Naofumi Iwatani

Naofumi Iwatani (岩谷尚文, Iwatani Naofumi) is the main protagonist as well as the titular character of the light novel and anime series Rising of the Shield Hero.

Appearance

Naofumi has short black hair that spikes in all directions and sharp green eyes. He often wears a scowl on his face because of his cynical outlook towards the world, but he does express gratitude from time to time.

The armor he primarily wears is Barbarian Armor +3, which has gone through numerous upgrades and transformations. Depending on the situation, he may switch to different sets of armor or clothing.

The weapon in his possession is the Legendary Shield, which was granted to him when he was summoned to another world.

Personality

Naofumi was initially an exceedingly trusting and positive person - excited about being summoned as a hero. However, his mentality abruptly changed after Malty S Melromarc, the princess of Melromarc, betrayed and framed him.

Being left near-penniless, falsely accused as a criminal, and hated by nearly everyone, Naofumi became extremely distrustful towards everyone and cynical about life. He could not trust anyone and started to assume that others were trying to get something from him. The result of the Princess's betrayal has left him in an almost permanent state of anger and hostility, which he masks behind a calm and level-headed personality. This mentality bites him back as he unknowingly pushes away genuine supporters of the Shield Hero and Siltvelt envoys.

Unfortunately, being a Shield Hero meant that Naofumi was essentially useless by himself, which forced him to eventually seek help. He was convinced to get a slave - someone who could not betray him - so he eventually finds Raphtalia. Naofumi treats her deadly illness and teaches her to fight. After spending time with Raphtalia, and eventually Filo, Naofumi starts to heal mentally and trust his close companions. However, this is a long process and Naofumi is still unable to fully trust or be intimate with others. Unlocking the curse series weapon Shield of Wrath also placed a block on his psyche which prevented him from empathizing with others.

After losing nearly everything, Naofumi deeply values what he has built up since being summoned, especially his relationships. Therefore, he is protective of people like Raphtalia. It is also shown several times that Naofumi is at his most vulnerable when he loses someone close to him. This can be seen when Naofumi thought he had lost Raphtalia after losing the Duel with Motoyasu, and when he was separated from Raphtalia and the rest of his party he traveled to Glass' World. He was even willing to sacrifice his life to save his friends such as when they were battling against the Phoenix or Takt.

Naofumi is a pragmatist and is willing to take some unconventional measures to meet his goals. For example, after saving Rishia and Keel, he offers both of them to be his slave since the shield helps improves a persons growth and stats. Once becoming governor of the territory which includes Raphtalia's destroyed village, Lurolona Village, Naofumi purchases slaves to be villagers. He justifies this saying that this will give them a better life and that it will help them gain independence. Due to their good treatment and their respect of Naofumi, the children end up adoring him. At one point, Rishia wonders if Naofumi's commitment to the villagers make him their slave instead of the other way around.

Subconsciously, Naofumi often feels unworthy of what he has and tries to deny certain things. This can be seen in his constant ignoring of Raphtalia's romantic feelings due to feeling unworthy of her. This also shows in his addiction to Raph-chan which - in his own words - he only likes so much due to its resemblance to Raphtalia herself. He often feels vulnerable about certain actions he takes which can be seen often when Raphtalia points out the absurdity of some of them. He has feelings for Raphtalia for many reasons, including her being the light that brought him out of the darkness of his life. He considers her a hero for being the one person to stay by his side even after everyone despised him.

One of the biggest differences that Naofumi has from the other heroes is that he thinks of the consequences of his actions. Despite having the most villainous attitude, Naofumi is ironically the most effective of the heroes at getting things done. He even corrects the problems that the other three heroes either start or make worse. Another aspect of Naofumi that sets him apart is that he is generally reasonable and willing to listen to others. He was convinced to stay in Melromarc after listening to the arguments of the queen. He also attempted to amend his relationship with the other heroes at Fitoria's request despite their mutual hatred. When Naofumi became loved and adored by the public while the three other Heroes became hated by the same people that use to admire them, he decided to take them under his wing.

Naofumi has a habit of giving people he meets nicknames. His reasons tend to be because they didn't tell him their name or because he hates them. In the latter case, he will give them extremely degrading nicknames such as referring to Malty as Bitch. For most people, he tends to nickname them based off of who or what they remind him of, sometimes add a number if he feels they act a lot like someone he knows. After Naofumi became the Mirror Vassal Hero of Glass' world, his friends note it suited him given how he always 'reflects' other people's treatment of him right back at them, insulting those whom insulted him first and helping those whom helped him.

