Cave Expedition

"Oh my, this is a truly remarkable find." Belokaus looks under a blanket covering a shaking cage and beams with joy.

"I've heard a few rumors of their existence since the waves were started, but I didn't think they were true. Take it to the rare creature section."

"Is that section also for Sakura?"

"AGH!" Startled, the slave trader turns around, only to see Naofumi.

"Oh, it's just you shield hero. Sorry if the child wasn't satisfactory, If you're here to exchange, I have plenty of adults in the back as a replacement. Around 34 to be specific"

"How the hell did you find so many so fast?"

"Trade secret, I can teach you how for some silver." the slave trader stroked his mustache as he waited for an answer.

"Would have been helpful before, but I've decided to keep her. Now I need you to track down and find two others from her village, the names are Keel and Rifana." Naofumi leans down to the slave trader and starts to whisper. "Rifana is possibly dead, so that's just a confirmation."

"I see. My men have tracked down and captured many children, so this shall be an easy task. Estimated time of success should be around two weeks."

"Is that truly the fastest?"

"Yes, the travel does take some time."

"Then I'll be back by then. And don't disappoint me."

"On it right away sir shield."

/-/

Naofumi left the tent with Raphtalia and started to head back to the inn.

"I never noticed how rude you can be at times."

"It's a slave trader, I'm pretty sure we can agree that most forms of respect are thrown out the window. Anyways don't mind the crest, I just left it there for stat-boosting purposes."

"Stat boost?"

"It's a way to give you better growth while leveling. I'm pretty lucky I found out about this early."

"So I'll be stronger than Sakura?"

"No, she'll probably be stronger. Of course, the keyword is probably so take it with a grain of salt."

Raphtalia beams with happiness at her hand to the crowd of people gathering. "Hey speaking of Sakura, there she is."

"What?" Looking over to where Raphtalia is pointing, Sakura slides into the alleyway and away from the crowd, knocking over a couple of trash cans in the process.

"Hey, didn't I tell you to watch the trash cans last time? And what are you doing here, I'm pretty sure dressmaking doesn't take thirty minutes."

"Sakura knows, something went wrong and she needs you to follow her to the magic shop."

"What did you do?"

"It's not Sakura's fault this time… probably?"

"Ughh!" Naofumi groans as picked up and tossed Raphtalia into Sakura's feathers as he hops on her back as well.

Running through the castle town once more, Sakura reaches the magic shop in under a minute and tries to head inside. Only to get stuck between the door frame due to forgetting about her larger size. With a puff of smoke, she returns to her human form and quickly covers herself with an oversized cloak before picking up Raphtalia who fell out of her feathers.

"Sorry Talia, Sakura didn't mean that." Sakura picks up Raphtalia and puts her back on her feet.

"I'm fine."

"Great, now what happened?" Naofumi asked.

"Oh yeah, so you know that spinning wheel Sakura was using."

As they enter the shop properly this time, Naofumi sees the jewel spit on the countertop and immediately shifts his hand to his coin pouch.

"You just got a human form, how did you break something so fast."

"Don't worry, it wasn't her fault. The crystal was on its last leg anyway."

"Oh, alright then." Naofumi quickly puts his pouch away and walks to the counter.

"So is it possible we can get another one of these gems? I need it quickly"

"There are plenty in a cave around here." The store's resident witch points her wand on a map she pulled out. "The only problem is that multiple high leveled creatures are in that place, and it is dangerous for you and even me to go in without assistance."

"So you're saying we have to wait for a new gem?"

"Not exactly." The witch taps the crystal ball on her desk with a wand, then static suddenly stats to fills the ball.

"/-/

Caldera's Temporary Outpost

Mirso Inn

Out at random town lies an inn. A bearded man with a rabbit ear walks into an extremely messy kitchen as a mixes a man with silver hair splashes a bowls contents all over the place, some of which end up hitting the rabbit.

"Hey watch the mess, we don't wanna pay for any clean ups."

"I would but the whisk was broken, so I had to use a spoon ."

"Then stop scooping as you mix and just mix it!"

"What?" Sylvester replied confused. This response making the annoyed rabbit throw a loaf of bread at the baker.

