You know, I've come to realize that I tend to ramble a bit at the start of these chapters when there's no real point to them. Pretty sure that ain't a good habit since most of my rambling belongs at the end of said chapter, so I think I'll be making that change.

But before I do that, I just wanted to say Happy New Year to you all! Hopefully 2024 is kind to you all.

Big thanks to Qinlongfei for beta reading this chapter and providing good suggestions about some of the scenes.

With that said, let's get this chapter started!

Chapter 50: Setting the Stage

The sight of the Lady of House Seatto bowing to Raphtalia obviously drew some pretty strong reactions, particularly from the Silver Hand knights present and their party.

" M-M-My lady!" Lucatiel shouted in shock at seeing her lady knelling and bowing her head towards the little raccoon girl. The other Silver Hand knights present were also gaping in shock at what they were seeing, though it was clear that Eclair was not listening to them.

Naofumi and Ake were shocked by the display certainly, Jun and Filo didn't seem to be paying any attention at all since they were more focused on glaring at each other. Filo, the dumb brat obviously still sore about her loss to her child was apparent on her face.

Mein herself was both astounded and impressed by Eclair's dedication to honor. The act of bowing itself is usually done out of respect for a superior or someone with a higher rank within the nobility, while the knelling is seen as a symbol of subservience and loyalty. Though the act of bowing your head towards someone below one's station is considered nothing short of humiliation by many nobles. The fact that Eclair is bowing her head and knelling to a former demi-human slave, someone who would be considered well below her position, is something most in the nobility would see as the highest humiliation. Yet Eclair does so earnestly and Mein finds a certain admiration to that. She had received far too many fake bows of respect to know the difference between the real ones.

But none were more taken aback by this sudden the bow from Lady Seatto than Raphtalia, who looked incredibly shocked and worried by having a noble lady bow to her.

" P-P-Please stand up Miss-I mean Lady Eclair! There's no need to bow!" Raphtalia immediately said, holding her only remaining hand up to tell Eclair to stand up.

" As you command, but it is still the least I could do after I failed to protect you " Eclair followed Raphtalia's command as if she were the queen herself. In hindsight, maybe doing it right in front of her own men was a step too far in the wrong direction. Eclair may not realize it, but she has an image that she needs to maintain even among her own men and cannot afford to look weak. Mein didn't miss the mild look of discontent from some of the Silver Hand's at the sight of their lady bowing.

" It-It wasn't your fault Miss Eclair, you did your best " Raphtalia reiterates the same points Mein made to Eclair just a few nights ago when they met in secret.

" My best was simply not enough if I could not protect my own people..." Eclair spoke slowly as she glanced at Raphtalia's missing arm with righteous fury in her eyes." Did the manhunters do this?"

Mein noticed Naofumi shift uncomfortably, and the princess internally sighed. She should have known Eclair would ask about that and Mein knew that the only way they could reasonably get out of this, is by telling the truth. She mentally prepared herself to break the news to Eclair.

" No! It wasn't I-"

" It was our fault " Before Mein could take it upon herself to reveal the truth, her eyes turned to Naofumi who had stepped up with a solemn look on his face." It was during the Second Wave when it happened, we didn't want to leave Raphtalia alone so we took her with us and one of the wave monsters they..." The Shield Hero did not finish his tale, but it was more than enough to paint a picture.

" I-I see..." Eclair seemed to be in shock by this information, clearly she thought the manhunters had done that. A twinge of guilt wrestles in her own heart at the reminder that the loss of Raphtalia's arm was her fault as well.

" It was my fault too. Raphtalia lost her arm pushing me out of the way of an attack " Mein couldn't help but chime in. An attack that she very likely would have survived, a slash from an undead wouldn't have killed her, with Mein's armor and defense she could have taken it. But Raphtalia lost her arm for her.

Eclair was still processing the information, before she took a deep breath as her expression turned to one of somberness." The two of you still did more for her than I ever could have, thank you for at least saving her." Eclair turned her gaze to Raphtalia as she gently placed a hand on the young girl's shoulder. " And I am sorry to you personally, for not being able to do more "

Mein could have mistaken it but she was certain she heard Raphtalia mutter something under her breath." Yes, I'm sorry too..."

" Were there...any other survivors beside you?" Eclair slowly asked, almost daring to sound hopeful.

