Chapter 11 – New View

"Hm." I watched the three kids follow after Rifana as we traveled through the forest.

Rifana had grown a little bit more last night, making her that much taller and older-looking thana her friends. It must have been really strange for them to see. It was for me, anyway.

Thanks to the medicine I made, the wounds on the kids were healing up nicely. They didn't disappear; I didn't think they actually would. But the kids were more than well enough to go monster hunting for XP.

That said…

"Hah!" Milo easily stabbed an usapil that had a broken leg with his knife.

"Huzzah for pointy cat!" The surrounding minions cheered.

"Yah!" Anise crushed an eggug—a weird egg monster—with a small hammer.

"Huzzah for woolly sheepy!" The minions cheered again.

"Hii!" Raphtalia, on the other hand, jumped back from a bluemush—a small, blue mushroom monster—that was being held by a minion.

"…" The minions did not cheer for this.

"Raphtalia." My voice made the girl flinch.

"Y-Yes, Mister Naofumi?" She hesitantly turned to look at me.

"You have to kill it." I told her.

"B-But…" The dagger in her hands shook.

I sighed. This was harder than I thought.

"Here, Raphtalia. Let me help you." Rifana came up next to her.

I didn't think I was bad with children, but what could I do here? Rifana didn't hesitate to help me when she learned I was the Shield Hero. Milo and Anise weren't as enthusiastic—which was good, since Rifana was a bit too enthusiastic—but they wanted to repay me for saving them, at the minimum. Raphtalia, though…

She said she wanted to do the same. She said she wanted to help me. Her slave restriction was the same as the others, so I knew she wasn't lying. It was just a matter of finding the right way to help.

"Hey." I called out to Milo and Anise, waving them over to me. "What can you tell me about Raphtalia?"

"Like what, Mister Naofumi?" Milo asked.

"What was she like in your village?"

And they told me. It was nothing uncommon for kids, even considering the differences in culture. Playing with one another, having a close friend group—that being her, Rifana, and a boy named Keel—just normal kid stuff.

"But after the Wave…" Milo hesitated.

"She changed?" I asked.

"Well…" Anise spoke up. "A lot of us lost our parents. My dad died in the Wave, but my mom was taken by slavers."

"My mom distracted monsters and told me to run before she was killed, and my dad protected me after that. But…he was killed by the slavers." Milo added.

These kids had it bad. I wasn't really sure what to say.

"But Raphtalia…" Anise whispered. "She said her parents threw her off the cliff to save her, and she saw them be eaten by the giant dog monster."

To have to watch such a thing…

"But she didn't give up!" Milo quickly added. "She was the one to motivate the villagers to rebuild. Even after that, she tried to smile and lift everyone up."

"But then the slavers came." Anise said sadly.

Then what happened was basically what Rifana told me before. The men were killed, and the women and children were sold into slavery. These three ended up at Idol Rabier's estate, where he tortured them for days. The way Anise described it, Raphtalia kept trying to stay positive, saying that Sadeena and the Shield Hero would save them.

"Who's Sadeena?" I interjected.

"She's the strongest person in the village." Anise said. "If she was there, she could have fought the Wave herself, and stopped the knights and slavers from taking us."

If that was true, this Sadeena was worth having around.

They continued with the story, right to Raphtalia's lowest point.

"The lord showed us a crystal ball that showed what the village was like now." Milo said. "It was burned down and destroyed, even more than from the Wave. There were bodies of…and they were torn…"

He couldn't get the words out. I could see how difficult this was for him, so I patted him on his head.

"After seeing that, Raphtalia stopped smiling." Anise finished the story.

It was terrible. Completely unacceptable. I had my own revenge to take, but that would take time and effort. Idol Rabier, on the other hand, was a lord, not a king or princess. Taking him out first was sounding more and more appealing.

That's when I decided: these three would be the ones to kill him. Idol wasn't the only one at fault, but he represented the worst of the humans in this kingdom.

To do that, Raphtalia needed to be able to kill. To do that, I would need to use a little force.

"Havoc." I looked to the minion. For whatever reason, I could tell him apart from the others, even without looking at his armor and weapon.

"Yes, Master?" He asked.

I started on my plan.

Once Havoc had his orders, he saluted—weird—and ran off. I then walked over to the two girls.

Raphtalia was kneeling on the ground, still shaking with her dagger, which was positioned right above the squirming bluemush. The minion had it firmly in place, though he looked bored. Rifana hand her hands over Raphtalia's, looking like she was trying to push the dagger down, but not trying too hard.

If she didn't make any progress while I was talking with the others, then there probably wasn't going to be any without intervention.

"Raphtalia." Just saying her name was enough to make her flinch again.

"Y-Yes, Mister Naofumi?" Again, she slowly looked up at me.

"I'm going to do something different. I'm not going to ask for forgiveness for this." I told her.

"What're you going to do?" Rifana asked, standing.

Instead of replying, I opened my status and scrolled through the menus. When I found the right section, I changed a single setting. Raphtalia seemed to be aware of it immediately.

"Raphtalia, I order you to kill that monster." I said.

She shook in place. "N-No…ah!" Violet electricity wracked her body. She knew what was about to happen, but refused anyway.

"Raphtalia!" Rifana shouted. "Mister Naofumi, please stop!"

"This stops whenever Raphtalia wants it to." I said as uncaringly as possible. Selling this was important. "Just kill the monster and the pain goes away."

