As we entered the store, the sun was already starting to set. "Hey, shopkeep! You got some company!"

From the back of the store, Erhard emerged. "Ah, kid! I see you're alive and well! How was your first day in Melromarc?"

I smiled. "Not bad at all, actually. From what you said, I thought there would be a lot more resentment, however most people seemed either nice or indifferent."

The old guy thought for a moment. "Well, the Church of the Three Weapons is full of crazy fanatics. Unfortunately, you'll most likely have an encounter with them soon enough."

I waved away his concern. "Well, that doesn't matter at the moment. I'll have to keep an eye out, though no point in worrying about it before it becomes prevalent."

The old guy nodded. "Just stay safe, alright?"

I smiled again. "You know it. Anyway, down to business." The old guy's face lit up.

"Alright kid, what're you looking for? Perhaps a set of armor?" I shook my head.

"Well. It's actually not for me. Raphtalia, do you see anything that interests you?" Raphtalia, who had been hiding behind me, slowly came out and looked at Erhard.

"Oho? Is that a demi-human? Heroes sure do work fast, don't they?"

I scowled. I hated whenever people made that joke, it disrespected me and Raphtalia, not to mention her deceased parents. I knew he didn't mean any harm by it, but it still pissed me off. I regained my composure.

"Well, it's hard to say, but you said to pick my allies carefully, right?" The old guy nodded, a little confused. I continued. "Well, she's gonna fight for me."

Erhard looked at me incredulously. "Wait, so lemme get this straight. You are gonna have a kid, like an actual child, fight and kill monsters for you?"

I nodded. "Yeah, that sums it up pretty well."

Erhard put his head in his hands. "What the fuck man? She's just a kid! What do her parents say about it? You could be putting her life at risk."

I looked over at Raphtalia, who was looking up at a suit of armor. I made sure she was out of earshot, then whispered to the old guy, "Listen. I'm not wanting to make this common knowledge, however until she levels up I'm gonna have some explaining to do, so hear me out. I bought her as a slave-"

"You WHAT?!" The old guy interrupted.

"Shhh! Let me finish. I bought her as a slave to liberate her from slavehood. I don't believe in the mistreatment of slaves, however as a hero being under a slave seal gives certain buffs to party members. I'm not going to use her for anything dirty or harmful to her. I want her to become her own person, and if she ever wants to leave me, I'll give her the oppurtunity to do so. I'm trying to give her a better life than what she was having, though I'm sure she's very sensitive about all of it, so play it cool, okay?"

The old guy didn't know what to think now. "So you say you are 'liberating' her, correct?"

I nodded, "Though it is nothing so noble, I needed to have an ally I could count on. You said to choose your friends carefully, right?"

Erhard sighed. "You know that's not what I meant, kid." He rubbed his bald head. "Well, I'm not the hero in this situation, though this is why most people call you a demon y'know. Anyway, just know if you ever do ANYTHING indecent to her, I'll knock your teeth out, 'kay?"

I chuckled a bit. "Alrighty, I understand. If I ever DID do something like that, I deserve a punch to the teeth."

The old guy nodded. "Glad that's settled. Now, what can I get for you?"

I looked over at Raphtalia again, and now she was admiring a number of swords on the wall. I don't know if she was excited to fight monsters or just had a liking for shiny things, but I figure she needed a weapon.

"Well, I think the only thing we need right now is a weapon for Raphtalia. I need monster parts before we can make my armor, and the only way to do that is to kill monsters."

The old guy nodded. "I see. Little Miss, would you come here for a moment?" He asked as he walked in front of the counter. Raphtalia, looking a little intimidated, nodded nervously, then walked up to Erhard.

"May I see your hands?" The old guy asked kindly. Raphtalia looked at me nervously, as if seeking advice. I nodded. Raphtalia showed her hand to the old guy, and gently he looked them over, rubbing them in certain spots. "It's hard to say when she's so young, but maybe try a knife or a shortsword to begin with. After that, I think she's best with a longsword perhaps, or maybe a katana." The old guy stated. "Heh. He's right on the money there. He really knows his stuff."