Raphtalia looked down at her feet in sadness. " I...I don't know. There were so many people screaming and-and the manhunters separated us, threw us into carriages and I don't know if Rifana is alive but my parents they...they..." Raphtalia was obviously in distress by remembering how she lost everything, the princess turned heretic was growing increasingly agitated by Eclair's evasive questioning.

" I think that's enough Lady Eclair " Mein stepped up, as she gently pulled Raphtalia to her for comfort.

Eclair seemed to realize her mistake and nodded in apology." I'm so sorry for making you remember such memories, I just...I need to know if anybody else made it."

Mein eased up a bit at that, she understood where Eclair was coming from and why she was asking. She wanted to know that she and uncle Uther's efforts to defend the people of Port Harp weren't in vain, even if the survivors were enslaved after the Wave was over. The princess couldn't help but think about Thomas and the sacrifices that he made for her to make sure that she was safe until his dying breath.

" There was only one other survivor of Port Harp that was with Raphtalia but he's gone now." Mein answered, thinking about Keel for a brief moment. " We don't know if anyone else made it "

" There were other survivors of Port Harp that made it, Lady Eclair." Ake suddenly stepped up out of nowhere." Most of the adults were killed during the wave, but the rest were sold on the slave market. Some passed various different owners up until now " Ake spoke with such certainty in his tone that Mein was absolutely sure that he wasn't just making some leaps in logic. No, that's the face of somebody who knows what they are saying is correct.

"How do you know that?" Mein asked after a moment, making Ake jump at the realization he had spoken out of turn.

"...I was part of the detail that was with the King to go reinforce Port Harp. My family had done some business with the Hirata's before, so I followed up on it a bit " Ake answered after a brief moment of hesitation.

Mein could instantly tell that Ake wasn't telling the whole truth, but decided not to push on it for now.

Eclair let out a tired sigh. " Well at least some made it, hopefully we can track them down later "

" I still don't know if Rifana is okay or not..." Raphtalia said, mentioning another friend from Port Harp.

" We'll find her Raphtalia, with any chance she'll be listed down as a criminal and there will be a trail to follow " Mein promised as she patted Raphtalia on the head. But in the back of her mind she knew that it was a longshot at best. Slaves tended to pass through many hands and they weren't usually kept in good condition, if this Rifana is as young as Raphtalia is than her survival is doubtful at best but Mein can't bring herself to crush that hope that Raphtalia's only other friend is gone.

"T-Thank you, my parents they...they didn't make it." Raphtalia muttered under her breath." I don't know if big sis Sadeena survived or not either..."

" Sadeena?" Aslatiel suddenly spoke up after hearing Raphtalia speak. He turned to Lucatiel who had a similar surprised expression, this caught Mein's attention as it was clear that the name Raphtalia spoke of seemed to stir something within the Silver Hand knights.

" Does the name mean something to you?" Mein asked getting their attention.

Both Lucatiel and Aslatiel shared a glance, as Lucatiel stepped up to Raphtalia with an inquisitive look. " This Sadeena you mentioned, she wouldn't happen to be about this tall of a woman with long black hair and big breasts? " Lucatiel provides both a clear verbal description and even moved her hands out from her chest to give Mein a better idea on what this Sadeena looked like. It seemed that she had a chest big enough to make even Mein feel a little insecure but she quickly shoves it down, at the prospect that this woman might be the closest thing Raphtalia has to a last living relative.

" Y-Yes! How did you know that?" Raphtalia answered right away, looking at the two mouse knights with surprise and hope in her eyes.

" Lucatiel, didn't you mention that there was some woman who came to the fort a while back demanding to know if there were any survivors from Port Harp that came here?" Aslatiel asked.

" T-That must be her! Big sis Sadeena is still alive !" Raphtalia shouted as she ran up to Lucatiel and started bombarding her with question." Is she okay!? Did she ask about me?! Where is she? Did she say where she was going? Did she-" It became clear to Mein that the little raccoon was running off worry for her big sis.

" Alright! Alright! One question at the time please " Lucatiel held up her hands as Mein gently pulled Raphtalia away.

" Why didn't you ever mention this before?" Eclair questioned her knight, not quite with a disapproving look but one that demanded an answer.

" We didn't think much of it at the time, my Lady. We had our own problems to deal with after the wave what with the loss of most of our men, Lord Uther and our wounded, so we thought this Sadeena was just some mercenary passing through the place." A regretful expression passed the mouse knight's face." I see now that was wrong and apologize for not trying to learn more about her situation "

" Nobody could blame you for acting on limited information Lucatiel " Eclair offered some comfort for the mouse knight.

