Seven day free trial

After leaving Raphtalia in charge of the firewood. Naofumi took out his utensils bag and spread out the tools to start preparing the overabundance of food Sakura brought back, which really confused him this time since she was barely strong enough to kill a few rabbits. But now she's over here bringing back what seems to be a Boar.

'A bigger haul this time. Is this part of her… evolution? Or is this just a case of over-leveling? Well assuming she's only level 7, it's a possibility she could kill everything in this pile, except this thing. What the hell is it?' He thought to himself.

Boar Charger Shield: Conditions met.

Boar Charger Shield equipment bonus: Speed boost (low)

"Is it transformation? No can't be if it were it would have a time limit right, or is it permanent since it's been over a few hours with no signs of changing back. So evolution would be the correct word for it, which would mean the slave trader was correct."

Naofumi opens his screen and scrolls to Sakura's name. As he thought, Sakura's evolution did give a very good boost to her stats, which he assumes would be on par with someone within level 20 to 25 range.

"This queen… whatever it is. Is actually quite neat."

"Umm, I didn't want to interrupt, but who are you talking to?" Raphtalia asked. Naofumi can only assume she's been standing there while he was monologue.

"Don't worry about it, drop the sticks into the fire and drink this," Naofumi said, Tossing a bottle to Raphtalia. The bottle slipped from her hands as she attempted to catch it, but she grabbed it before it could hit the ground.

"It's some medicine I made during a cart ride, it should be able to help with that cough and possible sickness you have. Probably."

"Umm, you sure I can drink it mas- mister?"

"Don't worry, it's not poisonous to you, you're clear to drink."

Raphtalia was discouraged at first, but soon she started to drink the contents of the bottle, only to spit it out immediately after tasting it "Blegh! So bitter!"

"Hey! Don't waste the medicine. Don't you know how long it took to make this!?" Naofumi pulled out a rag and rubbed Raphtalia to clean her up.

"But it tastes so bad."

"That's the taste of proper medicine, not those lame gummy vitamins you get for breakfast."

"What's a gummy vitamin?"

"Something currently beyond your understanding, now drink!"

"Ugh!"

/-/

A few hours after lunch the group went into the forest to level up. Naofumi was surprised to see Sakura her new strength, he knew her speed had improved when riding her to the weapon shop, but her strength had also grown.

She was decimating most creatures she came across, evening kicking down trees and leaving holes in the ground whenever she missed her target, showing the effects of what evolution had on her.

Even if Raphtalia was a child, she was doing pretty well for herself. Most creatures would die in one slash to the puny dagger she was wielding, and with Sakura ready to assist any. Any creature that was unfortunately still alive after the attack, would have a oversized foot coming straight towards them.

"Umm master?"

"Mister."

"Sorry, Mister Naofumi. Can I ask you something?"

"Sure, you can ask me something."

"Not that I'm complaining, but w-well, why do you desire me to fight?"

"Oh, there are a couple of reasons. First I at least wanted someone who can speak words instead of annoying squawks that make no sense half the- AGH!, damn it, that actually hurt."

Sakura ended up feeling insulted and went over to kick Naofumi in the shin.

"Alright sorry, you didn't need to kick me."

"Gaw." Saura turned her head from Naofumi and went running after a monster who ran at the sight of the large bird.

'Gotta keep that bird's feeling in mind before she ends up breaking a limb, now what was I on? Right, Raphtalia.'

"Right, my second reason is to fight against the waves. I thought a hu… well demi-human, in this case, would be a nice addition to the team and help boost exp gain. Until Sakura happened and most of my money went to waste."

"S-sorry."

"No need to apologize, who knows maybe you'll be of some use." Naofumi gets in front of Raphtalia to stop a boar, and it soon comes to the same result of death as its comrade earlier, a swift kick to its back that splatters blood all over the place. Raphtalia who was behind Naofumi at the time did her best to keep her composure at the sudden horrific sight and kept talking to Naofumi to keep her mind off the death.

"B-but, why are you trying to f-fight against the waves? Isn't that the duty of a h-h-hero?"

"Well, if you put two and two together, what do you think?"

"Umm, I think it was f-four!"