"Ahh! Hah…hah…" The lightning only continued for a couple seconds more, before subsiding. Raphtalia clenched the dagger tightly. I knew what was about to happen, the only reason the slave seal stopped reacting.

"Yah!" With both hands on the hilt, she drove the dagger down, right into the monster. That was more than enough to kill it, as evident by the XP we just gained.

"Good job." I said, immediately patting her had. Positive reinforcement was important.

"Mister Naofumi…" Rifana, however, looked incredibly disappointed in me. That was fine.

"Master!" Havoc called out, running in from the trees. "Present for you!"

We weren't done yet. I saw how Raphtalia reacted to her friends killing monsters. Specifically, this latest time, when Milo killed the usapil. The second the monster bled, Raphtalia turned away in horror.

What I was about to do, though, would certainly make one of them hate me.

"Thank you, Havoc." I told the minion, accepting the squirming usapil and gripping in tightly from behind.

When I looked at the two girls, it was clear they knew what was about to happen.

"Mister Naofumi—"

"Rifana, I order you to stay where you are." I gave Rifana the order before she could object. With her setting switched on as well, she didn't have a choice.

"Mister Naofumi, please!" She begged. "Let me help her more first!"

"Sorry, Rifana, but the sooner she gets used to this, the better." I said. I really was sorry, but pulling off the bandage quickly would be for the best. "Minions! Surround us."

They did as they were told, shouting out various forms of "yes, master" and "circle, circle!" like idiots. Whatever. I just wanted them to make this space smaller.

Raphtalia was scared. From the way her body shook as she stood, how her eyes wavered, I could tell.

"Kill this." I told her, but it wasn't an order. I switched that back off.

"No!" She cried out.

I knew she would object.

"How do you expect to defend yourself if you can't? I won't always be nearby. The minions won't always be nearby."

"I-I can't!"

"Mister Naofumi!" Rifana called out again. This was the part she would hate.

I held the usapil in one hand. With my other, I grabbed Raphtalia's arm and pulled her closer. She struggled in my grip, but it was pointless.

"Kill it." I told her. "Kill it, or it will kill you."

It wasn't exactly a lie. I wasn't going to let the monster kill her, but it was true that it would try to do exactly that.

"Mister Naofumi, please!" Raphtalia struggled to get a way.

"Do it!" I yelled, inching the monster closer.

"Ahh!" Raphtalia screamed in panic, digging her feet into the ground.

"Stop—ah!" Rifana took a step forward. The slave seal activated, shocking her.

"She has to do this herself." I said, continuing to bring the monster closer.

Raphtalia was crying, tears streaming down her face. She was afraid. Terrified.

"How are you going to survive if you can't do this!?" I yelled at her. "How are you going to rebuild your village? You go back there now, and those knights will just come by again and burn it down like before."

This got a reaction out of her. She stared up at me, more shocked than anything.

"If you can't do this, they'll just take everything you have left. Are you going to let them do that?"

"No…" Her voice was little louder than a whimper, but it was something.

"Are you going to let them get away with what they've done already?"

"No." It was stronger this time.

"How are you going to stop them? You're already dead!" With the usapil so close to her, a bad twitch from me would be enough to bring them in contact.

"No!" Instead, Raphtalia gripped the dagger in her hand tightly and thrust it up into the monster. It cried out in pain, blood splattering over the two of us.

She was angry. Furious. Her eyes promised pain to anyone who got in her way.

Good.

I let go of her arm and patted her head. "Good work."

She looked at me with that same anger. It wasn't all directed at me. Deep down, she must have known she needed this. She wouldn't be held back now.

It was strange. Her anger almost felt infectious.

S̴͍̿ẏ̵͔̲̦̣̘̲̀̉̕͘s̸̲̟̱̱͂̄͜͝t̷͕̟̣̝̎ẽ̷̝̞͉̻̥̀̃̂͝m̸̗͐̈ ̴̧̢̤̯̀̂͆͑͘͝Ë̵͎̠́̓͌r̵̨̖̋͝͝ṛ̴͙̾̇o̵̼̹̞̰̜̒̉͆̐͘r̶̯͆̌!̶̨̡̹̲͍̣͆̒

̶͇̠̟̗̰̙͝W̶̤̆̊͗͌r̸̞̥̩̍̈́͆a̵̺͖͌̓̈́t̴̢̢̹̬̼̣̑͂͒h̸͖̝͇͐͝ ̵̢͓̥̥̼̗̽̉̐̑̏̕S̷̱̙͂̚e̸̦͉͕͌̐̿̈̋͜r̷̖̮̦̤̺͑̅̏́ỉ̴͙͔̜̭̳̀̅̈́͊̚͜e̸̟̬͒̿s̶̢̲̊́ ̴̟͉̑͗̍̀̉û̷̥͇̃͊̐n̴͙̒͑͂̄͠ĺ̶̮͐ő̵̡̨̮͈̬͊͋c̸̟̭̠̖̳̱̕k̵̯̺̟͇͖͔͊ẻ̸̛̐́̀͜͠ḑ̸̨̝̂̾̌̓̕ͅ

Huh. There it was again. How annoying. What even was—

"Sire!" Gnarl's voice shouted in my head.

"What?" I replied out loud. "We're busy."

"Yes, Sire, but you must stop whatever it is you're doing!" He said urgently. "You aren't ready for the powers you're unlocking from your weapon!"

The what?

Author's Notes:

The bullshit, that's what!