Companion series.
{ Companion Shield I
-Abilities Unlocked- Equip Bonus: Companion Growth Up (small) }
Well that was definitely a small relief. With a small grimace, she decided to change her shield into the Slave User Shield I, which looked like a small leather shield with a single small spike right in the middle. Even if Raphtalia did not stay as her slave for long to get or keep the bonus from the shield, then at least she'd have the few small points in defense added.
When she glanced back towards where the trader and Raphtalia had disappeared off to, she saw the little girl heading back towards her alone. In her arms hugged to her chest was the egg in a fancy glass container with a small timer on the top front. Homura gestured her to follow as she headed out of the tent.
"Madam Shield! Please make sure to come back and visit me, Beloukas! I look forward to continued patronage!" he crowed loudly to her from the back of the tent. Homura didn't even deign to turn around and acknowledge him.
After a bit of walking, Raphtalia had a coughing fit that caused her to almost drop the incubator, but Homura luckily caught it in time. She couldn't help but to give the girl a sharp look out of habit before snapping out of it when the girl shrank away.
"I'm so-sorry, Mistress," more coughing, "I'll try to be better." Was faintly wheezed out.
Homura gave a soft sigh and reached out to gently pat the top of her head in a slightly awkward manner. "It's fine Raphtalia. We just need to get you some of the proper medicine. Soon. For now, just follow me."
After comforting the panicking girl, Homura carefully held the incubator in one arm while reaching into a pocket lining her cloak to dig out the map from Erhard. Consulting it and her memory for a moment, she nodded to herself before setting off.
She hoped the blacksmith would help her, and not hate her for saving the girl. Even if it was largely for selfish reasons. Or at least give her enough time to explain. She liked the blacksmith, he felt…almost like what an uncle should to her.
The return trip took less time than the initial walk over had. But by the time the two girls had arrived at the blacksmith's, the sun was high in the sky. She hesitantly looked into the open door of his store, seeing him setting out a simple lunch on the counter for himself, the sight of it made her stomach growl, making her realize she had been forced to skip breakfast.
"Hmm?" looking up at hearing her stomach, Erhard looked puzzled for a moment before giving a big smile. "Shield lass! I wasn't expecting to see you again so soon. What can I help you with? Did you bring me a companion to outfit?"
Watching him stand from behind his counter, Homura thought about just leaving. But she needed to get Raphtalia some armor and something to use as a weapon before they left. "Sort of." She hedged as an answer.
Glancing behind her at the confused looking slave, Homura finally gave a sigh and decided to just bite the bullet. "Come on Raphtalia." She directed as she walked into the store, watching the man's face as the auburn haired girl hesitantly walked in, her eyes darting around nervously.
Erhard froze when he saw her. Her 'clothing' and general condition made it obvious what she was. His smile quickly changed into a frown. "Homura." He ground out. That alone gave her an idea of how upset he must have been. "Please tell me I'm wrong, and that you did not get a slave as your companion." He ordered her.
The magical girl winced slightly. She wasn't lying to herself when she said she liked the old man. He had been nothing but helpful, and she did not like burning helpful bridges without reason. "She is a slave. But only because it has not been safe to release her yet. I am in no place to try to challenge a deep-seated establishment like a slave trade at the moment. The fact that the man you referred me to was an underground slave trader is not my fault."
Erhard flinched slightly, not having expected that comment. Then frowning more when Raphtalia was cowering behind Homura, even as she looked startled at her owner's comment about releasing her. "Well then, release her right now."
Homura glanced down at her currently equipped shield for a moment, gathering her thoughts before turning around to face her slave. "Raphtalia, I…want to say something before I continue."
Raphtalia for her part only looked more confused, but still nodded. "What is it? ...Mistress?" the last part was added after a pause, as if she was unsure. Homura couldn't keep the small grimace off her face at that term of address.