Background

From an early age, animals have naturally been drawn towards him. He was well-liked by any animal he encountered and they would act friendlier towards him than most other people. When he was a kid, he was offered a ride by a dog in his local area even though the dog had never once given a ride to anyone. During his time in elementary school, he was never once pecked by the chickens who were notoriously known by his classmates to peck. As Naofumi grew up, he worked multiple jobs at once, including at an izakaya and food-court. Naofumi also stated the reason he stopped drinking alcohol was because he never got drunk, and seeing his friends getting drunk made him feel left out.

At the age of twenty, he was a sophomore in college and had a passion for video games, light novels, anime, and other otaku-like activities. He would often put his hobbies in front of his actual studies, which caused his parents to believe he was a lost cause and focused all their attention on his younger brother. This lead to them sending the younger brother to a famous prep-school in the hope to secure his future. However, their parents intense pressure on his success led to them having a lack of freedom and free time. This ended up being to much stress for Naofumi's younger brother.

This eventually led to Naofumi's brother becoming jealous of Naofumi's own freedom. He eventually become a trouble maker from the stress caused from his excessive studying. Naofumi's younger brother started dying his hair and swearing around the house. Naofumi himself was aware of the fact that the reason behind this change in his trouble maker was due to his stress. Eventually Naofumi took it upon himself to help his younger repair their relationship with the rest of the family. He did this by introduce him to a dating simulator game which his brother was initially hesitant playing at first. Eventually his brother got hooked into the game and Naofumi helped introduce him further into otaku culture. This helped reduce his younger brothers stress and began to rededicate himself to their studies.

Naofumi's help eventually allowed his brother to become the top of its class and make it into a prestigious high school. This helped the family become more cohesive with less tension between the younger child their parents. This course of events eventually left Naofumi to have a budget and didn't need to work as he was in collage. This allowed him to further indulge his Otaku tendencies and do what he wanted. One day, Naofumi went to the library to read some books as he had used his monthly budget. In this library he found a book called The Record of the Four Holy Weapons. When he started reading it he found a blank page where the shield hero was supposed to be. He immediately lost consciousness when reading that book and found himself summoned in another world.

Story

Volume 1

Naofumi would occasionally visit the bookstore or the library when he wanted to save money. On that fateful day, Naofumi found an old-looking book called The Record of the Four Holy Weapons in the library. The book contains a fantasy world where heroes summoned from another world would fend off waves of calamity. When the book went to describe the Shield Hero all the pages were blank and it was then where Naofumi started to lose consciousness.

When Naofumi awoke he found himself in a different room, below him laid an alter which glowed. Besides him stood 3 other people who each possessed a different weapon sword, spear, and bow. Naofumi noticed on his right arm laid a shield which he couldn't remove. He would later learn he was summoned with the three other people as Legendary Heroes from another world.

The robe figures before them asked and begged for the heroes to save them. The three other heroes ignored their question and asked their own questions like asking why they were summoned. One of the heroes wielding the sword even threaten them by pointing his weapon towards them. However, Naofumi knew that the three other heroes were actually leaping of joy on the inside from being summoned to another world.

The heroes were lead to the throne room where they would meet the ruler of the country. On the throne sat an old man, who later introduced himself as Aultcray Melromarc XXXII king of Melromarc. He talked about the prophecy of the waves and the reason behind the heroes summoning. Shortly after that, he asked for the heroes to introduce themselves.

The order of the introduction was as follows: Ren Amaki the Sword Hero, Motoyasu Kitamura the Spear Hero, Itsuki Kawasumi the Bow Hero, and lastly Naofumi Iwatani, the Shield Hero. The King later acknowledges the heroes' names except that of Naofumi's which he later corrected and apologized about when pointed out.

The King later went on about the fundamentals of Status Magic and Legendary Weapons each of the heroes possessed. The King ensured them that he'll secure adventurers to join the Legendary Hero's cause. The heroes were later escorted to their chambers.

When the heroes arrived at their chambers, they started discussing how the world they were summoned to seemed like a game. Each hero besides Naofumi had a personal idea on which game, from their old world, this new world was based on. Motoyasu said it was based on a famous online game called Emerald Online, while Itsuki disagreed and said it was based on a console game called Dimension Waves, Ren later interjected saying they were both wrong and that it was based on a VRMMO called Brave Star Online.

Each of the heroes considered themselves massive Otaku, however, none of them had heard of the games the others named. On a hunch, they all agreed to name the current president of Japan which ended up with them all saying different names. Not convinced, they started shouting other random questions and in the end, they all concluded that they all came from Alternative Japans.

