"People will forget what you said, what you did, but they will never forget how you made them feel." -Maya Angelou

"Eh? IWATANI, WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS?!" as he looks at Raphtalia's healthbar which clearly states the title "slave". Naofumi exhaled deeply before saying "Look, trust me on this and sit down. I will try my best to explain." Erhard gives him a disbelieving look and says "You better, or else all the trust I have of your credibility is going to go down the drain so to speak."

Naofumi then went on to explain what happened and how he bought off the girl's freedom and was fully intent on releasing her after buying her some better clothes.

After all that, Erhard sighs in annoyance at his plan and said "As selfless an act as that is, you're merely condemning her if you're planning to release her in a place like Melromarc. My suggestion instead would be to take care of her until you can afford to send her back to her parents and/or relatives." Raphtalia frowns a bit after hearing "parents" unseen by everyone.

Naofumi then starts thinking, before taking an orange balloon from his belt, saying "Uncle(I think that's what Oyaji-san means), please give her a dagger please." which confuses Erhard, but then he shrugs and says "Okay, but I don't understa-" "Raphtalia, stab this balloon." to which the kid blinks and says "B-but I can't."

Seeing her hesitation, Naofumi kneels down so that they met eye to eye, and says "Please, I need you to kill this balloon. We cannot leave you with the nice blacksmith here all the time, he has enough things to worry about. If we are out and about in the fields, at least show me that you can protect yourself." "B-but-" Everyone's eyes widened, except Naofumi's, as the slave crest started to activate due to her disobedience. Everyone else starts to panic with Rin saying "Iwatani, what's happening?!"

"It's the slave crest." he says in a harsh tone he never used until now. "I had it activated to medium pain if she disobeyed."

Having no choice in the matter, Raphtalia draws the knife and charges at the balloon. However, due to how weak her attack was, it merely bounces off.

Shirou grits his teeth and takes out a sword before Naofumi stops him with his free hand and says "Don't, *deep inhale* as much as I'd like you to help her, this is for her own good. If she can't fight even this much, then she will have no chance in hell when the waves hit.", his piercing logic stops Shirou dead in his tracks, making the red head grit his teeth while clenching his fist.

Once more, Naofumi calls out to Raphtalia, saying "Put more backbone into the strike, come on!" making Raphtalia tear up a bit before charging. The strike connects wonderfully and the balloon pops, making Raphtalia stumble on her butt. Naofumi looks at her with a neutral expression, saying "You did well. Now come on, you need-no, deserve better clothes than those rags."

His face softens as he pats her on the head. He then leads her to the changing area and gives her a small chainmail dress. She took her time, but eventually finishes wearing the clothes. Naofumi smiles a bit before nodding, and saying, come on then, leaving Erhard, Rin and Shirou. Shirou then runs out, saying "Oi, wait up!"

Erhard sighs and tells Rin "I don't know if the world's falling apart or the kid's just adapting to the world, but he seemed much harsher than he did last time." "Don't worry sir, we're going to keep an eye out."

As Rin was leaving, Erhard says to her "Now don't you four go dying on me, ya hear? Especially that boyfriend of yours" to which Rin smugly grins, saying "Who do you think we are? Amateurs?" before her face softens into a genuine smile, saying "See you later, mister."

A bit later, the quad was now walking around town when Naofumi brings up the question of "Hey guys, is it okay if me and her go to the easier parts of the plains first? You two can do other things for a bit."

Shirou and Rin then look at each other and Shirou says "We'll join you. However, since we gain EXP faster from higher level creatures, I say we go for the harder part of the plains. We can let her handle dealing the final kills and such."

Rin nods, surprised slightly at Shirou's surprising amount of logic today. However, her admiration along with the color of her face drains away when she saw Shirou charging at a random slaver forcing a demihuman child to carry a large sack with his whip raised and ready to strike.

Rin then shouts Naofumi's name, and, understanding what must be done, the shield hero then uses a skill. "Airstrike Shield!" forming an intricate, green, shield-shaped construct in front of Shirou, making him slam face first into it before making a glass rubbing noise as his face slides down the airstrike shield. Shirou stood up and rubs his jaw, saying "What was that about, I could've saved those kids."

Naofumi looks at him with a disappointed face and said "Or you could've subjected them to something way worse. If you beat that guy up for beating them up, then he's gonna worsen the beating to spite you. Would you really want that?" Shirou grits his teeth, he knew Naofumi was right, he'd hate to admit it, but the shield hero was damn right. But just because he couldn't do anything about it, didn't mean it was fine. However, deep inside he already knew that. He wasn't the same Shirou as before the war. He already tweaked his ideals. He wasn't going to become Archer.

As they walked, they suddenly heard gurgling. They all look at Raphtalia who, understandably, flinched and whimpers out "I'm sorry." All three of them then smile at her as Naofumi goes down to her eye level and said "It's alright Raph. Come on, it's lunch time anyway." Shirou huffs and says "Y'know I can cook right? We'd save money that way."

Rin shook her head and said "Where exactly? You may be the saint of the Spatula, but we know even you nees time to finish cooking. And quite frankly, we don't have that time." Shirou huffs again and pouts before smiling. He then says "Very well."

All four were about to enter until Raphtalia notices a sign saying "Keep demihumans out." to which she says "U-um sir... I-I can't." Naofumi looks to Raphtalia and then at the sign before silently wording out an "Ah" before tapping both Shirou and Rin. Shirou was the first to respond, saying "What is it Iwatani?" Naofumi then points at the sign to which the couple read. Shirou then adopts a thinking pose, saying "Now, this is one heck of a problem... How are we supposed to sneak her in..."