"I will release you from slavery if that is what you want. However…if I do so, and you choose not to accompany me, then it is possible you will only be recaptured and returned to slavery." She decided to err on the blunt side, as she could no longer do gentle and subtle after being betrayed by her friends so many times. "But I will not force you to stay in my party and I will make sure you are nursed back to health. If you wish to remain in my party but be free, that is fine, but you will have to fight. I am incapable of hurting things on my own, however I swear that if you fight for me, then I will do my best to keep any harm from befalling you. If you choose to fight for me, and…are willing to stay my slave," she could not believe she was about to say this, god she felt so dirty, "then you will be even stronger than if you were not." She finally got out.
Raphtalia looked even more confused, and more than a little scared. "What do you mean? Why can't you fight by yourself? How would being your slave make me stronger?" she asked, coughing interrupting her periodically.
Homura merely held her shield up to her. "I was summoned to this world as the [Shield Hero]. The shield is a weapon of protection, and as such I have no attack power. So because of this I need someone to fight by my side. To be my Sword. But my shield also has special powers, one of them being that slaves that I own will have a larger increase in stats than a normal person would have."
Raphtalia could only look at the beautiful fairy girl in front of her with shock, the earlier look of 'worship' returning to her eyes. "You're…the [Shield Hero]?" she whispered, not registering Erhard's choking sound of surprise while Homura did. "The [Shield Hero] saved me…?" Raphtalia bit her lip as she looked down, trembling.
As Homura hesitantly reached up to console the child, she screamed and slapped her hand away. "Why didn't you come earlier?! Why did you save me and not Rifana?! What about my village?! My parents always said that the Shield Hero would arrive when we needed them most! So why didn't you?!" Raphtalia then broke down and collapsed to her knees, her body racked by extremely rough coughs after forcing out her tirade.
Homura could only look at the broken child crying and coughing as the knives were driven into her heart repeatedly. 'Useless. Worthless. Good-for-Nothing. Never able to be on time to help those that need you, even when you had all the time in the world.' After a moment she knelt by the young girl and hugged her gently, a few tears slipping from her eyes.
"I am sorry. But I was only summoned a couple of days ago. Before that, I was busy trying to save another young girl from a fate worse than death." She murmured, stroking her tangled and matted auburn hair gently.
Raphtalia could only cry harder, burying her face into the cold metal breastplate Homura wore. Homura couldn't make out exactly what was being said, but it sounded almost like names. So she just let the girl cry, while hesitantly stroking her hair.
It was a while later before the tears stopped, and the girl went quiet except for the occasional cough and sniffle. "Mistress Shield Hero…" Raphtalia finally muttered out. "If I fight for you…will I be strong enough to keep other kids from going through what I did?"
"If that is what you want." Homura answered without hesitation. "Then I will gladly help you accomplish your goal. It will be the least I can do for not saving you and your village earlier."
Raphtalia nodded into her breastplate slowly. "And if I stay your slave, I'll be even stronger?"
Homura hesitated a moment, this was an answer she wasn't as sure on. "I believe so. I am admittedly new to all of this, so I can only go based off of my understanding of things."
Raphtalia quieted in thought, her body still racked by an occasional cough. "Then for now I will stay as Mistress' slave." She finally answered. "Just please…. don't leave me…." She whispered pleadingly. So quietly that Homura almost missed it.
Homura's heart broke a little bit once more. She'd never been in a position like this before. Is this…how Mami felt? Whenever a new magical girl is broken by the reality of the job? ...Why she had snapped and killed the others once she'd realized what curse she had guided several of them into? If so, she understood her first true senpai a little bit better than she had ever expected to.
"I promise Raphtalia. As you accept me as your Shield, then so I accept you as my Sword." She finally answered.
After that she stood up from the floor, gently helping the mentally exhausted child stand as well before turning to face the blacksmith that had been watching silently. The face he was making was…complicated. It was frustrated, angered, proud, upset and resigned. Homura was sure that if she wasn't so emotionally spent as well, her face would be similar. "Mister Erhard, would it be possible if I take Raphtalia upstairs to clean her up?"
When both girls' stomachs made their opinions known about plans, Homura couldn't help the dusting of pink on her cheeks. "And would I be able to bother you to get us something to eat? It does not have to be anything fancy. Some bread will be more than fine if you have any. I promise I'll pay you for it and buy some gear when we're done."
Erhard gave her a hard look before giving a loud sigh. "Yeah, sure, whatever. You know where my wash basin is at lass. Go get the girl cleaned up."