After their discovery, the other heroes were quick to point out comments about Naofumi's legendary weapon and his class. Motoyasu explained how the Shielder class in his game was the weakest class which later became obsolete, Ren's and Itsuki's answer were also more or less the same. This came to a shock to Naofumi, but despite all that, he still had held a positive outlook of being summoned to another world. They later all went to sleep in different chambers after dinner was prepared for them.

The next day the king said that he had prepared many adventures to join the heroes and their cause. Though instead of the heroes choosing the adventurers, the adventurers had to choose the heroes they wanted to team up with by standing behind their chosen hero.

After all the adventurers had chosen, Ren ended up with 5 people, Motoyasu with 4 people, Itsuki with 3 people and Naofumi with no one. Shocked and surprised by the results Naofumi asked in this order for Ren, Motoyasu, and Itsuki if they could spare him some adventures to join his party but no one from the ranks of adventurers in each of the heroes parties wanted to swap over.

The reason as to why no adventurers joined Naofumi's party was later discovered and explained by the King. Rumors about Naofumi had spread throughout the kingdom that the Shield Hero was weak and had no knowledge of the world. Motoyasu later whispered to Naofumi that someone probably had eased dropped on their conversation last night.

Thinking all hope was lost, someone from Motoyasu's party decided to join Naofumi party, a red-headed female adventures. She was asked by Motoyasu whether she was sure about her decision and she replied with a simple "yes". Since Naofumi had the least amount of members compared to the other three heroes the King provided Naofumi with 800 pieces of silvers while the other heroes only started with 600 silvers.

Naofumi gladly accepted the money and started his very first journey with his very first companion in another world. The female adventures later introduced herself as Myne Suphia. While Naofumi would refer to her first name, Myne would only refer to Naofumi as Mr. Hero.

After having exited the castle, Myne brought Naofumi to a Weapon Shop that was well known throughout Melromarc. When the Weapon Shop Owner saw Myne entering the shop he asked her if he had seen her somewhere before. Myne, however, shook off the question by answering she was a returning customer.

Naofumi's first objective was to get himself a weapon so that he could have a way of attacking. While trying to pick up a weapon in the store her discovers that his Legendary Weapon restricted him from equipping other weapons except for his assigned weapon, his shield. He ends up deciding to buy a set of Chainmail for himself which he got a discount for at the price of 120 silver.

Upon exiting the castle walls, they came up a valley that was full of grass. While walking through the valley Naofumi encountered a Monster called an Orange Balloon, when the Balloon bit Naofumi he felt no pain due to the Legendary Shield emitting a defensive barrier around him. It took Naofumi 5 minutes to defeat a single balloon by himself which only earned him 1exp. He later looks over in the distance to see Ren swiftly defeating 3 Balloons in one swing.

Naofumi ends up discovering that he can use the monster loot from the Orange Balloon to absorb into the shield. And for the rest of the day, Myne helped Naofumi defeat monsters out in the valley.

When evening hit both Naofumi and Myne returned to the Weapon Shop to obtain Myne new gear. While Myne was searching for new gear, Naofumi and the Weapon Shop started haggling with each other. When Myne returned with her chosen set of equipment that she wanted, Naofumi asked whether she could downgrade since it was a bit too experience but Myne used her feminine charms to manipulate Naofumi into purchasing the equipment. However, the Weapon Shop Owners kindly gave Naofumi a discount.

Naofumi made his way to an Inn and purchased two rooms for himself and Myne. Before heading to bed both Naofumi and Myne stayed downstairs planning for their next day. During their conversation, Myne asked of Naofumi to join her in drinking. Naofumi naturally refused to due to his dislike of alcohol since he had a high tolerance. Myne tried to push on the topic but Naofumi refused to drink and after letting it go Naofumi went to his room to sleep. Before going to sleep Naofumi slips off his chainmail and laid it on the back of the chair and slipped 30 silvers into his shield. While at it he reckons that he saw Itsuki and Motoyasu enter the tavern outside his window.

While in his sleep, Naofumi could hear someone whispering "Heh, heh, men are fools. So easily tricked.... Can't wait until tomorrow." Naofumi woke up in the morning to see all of his possessions that he had left inside of his room stolen, he went to the Inn hallway and headed to Myne's room to tell her the bad news but there was no reply on the other side of the door.

Knights eventually filled the hallways and surrounded Naofumi, they ignored Naofumi's plead for help and asked whether he was the Shield Hero and after confirming it, the knights forcibly grabbed and dragged Naofumi out of the inn all the way to the castle in nothing but his undergarments.