"I'm not talking about math, you idiot. I am a hero!" Naofumi catches a balloon charging at them and pins it on the ground, allowing Raphtalia to stab it. "Although I don't really care if this kingdom burns to the ground."

Raphtalia pondered a thought for a moment, instantly forgetting about earlier even, she looks closely at the shield that resides on Naofumi's arm. For a second she thought he was lying, but realized he was telling the truth when she saw the gem on his shield. "Woah! he really is the shield hero!"

Naofumi, obviously hearing this, decides to ignore Raphtalia's murmurs and attempts to draw some monsters to the area using the leftovers from lunch as bait. As the trap lays there for a moment, an Usapil appears from a bush and heads for the plate, only to be crushed by Sakura who came from the top of a tree.

"Sakura, your attacks are both brutal but effective."

"Gua."

Hearing another riddle in the bush, Naofumi rushes over and dives inside to restrain the creature inside. Coming out the bush with the Usapil, he walks over to Raphtalia and dangles the rabbit by it's ears.

"Alright, let's finish it off and move on to the next area."

Raphtalia moves up to the rabbit and her hands trembled as she presses the tip of her dagger on its neck. She stands there for a few seconds about to finish it off, but she can't bring herself to do it.

"What are you doing? You have it by the neck, there's no need to change your stabbing position."

"I-it's n-not t-that. If I k-kill it, b-b-blood would start to d-drip."

"It's just blood. You want to stick with me, deal with it."

"B-but."

"No! If you want to go back and achieve nothing by slowly dying in a cage, then go ahead, I'll take my refund."

"Gua?"

"Shut up and stay out of this Sakura! Now Raphtalia, what's your choice?" Naofumi asked,

Raphtalia's grip on her dagger starts to drop as she slowly lowers it to the ground. Not being able to bring herself to do it, she hands over her dagger to Naofumi.

"Well, that was disappointing. Thought I found a- Agh! stop doing that you damn bird!…" Naofumi holds his shin in pain.

Sakura who just kicked Naofumi again walks over to the saddened child and picks her up by the collar of her dress. Flipping Raphtalia onto her back, Sakura starts to run back to the direction of the camp.

"Hey don't just leave me out here!" Naofumi shouted as the bird got further and further away.

/-/

Back at the camp,

After getting back to the camp and starting a fire with the leftover wood they had. Raphtalia sits down on the log to wait for Naofumi's return. While waiting, Sakura walks near to the log Raphtalia was on, and sits right next to her, nuzzling her head on Raph's face. Raphtalia returns this display by scratching Sakura on the neck.

"I see you two are having fun. Thanks for almost leaving me out there to."

"F-fun. No sir! I wasn't doing anything of the-"

"Sure you weren't. Now get some rest, we'll be leaving town tomorrow to find a much better place to stay, I'm getting really tired of this place."

"Yes sir." Raphtalia gets off the log she was on and lays on the ground.

Naofumi looks on in confusion as the Raccoon girl decided to sleep on the floor, and threw a sleeping bag with a cover at her.

"I bought this for a reason, don't make it a waste."

"Umm yes, sorry." Using the sleeping bag. Raphtalia slides inside and attempts to fall asleep.

Naofumi watches her get in the bag, goes over to a log, and pulls out all his items for medicine creation.

/-/

Later on in the night, Sakura waited for Raphtalia to go to sleep before heading over to Naofumi. Usually he'll just ignore her as her pecks as they were usually attempting to get extra food, and she'll go to sleep after being denied. But this time she was persistent, and keep trying to get his attention.

"Gua!"

"Go to sleep."

"Gua gua!?"

"No thanks, I have work to do. Taking care of you uses all the money I can afford."

"Gua?" Naofumi finally looks back and sees one of her legs pointing at Raphtalia.

"Oh her, yeah she's not for long, she's being returned tomorrow."

"Gua!"

"She's a liability, if she refuses to kill a rabbit then I can't trust her with killing something important later on. If you are somehow able to make her an unstoppable killing machine then maybe I'll think of it. But as of now, I'm willing to take her back immediately for a- wait do slave trades have a refund policy?"

"GUA!"

"That's a no, we're already underpaid as it is. And she is not getting special treatment for doing Nothing."

"Gua Gua!"

"Can you, can you really!?"