I cracked my neck. "Okay, do you have a specific item in mind?"

The old guy thought for a moment, looking around the store. He pulled off three different weapons, 2 knives and a shortsword, and placed them on the counter. "All right, these seem to fit the best. As beginner adventurers, I assume you don't need too much attack power, just enough to get by. I understand you can't really be fraudulent with your money either, as most low ranking missions given by the guild give a couple silver on average, not to mention the almost useless monster drops at this level. So, I got a steel dagger, a magic iron dagger with blood clean coating, and an iron shortsword with a blood clean coating. Pricing goes from 40 silver, 80 silver, then 65 silver, in that order."

I looked over at each of the weapons. They seemed authentic, which meant they were sharp. Raphtalia was struggling to look up to the counter at the weapons, due to her short height. Without thinking, I picked her up and placed her to sit on the counter.

"Eep!" She cried as I did so, and honestly felt as if I went too far. I really shouldn't be making contact without her permission. I was debating this in my mind, but Raphtalia seemed to quickly get lost in the swords again. She seemed to take an interest in the magic iron dagger, picking it up and looking at the reflecting surface.

"You like that one, Little Miss?"

Raphtalia jumped, as if she got caught in the act, then quickly set the dagger down.

"W-Well, I like the shiny surface of it…" She trailed off. I started looking over at the weapons again.

"Well, in terms of the better weapon, it would have to be the magic iron dagger, right?"

The old guy shrugged. "Well, yes and no. In terms of materials and the effort of imbuing magic into it and the blood clean coating, yes the magic iron dagger is better. However, the iron shortsword has a similar attack power to it. The magic iron dagger is a lot smaller, making it easily concealed, but not very efficient as a primary weapon. The shortsword may fit your needs better, and not only be cheaper but also have some decent attack power."

I nodded. "The shortsword would also be closer to the weapon Raphtalia would fight with as she grows older, so she would gain more experience by fighting with it than the daggers."

The old guy nodded in agreement. "Yeah, exactly my train of thought. In the end, it just boils down to what you need."

I thought for a bit. "Raphtalia, what do you think?"

Raphtalia had started examining the shortsword, looking at its reflecting surface. It wasn't quite as shiny as the dagger, however the blood clean coating seemed to add another reflective layer to the metal. "W-Well, in terms of practicality, I would say the shortsword would be better. However, it may be hard to wield, and maybe a dagger would be easier to use until I get more experience." She was still eyeing that magic iron dagger. I could tell she really wanted it, however I think it was only for the mere use of looking at it. I didn't want to deprive her of something she wanted, but realistically the sword was the better choice.

"All right, Raphtalia. I think we should go with the iron shortsword. It has a blood clean coating, which would make it easy to maintain, as well as being a good weapon for you to get used to. I think it may be harder to use in the beginning, however I think the payoff at the end would be more beneficial. Do you agree?"

Raphtalia nodded. "Okay, Mr. Maddox. If that's what you want for me, I'll be happy to use it." I was a little surprised how quickly she agreed, after looking so longingly at the dagger. "Now that I think about it, she always did lean to the practical side of things, though I don't know if she had the same liking for shiny objects in Naofumi's adventure." I cleared my throat.

"Well then, I think we'll go for the shortsword."

The old guy nodded. "Alrighty then, seems like the perfect choice for the little miss." The old guy picked up the shortsword. "If you come over here for a sec, I'll show you a little bit on how to use it, little miss." Raphtalia nodded, perhaps a little eagerly, and jumped down from the counter. "Hey, kid. I've got a list of the parts you'll need to make your armor. Have a look while I teach her a couple things." He handed me a slip of paper.

I nodded in gratitude. "Thanks. I'll have them here as soon as possible." Looking at the slip of paper, it had the name of the monster it came from and the specific anatomy piece needed, as well as what seemed to be a location for each of the monsters. Pulling out my map, I quickly deducted that all of these areas were relatively close by. I figured we needed to do some traveling, if only for the sole reason of fighting new monsters and unlocking more shields.