After Naofumi arrives at the castle dragged, he is surrounded by the castle knights holding him in a lock with their spears. When he saw Myne he instinctively called out her name but she hid behind Motoyasu while glaring daggers at Naofumi. Motoyasu was wearing the chainmail which belonged to Naofumi and when he called out Motoyasu for it he brushed it off.

Naofumi and Motoyasu quarrel were interrupted by an announcement which stated that they were now going to hear the charges against the Shield Hero. Myne started falsely accusing Naofumi of sexually assaulting her and how she had escaped from Naofumi and ran to Motoyasu afterward.

While watching her Naofumi couldn't make sense of what she was talking about, he even felt bad towards Myne while watching her cry. Naofumi tried to plead that he was innocent, but he was interrupted by Motoyasu calling Naofumi a liar. Naofumi asked him why he was speaking for Myne and asked where Motoyasu had gotten his chainmail from, Motoyasu replied that it was a present he had gotten from Myne.

Naofumi decided that talking to Motoyasu was getting him nowhere so he started pleading to the king about his missing money, clothes, and equipment but was interrupted by the King and silenced after being called a scoundrel. In a desperate attempt for help, he looked towards the direction where Myne was standing and it was at that moment that he saw Myne sticking her tongue out to mock Naofumi.

It was then that Naofumi fully understood the situation he was in and how he was played like a fool and used by Myne. And at that very moment, Naofumi's personality transformed bitter. Naofumi concluded that Myne and Motoyasu had planned this from the beginning to not only take his equipment and money but to better their standings in society and look better. Naofumi showed no sign of holding his anger and called out the two of them for tricking him, after ignoring Naofumi outburst Ren and Itsuki came to the conclusion that Naofumi was guilty.

Fed up from being treated like a criminal by everyone around him, he couldn't find the strength in him to care anymore and asked the King to send him back home and summon a new Shield Hero. The King stated that he wanted nothing more but to send Naofumi home but he explained that the waves didn't allow the heroes to return home and that all four of the heroes will need to die in order to summon new heroes.

Ren, Itsuki, and Motoyasu did not hide their shock to the King's explanation. In a fit of anger, Naofumi broke out of the lock that the Castle Knights had him in. Naofumi then asked the King what his punishment was going to be. The King replied that Naofumi had a job of defending the waves and that his crimes would become well known around his kingdom.

After sarcastically thanking the King Naofumi headed towards the exit. Before walking out he removed the last 30 pieces of silver he had and forcefully threw them towards Motoyasu. Naofumi had lost respect, trust, and money before his adventure had begun. Naofumi mentions upon exiting the castle that the whole world looked awful and hideous to him.

A week passed since Naofumi's false rape charges and while passing by the Weapon Store he was hostility greeted by the Weapon Shop Owner believing that charges and rumors about him were true. He asked him if he could punch Naofumi in the face but he quickly realized that Naofumi was innocent of his crimes.

Before Naofumi could exit the town gate he was stopped by the Weapon Shop Owner who tossed him a small bag containing cheap clothing and a cape, Naofumi accepts the bag and promises to pay him back in full.

Naofumi ends up spending most of the day fighting balloons until he reached level 2 where he unlocked two new shields the Orange Shield and Yellow Shield. He heads back into town to sell the monster loot he obtained from defeating Balloons all day, he was offered  1 bronze piece for every 10 balloon skins by the shop owner despite the fact that a previous customer was offered 1 bronze piece for every 2 balloon skins. The shop owner pretended that he had forgotten and brushed the topic away when Naofumi brought it up. Naofumi then grabbed him by the collar and revealed an Orange Balloon that he had hidden under his cape and threatened the shop owner to give him a fair price which he finally agreed to. After receiving his payment Naofumi went back to the Weapon Shop and paid back the owner for the clothes.

It was later discovered that Naofumi had lost his ability to taste anything.  

The next day Naofumi unlocked the Leaf Shield that was later discovered to increase the quality of herbs he then spent the rest of the day collecting herbs and selling them to the Medicinal Shop Owner for a higher price than what he could get from Balloon Skins.  

While eating at the tavern he was later greeted by a trio of ruffians that made fun and pretending to be interested in joining his party asking him to buy equipment for them. Naofumi made quick work of them by scaring them off with Orange Balloons he still had hidden under his cape. Naofumi kept repeating the pattern of collecting materials and selling them until he manages to save a little money.  

In the span of two weeks, Naofumi manages to save up to 40 pieces and level up to level 4. During that time span, Naofumi went deeper in the forest where he encounters a Red Balloon he spent around 30 minutes trying to kill it but no matter how long he pummeled the Balloon it wouldn't die. The Red Balloon at the meantime was chewing Naofumi's arm while he walks down an alleyway.  