Bowing deeply to the old man in gratitude, she guided Raphtalia up the stairs to the room she had been in just this morning. Once getting her settled down she grabbed a nearby rag and began to scrub at and clean her slave. Doing what she could with a bit of water and her fingers to try and deal with the girl's hair without a brush. Eventually deciding it was largely a futile effort, she took her knife to the girl's bushy mess of hair and trimmed it around her shoulders. That left what was left at least most savable for the time being.
If she was going to keep this girl as slave, she felt so dirty, then she was going to take better care of her than she did herself. Maybe that would alleviate some of the guilt, even if it was technically the little girl's choice.
Meanwhile the girl being cleaned was in slight shock. Every time she tried to do something herself, her new Mistress would stop her. It reminded her of Big Sis Sadeena visiting when she was younger. The older girl's hand definitely were able to clean and untangle everything better than she would've been able to. Then Homura began cleaning her tail. Raphtalia tried to get away, but then she was ordered to stay still while her tail was cleaned. While the pain was nowhere near as intense as she was used to, that didn't mean she enjoyed the pain. So all she could do was blush heavily as her tail was cleaned. She didn't know why; all she knew was that it felt really good but really awkward.
Homura looked down at the pile of hair she had left on the floor, Raphtalia pressed against the wall while hugging her damp tail protectively with a blush on her face. 'She must be ticklish or something. If she had just stopped fighting me earlier, it would have been done earlier.' She thought to herself, trying to decide what to do with the hair. As she reached down to start picking it up, her shield's jewel gave off a soft glow.
"Hmm?" deciding to give it a try, she slowly swept her shield over the hair. With a sight that had become familiar yesterday, she watched the hair get absorbed in the shield. After it had finished, she heard a chime that said she had met the requirements to unlock a new shield but was not at a high enough level.
Pulling up her [Weapon Book] she noticed the second shield in the Slave User series was lit up but still locked. 'Does that mean new Slave User shields are unlocked by absorbing parts from my slave?' Homura made a small face as that thought followed itself to the logical conclusions. 'What would happen if I absorb a slave's entire body?' She shuddered and swept that thought immediately into the closet and slammed the door tightly shut.
She might be sinking to new lows, but that was a thought that she was better not off continuing with.
Finally done she turned and faced Raphtalia and gave her a good look over. Nodding to herself, she was satisfied for now about how she looked. "Now we will go downstairs and see about getting you some better clothes and some armor from Mister Erhard." Raphtalia gave a nod of understanding.
"Then lets go." Setting her hand on the raccoon girl's shoulder she walked her back downstairs, staying close and trying to be comforting to the girl who had started shaking slightly. As they came from the stairwell, Homura saw what looked like some bread and jerky sitting on the counter near Erhard. It wasn't much, but considering it was last minute and he couldn't really shut down his store just to feed them, it was something. For that she was grateful.
Hearing them approach, the blacksmith turned and regarded the two girls. Homura saw that he had apparently already finished eating his lunch and had been waiting for them to return. After looking Raphtalia up and down for a moment, he finally spoke. "Well it seems like you're at least trying to take care of her lass. Now we just need to get her some actual clothes."
After her finished speaking, a woman walked into the store. She looked like a very average woman, nothing really stood out to Homura except for the clothes she held in her arms. "I've got those clothes you asked me to go get Erhard." The woman said as she walked up and set them on the counter. She stopped and stared at Raphtalia for a moment.
"I can see why you asked me to get these now." She spoke, sounding a bit concerned for the girl.
"Thank you, Lisa. Keep the change for helping me out. I'm sure the lass will pay me back for helping out." Erhard told her. With a nod, she turned and left, and as she did Erhard grabbed the clothes off the counter and handed them to Raphtalia. "Here you go little lady. The changing room is right there. Why don't you go get changed while I have a…talk with your Master."
Raphtalia looked conflicted as she accepted the clothes before looking at Homura, who gave her a nod. "Go ahead Raphtalia. Take your time and make sure they fit well with a bit of room to grow." Hesitantly, she gave a nod before heading into the changing room.