Entering the common area, the room only has a girl in a red top hat reading a book, as a purple ball in the corner glows vibrantly. The rabbit walks over to the ball and waves his hand over it to see an image inside.

"No one is paying attention to the ball, it's like y'all refuse to do anything productive."

The rabbit clears his throat as he waves his hand over the ball once more. "Fonhare Gruff, what do you need?"

"Wait, does he mean hare as-?"

"Not the time Naofumi. Hey fishing bud, long time no see."

"Ahhh the witch of Melromarc, nice to see you again."

"Same to you. Now, about that favor."

"Oh you're cashing it in? That may spice up today." The Rabbit straightened his headband out of excitement.

"So you're willing to help out. The usual meeting spot?"

"Totally, give me an hour." The rabbit waved his hand over the crystal ball and caused the static to return once more to Naofumi's side.

"Did he just hung up. How did he even do that?" Naofumi questioned as he inspected the ball.

"It's not that difficult. So, what are your plans now?"

"Wait here, and see if the guy comes." Naofumi sits down on a chair for a moment but immediately gets bored.

"So you got anything interesting?"

"You got fifteen silvers?"

/~/

Back with Gruff

"Miharè, did Plastarè take Pastry when she left?"

"I don't think so."

"Then I can make it quickly. If she returns, tell her I took Pastry out for a bit."

"Alright, and have fun."

"I'll try, bet it's another escort though."

Heading upstairs to the guest rooms. Gruff opens the wardrobe and straps on some metal braces on his arms and legs. As he finished gearing up, he quickly ran over to the private stables and went to the very end. At the final door, Gruff looks at a poorly drawn slice of bread' on the stable door, and opens it.

"Wake up friend, it's mission time."

/~/

One hour later

Naofumi uses the silvers he got from the old medic and bought 3 grimoires for all of them to read. Getting their magic affinity checked, Naofumi tried to read but remembered a harsh truth, he couldn't. So he tried asking the witch, but she couldn't also since it wasn't her affinity, causing Naofumi to put reading on hold. Scrolling through his shield menu for any extra effects or shields he missed, Naofumi hears a large flapping outside getting louder and louder. Naofumi thought it was Sakura at first, but when he notices her asleep in the corner, he looked outside.

Once he does he sees a brown blur heading towards the door. Quickly opening it, a demi-human with brown rabbit ears slides into the room and stops himself with a gust of wind before he crashes into the desk.

"Woah, gotta work on that landing. Would have been bad if I crashed into that door too."

"What the hell?!" Naofumi exclaimed.

"Notable tip young one, never jump off a diving flying creature."

"In what universe is that a idea!?"

"Oh it totally wasn't, I was just bored." The rabbit replied as he walked over to the desk. Alright Ms. Witch, what are today plans

"Wait, he's the guy you asked?"

"Indeed. He's a fishing friend of mine along with some of the other merchants in the area.

"Okay then." Naofumi answered, pretty confused at the rabbit.

Getting a better look at the man he saw previously in the crystal ball. He was wearing a short-sleeved shirt, with baggy pants that reached down to his feet. But what caught his attention was some weird straps of metal on his arm.

"Huh, where's your weapon?"

"Don't need it, this foot is trained in the technique of kicking stuff."

"Sounds very effective." Naofumi replied sarcastically, taking out a map with a red circle drawn on it.

"Oh, it's just this place. Why do you need me for it?"

"Crystals, high-level monsters, and a one-woman crew. We needed more people to guarantee success."

"Shouldn't be too difficult. The last time I was in that area the monsters were around level 45 to 50, so I say we have a pretty good shot."

Naofumi glares at Gruff as he adjusts the cestus on his arm.

"Alright I'm assuming the witch is coming, so I need one more."

"Why one specifically?" Naofumi asked

"Pastry can carry three on his back for two hours without rest. And we need a lot of hands for those crystals."

"Umm question, who is Pastry?" Raphtalia questioned as she raised her hand."

"Him." Gruff pointed outside to a pretty large griffin who was only slightly bigger than Sakura. Naofumi was impressed and was more than ready to fly to get the gem.

Hearing a squawk from the outside, Sakura immediately wakes up and looks out the window."Why is there a musty griffon outside!"

