https://youtu.be/cPJUBQd-PNM

*insert obligatory Minecraft joke*

When they reached the inside, Naofumi was the first to greet, saying "Good morning uncle!" to which the blacksmith happily waves back, before placing his elbows on the counter, saying "Now, what can I do ya for this time lad?"

Naofumi then places Raphtalia's broken dagger on the counter, making Erhard let out a deep exhale at the condition the weapon was at. Naofumi then says "Yeah... We kind of... bit off more than we could chew."

"I'll say, this dagger looks like it was made of crumpled paper. Say, where DID you four go two anyways? What could've been so difficult as to mess even your clothing this badly?"

"Well... we went to the plains... And then pushed on to a swampy place."

"Huh? Never heard of a place like that before. It might've been created when the waves appeared and a monster from said wave levelled that place."

Rin then cuts in, saying "The creatures were these red, snake-like creatures with white eyes and extremely fast speeds. Not to mention their extreme persistence. We were barely able to get out due to my quick thinking." while gesturing to herself proudly.

Shirou shakes his head while chuckling before Naofumi brought the attention back to him by coughing into his fist. "Anyways... uncle, we would like to know as well if you know any place that's harder than the plains, but easier than that snake swamp?"

Erhard adopts a thinking look while simultaneously grabbing a sword from the back storage, saying "Let's see... I feel like you three might be able to handle something deeper, but for now, my recommended next stop would be the village of Lute. Just in case the little lass isn't quite up to the task yet."

"Thanks, uncle."

Erhard then pulls out a dirk, and says "Hmm, howbout this? I feel like the lass is now ready for something along these lines." He then eyes their tattered clothing once more and says "Now, about your armor..."

"What about it?" Naofumi asked with evident confusion.

"Well... It seems like those are a bit worse for wear to say the absolute least. What do you say if you wear something more protective? Like chainmail?"

Naofumi's eyes widen before he screams cupping his head, saying "No! god no!"

Shirou, Rin and Raphtalia ran to him, all expressing concern over his outburst. Erhard widen his eyes as he quickly shelfs it, saying "Oh crap, I'm sorry. I forgot. Those were the clothes that red haired adventurer who shan't be named suggested."

Raphtalia then says "U-uncle, i-is their something else master could wear?"

Erhard then strokes his beard and says "Hm... Not really... But I can whip something made to order."

Shirou glances and says "Wait, we can have custom made armor?"

Erhard scratches his shoulder and then says "Well... Yeah. Although I'm lacking a few things right now till the next material shipment, I can."

Naofumi finally calms down, and says "Y-yeah, th-that'd be better. I-I'd appreciate that."

Erhard quickly follows up with "Heads up though, the next shipment is in two weeks time still. So you four would have to settle with what you got for now."

Naofumi then nods in acknowledgement and says "We'll manage."

Erhard continues on by saying "So, in the meantime, I would like to ask for any specifications as to what you might like your armors to look like."

Rin waves her hand and says "I'm good. Since I'd rather have something that can help me with casting better, I'm gonna ask the nice magic book keeper for help on that when I can. However, if you can add a few light pieces like gauntlets a cuirass and some other bits, that would be swell."

Erhard then gives her a thumbs up before quickly facing Raphtalia as he leans on the desk.

Raphtalia then says. "Not yet u-uncle. I'm almost at 'that level' already." to which Erhard then says "Don't sweat it kid, besides your armor isn't busted up even."

Naofumi shrugs and then says his bit. "I'm down with anything actually. As long as it's not too expensive, protective enough, and has enough insulation, then I'm good."

Shirou then nervously scratches the back of his head, obviously embarrassed by something and says "Well... actually... I... kinda have a design already out. H-here..."

He then hands a piece of paper with an extremely detailed drawing which seemed to consist of Emiya's clothing but the shroud of Magdalene was used as a scarf and a plated black jacket is placed in it's stead, saying "This..." Erhard nodded and inspected the work, reading all the specs Shirou wrote and then said "This is a fine challenge you've given this old man... Hmm....  I accept! It's been a while since I was asked to make something this interesting!"

Shirou then says "Th-thanks, uncle". Shortly after, the quad restocks their supplies they then say their farewell to the smith. Erhard replies with the same thing he always had. "Don't die on me, Y'HEAR?"

A bit later, the four of them arrive at the village of Lute. Due to hunting on their way there, they managed to stockpile a few wares to sell. Seeing as how they were already being encumbered slightly by these wears, Naofumi goes ahead and sells the things he could to a random merchant within Lute.