With Raphtalia and Erhard talking in the background, I zoned out, looking deep into the shield's center jewel. The gem flashed a bit, then I got a dark sense of foreboding. The shield was trying to tell me something, and I'm not sure I wanted to hear it. A chill ran up my spine. Then, I thought I heard a voice. A faint whisper, right next to my ear. "You're not supposed to be here. Shield Hero."

I swatted at my ear, greatly disturbed. Finding no one there, I scoffed. "Tch."

Raphtalia looked back at me. "D-Did I do something wrong, Mr. Maddox?"

Realizing that they most likely didn't notice anything, I tried to put on a brave face. "Oh, uh, sorry about that Raphtalia. I'm just thinking about some things. You're doing great, and I bet you'll be slaying dragons in no time."

Raphtalia's face lit up, and she turned back to the old guy. "Really? Is that something I can do someday?"

Erhard chuckled. "Well, if you work hard enough, I'm sure anything is possible."

Raphtalia's eyes had stars in them. "Wow! Have you ever killed a dragon?"

The old guy laughed. "Well, I haven't, though I do have some other interesting stories if you'd like to hear one."

I could tell they really hit it off. Though, I was still disturbed by whatever just happened. "Whatever that was, it did not feel good." I thought. "It seemed like the shield was telling me something, though I'm not sure how to feel about it's message. Even so… the voice didn't really resonate as the shield spirit." The words I thought I heard were still ringing in my head.

"You aren't supposed to be here…" I mumbled to myself. "I was summoned to this world by the shield spirit, right? It chose me to fight the waves. Why would it tell me that I don't belong, if it even was the shield spirit?" I thought for a moment, then had a sudden realization. "Except it wasn't my story at first, it was Naofumi's. Even in the book his description was there, but whenever I was summoned it erased his entry. Does that mean… I took away Naofumi's spot at this new life?"

I was thinking very hard about the situation. I mean, I may have taken away my greatest hero at being just that, a hero. In my world, maybe his story never existed. Maybe someone is writing my story just as we speak. That train of though led me to think how the hell did another world's adventure cross over into my boring one? Thoughts tumbled throughout my head, breaking apart and forming together seemingly endlessly.

"Hey? Hey kid? You okay in there?" A rough knocking from a giant man's knuckled rapped against the top of my head. "Hello? Anyone home?" He called into my ear.

My mouth twitched, and I batted him away. "Ey, I'm stupid not deaf, I can hear you just fine."

"Stupid?" The old guy exclaimed. "You sure don't seem stupid to me. I mean, enlisting a child to fight monsters for you is idiotic, though that comes from a different kind of stupid."

I scratched my head. "Ah, sorry. Back in my world, I made jokes at my own expense in order to hide social insecurity. I'm starting a new life here, so I'm still trying to break those old habits."

Raphtalia walking up to me, and looked up, straight into my eyes. "I don't think Mr. Maddox is stupid. I think you are very smart." I was shocked for a moment, then I smiled.

"I appreciate that, Raphtalia. You don't know how much that means to me." Raphtalia smiled. Though, that did bring up another train of thoughts. "Did I take away Raphtalia from Naofumi? Am I even supposed to be helping Raphtalia right now? Or did I somehow unintentionally but forcefully take on this role because of my own selfish desires?" I shook my head. Now's not the time to be thinking about that stuff.

"How do you feel about the sword, Raphtalia?"

Raphtalia unsheathed her sword, which was already fixated on her back. I suppose it would have been to big to wear at her waist, though it seemed a bit unwieldy on her back. Even so, she took it out with relative ease, and brandished it to me in a fighting stance. "Hah!" She let out a little battle cry. It looked honestly really cool, though she was still a ten year old and holding even a shortsword that looked like it was much to big for her.

My eyes teared up. "She's already so grown up!" The old guy glared at me.