" Do you know what happened to her or where she went?" Naofumi spoke up to inquire about the whereabouts of this Sadeena.

Lucatiel sadly shrugged." No clue I'm afraid, she didn't stay for long really. She just showed up out of nowhere and started demanding to know if any Port Harp survivors had been to the Keep, she didn't seem injured if that's what you're worried about but she did seem pretty frantic about wanting to find out if any survivors had come here and disappointed when I told her that no survivors had made it to the Keep " Lucatiel explained in detail." I tried to get her to calm down and come inside to talk some more, but by that point she ran away and that was the last we saw of her."

" S-She must have been looking for me, I should have known she survived, she was one of the strongest fighters at Port Harp. She came here looking for me, I know it..." Raphtalia muttered under her breath.

Mein raised an eyebrow at Raphtalia's words about this 'Big sis Sadeena' and how she would find her. While she can certainly understand the drive to find one's lost loved ones, but from the way Raphtalia says it she gets the impression that this Sadeena is a family friend considering how Lucatiel didn't mention any raccoon characteristics in her description. So it feels a bit odd for a family friend to be so dedicated to go all the way to Silver Keep to press the knights here searching for survivors of some merchant family that she was friendly with...unless of course, Sadeena was aware of Raphtalia's lineage.

Considering Raphtalia's status as the last descendant of the Celestial Emperor of Q'ten Lou than its possible that this Sadeena might be more than just a very close family friend Raphtalia is close to. She'll be sure to press Raphtalia on it later.

She's totally not jealous about hearing her favorite raccoon call somebody else big sister. Definitely not.

" Do you think this Sadeena knows Raphtalia is with us?" Ake questioned.

" Doubt it. We haven't exactly been showing Raphtalia off since the banquet and I doubt word of it would spread to the populace of Castle Town." Mein recalled the duel between Naofumi and Motoyasu, good gossip for the noble circles of Melromarc, but she highly doubts Raphtalia's name would be even mentioned if it was even known at all.

A small tug on her skirt made her look down at Raphtalia, who was giving her a hopeful look." Do you think we can find big sis Sadeena too?" The princess could physically feel her heart strings get tugged.

Mein wanted to tell Raphtalia that they would find this Sadeena soon, but she knew that there was no guarantee of them finding her. Same with her friend Rifana.

They sadly don't have time to go tracking down this Sadeena person with everything they have to deal right now. If she's searching for Raphtalia than its likely she'll constantly be on the move and that'll make it difficult to pin her down. The only plausible way Mein can think of finding this Sadeena is by putting the word out that Raphtalia is with them and let her come to them, assuming she's competent enough to pick up on it. But Mein doesn't feel comfortable with such an open tactic as that would just be inviting all sorts of miscreants to try and kill them for whatever reason. So that left virtually no way to lure Sadeena to them.

But how was she supposed to tell Raphtalia that?

" We'll find her Raphtalia, she sounds like a capable person if she survived the Wave " To her surprise, she didn't have to as Naofumi stepped up with an optimistic look on his face." We'll find every single survivor from Port Harp if we have to "

Mein almost wanted to tell Naofumi not to give Raphtalia such a vain and foolish hope. Its more than likely that at least half the survivors from Port Harp who had been sold in slavery are dead by now or worse. That he should not give Raphtalia false hope and expectations that everything is just going to magically work out in the end, as it will only send her further into the pits of despair when things inevitably do not work out.

Yet she cannot find it within herself to do it, instead she finds a sort of admiration in Naofumi's resolve to do right by Raphtalia. That sort of naive hope reminds her of somebody else she knew from long ago.

" Thank you Master Naofumi, big sis Mein..." Raphtalia said with gratitude in her tone.

" No need to thank us Raphtalia " Naofumi said humbly.

" Just so we're clear, I'm still your favorite big sister." Mein playfully said as she ruffled Raphtalia's hair, eliciting giggles from the girl.

" If there are no more interruptions..." Aslatiel cleared his throat before he turned back to the Silver Hand knights." Get back to work, you lazy slugs! We're burning daylight here! " The mouse knight went back to yelling at his own men to get back to training.

The Shield Hero's party enjoyed a nice afternoon of watching knights get yelled at and beaten up.

