The slave

"Here's this week's product old man."

"Oh, this is quite the number. Were you able to get a higher quality this time?"

"A few. Most were still mediocre "

"Well I can't complain, you're one of the very few people who's actually supplying this."

Medic reaches under the table and pulls out 89 silver. Naofumi grabs them and puts them in his bag.

"Perfect, I'll see you next time I need to sell something."

"See you kid." the old man said, waving goodbye to Naofumi."

After getting his silvers, Naofumi heads out to the streets of the castle town and into an alleyway where Sakura is. Upon seeing her master, she tackles him to the ground.

"Oww get off me, this stuff is heavy enough, I don't need a bird on me!"

"Gaw Gaw" Sakura flaps her wings as she flips Naofumi to her back.

"Just go to the tent, I'll direct you."

"GUA!" Sakura dashes off.

Naofumi rides through the town on a fully grown Sakura, carrying a few bags on his back and narrowly missing some of the citizens on purpose. Sakura ran at full speed to the tent to meet with the slave trader to see if he kept his end of the deal since he thought it would be very helpful for him to gain a slave in the long run.

"Take a left and watch the trash cans. I don't need you to be dirty."

"Gua." Sakura chirps, Making a sharp turn left into an alleyway, and hops a random trash can that someone left out, soon arriving at the tent.

"This will be a quick interaction with Sakura, so stay outside for this one," Naofumi said as he hops off Sakura.

"Gaw?"

"I don't like this place either, so I'll be out in a minute so keep calm," Naofumi says to Sakura while entering the tent, only to peek his head out a few seconds later.

"And don't do anything stupid!" Naofumi yelled, walking further in.

"Welcome sir hero, I…"

"Enough with the small talk Beloukas, let's make this quick so I can leave, you do have them right."

"No need to worry Sir shield, the product is in the back and ready for purchase. We even have the original if you want a look"

"I'm here for the one, if I want more I'll come back."

Walking past Beloukas he passes by many cages full of creatures and other slaves until he reaches the very back. Pulling off the cloth, Naofumi looks at the contents, A children in tattered clothes.

"A Child, this is the best you can get me."

"Sadly yes, this is the best your budget can afford without getting too far into the mentally or physically damaged territories. lord Raiber didn't want to get rid of any that are of fresh or premium quality."

"How the hell can a person be premium?"

"It depends on the person's taste. For me it's the high level ones, they usually cost the most. For the lord though, he loves the fresh and unbroken children, so he can beat all their hopes of love and freedom away. A pretty odd method since you already have the crest, but it's an effective one."

"What the hell is up with some people."

"Oh you know. Hatred for demi's is pretty common. Of course I don't discriminate myself, since I play both sides of the slave trade in other places, like Siltvelt. The nobles love it."

"I'm really going to have to keep an eye on you."

"Don't worry I won't enslave you, besides enslavement of a hero is impossible anyways… sadly."

"What was that last part?" Naofumi glared at the trader.

"Oh nothing, nothing. Now where were we?'

The slave trader opened the cage and escorts the girl outside and into the lobby. Pricking his finger with a knife drops some blood that both make the ink to start the registration process on the raccoon girl, and annoy Naofumi that he can somehow hurt himself with a knife, but not others.

"Can I use some of that ink?"

"If desired, you can buy it for 3 silvers."

"Overpricing shit as always, I'll put it in with the payment for the girl." Naofumi grabs the ink off the counter

Slave Users Shield: conditions met

Slave users shield II

Slave Users Shield Equip Bonus: Slave maturation adjustment (small)

Slave users shield II equip bonus: Slave status adjustment (small)

"Interesting, it's similar to the monster user's series.

Monster Users Shield II equip bonus: Monster maturation adjustment (Medium)

"Are you absolutely sure this is the best I can get, I don't think children are well suited for combat?"

"If this isn't to your liking. I do have a beast man in the back who is currently level 75, only 60 gold pieces.

"Too expensive."

