Chapter 6: Double Threat

Day 21

The village was nervous, the construction team more than most. The lord's manor, the house they were all working on for so long, was finally complete. A 3000 square foot house, spanning 2 stories and a sizable attic. On the inside, 6 large rooms made up the first floor, while the top floors had 7 rooms, with one room in particular piquing Naofumi's interest. He guessed that this was the master bedroom (aka his room), due to the size being comparable to that of the future kitchen downstairs.

Alongside the house tour given by Delia. Naofumi and Melty wandered around and inspected every nook and cranny of the house, checking for any possible cracks or damage that may pose a threat to its foundation. Even after they found nothing, however, Naofumi was still skeptical and decided to do an even riskier test.

Using the filolial, Naofumi had the house subjected to powerful winds from the filolial coop magic, with the house defiantly withstanding all the pressure. The wind pressure in question? A typhoon Naofumi experienced when he was 6, or what the Americans would describe as a category 3 hurricane.

"Alright. I've seen enough. Zeal, stop."

"Okay, master." The cyan-haired filolial stopped her spell. When the dust cleared, they found the house had stood strong, minus the windows that shattered under the pressure.

"Windows could use some work. But other than that, great work to you all. We finally have a house."

The villagers cheered. Everyone hugged and tossed each other into the air in pure joy. Naofumi let them have their moment of celebration before ordering all of them to calm down.

"I get that you guys are happy and all. But that's not an excuse to slack off."

"Come on, Naofumi," Melty complained. Naofumi sighed as the princess forced him to address the crowd once more.

"And good job finishing up the manor. Once we get the proper furniture installed, it'll act as everyone's main house until we get the others completed. Thankfully, the ones I have planned would be much smaller than this one and, in turn, much easier to build. Until that day comes, make sure you all do your best to keep this house maintained. Understood."

"Yes, sir!" The kids replied.

They all stood at attention while the few filolial who were listening followed suit. Naofumi could almost smile at the progress made. Not just the house and village, but the villagers themselves. What was a group of cowardly, defiant, or weak children, all scared of him, now turned into strong, determined individuals with a goal they'll stop at nothing to accomplish… who are also still somewhat scared of him. Naofumi wasn't even sure if he had kids anymore. Many of them have already grown up to the demi-humans equivalent of a teenager, with some of the newly shipped kids from Zeltoble falling behind. Raphtalia was an even weirder case, as she is the only one who grew to the full size of an adult.

Naofumi and Melty didn't know why other than "demi-human magic?" When they pestered Sadeena about this development, she did her best to avoid the topic, opting instead to take Naofumi to her "secret base" for a drink. Naofumi obviously declined but was wary of Sadeena and her actions.

"Good. You all can have a day off for all the hard work. If you still desire to work, however, that will be on you. Dismissed."

Naofumi walked off as the villagers dispersed from the crowd, many eager to get back to work, while others wanted to chill for the day. Naofumi was one of those people. With the amount of stress, issues, and a surprising amount of near-death scenarios that happened within the last few weeks. Naofumi was waiting for an appropriate time to take a break. This moment of rest wouldn't last long, however. And it was all thanks to Melty.

"You know, you don't have to be so rude to them."

"I've been mean to them this entire time. They seem to be doing fine."

"That's not what I mean. They just fought off a mutated vine and built you a manor. You can at least show some appreciation without being asked."

"I already gave them a day off. A day off I'm desperately going to abuse." Naofumi lay on the ground, propping his head up with his hands.

"As much as I agree on a much-needed break. I'm afraid we can't today."

"Ugh." Naofumi groaned. "What now?"

"You'll want to look at this." Melty reached into her bag and pulled out a scroll. Begrudgingly getting up, Naofumi took out the letter and read it out loud.

"To lord Iwatani of the Iwatani territory… Is that what they're calling this place now?"

"Just keep reading."

"Okay, okay." Naofumi cleared his throat.

"You are hereby summoned by the king of Melromarc to partake in mandatory wave preparations. Alongside a guard and attendant of your choice, if desired. All members must be at the castle's war room by 4 in the afternoon. Signed. King Altucray Melromarc, yada yada, numbers." Naofumi sighed.