The rain was coming down hard and thunder could be heard booming outside, but that didn't bother any of them, it was never the lightning and thunder that scared them. They hadn't trained today because of the rain and the boss said that he had a different type of training in mind for them.

They were all sitting in the mess hall of the fort which wasn't used much until they all arrived, since the boss man and the kid he was with just used the main kitchen. There was a lot of dust around the mess hall and the wooden tables were dirty. So the boss man had them all clean up the place the day after they arrived, he couldn't say that he was happy about it since he hoped that he would never have to clean another day in his life but the boss man made it clear that they lived here now so they would have to contribute. He stopped complaining when he saw the boss help clean too with that kid of his.

None of them spoke to each other, even though they were sitting next to one another. He couldn't help but remember the days at the Valliere estate when they were all still slaves, mealtimes were always pretty damn quiet since nobody wanted to give the wardens any reason to use their slave seals. He hated thinking about those days where they were given crappy slop to eat everyday, it made him sick to his stomach just thinking about it.

The boss had told them to simply sit at the table while he prepared the next test of their training, which apparently seemed to involve setting plates of food down in front of them but telling them not to eat yet. He turned his head to see his friends visibly drooling at the food that had been set out and he had to admit that he was close to doing the same. The food smelled delicious, a modest bowl of soup and a plate of cooked monster meat with veggies, he could already tell that it was much better than anything he had ever eaten before in his life. So he was very confused by where the boss man was going with this, but followed his orders.

The boss stood at the front of the room as all eyes turn to him." Survival is more than just ensuring you don't die, its about prevailing through all possible disadvantages and threats against you. Hunger, thirst, and even pain must sometimes be numbed out for the sake of survival. If you can learn to numb out these feelings than you are capable of standing against any threat you come across " The boss was speaking in one of those dumb lessons that none of them really understood, he looked around the room and saw a bunch of confused looks.

"...What does that mean?" Ash asked out loud.

The boss man rolled his eyes at them. " It means that if you can master your self-control and your base impulses than the rest is easy, that being said..."

" Eat tonight and you work twice as hard tomorrow " The boss said as he sat down in a chair by the door, watching them all like a hawk and was likely waiting to see who would make the first move.

They all stared at the food in front of them, the delicious smell of soup and cooked meat teased them. They had never eaten something so good in their lives and here it was being given out like gifts, but the point of the lesson was to see who would break first.

About a minute passed before the first few gave in and started eating, the extra training tomorrow be damned. The boss man's face remained passive and neutral, whether he had some disappointment over the fact that most of them had already given in or if he had already expected this from the start was not clear at all. Maybe the boss man just wanted to see what they would do.

The smell of the cooked meat teased his nose and tongue to just gobble it all up, he could practically feel his mouth drooling over the food. The sight of his friends giving in and eating up the delicious food did not help in the slightest, if anything it just tempted him more to eat, he could probably handle the extra training tomorrow...but that wasn't the issue. It was a test of will and he would not fail.

He sat quietly and tried to ignore the smell of the food prepared for him, grabbing onto his pants to keep his hands occupied.

" You uh...gonna eat that?" Rana, one of his friends that was sitting beside him asked.

" No " He said after a moment and without waiting another second, Rana took his plate and helped herself to seconds.

He did his best to not let it get to him. He was stronger than this after all, he looked at all his friends and could see that all of them had given in already. He felt a swell of pride in himself at the fact that he was the only one who had resisted and had the will to not fall for the trick...

Until his eyes saw the girl that was opposite of him. The girl sitting across from him hadn't touched her food at all, she was a young girl of maybe 10 years or so with red hair...but her eyes. There was something seriously wrong with her eyes.

Her eyes looked dead.

She was the only other human in the room, younger than him even and her eyes are dead. It was as if all the innocence and goodness in the world had faded from them long ago and she didn't even acknowledge the plate of delicious food put in front of her like it didn't matter.

He didn't know why but he felt a chill go down his spine as he saw her eyes glance at him for a brief moment-cold, dead and distant.

It reminded him of the boss in a lot of ways.

Hound Lord's POV

The taste of ale on his tongue does little to numb the feeling of loss for him, but it does at least leave him the right mix of drunk and sober enough to function. The boss had always warned against drinking when you're working, but goddamn did he need this. He would never get used to taking these kinds of losses, sure a bunch of untrained assholes who only know how to act on base impulses that he barely managed to coerce into joining him, he wasn't really going to care that much if they died if he was being completely honest.