Sakura starts to glow as a puff of smoke emits from her feathers, soon exploding into a large puff that obscures the area. Once the smoke died down, Naofumi looked at his Filolial in fear, thinking she exploded, only to be looking at a naked young adult woman staring back at him."

"Sakura said, challenge accepted!"

/-/

Naofumi backed up from his log and slid across the ground as the new woman suddenly appeared in his camp.

"WHAT THE HELL!"

Naofumi immediately threw his cover at the woman to cover her up, followed by a balloon to attack. But as it flies through the air, it's caught by the woman and crushed in her hands.

"I get it was shocking and all, but can you not?"

"Shut up, who the hell are you!?"

"Well, Sakura was just enveloped in smoke and appeared in the exact same place. Who do you think I am!?"

"Bullshit, Sakura was a damn bird. Why are you naked!?"

"For one, I don't magically spawn clothes. So of course, I wouldn't have them. But allow me to make this easier since you refuse to put the facts together."

Sakura explodes into a puff of smoke and reemerges in his Filolial form, and then transforms back to her human form a few seconds later.

"There, happy now."

"What in the-!"

"Yeah yeah, really surprising. We aren't getting rid of her."

"I think we're beyond that conversation right now!"

"You sure cause it's pretty important."

"No, she's not, you can do the job just fine. Actually no, you can do the job even better than she has."

"Please, just give her another chance. Sakura's sure she'll come around."

"Why do you care? you just met."

"And Sakura wants to keep the child safe from harm. You ask Sakura to get along, I'm following the orders."

"I didn't use any monster crest on you, so that can't be it."

"It's called Sakura's choice."

"well, your choice is completely overshadowed by the facts. Now shut up for a moment, I need to find what shield did this somehow."

"Sakura doesn't think that exists."

"It has to exist. Why else would you be able to transform out of the blue, twice may I add."

"M-."

"And magic isn't a valid answer."

"Then Sakura doesn't know what to tell you."

"Of cou-."

"Mommy, Daddy, Nooo!"

The two of them pause and look over to Raphtalia reaching into the air with her eyes still closed. Naofumi assumed she was sleep talking until he remembers what the slave trader told him about her night terrors.

"Poor Talia, you should really do something."

"Why do I have to? You're the one who's attached to the kid."

"Oh right, send the naked girl to comfort the crying child, smart idea."

"You're a transforming bird, don't act like you have one option."

"What Sakura is saying is that she is expecting a human face, and not some random monster. Unless you want to add heart attacks to her list of problems"

"Ugh, fine. I'll comfort the child."

Sakura had a smug look on her face as Naofumi goes over to Raphtalia and picks her up. Carrying her, Naofumi rocks her back and forth in his arms to stop her from crying. Soon enough, she stops crying and is slowly played back down in her sleeping bag to continue her sleep, only shaking a couple of times as she dreams.

"Aww, that was adorable."

"Shut up! And this causes an extreme change of plans."

Packing started to pack up the camp but stops for a moment to grab the sleeping bag Raphtalia was in. Taking the bag away from her, she is woken up by the sudden chill of the night.

"Wake up, we need to go."

"But it's like night, can I-" Raphtalia yawned before talking once more. "Sleep a bit more."

"No, we have to move now."

"Aww." Raphtalia gets up from the ground and rubs her eyes for a bit.

"Didn't want to do this, but we're going back to town."

"I-I got it," Raphtalia replied with another yawn, that's when she noticed the newest guest traveling with them. "Wait, who's the new girl?"

"We'll explain on the way."

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The streets of the loud and busy castle town are now silent. Most people have secluded themselves in their homes as night fell, making it easier for Naofumi and his party to sneak around the place with minimal eyes on them. Jumping over walls, and going through secret alleyways, the party makes it to a door.

"Wow, you two are very good at this!"

"Yeah, Naofumi snuck around the town with Sakura every once in a while."

"Okay, But why were we hiding if no one is out here?"

"It would be a commotion if someone saw a giant bird outside, it would be an even bigger issue if someone saw me with a naked woman and child. I don't need any more crimes pinned on me."

"Crimes?"

"Don't worry about it. Unless you're curious, then ask Sakura."