Naofumi was greeted by a strange man who would be later referred as the Slave Trader he asked if Naofumi was interested in purchasing a slave which were put under a powerful curse where they cannot lie and betray their masters. Naofumi interested by his offer was lead by the Slave Trader to a Circus Tent where the Slave Trader stored all his slaves, he explained to Naofumi the how Demi-humans and Beast-man were discriminated in Melromarc because of their animal features and often are sold in slavery.  

The Slave Trader demonstrated the Slave Curse Seal on a beast-man where at a snap of a finger he could cause the Werewolf to grovel in pain, he purposely showed Naofumi his best slave which cost 15 gold afterward they continued on what slave Naofumi was interested in, the Slave Trader thought Naofumi was interested in sex slaves when Naofumi instantly denied his offer by saying he didn't do it while the Slave Trader laughed and replied I guess the rumors weren't true.  

The Slave Trader offered Naofumi three of his cheapest slaves each individually in their own cage. On the right side a rabbit demi-human with a disorder, the left a mixed breed lizardman and in the middle a raccoon demi-human suffering from panic attacks.  

Naofumi chose the raccoon demi-human because of his distorted thoughts at the time, he wanted to control her thinking that if it'll grant him some satisfaction even if it was very little. The Slave Trader and his assistants applied the Curse Slave Seal with Naofumi's blood which he paid the Slave Trader 30 silver and some extra coin so he wouldn't be charged for the Slave Seal payment. Upon exiting the Tent he asked for the slave's name which the slave replied after being shocked by the Slave Seal after ignoring his question, she answered Raphtalia.  

After purchasing Raphtalia, Naofumi made his way to the Weapon Store where he bought Raphtalia a knife around 6 pieces of silver while the Weapon Shop Owner generously threw in some clothing for Raphtalia for free. After Raphtalia was finished changing and equipped the new knife, Naofumi ordered her to kill the Orange and Red Balloons both which granted Naofumi and herself 1exp each.  

Feeling hungry and hearing Raphtalia's rumbling stomach he visited a nearby Tavern to eat. While Naofumi entered the tavern he saw Raphtalia eyeing a kid with kids' meals which he later proceeded to buy Raphtalia one. Raphtalia questioned why Naofumi was treating her after asking permission to eat her meal she starting eating the meal with her hands due to the lack of table manners, Naofumi asked if the meal was good which she proceeded with answering, it's great.

Naofumi and Raphtalia spent the rest of the day hunting in the forest, they encountered Red Balloons and different variety of Loomush after calling it a day Raphtalia was level 5 while Naofumi was level 3. When evening fell Naofumi set up camp along the river, he tried his luck with compounding which he ended up making different varieties of medicine one of which was effective against colds that he gave to Raphtalia.  

Naofumi stayed up late to compound medicine while Raphtalia reluctantly went to sleep. Naofumi was startled by Raphtalia panic attack she was having a nightmare while calling out her mother and father. Naofumi calmed her down by holding her close while repeatedly telling her that everything was going to be okay, during the night she had multiple panic attacks causing Naofumi to barely get any sleep.  

In the morning Naofumi went into town to sell the medicine he worked on compounding last night, the Medicinal Shop Owner also threw in old compounding tools when Naofumi requested them. He later sold more Balloons Skins and bought Raphtalia a ball made from the Balloons Skins after watching her look envious of other kids playing with the same type of ball. They later went back into the forest to go hunting and leveling encountering a new type of monster called an Eggug which their materials helped Naofumi unlock more shields and also sold for a good price.  

Because of the lack of sleep last night, Naofumi rented a room in town and went to have a nap and gave Raphtalia permission to play with her Ball outside, while Raphtalia was playing outside she was picked on by kids in the neighborhood and was being forced to give them her ball hearing the commotion Naofumi scared off the kids with the Orange Balloons underneath his cape, Raphtalia later thanked Naofumi for helping her.  

Naofumi decided to treat Raphtalia by ordering them both meals which cost more than the usual. Before going to sleep Naofumi gave Raphtalia a haircut after noticing that her hair was out of control which made Raphtalia extremely happy, without her noticing Naofumi absorbed Raphtalia's hair into his shield. Raphtalia went to sleep while Naofumi stayed up compounding medicine later joining Raphtalia after calling it a night.  