The blacksmith and magical girl watched her and once the heavy door closed behind her, Erhard turned and gave Homura a hard look. "A slave? I sent you off to see about getting a monster to raise, and you come back with a monster egg and a slave?"
Homura pursed her lips before sighing. "I hate myself enough without you helping me Mister Erhard." She would not admit a small part took a bit of vindictive pleasure at watching him reel back from her statement, but she kept staring at the door the young raccoon was behind. "Honestly, had I not sensed her I might have never discovered that the monster trader was really a slave trader. But before I even entered his tent, I could sense her potential."
"Potential?" he questioned, leaning his back against the counter and crossing his tree trunk like arms across his massive chest.
"In my world, there are girls that are…special. Magic is an exceedingly rare thing in my world, to the point that most people assumes it does not exist. The only ones who can even use magic are these special girls. I happen to be one of them." She started to explain.
"So what? You sensed that the girl could use magic?"
"It's more than that. Had you asked me that before I had been summoned to this world, I would have said yes. But I have come to learn that there is something…different. I have met and seen several people that I could tell are magic users like the King or at least capable of it like the other heroes. But Raphtalia has this…spark that they all lack. And it is that spark that I have come to associate with us special girls."
"I see." He muttered. "And what exactly is this 'spark'?"
"Honestly, I am unsure. That is part of why I…purchased her." She ground out the last part, obviously distasteful about it. "But I had not been expecting to find it here in this world. So I was shocked when I sensed it, so I followed it once I realized it was below his shop. It was then that I found out about his slave business. I am not stupid. I knew what he would do if I had tried to forcibly free them. As it is, I am lucky that he did not have me killed as soon as I invaded his cellar. So I decided to pay, because at least I could save her."
Erhard regarded her for a long while before sighing. "While I'm not happy about it, I can understand your reasoning lass. But you had better take care of her better than you take care yourself, understood?" He gave her a firm glare.
Homura bit down a small snort, his glare had nothing on the madness that a [Labyrinth] forces on to a person, so it was cute to her. But she nodded anyways. "Good. Now then, what's this about a special power from your shield that makes her stronger?"
Homura held up the shield on her arm to show him. "The [Legendary Weapons] can unlock new forms by absorbing materials. I purchased the remaining [Slave Ink] that was used in her ceremony because I did not trust the trader with it. To make sure no one could use it I absorbed it into the shield. This form was the apparent result, the Slave User Shield I. It has a power called 'Slave Growth Up(small)'."
Erhard made a sound of surprise and lurched forward. "You mean you just got here two days ago and already have an item that gives Growth Up?!"
Homura looked at him curiously. "I technically have two that I can use right now, and another possible three once I meet the level requirements."
The blacksmith only made a sound like she was strangling him, his hand reached out towards her shield and shaking. "F-five?! Do you know how many adventurers would kill for one, let alone five?!" he exclaimed.
Homura could only tilt her head to the side in confusion? Was it really such a big deal? "Are Growth Up items rare then?" His initial answer was merely a scoff. "They're one of the rarest yet highly sought after items by armies let alone adventurers. So the fact you're not even level 5 yet and have access to two, probably 5, and potentially more," he gave a sigh. "That puts into perspective for me just why we need the heroes if that's what they're capable of as soon as arriving. I can hardly begin to imagine what will happen once you class up, never mind if you get near my level."
Before Homura could comment farther, the door to the changing room slowly cracked open. A hesitant Raphtalia poked her head out from behind the door. "Mistress, is it…is it really okay for me to be wearing these?" She asked, her coughs wracking her body every so often. Homura frowned slightly, making a note to head to the apothecary immediately after finishing here.
"Yes Raphtalia. It is important that you are dressed appropriately to be my companion. And please, call me Homura." 'It is the least I can do for keeping you as a slave.' she thought to herself. "Now, please come here. We need to fit you with some kind of armor and a weapon."
Raphtalia's face filled slightly with fear at being told she was going to be given armor and a weapon, she knew that she had accepted to fight, but that didn't mean she wasn't scared. Still she hesitantly made her way towards the other two in the shop. Homura regarded the clothes Erhard had picked for the small girl. The consisted of a pin striped long sleeve beige shirt and a mostly black over dress with a red front panel. Some simple black tights and black leather boots finished it off. Homura frowned at the slightly rusted shackles that she wore almost like bracelets.