But Ash's death hit hard. He had gotten the report that the lookout house in Rabier City had been destroyed, same with the one in the capital. Ash was part of the original crew, part of the freed Valliere slaves and was with them when they escaped all those years ago with the boss. It feels like a lifetime ago that he watched the place he hated so damn much go up in smoke, relishing every minute of making that bitch suffer for what she did to him.

He lets out a sigh as he refocused on the meeting room where he and all his lieutenants had gathered to discuss what their next move should be. Well, that and to bid an old friend a final toast.

" Everybody! Listen up, pay attention" He raised his voice ever so slightly to get everybody's attention and that was enough for all of them to turn their eyes to him." Before we begin, I'd like to give a toast to Ash. He was a snarky asshole, but he was our friend. To Ash!"

" To Ash!" They all raised their mugs in their air and slam their drinks back. He downs his ale in one go and it goes down to hatch easily enough.

We'll get the bastards who killed you and make them pay Ash. You have my word.

After they all got a minute to finish their drinks, he placed his mug on the table as he turned to the cat demi-human next to him." Alright back to business, Farah your report?"

Farah stepped up as everybody's attention turned to her." From what I've managed to gathered...the Bow and his cronies have destroyed at least three more hideouts this week. We take any more hits like this and we're going to be at half-strength soon "

That was honestly what worried him the most about this situation, losing their valuable manpower. As unskilled as most of the other groups they recruited into working for him were, their numbers and strength made up for the fact. Along with the gear and supplies they were being given made them a capable fighting force. But if they lose anymore of their men, than they are seriously going to be put on the backfoot and from there it was only a matter of time before his crew's heads were on the chopping block. If they are lucky.

" Ugh, we can't keep taking these losses at this rate we're going to be wiped out before the next Wave comes " He said with a hint of worry in his voice, he had spent years preparing himself and putting it together, bringing a bunch of vagrant bandit groups together under his control. He was not about to lose it all to a bunch of asshole heroes from another world." We can't stay on the defense, we need to go on offense and hit them where it hurts "

" Another attack on Seatto's Keep?" One of his lieutenants, Red suggests. He has to admit that the idea is tempting, he has no doubts that whatever remains of Seatto's little knights haven't had time to rebuild their strength...the only thing holding him back at the presence of those damned heroes.

" No, they'll have reinforced it by now and a frontal attack isn't going to work like last time." He hated to admit it, but with two heroes there complicated things. He had originally hoped that if he could wipe out those worthless Silver Hands, than it would allow them to start focusing a bit more on wiping out each and every one of the pathetic lords in the north. But with the damn Bow and Shield there, things just got a lot harder with them now focusing on destroying them.

" So what are we supposed to do then? Sit on our asses and wait for the heroes to come for our heads?" Red adds on with an annoyed tone, he can't really blame him for the attitude. They've been taking more losses than they should have and its on his head to set it right one way or the other.

" Of course not, but exposing ourselves blindly without a plan is exactly what those dipshit heroes want the most. They have to know by now that if they take us out than the other bandit groups don't have shit to work with." He remembered the old man's lesson on always striking for the head of an army. Without a leader, the rest will be easy pickings for the vultures.

Red looked unhappy with that answer, but seemed to relent." So what's the move now?"

" Remember the old man's lesson on defeating a stronger foe? Divide and conquer " He stood still for a moment as he formulated a plan in his head as he looked over the map of the local area, his scouts had placed markers about villages, mines and other potential targets. He looked over the map until he spotted exactly what he was looking for." Yes, this one will do nicely."

Naofumi's POV

" You see, Raphtalia the practice of using light magic requires both focus and care. Light and shadow are direct opposites of each other, yet they cannot exist without the other." Eclair explained slowly and with the care of a gentle teacher." In order to harness the power of the light, you must first begin to understand the light within yourself to control it. Until this..." Eclair held out a hand and pointed to the middle of the training area." Becomes second nature. First Light!"

The spot where Eclair pointed at shined bright as an orb of light illuminated brightly from it, shining to the very edges of the room. Raphtalia stared at amazement of the magical feat with childish wonder and the Shield Hero couldn't blame her.

Naofumi would never stop being amazed at seeing real magic at work, despite having seen it done by his companions several times. It was honestly sobering in a sense that real magic did exist in this world, not just sleight of hand misdirection stuff back from his world, real magic.