"When were you planning on telling me this?"

"Today. We received this about a week ago, so I had time to prepare."

"And why the hell would you tell me now of all times!?"

"Because if I told you earlier, you made up an excuse."

"I—screw off."

/~/

"Hya."

Several villagers watched the fight of Keel and Rifana. Keel bounced around the arena, striking fast while avoiding Rifana's sword. Rifana, on the other hand, stood still and only moved to react to Keel's attacks.

"Finish her Keel!"

"Take him out, Rifana!"

The villagers cheered. Flames danced around the battlefield as Rifana tried to keep Keel away. But he always found a way and struck hard before retreating. He had the upper hand but knew Rifana had something up her sleeve; her chanting said so. If he wanted to win, he had to attack here and now.

"[Zewite Flame!]"

"Hya!"

Rifana slid her hand across her blade; it was then Keel decided to strike. Sliding under her attack, he threw his final punch at her face. Around the same time, however, Rifana stretched out her hand as well.

"I didn't say Blake Keel." Rifana let out a menacing laugh, but she was still hit in the face. At the same time, a flash of white escaped from her palms, and a raging inferno blasted Keel away. Both hit the ground at the same time shortly after.

"Uh… it's a tie… again." The chinchilla announcer declared.

"Aww." The crowd groaned.

"Alright. The next duel is between-"

"Wait, wait!" Raphtalia shouted. Panting as she got to the group, she drank a cup of water offered to her and sat down.

"Well, what is it!?"

"Ah, right. Keel and Rifana, come with me."

"Uhh, a bit hard at the moment." Keel sighed.

Randy was dealing with the burns on his face, while another member of the medical team tended to Rifana's bruise.

"You'll be fine over here now." Raphtalia grabbed Raphtalia and Keel by the collar and stormed off toward the front gate.

"Okay then… anyways. Onto the next bout!"

/~/

"State your purpose at the castle!" The knight demanded.

Several other lords were making their way through the checkpoint just fine, but Naofumi was the one singled out for presumably "being armed." as if he had a choice in the first place.

"Well, as I'm a lord, what do-"

"Let me handle this-" Melty pushed Naofumi's aside and poked hers out.

"P-p-princess Melty!"

"Knight. Let me and my companion in right now before I court-martial you for inconveniencing a noble of Melromarc with no probable cause."

"Yes princess, sorry, princess. It'll never happen again!" The knight immediately got out of the way and let Sakura through.

"I'll be sure to get that fixed."

"The guard or the hatred for me?"

"Both in time. Threats of a court-martial can only get you so far."

"You already cleared my name. What's the issue now?"

"Do you seriously not…" Melty stopped herself and placed her finger on her chin.

"Right. I guess you wouldn't know."

"Know what?"

"Sisters' accusations weren't the main reason everyone hated you, even though they were a big catalyst to rekindle that hate. The hatred of the shield hero goes way back, mostly contributed to by the conflict between Siltvelt and Melromarc.

"Right, my church is in Siltvelt, and Melromarc hates demi-humans. Vice versa for Siltvelt, and you got yourself discrimination. Why am I a major player in all of this exactly?"

"The feud between nations isn't the conflict I'm referring to. Many years back, Melromarc and Siltvelt were at war with each other. I'm sure you can see why the nation the shield hero built going to war with Melromarccan sparked some bad blood, especially when the species leading the nation at the time was of the old shield heroes' alchemical experiments, being the hakuko."

"...well, that's bullshit. Why are they blaming me!?"

"Fear. Anger. People act rashly when under certain emotions. The stories told by the church painted you as a demon. And 2 days after your summoning, the king released an announcement saying that everything the church said was true with "valid evidence" to back it up. I know Father means well, but honestly, the trouble he caused could have been catastrophic for the nation if I hadn't stepped in."

"Um, define means well!?"

"My father has probably the most reason to hate you. I'm surprised he's showing as much restraint as he is. He could have smitten you in over 97 different ways and then found a way to do it again while you were in the afterlife."