"Mister Erhard, would you be able to remove those shackles off of her?" Homura asked.
"It might take a bit to do it in a way that won't hurt her, but yeah. It'd be doable." Was her answer.
Homura frowned slightly, before giving a sigh. "Would it be alright if we came by after dinner this evening? We still need to go get her some medicine from the apothecary and I want to hunt some monsters in the field before the sunsets tonight." Grabbing the bread and jerky off the counter, temporarily ignoring the little girls terrified shaking at having her fears confirmed.
Tearing them into purposely uneven halves, Homura offered the girl the larger pieces. "Go ahead and eat up. You will need your strength for the medicine and monsters." Raphtalia looked at them as she took the pieces of food in shaking hands, watching her owner start eating the smaller pieces. Expecting her portion to be taken away. "What are you waiting for?" she was startled when her Mistress spoke up.
"Umm…is it…really ok for me to eat this Mistress Ho-Homura?" she asked, stumbling at suddenly remembering that she was told to address her by name. Homura could only sigh, 'Baby steps. Remember, baby steps.' "Yes. Now please eat so Erhard can help us."
At hearing the affirmation that her food wasn't going to be taken, Raphtalia began to quickly eat her food. It was bland and hard. But it was food, and she hadn't realized how hungry she was.
Erhard watched her eat quickly, recognizing that she was afraid her food would be stolen, and turned to face Homura. "So, Shield Lass." Once Homura turned her attention to him, he leaned on to his counter once again. "Any other fancy powers your shield has that you don't mind sharing?"
The young brunette bit her lip in thought, trying to decide if it was better to tell him or not. Coming to a decision, she stepped around the shop counter into the store proper. Walking to a nearby shield hanging on the wall, she reached out and lightly laid her hand on the cold iron. A rush of magic shot through her arm from the shield.
{ Weapon Copy system activated.
Iron Shield conditions unlocked.
Red Iron Shield conditions unlocked.
Pink Iron Shield conditions unlocked.
White Iron Shield conditions unlocked.
… }
On and on the shields went, all of the variations of the Iron Shield unlocking just from the main iron shield. Homura's eyes widened in surprise, not having expected that. She noticed a new notification flag next to her [Help Menu]. She quickly navigated to it.
{ Master Weapon Form
Some weapon forms exist in the world that when unlocked forcibly unlock all variations of the weapon within the tree. Some unique abilities exist within the various forms, but when all variations would share the same ability, it will be attached to the Master Weapon form if not previously unlocked. Some forms may only ever be unlocked from a Master Weapon. }
'So the Iron Shield must have been one of these Master Weapon forms.' She thought to herself, quickly looking at a few of the colored iron shields, and seeing that they only provided small stat boosts, mainly to her defense, but some increasing her strength. After that she pulled up the Iron Shield.
{ Iron Shield
-Abilities Locked- Equip bonus: [Shield Bash] skill
Mastery: 0 / 100 }
'At least one of them provided a new skill.' Realizing she'd been standing there touching the shield on the wall for a minute, she turned to face the blacksmith. Seeing him looking confused, she held her hand over her shield and with a thought it flashed into an exact copy off the shield on the wall, except with her shield's jewel in the dead center.
"Sorry, I got distracted reading some of the information that came up." She walked back up to the counter, ignoring Erhard's gob smacked expression. She changed her shield back into the Slave User Shield I, wanting to get the ability unlocked as soon as possible. "That was an ability called [Weapon Copy]. It allows me to copy any shield that I come into contact with if I have never encountered it before." She exclaimed.
Open and closing his mouth several times, trying to decide how to react, he suddenly closed his mouth with a click of his teeth, a look of anger or frustration coming on to his face. "And all the heroes can do that?" he asked. Homura nodded, "With their own weapon forms of course, but yes."
Erhard nodded a few times, before suddenly slamming his hands on the counter and yelling. "Those rotten heroes! The come in, pick up almost everything they can get their hands on then just leave without a word! 'Oh we're just looking, no need to help us' my ass!" Raphtalia squeaked loudly and flinched away in fear at his sudden outburst.