The Shield Hero watched from the sidelines with both Mein and Ake as Eclair instructed Raphtalia on the use of light magic. The Lady Seatto had offered to teach Raphtalia some light magic as 'repayment' for failing to protect her family. While Naofumi also didn't blame Eclair for not being able to protect Raphtalia's family, since god knows he hasn't been able to do a good job of doing it, he will admit that it is good that she has an instructor for her light affinity now. It would definitely help if Raphtalia finally had a proper means of protecting herself besides just turning into her raccoon form to run and hide.

" Now let us go over the basics of casting magic and go from there, as you might already know casting is-"

Naofumi started tuning Eclair's lessons out similar to what he did back in school where he would end up zoning out of whatever lesson he was supposed to be paying attention to. Not exactly the best habit he picked up looking back on it, but it worked help him get through all the boring lectures and lessons. He can still remember all the disappointed looks and talks he got from his parents about how he needed to improve...maybe he should have taken them more to heart.

He glanced over to his red head companion who was sitting just a few meters away from him, she seemed focused on watching Eclair teach Raphtalia. Her face completely neutral as she watched the scene from a distance and Naofumi couldn't help but wonder what she was thinking. Itsuki was still out with his team and Titan Storm, so they wouldn't be back for maybe another day or two if his word can be believed. So its still going to take some time before Itsuki can do his whole kid spy thing.

Yet there was an aching impulse in Naofumi to do something. He knows he asked Itsuki for help but he can't stand all this sitting around. He has to try something.

Plus its Mein, his first companion, its not like she's going to stab him for asking some questions...

Probably.

Mustering up whatever miniscule courage he had, the Shield Hero scooted closer to his red headed companion. All he got in return for his movement was a slight tilt of her head that indicated she noticed his movement that brought him closer to her.

" Raphtalia seems to be improving in her magic " Naofumi commented to break the ice.

" Indeed, it'll help her hide and conceal herself if we get into a bad fight " Mein replied back, her voice even.

A silence passed them as Mein refocused on the training with Raphtalia and Naofumi internally cringed at how badly this was already going on. He was trying to casually drum up conversation about Mein's history and he was already failing at it.

" So...Mein what was your home life like?" Naofumi awkwardly asked. He wasn't really sure how to approach this, but knew that he had to take the first step if he was going to get to the bottom of who Mein really was.

" Where did this come from?"

" Just...wanted to get to know you more" Naofumi half-lied. He never was the best at lying on the fly or under pressure, much less from a pretty girl like Mein.

Mein glanced at him with an inscrutable look on her face, it was hard to tell if she was surprised or trying to figure out his true intentions. Naofumi had a bad feeling that he may have just tipped Mein's off to his true intentions, and that he might have blown any chance Itsuki could have at uncovering her identity.

After a moment, Mein shrugs in response. "What's there to tell? I came from a minor fallen noble family in Melromarc, House Sophie. We fell due to internal conflict in the family, what's more to tell?"

Naofumi noticed that Mein was dodging the question and being vague about her past. But he couldn't help but catch on to what she said about her being a noble, something he hadn't really thought about before. She says that she comes from a fallen noble family, but in all his memories of Mein she strike him more as an assassin or mercenary who was used to living rough, though that might just be him stereotyping what nobles of this world are actually like.

" You say that, but sorry for saying Mein but you don't really strike me as-"

" Very noble born? Too down-to-earth for the upbringing of even a fallen noble?" Mein says with a small smirk, already guessing what he was about to say." Shall I speak in a 'superior' accent to show how above it all I am, with how better I am than everybody else with my family's money " Mein dramatically presses her hand against her mouth in a stereotypical noble fashion as she puts on a fake accent." Ha~ha~ha! You presumptuous hero dare to presume that I am not the most noble lady in all of Melromarc, I demand you kiss my finger in penance for your dastardly crime"

Naofumi couldn't hold back his chuckle from Mein's joking accent and from the way Ake lurched forward with his hand over his mouth, it was clear that he was holding back his laughter from Mein's joke too.

" In all seriousness, I didn't really grow up in luxury and I lived a rather modest life...but that's neither here nor there " Mein said with a small smirk on her lips and Naofumi could tell that he was getting close to something, he just had to push a little further.

" Oh come on, there has to be more to it than that..." Naofumi insisted.