"Why does Sakura have to answer?"

"Just curious to see if you were actually listening."

"Right, let's forget all the replies I gave back to you."

"Then you wouldn't have an issue explaining to the child." Naofumi goes up to the door and knocks on it. A few seconds go by with no answer, so Naofumi knocks on it again. A grump man can be heard coming to the door, with loud footsteps indicating his arrival.

The door is opened slightly as the party hears a deep, and angry voice. "The shop is closed, and this isn't even the correct entrance. Come back tomorrow!"

"I get that it's late, I'll pay you for that. But right now, I need some assistance, old man."

Erhard sighs as he remembers the voice of his friend, and opens the door. "Alright, what did you do this time?" Erhard, fully opening the door, notices a woman in a cloak. "Another one huh, thought you were only getting the one?"

Sakura transforms, surprising Erhard and ripping up the cover she had on her.

"Huh, that's not something you see every day."

"I know it's a saying but you say that like it's a constant thing."

"It's probably like, every few weeks or so with some Therianthropes. Alright come on inside and I'll find something that fits her."

"Thanks again old man, I owe you one," Naofumi said in relief.

"You owe me a lot more than that."

The group went inside the store with the blacksmith, Erhard goes into the back and pulls out a random beige dress he had laying around. Handing it over to Naofumi who tosses it to Sakura. "These aren't the best clothes but they should work for now. You'll have to go to the magic shop if you want to find something that can transform with her, and a normal clothes shop for the other necessities."

"Wait, transform with?"

"Yeah, clothes like that don't transform with the user. You saw what happened to the cover earlier right?"

"I wasn't even paying attention to Sakura?"

"Rude." As Sakura exits the changing room with a beige dress, Naofumi goes over and picks up Raphtalia who was sleeping on the floor.

"What, it's rude to not look at a naked woman now?"

"Who said that?"

"Your comment just a few seconds before. Now, old man. Do you know where the shop is?"

"Well, it's closed like my shop at the moment. But I'll take you tomorrow before I open up."

"Alright then, I'll see you tomorrow. Later"

"Later Kid."

The party exits the building and heads towards the inn for tonight.

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The next day, Naofumi knocks on the back door of Erhard's Shop. He left the inn early so he could get Sakura's clothes much earlier. Erhard answered the door seconds later and escorted them over to the clothing shop to meet the Tailor.

"Oh my gosh, she is so adorable! Her hair, her wings! They can all be used to make a perfect piece of clothing. There is so much inspiration standing right in front of me, I can make hundreds of designs in seconds!"

"Um, sorry to interrupt your… Inspiration session. But you do have the materials to make magic clothing right?"

"Oh yes, of course, Erhard sent both of us a message earlier, and we decided that I'll be able to use her spinner for today as long as she gets half the profit. But who cares about money, this is all about making the perfect design for her."

"Uhh, so can you make this quick."

"Give me five, no six hours. And she'll come back with the best dress ever! Come, I'll take your measurements right now." Tailor squealed in delight. As she grabbed Sakura's arm.

Surprisingly enough, Sakura wasn't able to withstand the strength of the tailor and was dragged into the shop, as a result, Leaving Naofumi and Raphtalia looking puzzled by the scene that just took place.

"Old man, Is she always like that?"

"Yeah, especially if it's a custom request like this. From the looks of it, she's going to have so much fun."

"Well I'm not waiting here, I got stuff to do."

"Me too kid, I gotta open the shop soon."

"Welp, Thanks again for the assistance, old man. Hey, Raphtalia we're heading out!"

"Yes, Sir Naofumi. And thank you, Mr. Erhard." Raphtalia said and followed Naofumi out of the shop to their destination.

/-/

Naofumi and Raphtalia leave the store after the Tailor snatched Sakura. During the walk back to the inn, Naofumi notices Raphtalia's funk and decides to take her to the nearby tavern to eat as one last attempt to tolerate the child. As they reach the inside of the tavern, Naofumi ignores everyone gossiping about him and orders two meals.

As Naofumi eats he sees and hears Raphtalia attempting to refuse the call of hunger, as she just stares at him eating his meal.

"What, aren't you hungry?"

Raphtalia shakes her head. "Yes, I don't need any food."