Seeing that Homura glared at him, making him flinch once he realized his mistake. Taking a deep breath, he rubbed the back of his bald head. "Thank you for telling me about this. Even if I know they didn't take the actual piece, it still feels like they're stealing my works from me." Giving a sigh he looked over at Homura. "I'll let you copy all of the shields in my shop. Consider it my helping you to save this world. Though in exchange, you and your party will only do business with me for all your gear. Got it lass?"
Homura nodded. It was a fair request, in exchange for getting her weapons for free here, she had to buy all of the rest of their gear from him so he made money anyways. She could steal her weapon forms from other shops if it was needed anyways.
"Now that you're done surprising me, I hope." Getting a look from the blacksmith, Homura could only shrug in response. Grumbling, he gestured to Raphtalia, "I think it's time that we get the little lady some gear to help you out." Squatting down in front of her, he held out his hand. "Can I see your main hand Raphtalia?"
Glancing at Homura, who nodded at her, she shakily held her right hand out to the big blacksmith. Gently taking her hand he turned it over a couple of times before squeezing a few different spots. "Well I think you'll definitely do best with a sword once you've grown a bit. But because of your size right now, I think you should use a knife, maybe a short sword."
With a hesitant nod of understanding, she pulled her hand back to her chest, her tail flicking nervously underneath her dress. Homura walked over and set her hand on the girl's shoulder. "It is alright Raphtalia. I promise that I will protect you with everything I can."
Raphtalia looked up and stilled once she made eye contact with Homura. The magical girl maintained eye contact with her but after a moment narrowed her eyes in confusion, making the raccoon girl flinch slightly and turn her gaze shyly to the floor. After a while, Erhard came back to them with what looked like a small leather breast plate, some long leather gloves and a short sword with a blade about 45 cm (18 in) in length, honestly more of a long knife than an actual short sword.
"I don't have much on hand for smaller people, but these basic pieces should work while you're still growing. Once your age and level even out, then we can see about getting you properly outfitted." He said setting the equipment on the counter. Handing Raphtalia the pieces, Homura helped her put them on and fasten them in place. "Just some simple leather armor and an iron short sword with a blood clean coating."
"Blood clean?" Homura asked.
"That's right lass. Causes blood and gore to just slide off the blade, keeps it from rusting and sharper for longer. Still have to sharpen it periodically though." Erhard answered. Homura nodded, she was unfortunately familiar with how visceral material ate away at any weapon. To think this place had magic to help deal with that. 'Convenient.'
Seeing Raphtalia was properly equipped now, he then pulled off some simple maintenance items that were already in a neat little bundle. "Now with all that, this here maintenance kit, her clothes, the food, my washroom and half of my sanity." Homura flinched slightly, realizing just how much she's inconvenienced him today alone. "50 silver should be enough."
With a small sigh, Homura pulled out the requested amount from her shield and arranged it out on the counter in five stacks of ten coins. After getting a nod from him at the payment, she grabbed the kit and deposited it into her shield.
{ Sharpening Shield conditions met. }
Blinking at the sudden pop up, she pulled up her [Weapon Book].
{ Sharpening Shield
-Abilities Locked- Equip Bonus: Ore Appraisal +1
Equip Effect: Automatic Sharpening (8 hours) heavy consumption }
Regarding the equip effect closely, she figured that it would sharpen weapons for her without any action over the course of 8 hours. What heavy consumption meant however, she didn't know and wouldn't until she got a chance to experiment with it. She must've unlocked it from the sharpening stone in the maintenance kit. Again, 'Convenient.'
"Thank you for your assistance, Mister Erhard." Homura said, giving him a respectful bow. Then gave Raphtalia a sharp look from the corner of her eye. Realizing what she was being told, she scrambled next to her Mistress and bowed towards the blacksmith but deeper than Homura. "Thank you very much Mister Erhard."
His only response was a loud booming laugh. "Not a problem ladies. Just make sure to take care of each other for me, and come back soon! Now get going. You still need medicine and real food before you go hunting for the night!" He waved them both off, watching them turn and leave with conflicted feelings.