" Like I said, I've had a...fairly uneventful life " Mein seemed to falter at that last bit and he could see a crack in her mask.

It was clear that Mein wasn't going to open up without some heavy prompting, but it was clear that just insisting isn't going to be enough to keep her talking but how could he do that exactly? He racked his brain for an idea on how to get Mein to open up...until a great idea came to mind.

" How about this, you tell me something about your life, I'll tell you something about mine. Fair?" Naofumi proposed to Mein, he didn't really have any issue by sharing his life story. Its not as if Naofumi's life was especially interesting, even if some events were shameful for him to talk about.

Mein seemed to think about it for a moment before nodding her head, with a hint of curiosity in her eyes." Alright, I will admit that I am a bit curious to learn what your world is like Naofumi. There have been plenty of records about heroes talking about their original world, but I wouldn't mind hearing it in person."

Naofumi couldn't help but feel a bit special, having not much interaction with girls his age. So being able to drum up an actual conversation with one was a win for the otakus in his book. The Shield Hero leaned back a bit as he relaxed his posture." So uh, what do you want to know first?"

" Tell me about your world for starters" Mein started off with an easy question.

Naofumi took a moment to think about it as he started to explain it in simple terms for Mein to understand. " Well for one, we're much more technologically advanced than this world. We have a bunch of gadgets that make life easier for us. Like we have these things called cars which are how a lot of us get around quickly"

" Cars? Are those carriages where you're from Naofumi?" Mein asked with confusion on her face.

" Well, no not carriages exactly but uh...try to imagine a type of mechanized carriage that doesn't need steeds to move." Naofumi explained the best he could.

" A carriage capable of moving on its own? Incredible..." Mein looked genuinely amazed and Naofumi felt a swell at pride despite only just giving a vague description of his world." Alright, tell me about your home life next"

Naofumi felt whatever pride he felt a moment ago get flushed down the drain as he remembered back on his life back in Japan with his parents and little brother, Takeru. Thinking back on it, its not like he's lived a particularly interesting life by any standards. He went to school, made like one or two friends over the course of his time there and barely scraped by to get into college. His life is pretty ordinary now that he thinks about it, which makes it all the more extraordinary that he of all people was selected to help save a literal isekai world.

Well, his life wasn't completely unremarkable...he thinks back on a specific time in his life that still gnaws at his mind. It was a dark time in his life where he went through a pretty rough time. It was by no means a time that he was proud of to speak about openly since he could practically feel the shame of those memories creeping onto him.

" Naofumi? Are you okay?" Mein's voice and feeling of her shaking his shoulder snapped him out of his self-loathing thoughts.

" S-Sorry dozed off for a second, anyway my home life was pretty...unremarkable if I had to be totally honest Mein. My family wasn't poor but we weren't rich either, we sorta middle-class if that's makes any sort of sense " Naofumi explained and Mein seemed to be following along well enough." My parents were pretty average workers, nothing really major for them. I have a little brother named Takeru, he's a good kid "

Thinking about his own parents made him wonder for the briefest of moments whether they would miss him now that he would be gone from their lives, he wouldn't say that that they hated him but they also weren't particularly close either. Would they even bother looking for him and spend years wondering where their first child had gone or would they just file a missing person's report and go on with their lives like usual. Naofumi feels hurt at the thought that his family would just forget about him like that, so he pushes the thought away for now.

And Takeru...Takeru is going to be fine. He was much smarter than Naofumi and is going to be better off now that he doesn't have an older brother to worry about when he gets older. He'll be the one to make mom and dad proud.

Naofumi says that, but feels a sense of bitterness and mild jealousy in him at the thought.

" You have a younger sibling Naofumi?" Mein asked with interest in her eyes.

" Yeah, Takeru is a few years younger than me. He's a good guy and smart too, but um..." Naofumi wondered whether he should share this story with Mein, but decided that it was alright. Its not like Takeru can give him crap for altering some details." He got into trouble a while back, fell into the wrong crowd and I uh...helped him out "

" That sounds very noble of you Naofumi." Mein said with a smile.

" T-thanks Mein..." Naofumi replied, but he felt a twinge of guilt in his stomach. He wasn't telling the whole truth exactly about what happened with Takeru. He did help Takeru out, but even he had some doubts about how good his 'help' really was in that scenario and how much he was overselling it.

" Alright, your turn. Tell me about your life Mein " Naofumi asked the question this time, excited to finally get to know more about Mein.