"It's my new ride."

"What! You can't ride that Naofumi!"

"Why not, is it unstable?"

"It's a disgusting Griffin, they literally eat mice for dinner."

"Can confirm, he does. But he's currently the fastest here."

"Oh, Sakura highly doubts that!"

"I don't think you can carry fly and carry three people on your shoulders. Even if you could travel on foot is pretty slow."

"He's right though, I'm taking the faster trip for now."

"Oh come on, you know Sakura can run faster!"

"True, but this one can fly."

Naofumi puts his bag next to Raphtalia and climbs onto the griffin. Sakura looks on in sadness as her beloved master is taken by the flying beast.

"Raphtalia, can I borrow your dagger?"

"Umm alright." Raphtalia tries to give Sakura her dagger, But when she takes it out, Sakura grabs her hands that are still holding the handle and drags her off.

/~/

After flying for an hour, Gruff spots the cave and commands Pastry to land in a safe area. As they landed, Pastry collapsed on the ground and quickly went to sleep.

"Nice job boy, you can rest now."

"Is he going to be okay?" The witch asked

"He's just taking a nap. He'll wake up when we ask."

Gruff takes some meat and a napkin out of his pocket and lays it next to Pastry, before catching up to Naofumi who has already started walking to the cave.

As they get to the entrance, a large iguana monster comes running out of the cave to attack. Naofumi raises his shield to block the creature's jaw, but Gruff gets in front and steps off its snout, effectively preventing it from raising it.

"I suggest you stay behind me, you're still pretty low level to be on the front lines." Gruff brings his second foot down the creature's head, killing it. Some of its blood splattered on Naofumi's face as he didn't expect it to die so quickly.

"Hold it, before we go in." Naofumi opens his menu and sends Gruff and the witch a party request, that they both quickly accept.

"Now that that's dealt with. ONWARD FRIENDS!"

"I'm not friends with you."

"Let's move!" Gruff and the witch run inside the cave, leaving Naofumi in the dust, before he can even run inside, he gains several exp notifications.

"These people are insane." Naofumi readies his shield and runs into the cave.

/-/

Naofumi spends the next half hour following Gruff who rushed into the wrong cave. They left and went into another cave, but it only held a treasure chest with nothing inside, which disappointed Naofumi. After enough searching, they believed they found the correct cave this time and went inside. But as they did, the witch stops as she notices the footprint of a larger creature that could still be in the cave. But that only inspired Gruff who continued to walk as he ignored the print.

Along the path, Naofumi does his best to block out the argument Gruff and the witch were having over the best type of fish bait. But when he finally thought they stopped, he starts to hear something else.

"Now that I've gained his trust, it would be trivially easy for me to kill him." The witch's voice said, echoing through Naofumi's head.

"What?"

"You're a worthless hero who can't even tell when he's being decei-" Gruffs voice echoed before being cut off.

When Naofumi regains his senses, he sees a couple of bats on the ground, with some of their faces being crushed, while others were burned to a crisp.

"What the hell was that?"

"Voice Gengar's. They copy the voices of those around you and say random stuff to put you off guard for an easy kill." Gruff drops one of the bats on the ground and steps on it.

"Then how were you unaffected?"

"I barely know you." Gruff continues to move down the path of the cave.

On the way, Naofumi grabbed some of the monster parts out of Gruff view to unlock a few shields in private.

Voice Gengar (bat form) Shield: conditions met

Special effect: Megaphone

"Great, now I can yell at people more efficiently," Naofumi grumbled as he ran to catch up with the witch and Gruff.

As they make it through the cave, the witch and Gruff kill many monsters rushing at them. Which gave Naofumi an extremely good boost of experience than he usually gets, easily getting from level 12 to 16 in under an hour. They go through the cave without much issue. They were caught off guard once by a few rats that blinded them, but they were quickly disposed of once their tricks were dispersed. It was only when they got to the end did Naofumi see the final boss.

A lion-like creature with a snake for a tail immediately rushed at Naofumi with its jaw ready to bite his head off.

Gruff quickly moves in front of the group and grabs the Nue by its jaw. The Nue goes to bite down on the rabbit's head, but a swift kick to its face knocks it back.