P-*-*-*-H
Homura first led Raphtalia to the apothecary from yesterday, who was surprised to see them, but quickly accepted once Homura gave a quick rundown. When Homura offered him a large collection of the herbs she had spent picking yesterday he regarded them for a moment, looking several different bunches over.
Eventually he split the pile roughly in half, reached under his counter to pull out a well-worn book and a simple set of equipment: a mortar and pestle, a small glass distillery set and some other miscellaneous items. "This is a beginner's book on potion brewing and also serves as an introductory passage to alchemy. If you can pick ingredients of this quality at your age, it would be criminal to not teach you to put these talents to use. I will accept half of these herbs as payment for the book and equipment." He explained before shooting a glance at Raphtalia, who was still looking green in the face after taking the apparently bitter medicine for her cough. "One of the first recipes is the medicine I gave your party member. These herbs serve as a primary ingredient. Practice for her if nothing else."
After thanking him and paying him for the initial bit of medicine and things they bought for Raphtalia, she then headed to a general store that he directed her to. There she bought a chunk of equipment that would allow them to travel on the road significantly easier until the Filolial egg was old enough to pull a carriage. Which was going to be yet another expense, even if a welcome one. The final stop they made on the way to the gate to leave town was for some food. Just some simple kabob like items from a cart near the gate.
Homura watched the little girl scarf down her third kabob in just as many minutes. Her complexion was already looking much better, and her coughing had abated aside from the rare tiny one that came out. It would be important that she didn't push the little girl to much while she was recovering.
"Alright Raphtalia. That is enough for now." Raphtalia looked up at her Mistress in confusion for a moment, before her tail snapping straight in fear for a moment, lowering her head slightly, thinking she was being admonished. "Yes, Mistress Homura."
Homura could only shake her head, it felt so awkward being called Mistress. But twice more since she was first told, she refuses to drop it. 'Because it would be disrespectful', she had said. So Homura just decided to let it go for now. "I am not mad Raphtalia, but I do not want to risk you getting sick while out in the field." Getting a small, hesitant nod, the little girl began to relax.
Only to suddenly flinch with a small shriek when Homura snatched an Orange Balloon out of midair when it tried to attack Raphtalia, who stared at it shaking in fear. "M-m-monster!" she exclaimed in fear.
Homura gave a small frown. "Yes, and while I am here, it will not hurt you." Waiting for the girl to get her shaking under control, she finally ordered the girl. "Now, draw your sword and stab this balloon."
Nodding, she shakily drew her sword. Homura frowned at the poor grip she had, and before Homura could correct it the girl stabbed at the balloon. Just like with Myne, Malty, yesterday the balloon died with a resounding pop.
{ EXP +1 }
{ Raphtalia EXP +1 }
So Homura would also see when Raphtalia gained experience from a kill. Turning to look at the girl who had dropped her sword when the balloon popped, was just staring at her empty hand in shock. "I…just killed a monster?" she sounded so shocked.
Homura gave a small sigh, before hesitantly reaching out and patting her on the head, rolling her shoulders slightly to adjust for the incubator strapped to her back with a length of rope. "You did good Raphtalia. But I need to teach you the basics before we move on. The last thing I want it for one of us to end up hurt because you were not taught properly." Gesturing to the short sword that lay in the grass. "Now pick up your sword. We will practice on the balloons. Make sure to follow my instructions as best as you can."
Raphtalia gave a nod. More confident this time, starting to realize that maybe, just maybe, she could actually become strong.
A/N: Man, my job is spoiling me with all these slow days. Two chapters in a week. This is what I meant by sporadic.
I'm loving reading all the speculation in the reviews. I would love to reply, but I really don't want to accidently give out spoilers of any kind. I will say some of you are spot on, some are close, and then some are interesting ideas, but not lined up with what I have in mind for this fic.
I do plan to keep the rules as close to canon as possible, but some of the stuff I'm adding is my personal explanation for things that happen in the LNs. Things like the Master Weapon, technically canon, but never directly stated with a rule or anything so it's a little bit of creative licensing.
I hope you guys enjoyed this surprise update. I'm going to aim for another chapter sometime in the next week and a half.