While having idle chatter with the merchant, Naofumi is then informed about a monster infested mine nearby.

After a bit, Naofumi then absorbs a pickaxe into his shield which granted him a mining speed and proficiency bonus. Afterwards, all four then descend into the mines, with Naofumi being the only one with actual intention to mine, the three others were there to serve as eyes in case danger abounds.

On their way there, Raphtalia then asks Naofumi, "U-um, master? I-I've been meaning to ask you something. I-if it's alright?"

Naofumi hums and then replies with "Fire away, I don't mind."using a slightly friendly tone.

Raphtalia then inhales before saying "Um, how should I address you? Should I call you sir? Or master? Or... what? I-it's been bugging me since... Since we've met honestly."

Naofumi shoots her a confused look due to her question before shrugging and saying "Honestly, I don't mind being called anything, as long as it's not some weird pet name honestly."

After going down a couple floors down, they then find a glowing, aquamarine blue ore. Naofumi, being the shrewd business man that he is, decides to collect alot of the ore for selling, while saving some for shield unlocking and armor making purposes with Raphtalia by his side. Meanwhile, Rin and Shirou decided to investigate a curious pair of canid foot prints.

Naofumi then quietly sings out "So we back in the mines. Hmhmhm hmhmhm hm hm hm hm hm hm hm. The task's a grueling one. Nu nu nu nu nu nu nuh, nuh, nuhuh, nuh, nuh, nuh, nuhuh. Heads up, mhmhmhmhmhmhmh, look up, total shock fills your body. Oh no it's you again, I can never forget those eyes, eyes, e-"

*clang*

Naofumi turns around to see Raphtalia drop her sword and stumble to the floor, frozen in terror as the sound of growling emanated throughout the mines.

Meanwhile with Shirou and Rin, the two maguses were collecting samples of various materials for research later on while following the dog like footprints. Suddenly, they see a trail of blood as well as a sign of trouble as a bigger group of footprints invade the already large dog ones. They then follow the ever growing blood trail and land upon the horribly mangled corpse of a giant two headed dog. They then inspect it, and found chunks of it's neck flesh gone, and it had multiple bite wounds from a maw much too round to be a dog's. Their eyes then widen  when they saw more footprints. This time, leading to-

"Iwatani and Raphtalia..." was all Shirou could say before he grabs Rin by the arm and bolts back.

"Iwatani and Raphtalia..." was all Shirou could say before he grabs Rin by the arm and bolts back using his reinforcement magic to speed things up. While flailing in midair due to Shirou's speed, Rin then picks out her newly acquired Archer card and equips it.

She suddenly feels her body shift slightly in size and her clothes changing to that of Archer's. Her eyes then widen as she feels herself connecting to the counter guardian's reality marble. Although the connection was significantly degraded due to having a different psychology compared to Archer. She then feels her feet slightly drag on the floor since she was now only a couple cm short of Archer's height.

So she then anchors into the floor and forcibly swaps with Shirou who now short enough for her to cradle. She then uses Archer's enhanced physicality, as well as reinforcement magecraft to speed through even further. They then arrive to the scene of Naofumi desperately pushing back and losing to a massive three headed polar bear like creature. Air strike shield was already ready to shatter by this point, while Naofumu was desperately calling out to Raphtalia to run, but she wouldn't budge due to the monster giving a striking resemblance to the creature that killed her parents. Shirou jumps off of Rin's arms as both of them then jump at the creature. The creature notices them and whips Naofumi away.

Rin then says "Alright, Archer, show me whatcha got!" as she uses Archer's Eye of Mind B (True) to evade an attack, tracing Kanshou and Bakuya and charging towards the bear. Shirou on the other hand, projects a familiar giant stone sword and clashes it with the bear's claw, making a shockwave that knocks him upwards, and the bear's paw into the ground.

As both of them then charge at the demon bear, it then lets out a powerful roar that silenced their skills and drained their SP and MP by a fifth. As limited they became, they then charge at the bear with normal attacks as Kanshou and Bakuya still owned their monster hunting properties and therefore could still work.

While that happened, Naofumi then runs up to the creature and uppercuts it by firing his airstrike shield upwards while Shirou and Rin flank it from the sides.

Raphtalia comes back to her senses when Shirou crashes next to her. The creature then ran at Raphtalia, seeing as she was the weak link of the team, but just as it was about to bite down, Naofumi then comes in and intercepts it.