"If you're ever in this situation, try it out it's pretty cool."

Naofumi staring at the power difference just nods in response to the rabbit's statement and backs up a bit to let him do his job.

The Neu unsheathes its claws and slashes down at the rabbit, but Gruff moves to the side and proceeds to toss the Nue halfway across the room.

As the Nue crashes and slides across the ground, Gruff runs forward and spins sideways mid-air, the wind around him circling his entire body and into his foot. "[Double Side winding Spin kick]" Deliver a powerful kick as the Nue finishes sliding, Naofumi holds himself in place as a powerful wind is felt as the Nue is pushed into the ground.

"Fire now!"

"Got it!"

[Zwite Fire Blast]

Naofumi didn't even notice, but the witch next to him started to charge up a spell. As Gruff jumps back, the witch releases a large ball of flames from her wand that crashes into the Nue, digging an even deeper crater for the creature. Naofumi is only able to hear the screams of pain from the creature since it was so far into the ground, going on for a while before the noise finally settled.

"Did it die that quickly?" Naofumi asked.

"I not really sure unless the creature is truly that weak." As Gruff taps his foot on the monster, the Nue moves its charred body back up and uses its claw to slash at the rabbit, but he was able to dodge it by hopping back.

"Nope still alive."

The Nue continues his assault with multiple swipes at Gruff with its claws, but Gruff would dodge most of the strikes.

The Nue stopped his rapid assault after a minute and swiped his paw at Gruff face. The rabbit ducks under the swipe but is forced to jump once the Nue quickly sweeps his tail, leaving him vulnerable to the Nues claw that was coming at him mid-air.

But the rabbit flipped mid-jump and blocked the claw using the metal on his arms, and came back down with an ax kick to its forehead. Before it can get back up from the ground, Gruff lands and grabs it by its jaw to toss it up into the air. But as it falls, Gruff raises both hands.

[Fast Tornado!]

A tornado appears from his palms and keeps the Nue afloat. Taking the opportunity, the witch bombards the creature with dozens of fire spells that severely damage the already beat-up Nue.

"Witch, aim for the wall!"

"I see." The witch stops her assault and holds her wand at the point Gruff was looking at. As she chants, Naofumi looks over to Gruff who also started to chant himself.

"As the source of my power, I order thee. Decipher the laws of nature and allow me to ride the wind."

[First Wind Step]

Gruff leaps into the air as the tornado holding the Nue dissipates. As the Nue, falls to the ground, Naofumi thinks he's hallucinating when he sees Gruff use the air as a platform to back flip off.

"Wild Winds: Reverse Butterfly Twist Kick"

Naofumi and the Witch see the sheer brutality of the attack as they see a large dent form in the head of the Nue, as it flies into the wall.

With her target in range, a fire starts to gather around her wand as she finishes up her chant.

"As the source of thy power, I order thee. Decipher the laws of nature and let the fire that burst from my wand, form into an unstoppable flame."

[Dreifach Fire Burst!]

Three flames leap from the witch's wand and join together, making a large ball of flame that crash into the Nue, making it explode on contact

Level up: 16 → 23

"I love doing these types of combos." Gruff, gracefully lands on the ground and walks over to the Nue.

"What are you doing?"

"Checking to see if it's actually dead this time."

"I'm pretty sure that killed it."

"You can never be too sure. Like early, that thing tried to catch me off guard. Smart little bastard."

Gruff waits for the Nue to cool off a bit before jabbing through its charred fresh, and hitting its heart. Confirming that it is indeed dead. He then grabs a knife and starts cutting its flesh.

"Can you toss me some?" Naofumi asked

"Alright then Sure, what are you gonna use it for?"

"My personal business, what about you?"

"Pastry and Fish bait, I'm gonna check what I can catch with this."

"You need another hobby." Naofumi takes some of the Nue body parts he got and absorbs them to unlock a new shield.

Nue Shield Conditions Met

Level requirement: 25

"Of course, I can't equip it."

"Equip what."

"None of your business."

"Alright, no need to be a grump. We're all friends here."

"You're an acquaintance at best."

"Same thing, so let's grab this crystal already, and probably a couple more for it this one breaks."