In the morning Naofumi found Raphtalia curled up in a ball in the corner of the room constantly saying she was sorry because she wet the bed, Naofumi later comforts Raphtalia that it was okay. He later explained the situation to the inn managers, paid for the sheet and kept the blanket for himself which he later washed, dried and tuck away into his bag.  

While walking through the forest they encountered a Usapil the first animal looking monster they have encountered so far. Naofumi blocked and held onto the Usapil after it tried to attack Raphtalia. When Naofumi ordered Raphtalia to attack she explained to him that she was afraid of blood but eventually reluctantly killing the Usapil looking pale after seeing all the blood. Another Usapil appears which Naofumi deflected before it reached Raphtalia. Naofumi apologized to Raphtalia explaining that he needed to be stronger to fend off the waves and if she couldn't fight he would have to let her go. Raphtalia's pale expression faded away and washed over with determination after listening to Naofumi and cleanly stabbed the Usapil.  

After Raphtalia killed the Usapil she was about to dissect it but Naofumi stopped her from doing so telling her that was his job. They later set up camp for the night and cooked the Usapil for dinner, Naofumi describes the Usapil flavor as eating tasteless rubber but he noticed Raphtalia was eating the Usapil like it was the most delicious thing in the world.  

In the morning they made their way to the Weapon Store after Raphtalia's knife broke while hunting. Naofumi bought Raphtalia an iron sword and a beat up breastplate. The Weapon Shop Owner happily agreed to teach Raphtalia the basic of swordsmanship in the Weapon Store while Naofumi went out of the store to buy Raphtalia food after hearing her stomach rumble before leaving the Weapon Shop Owner explained to Naofumi that demi-humans grows differently to how Humans do and they require more food.  

Upon returning to the Weapon Store the Weapon Shop Owner was almost finish teaching Raphtalia all the basics. After finishing up the Weapon Shop Owner gave Naofumi a block of whetstone which is used to sharpening and maintain swords but after noticing the shield was reacting to the whetstone Naofumi let the shield absorb the whetstone unlocking a new shield called Sharpening shield. At first, the Weapon Shop Owner was shocked to see Naofumi's shield absorb the whetstone and change his shield into a different form. After Naofumi finished reading the special effects of the shield he explained that it automatically sharpened weapons upon hearing this the Weapon Shop Owner slit a rusty sword into one of the shield' sharpening holes and told him he could have it for free.

They later visited a village called Riyute Village to sell his wares. Naofumi later found that everything sold for less here than at Castle Town which annoyed him he asked one of the merchants which he was selling his wares to where he could make some quick money. The merchant told Naofumi about the coal mine where he could obtain valuable ores but warned him that they're dangerous monster were inhabiting the place after the events of the First Wave  

The coal mine was near the mountain upon the entrance of the coal mine they looted an old rest station there he found a map of the layout of the coal mine and old mining tools a pickaxe and rope which he absorbed into the shield which one the shield unlocked an ability called Air Strike Shield.  

They later entered the cave which leads to a naturally made open cave. Following the map detailing where the ores can be found they headed for the top of the waterfall inside of the cave.  

Reaching the top they were attacked by a Two-Headed Black Dog. After noticing that Raphtalia was too scared to attack he threw himself and Raphtalia off the waterfall landing in the water below. Upon reaching the shore, Raphtalia started talking about her past where her village was attacked by the first wave, her parents were killed by Cerberus a Three-Headed Dog before they could attack Raphtalia her parents pushed her off of the cliff into the ocean. When Raphtalia reached shore she returned to the cliff to see massive blood of blood with leftover bones, she was later sold into slavery.  

The Two-Head Dog had returned and attacked them both but Naofumi blocked the Two-Headed Dog's attacks. Raphtalia still too scared to attack, Naofumi apologized to Raphtalia telling her that he needed to be stronger but all he could do is defend and that he needs someone to attack for him, he told her that he couldn't bring her parents back but can stop other children suffering from the same fate Raphtalia did in the past.

Naofumi decided to sacrifice himself in order to let Raphalia escape. But Raphtalia refused to let Naofumi die allowing her to overcome her past Turma and stabbed the Two-Headed Dog with her knife. She eventually killed the dog with a final strike to the heart after being defended by one of Naofumi's skills Air Strike Shield.

She later cried to Naofumi not to die and asked for his name which he then replied with Naofumi Iwatani. he later absorbed the Two-Headed Dog into his shield, collected some ores called Light Metal which he also absorbed into his shield.

A week and one day had passed by since the events of the coal mine. Naofumi had unlocked numerous amounts of shields and abilities by absorbing various amounts of material. He was caught off guard by a porcupine and received a brutal attack from it, after trapping he porcupine in a Sheild Prison, Raphtalia killed it swiftly and let Naofumi absorb it into his shield. Raphtalia complained that Naofumi defense was lacking and that he needed to buy new equipment, Naofumi reluctantly agrees after finally being persuaded by Raphtalia.