"Is that a lie?" Naofumi asked, getting silence from Raphtalia.

"Why do you do that anyway? You do know it's not a problem when I specifically ask you something."

"It's just, my old masters would get extremely angry whenever I seemed happy."

"Well, I'm not your other masters. Besides, it's not okay to keep all that anger and sadness bottled up."

"I just don't want to disappoint you."

"Look, I need a functional, and not a broken child to act as a party member. Sakura usually forces me to speak when she thinks I was too angry, so it helps." A waiter comes to Naofumi's table with some drinks and takes their order before leaving. "So tell me, what the hell happened to you?"

"Okay," Raphtalia tells her story to Naofumi, explaining what happened during the last wave. And the fate of her village afterward. During the story, she would burst into tears as she described some of the horrifying scenes, forcing Naofumi to take her outside for a bit.

"Damn, that's terrible. You did go through a lot of pain."

"Y-yeah."

"I see, that moment must have been really traumatizing for you, and I guess that's what your nightmare was about."

"I-it was, If-failed my parents, Rifana and K-keel are gone. And now I failed the village too" tears start streaming down her face as she speaks. Naofumi soon brings in Raphtalia for a hug which lasts for three minutes, before getting back to the topic."

"Okay child, I know you're sad, but I'm going to have to lay the harsh truth on you. Crying isn't going to get them back."

"What."

"Yeah, if you want to find your friends and rebuild your village, get stronger, and reject the reality you set for yourself. You didn't fail anyone, and your parents never gave up on you even after death. That is why they threw you off, not to get rid of you, but to let you survive and live on. Now, child. I'll give you the same choice as before. I can't bring everyone back, but you can stay with us and grow into a warrior, or you can just stay in the ruins of your village and contribute nothing. So what do you decide?"

"I'll stay with you, I'll follow your lead under a condition. I need to know if someone is still alive, at least to give me hope."

"If you want to make demands like that, I expect you to do better during our next hunt then. Sakura said you'll be good member material so don't waste her opportunity."

"If that's what you need from me, then I accept."

Naofumi extends his hand for a formal handshake, but Raphtalia runs up to Naofumi and gives him a hug while sobbing trying to speak some words. "T-thank...you N-n-naofumi."

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Meanwhile with Sakura.

"Okay child, what do you think about this?"

"Sakura doesn't like it. Also, she's not a child."

"Doesn't matter what age you are, now this one?"

"The length is fine, but it's too tight on Sakura's chest. Do you have anything different?"

"Of course, this isn't even the final product.."

"Then why does Sakura need to do this?"

"Because, before I make the final iteration. I need to find the type and style of the dress you need. Colors, the perfect hemline, extra designs. This is truly what is needed to be done before one can consider a dress to be perfect. Oh, just imagine the final design, you'll be a beauty."

"I get beauty, but don't forget it has to be combat effective as well?"

"Don't worry I have something for that too. In theory, it should be enough for your wings and limbs to move freely, as well as enough enchanted material to give some defense, while also having a style that would make you look graceful on the battlefield. Speaking of which, you might want to try some pants under the dress if you plan on jumping around. As well as some wraps or a proper bra or some straps to keep your chest from bouncing around all the time. Because that's just uncomfortable.

"Sounds like a lot of extra steps are being used there. Also she'll take the straps."

"Oh trust me, nothing about this is extra. Each and every part is important to make the perfect dress. Now that I have most of the data down on height, width, length, bust, as well as the specific type of dress you desire. We can finally make it out of the planning stage."

"That was all the planning stage."

"Yes, so now it's time to make the thread. Now spin that wheel!"

"Finnne~ such a draag~" As Sakura starts to spin the wheel, some thread starts to come out before the crystal shatter.

"Oh, Sakura doesn't think that was supposed to happen."

"Don't worry, I should have a spare crystal on backup in case this exact situation happened."

"You do?"

"Yep, it's right he- oh god!" As he grabbed the crystal, the tailor slipped on one of the dresses she tossed earlier.

Sakura watches as the crystal the tailor was holding slips from her hand and shatters as it lands on the ground,

"So... got any spare crystals?"

"No" the tailor said weakly while on the ground.

"Want me to go grab another?"

"That would be appreciated!"