Shirou then looks around while Rin was looking at Raphtalia, looking for ways to hide her demihuman heritage. Raphtalia started looking uncomfortably at Rin's stare, choosing to cower behind Naofumi instead. "U-um... Tohsaka-san? Y-you're scaring Raphtalia."

Rin then snaps out from that state and then nervously apologizes to the little girl. Raphtalia tilted her head in confusion before timidly reaching a hand towards Rin's hand and sniles. "H-hello, sorry I-I was scared..." "It's fine. Um, my name's Rin Tohsaka, you can call me Rin if you want." "A-alright lady Rin..."

Rin starts waving her hands, saying "L-lady, th-there's no need for such formalities towards me. Treat me as you would an older sister." Raphtalia tilts her head again in confusion. This was, after all, the first human she had encountered with an air of nobility to have voluntarily stooped to her level out of sheer humility.

Rin smiles and says "By the way, do you know who you're master is right?" to which Raphtalia shakes her head and then apologizes while starting to cry on Naofumi, saying "M-master, I'm sorry. I did not bother learning your name. P-please don't punish me too hard." to which Naofumi just makes an "Eh?" expression in response.

"There's no worry Raphtalia, I won't punish you. I only have a few people on my hit list and you are far from it." He then hugs her, saying "It's okay alright? Don't fret about it. By the way, it's kinda my fault for forgetting introductions." He then coughs into his hands, before saying "Let me start again. Hello, my name is Naofumi Iwatani. I am the shield hero. Nice to meet you. You may call me however you'd like." before bowing in front of her, shocking Raphtalia once more.

She had once heard about the great shield hero, but she never knew someone like that would be this humble as to bow down to their own slave. "E-eh?! M-master, I-I should be the one to bowing to you. N-not the other way around."

Naofumi shakes his head and says "No, despite you're status, you're no slave. I won't treat you as one. I have removed almost every restriction on you EXCEPT betrayal. That's the one thing I placed on high... Long story, don't ask. And the bowing? That's kinda common courtesy from where I am from so don't think too much about it if it bothers you."

Shirou returns, lightly jogging while holding a small paper bag. He opens it and hands Raphtalia a ribbon headband.

Shirou then says "I was glad to know that sir Erhard actually had some children wear on hand. Here, I bought you a ribbon headband to hide your ears. And for your tail... Hm..." He then takes his jacket which he was using as a belt and wraps it around her waist to make it look like a makeshift tail coat on her dress.

"There, now you don't have to worry about being discriminated." Naofumi scrunches up his brows, expressing disapproval, before huffing. He knew that it would just be pointless squabbling and wasted time if someone decides to confront them for being with a demihuman.

The four then enter the establishment and the three teens were greeted by various looks. With the most prevalent being shock and bafflement.

Rin then huffs from the annoying attention they were getting and exasperatedly says "Calm down people! He is under our custody. The False hero and I, the Card hero, got this. You are safe." which alleviates most save for a few.

The waiters did not notice the card hero's earlier announcement and as such were scrambling away from Naofumi's presence, thinking the other two were his next victims.

Naofumi realizes no one was gonna serve them which makes him then go into bad cop mode and then snap his fingers saying "Hey waiter! Order up! Or else!"

Seeing this, the waiters push each other around until the unlucky one gets singled out. The aformentioned waiter then walks up to them and then timidly asks for their orders. Naofumi soon sees Raphtalia looking at another kid's meals while gulping. He smiles briefly before saying "We'll have two of your cheapest lunch sets, a salad and one of whatever that kid over there is having."

The waiter nervously, yet swiftly collects the order, repeats the order in case and then goes to the kitchen to have it cooked.

Naofumi huffs in annoyance once more, but sighs in relief after seeing it go smoothly. Shirou was asleep on Rin's lap while Rin was caressing his hair while smiling at Raphtalia. Shirou was this sleepy due to being awake longer than even Rin was. Why? Only he would ever know.

After a few minutes, their food arrives, Shirou is woken up and they say their prayers before eating. The three then calmly eat the meam. Naofumi notices Raphtalia currently hesitating to eat, so he pushes the food towards her, saying "Come on, eat up. I know you want it."

Raphtalia looks back at Naofumi and asks "I-is it really okay for me to eat that?" Naofumi nods, saying "I mean, should there be a reason you shouldn't?" as she scoops a bit of the fried rice into her mouth. Her eyes then widened as she ate with pure bliss. She starts choking so Naofumi gives her some water. She then continues to eat, with a worried expression upon her face.

Rin notices this and asks "What's wrong?" Raphtalia quickly chews and swallows before saying "U-usually, the meals I ate were stale bread and water. And if I was given an actual meal, it was on the floor. I-I am not used to this kindness is all..."

Naofumi, who was right beside her, pets her head and says "You're welcome Raphtalia."Just now realizing the fact that the Shield hero has been petting her all along starts to make little Raphtalia flush red in embarrassment making Rin chuckle as the two dudes look at each other in confusion. It felt like a family.

If you haven't already, consider leaving a vote and a follow. That's all for now. Till next week!

P. P. S HAHAHAHAHA, I'm still at it with the rewrite! After I'm finished rewriting the chapters, I'm going to go back to the usual one per week. Peace out, stay safe, stay home and God bless.