"Then perhaps I can call another shipment, or another monster?"

"No second monster Sakura is hard enough, but I'll take the second shipment."

"Then I shall start as soon as possible, and I'll keep in mind the "no child limitation. But quick question, do you perhaps want one that's a beauty."

"The hell, no!." Naofumi sighs as he wants to punch the man, but knows that he can't. "Just get me something that can fight."

"Will do. Also keep in mind, the child has some issues."

"Oh joy, what is this issue?" Naofumi complained as he read through his new shield stats.

"The child tends to have night terrors."

"Didn't you say this is the cheapest without going into the mentally or physically damaged?"

"It's the lowest yes, but not in the mentally damaged, just some nightmares. Her home was decimated by the first wave, and she cries about a dog or something else that is unimportant, I don't know much about the details."

"I'll jump that hurdle when I cross it then, shouldn't be too much of a problem. Child, tell me your name, unless you want to be called a girl from now on."

"Ra-Raphtalia." She whispered in a weak tone. Coughing a bit as she finishes.

"Sickness, that's also an issue."

"I'm sorry, this is truly the best I can do with my limitations."

"Looks like I'll just give her some medicine once we get back to the shop, until then, try to keep any unwanted germs off of Sakura." Naofumi walked over to the desk.

"S-Sakura?" Raphtalia asked as she followed.

"Welp time to go, and here's your payment." Naofumi tosses over a bag to Belokaus. Which he catches. "And next time attempt to not screw up something simple!"

"Good day sir hero, I shall adapt to meet your expectations."

As he leaves the tent, the slave trader drops the bag on his desk and crosses Naofumi's name off the list. "Well, I say that's Mission accomplished. Now it's time to report to the queen about the completed tra-."

"Beloukas!" The trader stopped as he heard a loud shout.

"What in the hell did you do to Sakura!" Naofumi shouted, moving through the tent in a rage

"Whatever do you mean, I haven't even gone near your filolial since her hatching."

"Then explain this!" He said. Barley dragging Sakura inside, she seems to have gotten fatter, and surprisingly fluffier.

"My word. This can't be true."

"Yeah breathtaking, so what the hell did you do? If you answer quickly, I'll only attempt to break 2 of your limbs."

"This is not my doing, although I can get some great marketing out of it."

"Not enough explaining." Naofumi looks at Sakura who gets closer.

"What I mean is that your filolial seems to have evolved into the filolial of legend. I have never seen one in the flesh itself so it's an extremely rare occasion."

"Filolial of legend?"

"Yes, since yours is a female that would make her a Filolial queen, it's said they usually run a flock of other wild filolial, as I said though, extremely rare and valuable as well."

"You know what I said last time, so I suggest you back away please."

"Don't worry sir hero. I remember your last warning, but if you leave her here while you do your errands I believe I can examine her for-."

"That's a no!, and that's certainly enough for today. If there's a problem I will return, every second I spend in this place makes me annoyed."

"Then I wish you the best of luck sir hero."

"Sure, Sakura get us out of here. let's go." Carrying Raphtalia like a football, he jumps onto Sakura's now expanded floof and commands her to run.

"Well, there's something you don't see every day."

"Very odd indeed."

"Woah, you snuck up on me there." Belokau looks behind him and finds the same woman as before standing behind him.

"The queen would be very pleased, a lot more now actually. I daresay."

"Before you go, you have the gold."

"Yes, I do, catch." The person replied, throwing the bag of gold towards the short man.

"I'll report this to the queen, You can just continue doing business as normal, I daresay." The shadow leaps off the table and into the top of the circus tent, disappearing from sight as she goes further up.

"I never understand how they are so good at being hidden, Welp back to work."

It's the middle of the day and business is moving quite slow for Erhard. He had just finished dealing with his last customer a few minutes ago and is now hanging around in his forge until someone else arrives. A few minutes later the door opens as Naofumi bursts in carrying a child-like football, setting her down once he finally makes it inside.

"Yo blacksmith got a moment."