"Good idea. You brought a pickaxe?"

The room goes silent in response to Naofumi's question.

"NOBODY BROUGHT A PICKAXE!"

"To be fair, you called me to escort, so not my fault." Gruff side-eyes the witch to see what she has to say.

"I simply just forgot." The witch replied.

"Great, so how are we supposed to harvest this?"

"I can try kicking it."

"Well you did kick a Nue into a wall, so it's the best option we god. Go ahead."

"If you say." Gruff walks over to the ore and lightly kicks the chunk of crystal as they all fall to the ground. Naofumi picks almost everyone up and places them in a money pouch for later.

"Gonna save a few of these for later, and I'm taking you."

Naofumi walks over to the Nue stuck in the wall and tries to drag it out. Gruff Seeing Naofumi struggle goes over to the Nue and pulls it out without much issue. "What are you planning to do with this?"

"Sell it."

"Huh, I like how you think." Gruff hoist the large creature over his shoulders and starts to leave the cave with Naofumi and the witch following shortly behind.

/~/

On their way back into the castle town. They all feel a sudden gust of wind hit Pastry out of nowhere. Gruff immediately takes action and slows the fall down via his wind magic, and almost lands without problem, until Pastry runs into a tree.

The rabbit and witch land relatively safe as they use some mobility magic to soften their fall. But Naofumi is launched off Pastry and slides through the dirt.

"Wha-What the hell was that!" Naofumi asked coughing into his hands.

"A burst of wind. Specifically a tornado spell."

"Huh, you know your stuff lady."

"I've been doing this for a while, now is time to find who fired that thing."

"She's right, no fooling around," Naofumi added, getting back up from the dirt.

Looking around, Naofumi gets a glimpse of a tree falling in the distance, while also hearing the sound of something striking said tree.

"Found it!" Gruff immediately dashes in the direction of the fallen tree and leaps into the air, gathering the wind around him to his foot to strike a giant pink bird holding a knife in its mouth.

[Wild Wind Kick!]

"Hold it, that's one mine!" Naofumi shouted.

"Oh." The wind around the rabbit dissipates. As he lands, he slides across and ends up right in front of the bird.

"Oh, it's just rabbit man." Sakura grabs her cloak and transforms from her human form into her human form as she notices Naofumi coming toward her.

"Sakura!" Naofumi stormed over to the Filolial in anger.

"Naofumi."

"You almost shot us out of the sky!"

"Sakura did? She has nice aim then."

"I can't lie, it was a pretty nice shot."

"Don't encourage her Gruff. And you, stop shooting at random stuff in the sky."

"Finnnne~" Sakura will avoid shooting things in the sky. Everything on the ground though is fair game.

"Ugh." Naofumi slaps his face as he handed the crystal bag to Sakura.

"Anyways, we were successful. Take this and head back to the clothes shop, get it over with already."

"Like always. Want me to take little Talia as well? She'll need it later."

"What do- wait a minute where the hell is she, I left her with you!"

"I dropped her off at the inn."

"You left here at the inn, by herself!?"

"Careful Naofumi, you're starting to become a bit attached."

"Shut up! And get to moving!"

"Oh, a father's anger knows no bounds." Sakura teased as she transforms back and runs off.

"That was the biggest beast-man transformation I've ever seen. Maybe she could have carried all of us."

"Guess you can say that. Now, what was she talking about?"

"If you were training that child, then she'll be growing really soon."

"I don't think that's how children work."

"You'll be surprised. So where do you plan on selling the Nue?"

Naofumi thinks for a moment before walking back to the griffin. "Think I have an idea."

/-/

Monster Venders Stand

The monster vendor sits at his stand with stacks of balloon rubber. other dismembers monster parts by his sides as he lets out a slight yawn, his head resting on his hands as he waits for another client to arrive. Being bored he looks up to the clouds and sees a blur pass by at high speeds. Thinking he was hallucinating from the head, he rubs his eyes only to see it again and coming directly towards him.

Fearing for his life, the vendor quickly runs away as a giant creature crashes into the ground, with a griffin landing by it.

Looking over at the crashed creature, he sees the shield hero standing on top of it with a smug face. "So, how much are you willing to pay for this one?"