"I highly doubt that." Naofumi crossed his arms.

"Oh trust me, he very much can. But I'm getting off-topic. To keep it short, both his parents were killed by the Hakuko, then his sister not so long after. With everyone in his family dead, he had grown a close attachment to Malty, pretty much spoiling her beyond normal. After that, Mother got to me first."

"Thank God for that."

"Very much thankful for that, but you can put the clues together. Father is a broken man. And when he saw his daughter in tears that night, saying his most hated enemy, the one who created the beings that would take his family, also took his daughter's "innocence." Well, I think we both know the saying, "The wrath of a father is greater than 1000 suns."

"No, no, I haven't."

"Really? Well, my point still stands. With my mother's warnings along with the allegations proven to be false, father would most likely return to normal. He'll keep a close eye on you, sure, but hopefully, he won't try anything too drastic."

"Although I had a small newfound respect for him, you're really giving too much credit to your bastard father."

"Hey! I said, He's trying!"

A knock on the carriage door was heard, startling Melty.

"Princess, shield. Are you alright in there? You've been in there for a while."

"I-in a minute! Just finishing a talk." Melty got up and dusted herself off. "Let's go. We don't want people getting the wrong idea."

Naofumi scoffed. "Please. Like me and you would ever."

/~/

"Look at this." Raphtalia knelt on the ground, pointing at several footprints making their way into the woods.

"Yeah. That beaver is very weird... should we take him to the medical tent?" Keel asked.

"What? No, I'm talking about the tracks. Please stay focused, Keel."

"I don't see the issue. They're just tracks; anyone could have made them."

"Exactly. Keel, does your hunting troupe ever go in this area?" Raphtalia questioned.

"Not that I'm aware of; we usually stick with the forest out back. Since these woods are near a cleared paths, there's basically nothing."

"It could just be from the caravan yesterday," Rifana suggested.

"Yeah… maybe. Guess I was being a bit too paranoid."

"Oh no, you certainly weren't." A voice interjected.

"Huh?" The three demi-humans turned around to confront the mysterious voice, but when they turned, they found that the platypus was still asleep. That was until it fell on the ground, revealing itself to be a fake.

"What the!" Keel exclaimed.

"Apologies for the scare; I was actually in the tree this whole time." Zalton leapt off the tree and landed near the Keel, who was on guard, ready to strike.

"A nice invention made from trees. It's called cardboard. I use it all the time to mimic my likeness and throw off people who aren't paying attention, so be sure to pay attention." Zalton chuckled before tipping his hat. "Zalton is the name, and I'm a platypus, thank you very much."

"I thought you were sleeping!?" Rifana questioned.

"Another deception. You're looking at your new friendly neighborhood shadow, and I've been within the shadows of our unexpected visitors." Zalton handed over a sketch of the assailants, making Raphtalia drop to the floor.

"Calm down, Raphtalia. Deep breaths, okay." Rifana and Keel did their best to calm their friend down, but it did very little to quell her rage.

"I was planning on warning our my lord earlier. But due to the house testing and the sudden meeting he had to attend, I have been unable to relay the information."

"I see. They want a fight, don't they? Raphtalia crumpled the paper. "I won't let them take this place again. Rifana, Keel. Grab the others."

"We're going to kick some ass?" Rifana punched her fist into her palm.

"Oh, maliciously."

"Then let's do it." The three friends brought their hands together. Zalton tried to join in, but the three pushed his hand aside, much to his disappointment.

/~/

"And with Lafan village acting as our base of operations. We will be able to adapt quickly and move quickly toward the current location of the wave. Now, are there any objections to this current plan?"

The majority of the nobles in the room didn't move an inch. Even those who weren't physically present and were attending via a crystal ball didn't budge at the request. All except for one fat noble who carried a whip on his side. Lord Raiber.

"I for one object to the shield demons' lack of contributions. He should be giving away as many resources as the rest of us!"

"It's Lord Iwatani, thank you. And I believe I have given enough."

"FLOPPY BARNACLES YOU DID!"

"Floppy what?"