"Names Erhard but yeah, What do you need to go or something?"

"I know your name you goof but no. I have a passenger who is pretty nauseous at the momentz Well that and she needs a bath, food, basic medicine, healing ointment… I just need you upstairs for a bit basically."

Erhard looks at the child on the ground, looking at how she's green in the face and about to hurl at any moment.

"Woah not on the floor, It's the upstairs first door to the left, and hurry" Erhard Replied pointing towards the staircase.

"H-hai" The little girl then rushes in and runs upstairs.

"While your up there, make sure you use the bath, I'll bring you some clothes when you're done!" Naofumi shouted.

"And try not to soak my towels when he does, I just finished drying them," Erhard shouted as well.

"So that's your new slave huh, what happened to her?"

"Yeah, We rode Sakura on the way to your shop, she got motion sickness immediately. Well, that and the mental trauma, scars, bruises, whatever sickness she has. You get what I mean."

"Yeah, I guess, poor kid."

"I know, seriously these previous owners are the living proof that some people don't have a soul. She's so passive to the point she won't say anything to improve her own health. She almost fell off because she lied about not wanting an apple, I didn't even know lying was a punishment on this list."

Naofumi scrolls down the list of options and turns off several of them, lowering the punishment to the lowest setting to not hurt Raphtalia.

"I think I'll keep that setting on though? I don't want any Myne bullshit to happen again. Especially since she's female."

"You and your problems kid."

"Hey, in a world where balloons try to kill me, I'm justified."

"That makes no sense."

"That's because you lived here your whole life, this stuff isn't normal where I come from." Naofumi presses a button on his screen and closes it one more time. "There, now if she lies to me twice, the crest will activate."

"That doesn't really change much, and why twice?"

"I only had her for 7 minutes and I already noticed she has a habit of denying everything. It happened at least twice on our way here when I gave her an apple to eat. Anyways I'm going to need some new clothes and a weapon for Raphtalia."

"Sure, just choose from the clothing pile, I'll grab a weapon," Erhard said.

Naofumi heads towards a pile of clothes, a lot of it is just clothing for older women. Soon enough he finds a small red and black dress bringing his search to an end.

He goes upstairs to the bathroom and lays the clothes on the floor. After that, he goes downstairs to converse with Erhard a bit more. "So how much would this one cost?"

"At least 12 silvers, the clothes don't cost too much, but the dagger does."

"You have changed for a gold?"

Naofumi asked, reaching into his pouch Naofumi grabs 1 gold. putting them on the table. Throw in a map of surrounding areas too, I have some medicine that might sell well in other places."

"Sure, If you plan on leaving, the closest town next to here is Lute village. and with Sakura, you'll make it in a day or two." Erhard then takes out a map, marking where lute village is. "Speaking of, where is Sakura?"

"Too big for the inside now, Long story short, Belokaus said she evolved into a queen, whatever that means."

"Like the one from the legends? You planning on building an army or something?."

"Never. Sakura is hard enough to take care of already. But the thought of it seems pretty interesting, huh an army of filolials." Naofumi starts to think. Imagining hundreds of filolial trampling Myne and Motoyasu, only to shake himself out of it a few seconds later.

"Kid, stop thinking of something sinister and take your map."

"Wasn't sinister you mind reader, I just don't want to take care of 100 birds, definitely a difficult task.

"And yet you bought a child like they're easier to take care of."

"It was literally out of my control, I didn't desire a child to help me with killing. I was expecting an adult, or late teen but no, he decided to find a child with night terrors. Where is she anyways?"

Raphtalia after hearing this comes running down the steps in her new clothing, almost stumbling on the final step but catching herself on the railing. "Sorry for being late Master, it won't happen again," Raphtalia Said in fear in tone.

"Calm down your fine, and don't call me master, that's just going to cause more problems for me."

"Okay, Mr. Naofumi."

'This is going to be annoying' Naofumi thought as he moved to the door. "Anyways Raphtalia you think you can ride on Sakura without getting sick again, and there is no wrong answer."