His red headed companion put her hand to her chin in thought as she began to speak about her life. " I've already told you how my father was a Faubley Ranger, but not much about my mother right?" Mein waited for Naofumi to nod before continuing." Well, my mother was the second daughter of this generation's fallen House Sophie. She didn't care much for trying to reclaim the family's noble status, so she broke away and picked up a trade as a travelling herbalist. She met my father who was an accomplished Faubley Ranger and together they moved to a farm on the border of Melromarc, and a few years later had me."

" So your father was the one who taught you everything you know?"

" Yes, he wanted me to be able to take care of myself if anything happened to him or mother..." Mein said and Naofumi could see a distant sadness in her eyes. Like a grief she had buried that was coming back to her.

" Did something happen back then?" Naofumi pushed, perhaps more than he should but he had come too far to back out now.

" I..." Mein struggled to speak for a moment, before taking a deep breath." Well, there was the time when-"

" My lady! My lady! Come quick!" A loud voice interrupted Mein and both their eyes turned to see Lucatiel run into the room towards Eclair.

" Lucatiel? What seems to be the problem?" Eclair was reasonably surprised at the sight of one of her closest knights interrupting her training session with Raphtalia.

" T-There's a commotion at the entrance, somebody says they need help my lady "Lucatiel speaks, somewhat out of breath from the fact that she was running in full armor.

" Really? I must see to this immediately " Eclair turned to Raphtalia." My apologies miss Raphtalia, but I must postpone our lesson." Eclair quickly apologized before following Lucatiel.

" Come on, we should go check out what's going on." Mein said pulling on his hand, completely forgetting their conversation.

Oh come on universe! Now you're just screwing me on purpose.

He put away his internal frustrations as he followed Mein along to the entrance with the others who didn't want to be left behind. By the time, they reached the entrance he could already see Eclair with a few other knights and a familiar face from before. He heard the cries for help before he got close enough to see her face.

" HELP! HELP! We're under attack by bandits!" Ruby, the girl bodyguard they had rescued before practically shouted at Eclair in both fear and desperation.

Hope you all enjoyed this chapter and all the character interactions in it. Hope you all enjoyed the scene with Eclair and Raphtalia together, their interaction is pretty interesting because Eclair is the full on Lady of her House now, so she feels a much greater sense of responsibility towards Raphtalia and her failing to protect her. I didn't even realize that Eclair being a mentor to Raphtalia was something that made so much sense until I wrote the scene in this chapter.

Moving on, I gotta be honest I was actually debating whether I should have it be Itsuki and Naofumi talk in this chapter or if I should have Mein be the one beating the crap out of some disrespectful Silver Hand knights after they made an inappropriate pass at her. But I think I made the right call with having Mein and Naofumi getting to know each other some more in this chapter, since I have been flaking in both showing Naofumi's backstory and their romantic development.

Fun fact, the Hound Lord's flashback in this chapter is a reference to another flashback in the movie Ninja Assassin. If you can actually remember that movie, you have my respect. But putting my obscure nostalgia movie aside, I really wanted to show through another persons perspective how Malty started to change during her time with Thomas and how she slowly lost her innocence during that time. This will not be the last time we see this in the story.

Now let's reply to some reviews shall we?

To Caspian123:

I wouldn't really say that Filo has enough rationality to know what she is doing is both bad and stupid, I think its more accurate to say she's smart enough to know what Naofumi disapproves of. Which I think makes a lot of sense because she is just a kid that's barely a month old, but you are correct that Naofumi needs to get a hint and reign in Filo's temper. How successful that will be remains to be seen.

I don't want to give too much spoilers, but I will say that Thomas becoming Malty's bodyguard when she was a kid was both complete coincidence and timing.

Sorry if the story has been dragging a bit, I've honestly felt the same these past few chapters. Hopefully with this one, I can start getting the plot and Malty's backstory reveal back in order.

To kennymadison11:

Yeah, I really wanted to show the logic behind Aultcray's actions and choices in this story. I didn't want him to just a one-dimensional villain and I'm glad that I was able to at least humanize Aultcray in why he does what he does in this story. It doesn't make his actions excusable or make him likable but it does put things in perspective a little.

And you are correct that the most dangerous kind of man is the one with nothing left to lose. I think we'll see that very soon.

With all that said, I will see you all in the next one.

Angel Out.