"You only have to provide a small garrison of troops, while the rest of us have to send armor, weapons, and platoons on our own warriors. King Melromarc, I plead that you have Lord Iwatani contribute!" Some of the nobles in the crowd Naofumi dubbed "the shield haters" agreed with Raiber's demand and began to chant the same thing towards the king.

Looking at the king's face, Naofumi could see he was considering it at first. But something, most likely the words of his daughter, snapped him out of his trance.

"Silence!" The shield haters all settled down at the command of the king.

"As much as I hate it as well. Do keep in mind that Iwatani is not only a lord but also the shield hero. That means he will be on the front lines with his own party long before any of us even have a chance to arrive. With that in mind, I say it's fair that he has to contribute the least, as he'll be in the thick of the action immediately. Of course, I would offer the same to you all. That's if you want to go into the fray yourself with one of the other heroes."

The offer went dead silent as Naofumi and another man with tiny spectacles chuckled a bit, struggling to compose themselves.

Though alongside his laughter, he couldn't help but be confused. The king just stood up for him, even though it was hard for him. To spare his mind from thinking about what happened, he just chalked it down as Melty's influence.

"If that's all for the objection, then let us-"

"I actually have something to add." Naofumi blurted out.

Aultcray groaned. "What might the issue be, Lord Iwatani?"

"This is preparation for the waves, correct? Why aren't the other heroes here?"

"Being that this is for the lords and preparation of soldiers, the heroes can have their own separate meeting in order to strategize."

"I find all this knight placement planning unnecessary, though."

"Are you saying the wisest king of wisdom's plan is a rubbish shield!?"

"Not that it's rubbish. But there's a much more convenient option that wasn't accounted for."

"And what might that be?" Altucray questioned.

"The party system."

/~/

"Raphtalia. Zalton was able to find the nearby camp." A male demi-human with a monkey tail was announced.

"The platypus is very impressive. Guess he is the best shadow."

"But wouldn't that also make him the worst? Since shadows are supposed to be hidden and all."

"We don't have time to question the fallacies in his claims, Rifana. As far as we know, he's the best and only scout we have." Raphtalia strapped on the last piece of her armor. A breastplate with an arm bracer she uses for hunting. The sword she wielded was her father's. She asked Naofumi to get it reforged, and he agreed. Now she carried it everywhere she went, not willing to part with it.

"I'm questioning why we have to go on the assault. Won't we have the home-field advantage here? I have plenty of tunnels to get the jump on them." Delia suggested. She was lightly armed. Only using leather armor and wielding zero weapons.

"Not everyone is a combatant, Delia. And the filolial have gone who knows where with our best rancher. Not to mention, Sadeena is probably in some tavern somewhere getting drunk." Raphtalia sharpened her blade against a whetstone. We can't take that chance. With them being close to the village since this morning, who knows when they might launch a sneak attack?

The ground shook as an explosion was heard outside. Exiting the house, the group watched as the slavers forced their way into the village.

"Right now will be the correct guess."

/~/

"Damn, it just stopped squirming." A bulky man grumbled.

"Still having trouble with that one? Those cats are very difficult to grab."

"It would be easier if I had a lighter load. This one is getting a bit too large."

"Then throw them in the cart and get a move on. You know how our buyer likes em."

"I'm trying to get a new record. Now just get in the—ow, it bit me!" The man dropped the bag, allowing the villagers to escape. "Damn it, my haul! Alright kid, hard way it is."

The man raised his fist, only for a blur to rush in and kick him on the arm, breaking it immediately.

"Agh!"

"What? You got bi ag- Holy shit, dude."

"Hya!" In his "wolf" form, Keel kicked the armless slaver in the head. He then leapt off the slaver's chest and brought down the other with an axe kick to the head.

"Hurry, with me!."

Running off, Keel wove his way through the raging battlefield, taking down more enemies while protecting his group. At the manor, a team of mages laid down suppressing fire as more and more villagers ran to safety. Reaching the checkpoint, he ushered the three villagers inside before joining back up with Rifana.

"Keel, how many did you save?"

"Three."

"I got six. You better keep up." Rifana taunted as she dashed off.