Upon entering the weapon store the Weapon Shop Owner was surprised by Raphtalia's growth and complimented her on how she looked like a fine lady while Naofumi stared at them at confusion. Raphtalia told the Weapon Shop Owner that they were after new armor for new Naofumi. The Weapon Shop Owner first recommended a chainmail set but later retracted it after seeing Naofumi's even bitter attitude towards because of his past experience.

They later agreed on making a custom order where the name of the armor he was making was called Barbarian Armor. Raphtalia handed in the material needed for the order and later the iron and bronze after collecting it from other stores. While collecting the iron and bronze he thought the Weapon Shop Owner's friend were lolicons after they started complimented on Raphtalia's appearance, when he brought the topic up to the Weapon Shop Owner, the Shop Owner asked if he seriously didn't notice about Raphtalia's change in appearance but to Naofumi she still looked like a 10-year-old.

Before exiting the weapon and making their way to a tavern to eat, Naofumi bought Raphtalia a new sword made of magic iron and later said thank you to the Weapon Shop Owner after all he has done for him. In the tavern, he ordered a cheap set for himself and a kid set for Raphtalia which made Raphtalia burst out on him and asked the waitress to also order her a cheap set and told Naofumi that she wasn't a kid anymore while Naofumi looked at her with confusion.

The next day Naofumi visited the weapon store to collect his custom order. He wasn't too fond of the Armor but Raphtalia, on the other hand, thought it suited him well. Naofumi next stop was the Clock Tower which resembled a church after hearing from the Weapon Shop Owner that the Dragon Hourglass counted down the arrival of the next wave.

Arriving at the Clock Tower they were greeted by a nun and escorted to the Dragon Hourglass after confirming Naofumi was the Shield Hero. Naofumi's shield reacted to the Dragon Hourglass and displayed the remaining time until the next wave in his vision counting down by minutes. At the same time Motoyasu and his party arrived at the Dragon Hourglass and a short time later Itsuki and Ren showed up as well. Motoyasu made fun of Naofumi's armor and even flirted with Raphtalia by flirtatiously introducing himself as one of the heroes. He was surprised when Raphtalia mentioned that she was in a with Naofumi's party. Naofumi left the clock tower bitterly with Raphtalia.

Upon exiting the tower Naofumi headed straight for the field where he would lash out his anger towards one of the balloons. After calming down he settled down rooms in the inn. Raphtalia was concerned about Naofumi and asked what was his relationship with the other heroes, Naofumi said he didn't want to talk about because he believed that if he told her the truth she wouldn't believe him like everyone else. Raphtalia decided to drop the subject and sleep instead.

Minutes before the waves started, castle knight and adventures were preparing themselves for the waves. Before the waves started Raphtalia wanted to express to Naofumi her gratitude for saving her life and the opportunity to fight the wave, she told Naofumi that she was his sword and she'll always stay by his side.

Once the countdown reached zero, Naofumi and Raphtalia were transported by Naofumi's legendary weapon to where the waves will occur. Above them, deep red cracks formed in the sky and monster poured out near Riyute Village. Naofumi noticed the other three heroes went for the source of the waves instead of the village and shot a flare in the sky. Instead of heading the same direction Naofumi and Raphtalia headed for the village to protect them from the incoming wave.

Upon reaching the village Raphtalia and Naofumi agreed to split up. Raphtalia would help the villagers evacuate while Naofumi would distract the monsters away from the villagers. Naofumi would defend and leave an opening for villagers to escape from the monster using various skills such as Air Strike Shield and Shield Prison. While drawing the monster to chase after him he started questioning why he was defending them from the waves.

After seeing Naofumi heroic effort a number of villagers returned to help Naofumi fight against the monsters. While Naofumi calls them idiots he let them help him push back the mob of monsters back. While pushing back a giant zombie appeared which started causing problems for Naofumi but he was quickly back on his feet when Raphtalia returned in the nick of time to help defeat the giant zombie. Having Raphtalia returned he didn't have any use for the villagers and told them to evacuate.

After the villagers evacuated from the site. The knight around them started raining down fire around Naofumi and Raphtalia. Naofumi defended and protected Raphtalia by covering her up with his cape. The fire set ablaze to all the monster around them killing them. The leader of the knights intrigued that Naofumi was still alive after taking a direct hit with the skill this caused Raphtalia to lash out at him with her sword trying to even kill him. The knights were later forced to cooperate with Naofumi after a pack of monsters appears behind them.