It was still not enough so Shirou, with Rin aiding him with mana, then pitch in and utilize the Rho Aias as a pink and green forcefield of energy collided with the giant beast, a flower and a floating green shield versus the large black, cerberus of a bear. Shirou then speaks up, saying "Listen you three, I just thought of a plan. With the little mana we have left, I just thought up a way to kill it. The triple linked crane wings."

Rin perks up hearing that as Archer gives her the basic knowhow to utilize the technique. Shirou's eyes then darkens, saying "Based on how much we have left, I'd estimate us to having just about enough to kill two of it's heads. Someone would have to hit the middle head."

Rin grits her teeth and then says "Whatever happens later, happens later. But right now, we'll have to do what we know we can!"

Both Rin and Shirou then breathe calmly as they chant out in unison. "Spirit and technique, flawless and firm..." Both then fire off a Kanshou and Bakuya respectively to their left.

Naofumi grimaces as the bear-like creature bears down on his shoulder, injuring it horribly before looking at Raphtalia and says "Listen, Raphtalia, you have to make a decision right here and now. Either you run or you deal that finishing blow! I know your family died to something similar, but if you don't decide now, we might not get the chance to help others avoid that very same scene. So, choose!"

Raphtalia merely looks at him in shock, unable to respond, trembling in fear as she did all those years ago.

Naofumi then clicks his tongue and says "If you can't then don't. Just go."

Raphtalia is then able to squeak out "But what about you? W-what would you do m-master?"

"I'll buy you three time. Rin and Shirou will finish it off and meet you back out."

Raphtalia then had flashbacks to her parents and their final moments, as they pushed her off the cliff. She didn't want that to happen to these three heroes who not only saved her from a life of slavery, but gave her a purpose to fight the waves, to avenge her parents and village, to protect the smiles of the other children. She couldn't let it happen to them, especially not Naofumi. No, she WON'T let it happen again.

Not again...

With her tiny hands, she then takes her sword and charges at the creature which was almost as large as the very the creature that killed her parents. Though it was level 20, a far cry from the monster that killed her parents, it was the very same inner demon nonetheless, and today, she will be the one to slay it. She made a war cry as Shirou and Rin fire another married pair of swords at it, saying:

"Our strength rip the mountains, our swords split the waters" as the swords slash away at it's front paws, making at fall face first with Naofumi grunting from the impact of being dragged along with it, but forcing himself to stand up hugged it's head shut with sheer willpower. Raphtalia was then blown away by the gust but manages to get back up and charge again.

Shirou and Rin then runs at the creature as all the blades they threw earlier boomeranged back. They then chanted out the last bit, saying:

"Our name reaches the imperial villas, the two of us cannot hold the heaven's together" as they went in, Shirou having only enough mana to project Kanshou while Rin Bakuya, both over edged.

They then did an cross slash as all the pairs came crashing down on the creature, slashing it from all over, making it completely collapse.

"TRIPLE LINK CRANE WING!"

The overedged strikes then completely severe it's two heads as Naofumi shouts "Raphtalia, NOW!"

Raphtalia then jumps up and stabs down hard on the creatures head. It then starts struggling it's final head, as Naofumi, Shirou and Rin desperately held on to ground the head, since Raphtalia was still on it. Raphtalia then stabs it over and over again until she broke her sword and the creature fell limp from the 28th stab wound with a horribly mutilated middle face.

Raphtalia then falls on her knees trembling, saying "I-I won't let y-you die, Lord Naofumi!" Suddenly, all four members got a surge of exp levelling them up to three or four levels up. While that happened, Raphtalia sparks green and white energy, and when she stood up, she was somehow almost a full head taller than Rin if she was without Archer's class cards, confusing everyone.

Rin then says "W-wait, th-that can't be right?" Naofumi looks in shock at Raphtalia and, confused, asks "Raph... what just happened?" Raphtalia looks at them, and explained "W-well, us demi-humans grow faster than humans. I-I'm sorry if I do that!"

Naofumi then waves his non-injured hands and says "It's alright Raphtalia, from what I've seen these past few days, this isn't really anything out of bounds for me, and besides, your new physical strength will definitely help us. Having said that..."

All four then collapsed on the floor, exhausted from the ordeal they just had to overcome, especially Raphtalia, who, at the moment was already asleep. Naofumi then chuckles to himself and said "One step closer to saving the world... to getting home..."

Thanks for reading another chapter of this story of mine. Again, if I made any errors whether it be in the characters, world, or even grammar, tell me. I wish to make this as good as I can after all.