"We're not making this a game." Running along beside his best friend. Keel and Rifana made quick work of any slaver unfortunate enough to be alone. The force was far larger than they remembered, but they stood no chance. Thanks to Naofumi's buffs, they pushed back the slavers and were taking them down in droves.

Some worked as a unit in order to overwhelm the stronger enemies, while others, like Delia and Zalton, went off alone. Those two were especially dangerous. Zalton used the venom coming from his hands to incapacitate the enemy, while Delia just hit them with a devastating kick.

"Where's Raphtalia? I don't see her anywhere."

"I last saw her by the beach."

"And she hasn't come back? Let's go check it out."

"Right."

/~/

"Careful now, we'll lose profit if we hurt you too badly." The muscular man taunted. He had a goatee that circled around to his chin and a large greatsword currently in his possession.

Raphtalia stood a fair distance away from the slaver, sword in one hand while the other wiped off the blood from her face. Behind her were six demi-human children, the last batch that came from Zeltoble. They were cowering behind a rock as Raphtalia did battle with their aggressor. They were scared. And wasn't going to let anything happen to them. Not again.

"You. You're the leader, correct? The one who orchestrated all of this?"

"Huh? Well, yes, I am. Surprised that a lowly demi can figure that out throughout all the chaos."

"I never needed to figure anything out. I've seen you guys operate before; I won't let it happen."

"Seen it before? Am I supposed to know you or something?"

"You certainly will!" Raphtalia lunged forward and thrust her blade into the slaver's chest.

The captain swung his greatsword, attempting to catch her mid-attack. But Raphtalia leaped over the blade and landed right in his face. "[Fast Holy!]"

A ball of light flew from her hand, blasting the slaver point-blank in the face. While he was distracted by the pain, Raphtalia came in and slashed at the captain's neck, but he was quick to guard his vital areas and only got cut across the arm, with most of the attack being blocked by the armor.

"You damn brat." The captain grabbed Raphtalia by the neck and slammed her into the ground. Kicking away her sword, he brought his hilt down on Raphtalia.

"[First Light!]" Focusing her hands, a bright light flashed into the slaver's eyes. Narrowly dodging his attack, Raphtalia kicked the captain off of her and retreated toward her blade.

The escape was short-lived, however, as when she went to pick it up, the captain's blade came crashing down, slamming her back into the ground. At least, that was the intended result. Once the dust settled, the captain saw his blade phasing through the raccoon and realized what was going on.

"This is for everyone you've sold! My very own spell, crafted to take down people like you!" Raphtalia's hands glowed brighter. [Dreifach Holy Fist!]"

"Holy wha-." Raphtalia struck with a fist of golden energy, knocking the wind out of the captain and denting his armor. He didn't even get a chance to recover, as the second punch came faster and more devastating than the last. It dented the armor even further, launching him back.

Skidding to a halt, Raphtalia's pursuit didn't end there. She leapt into the air, coming down for a final punch. Without any time to think, he held up his greatsword, letting it act as his shield. Without any sign of resistance, Raphtalia's punch shattered the blade and hit the captain, drilling him into the ground.

"Call them off now, and I might let you live."

"Heh." The captain coughed. "You think… you can scare me into submission. My men… have already gotten plenty of you kids. We can escape easily and call it a success."

"Not exactly?"

A man fell between Raphtalia and the slave captain.

"C-c-captain… why didn't you tell us… these kids were so strong."

"Jeyha!"

"Wow, I really do remember him." Falling from above, Keel landed gracefully near Raphtalia, while Rifana landed on the previously thrown slaver. All on purpose, of course.

"I see that you already won."

"Yeah. That magic fist sure packed a punch."

"I told you augmenting yourself with magic was cool."

"I told you it would." Keel wagged his tail and geeked out at Raphtalia's glowing fist.

"Keel, slavers…"

"Right. Sorry."

Raphtalia walked over to the captain and raised her fist once more.

"Hold on, hold on. We can make a compromise."

"Perhaps. Maybe I should extend you mercy."

"R-really?"