"ANYTHING. If ANYTHING happens, your ass is grass. Get it?"

I sobered up. "Yes boss."

Raphtalia looked at us both. "What's going on between you two?" I held out my hand, and the old guy firmly grasped it. This isn't just your normal promise. It's a contract between men.

"Nothing, Raphtalia." I said with a chuckle. The old guy snickered a bit, and I secretly had a small laugh as well. "That was so fucking cringe." I straightened up. "Anyway, that's 65 silver, right?"

The old guy waved it off. "Eh, let's put it off next time. I'm sure you'll wanna try some things out before you spend too much money. Just gather some parts for me every once and a while and I'll hook you up."

I was pretty surprised. "R-Really? I'm sure that's gotta be bad for business."

The old guy shrugged. "Well, while you're still a newbie, most things you need come cheap. Once you get a little farther into things I may charge you more, however think of this as a token of good will."

I didn't know how to feel about that. "Wow, I mean, I appreciate it but… I don't wanna be the kind of hero that relies on gifts from others, y'know? I kinda wanna earn my gear and materials."

The old guy's eyes narrowed. "Yeah? Who's money are you trying to spend? I assure you, most people who come here from the boonies don't have 65 silver to spend on a sword."

I thought about that. "Well, you're right. It is the castles money, I sure as hell didn't earn it. However, even if I didn't earn it, I feel you should be compensated. I'm just saying I don't really like handouts, and it doesn't look good on me as a hero."

The old guy nodded. "Well, I get that. So let's say it like this. I give you the sword for free, however you gotta promise me you and the little miss will stay alive. If you die, you can't pay me back. Then, whenever you get stronger, you hook me up with some quality materials. That work for you?"

I nodded. "A 'pay over time' kinda thing, right?" The old guy nodded again. "Yeah. Let's call it an IOU." I cracked my neck.

"Well, when you put it that way, I guess I have no choice but to accept." I smiled. "Thanks, old guy." I started to walk out of the store, and he called behind me,

"Old guy?! How old do you think I am? I'm 37 godammit! 37!"

Raphtalia and I shared a laugh as we walked out the door. By this time, the sky had already started to tint orange.

"Damn, it's already getting late. I wanted to pick up a couple of other things before tomorrow."

Raphtalia grabbed my hand and started to run ahead. "Well, let's hurry then!" She quickly dragged me along and we made our way down the decreasingly busy street, and I smiled.

The way she moved, she talked, it made my heart soar. I'm glad she was already so comfortable around me, though she seemed slightly less reserved than in the Light Novels. More open, despite the hardships I'm sure she's been through. Maybe it's just the chocolate milk though.

I love being able to laugh with her, share good times. It makes me wonder; alternate realities do exist. Perhaps there was another me that didn't get this opportunity. That me would probably live in a small apartment reading Naofumi's adventure all their life, wanting and waiting for his story to be their story. I wonder in amazement this crazy, insane thing that happened. Getting to meet Raphtalia was always my dream, from the moment I learned about her.

I gazed at her as she continued to drag me off down the street, and I just felt… really happy. I think for the first time in a while, I was truly happy. And this girl in front of me… she doesn't realize how much I care about her. How much I needed her in my life. I promised myself I would one day make her understand that my love for her had no bounds. I understand she was still a kid as of now, but maybe in ten years or so I could tell her how much I loved her without the FBI being at my door.

Because the amount of love I have for her… it goes beyond just a romantic relationship. I wanted to nurture her as a parent as well, I wanted to share her ups and downs, I wanted to fight beside her and for her, and I wanted her to grow into whoever she wanted to be. Even if Naofumi was still the main role, and I was just a random bystander, just being able to meet her was enough.

Seeing her smile every day, seeing her care for others… that's more than enough. I just want to be with her, through thick and thin, through laughs and cries of anguish. I just wanted to be with her. And in this universe, I can be, though it does make me sad thinking that another me might've never gotten this opportunity.