"Umm, I can."

"Are you 100 percent sure?"

"Umm."

"I'll take that as a no, We'll work on the motion sickness when the time comes, until then let's go."

"Okay." Raphtalia Whimpered, Grabbing the Dagger off the desk.

"Leaving so soon Kid, thought you had a lot of things to do."

"I have to, Sakura gets a little cranky when she is by herself for too long. I'll test Raphtalia's combat ability once we get to the field, and do all the healing stuff later."

"Alright then, see you later kids, and treat her well," Erhard said, Waving goodbye to Naofumi and Raphtalia.

Naofumi walks outside and heads over to Sakura's who is tied to a fence. Unhooking her from the fence, he brought over Raphtalia and introduced her.

"You too haven't formally met so here's the introduction, Raphtalia this is Sakura, and Sakura this is Raphtalia, I suggest you two try to get along because we will be working together for a while."

Being a little nervous Raphtalia moves up to say hi but is tackled by Sakura before she has a chance.

"See she likes you, no need to be scared. Also careful Sakura, you're suffocating her, and possibly crushing her as well."

Sakura Listening to Naofumi gets off of Raphtalia.

"gaw," Sakura said quietly.

"Good, now that everyone is acquainted with each other, we're going to the Forest to level up, Any objections to this plan."

Both Raphtalia and Sakura don't say anything but the silence is interrupted by a growling stomach.

"Fine, I'll make some food once we get into the forest, now let's go, we're wasting a lot of time," Naofumi said, looking very annoyed.

In the forest, Naofumi sent Sakura off to go gather some monsters to eat while he and Raphtalia stayed at the camp to set up the fire and utensils for the cooking

"Chil- Raphtalia get over here." Immediately after being called, Raphtalia runs over to Naofumi,

struggling to carry a large stack of sticks in her arms.

"You're going to be fighting a lot so I need to test your combat ability to see if you're ready."

"Umm ok," Raphtalia replied.

Naofumi then reaches into his cloak and pulls out an orange balloon.

"Eek a monster." Raphtalia drops all the sticks she was holding and starts to run.

"Catch her."

"Gua." Being commanded, she immediately catches up to Raphtalia, and carries her back to Naofumi by the collar.

"Don't try to run from here, this is your new job."

"But."

"Shut it and listen up. Drop here please."

Sakura drops Raphtalia on the ground safely and runs into the forest with a bucket.

"Look I'm trying to be reasonable here, all you have to do is assist me and Sakura while fighting monsters and you'll be shelter, food, and so-so safe. I can't help you if you don't want to cooperate. And if you don't want to go back to that man's tent, which i know you don't, all you have to do, is stab the damn balloon!"

"I don't. But."

"Just stab the thing, and shut up. Before I make you do it myself."

"F-Fine." Raphtalia draws her knife and runs to the balloon. As she stabs it, the little force she put into the strike ends up making the dagger bounced off the balloon, and makes her fall to the ground."

"That was pathetic, do it again with more force."

Raphtalia gets back up and drives the dagger into the balloon, popping it and falling back over once more.

"Well your stance is pathetic and your stabbing needs work, but I don't have time to properly train you. We'll get to real combat after this meal so get yourself ready beforehand."

"Alright, Sir."

"Now go grab more sticks, we're going to need stronger fire for what's coming."

"Wait… what's coming?" Raphtalia asked.

Naofumi points towards the forest as a large pink figure gets closer and closer to them, finally arriving a few minutes later with a dozen rabbits, fish, and several other monsters she gathered in a bucket.

Raphtalia rubs her eyes to see if what she was looking at was real, only to claw looking at the exact same sight once she opens them again.

"Well what are you waiting for, get to stepping!"

"Yes, sorry sir" Raphtalia quickly runs to a nearby tree and collects sticks after Naofumi's orders. Leaving Sakura and Naofumi to complete the fire and start cooking the food for a good meal.

"I don't know what to do with that child."