"Of course not." Bringing down her magically enhanced fist into the captain's face. Raphtalia further drove the slaver into the deeper sand with no remorse. Afterward, she fell, only to be caught by her two friends.

"Raphtalia, you okay?"

"Yeah. Dreifach class magic takes a lot at this level. I'll stick to Zweite class for Keel, behind you."

"What?" Looking behind them, 3 slavers all approached the ground from behind and tried to stab Keel. But a flash of silver appeared out of nowhere and knocked all of them away. When the flash stops, a single filolial in a dress, far more elegant than the rags the others wore, stood in its place.

Her wings were white, and her hair silver. Standing atop her head were 3 cow links, ultimately being one of the weirdest features they've seen on a filolial.

Turning around, the filolial's white dress carried hints of red on her sleeves and reached all the way down to her knees, before parting, like a dress made for a royal banquet.

"Sorry for interrupting your… situation. But a friend of yours said I would be able to find the shield hero here?"

/~/

"There's no word that'll help me describe how boring that meeting was."

"It wasn't that bad. Besides, now we have a way to bring in our own army. This changes everything!"

"It's just a sub-party. Do you guys not have those?"

"Not at all... well, at least I'm unsure about it. No one ever goes over 6 party members in order to preserve exp. How did you figure it out?"

"Well I have over 20 birds and who knows how many slaves at this point. I've been putting several of them into these sub-parties since the day I got them." Naofumi opened up his menu. "See. I got Delia, Teba, and her team of builders in one team. Dalton and Kuro, Randy and the medical team. Rapht—wait, what?"

"What's wrong?"

"Her health is dangerously low. Everyone's health is low!"

"What!?"

"Something's wrong. Sakura! Double time."

"Understood!" Sakura sped up and shook Melty around a bit as she hit her top speeds. As they got closer to the village, Naofumi's worst fears suddenly became true as the smell of smoke lingered in the air.

"Melty, be on guard. We're under attack."

"But who could it be?"

"Don't know. We'll figure that out soon enough."

Entering through the front gate, Naofumi and Melty burst out of their carriage, ready for a fight. But as they brandished their weapon, they saw that everything was calm.

Naofumi only saw a bunch of men being piled on top of one another, and one other man tied up a rod in the ground, being used as a training dummy for the villagers tag team combos.

The weirder thing was that just left of them were the Filolial. All of them were in a circle alongside a bunch of normal Filolials, while another unknown angel stood in the middle with a few others and did silly poses.

He didn't know what to think. The village was attacked; they suddenly decided to have another feast, and now there were filolial all over the place.

There was too much going on for him to process. So before he lost his cool. He took a deep breath and readied his lungs.

"RAPHTALIA!"

/~/

Super Filo Force

"Alright guys, let's not mess up this time."

"I really think you should stop reading Masters stuff, Dynn." Yuki scolded.

"Who cares! Just do it. Super Filo Force, actualize!"

The wind swirled around the Filolial, generating a spiral of flames provided by a few of the villagers behind them. The birds then stepped forward, posing until it was their turn.

"Dynn! Red Filolial Ranger."

"Zeal! Blue Filolial Ranger."

"Kou! Yellow Filolial Ranger."

"How did Sakura get here?"

"Who cares, do the pose!" Dynn ordered.

"Okay. Sakura… Pink Filolial Ranger?"

"Tsubasa! Purple Filolial Ranger!"

"Kuro!" Kuro did several more poses than normal and performed a backflip to finish it off.

"Hey, too flashy. Stick to the script!" Dynn scolded.

"Sorry. Black Filolial Ranger."

"Yuki! White Filolial Ranger."

"Fitoria… silver filolial ranger?"

"Ha!" The tornado behind them dispersed, scattering the flames in the air to mimic an explosion while the rest of them posed.

Looking by his side, he noticed that Sakura was gone, and Melty was watching on, looking very confused as he. However, it wasn't for the same reason.

"Where the hell did they learn that?"

AN: If we continue the filo. Filo would be a pink Ranger, and Luna would be a white Ranger. Unfortunately, neither of them can show up... I blame Javetts for this omake.

Thanks for reading, and leave a review.