Once the wave ended the villagers returned to Naofumi to thank him for saving their lives even bowing to him. Raphtalia was also grateful towards Naofumi expressing that she stopped children from becoming orphans and killed a lot of monsters, Naofumi praised her by rubbing her head.

Evening came around and the king was holding a feast for the heroes succession against the waves. The only reason Naofumi came to the party was because of the rewards he would receive after the party. He sat in the corner checking the help system while Raphtalia was indulging herself in the food.

Motoyasu made his way to Naofumi with an annoyed expression and challenged Naofumi to a duel by throwing his glove after hearing that Raphtalia was actually a slave. Naofumi didn't have anything to gain from this one on one duel and refused to accept his duel but overhearing the conversation the King forced Naofumi to accept the duel while retraining and gagging Raphtalia from having any say in the duel. The king announces to everyone that the duel between the Shield Hero and the Spear Hero will be held in the castle garden.

Naofumi was forced into a duel with Motoyasu. During the first half of the duel, all Naofumi could do against Motoyasu was defend and dodge his attacks but Naofumi quickly took control of the battle using Balloons and Eggugs to attack Motoyasu and whenever Motoyasu attacked Naofumi he would use the Dog Shield to launch a counter-attack on him.

Naofumi used a combination of Air Strike Shield and Shield Prison while launching Balloons and Eggug to attack him in a tight space. Once the Shield Prison disappeared he told Motoyasu to give up and let him win but it was then Myne illegal interrupted the duel by launching wind-based magic toward Naofumi making him lose his footing. Motoyasu used this to his advantage to pin Naofumi to the ground thus winning the duel.

No one believed Naofumi when he told that someone had interrupted their duel and the King announced Motoyasu as the victor. After the duel he learned that Myne was actually the daughter of the King and her true name was Malty Melromarc. Learning this new piece of information everything clicked inside of Naofumi's mind he finally understood that Malty used himself as a stepping stone to get closer with Motoyasu and used the King to her advantage. Naofumi had nothing but hatred toward Malty and unlocked the condition of the Curse Series.

When they removed Raphtalia's curse mark in front of everyone, everything in Naofumi vision seems dark and repulsive. After Raphtalia was freed from the slave mark she slapped Motoyasu in the face. She told Motoyasu off and said she never wanted his help and defended Naofumi when Motoyasu was spewing negative thing about him.

After finishing her argument with Motoyasu she walked over to Naofumi to return and comfort him. After her curse mark disappeared Naofumi couldn't bring himself to believe Raphtalia and pushed her away but Raphtalia kept pushing toward Naofumi and caressed him and told him the words he finally wanted to hear "I believe you."  

All the darkness that was shrouded Naofumi vision disappeared to revealing Raphtalia. In Naofumi eyes Raphtalia was always a young girl but there in front of him stood a young-adult that resembled Raphtalia in the confusion he asked who she was which she replied Raphtalia. She explained to Naofumi that demi-human grew different and promised that it was Raphatalia.  

Naofumi couldn't help but start crying while Raphtalia held him close. Ren and Itsuki appeared to tell that Motoyasu had lost the duel because of Malty's interference. Motoyasu said he wasn't fair and that Raphtalia was obviously brainwashed but Ren and Itsuki were not convinced and said how could he say that after witnessing them. Naofumi cried himself to sleep on Raphtalia's lap after everyone left the garden.  

Awaking up Naofumi found himself in one of the servant rooms inside of the castle. The first thing he did was give the King and Malty nicknames which were Trash and Bitch. Naofumi also regains his sense of taste after Raphtalia has given him a sandwich as a token of his gratitude he leaned over and kissed Raphtalia on the cheeks which caused her to fluster which Naofumi apologized after seeing her reaction but she said she didn't actually mind it. But instead, they decided to hold each other hands to comfort one another.  

Volume 2

In the aftermath of the second wave, the four heroes are summoned to the throne room to get their reward. While the other heroes receive around 4.000 silver coins, Naofumi only gets 500. Frustrated, Naofumi leave the castle. After leaving, Raphtalia insists that they reapply the slave crest to ensure that Naofumi can trust her. He also buys a lottery egg from the slave trader.

When in town, Naofumi is directed to the magic shop owner and the medicine shop owner who are both thankful for saving their families during the last wave in Riyute Village. As their way of thanks, Naofumi gets books on compounding and magic. He also has his magic assessed which reveals that he can cast healing and support magic.

When Naofumi went back to Riyute Village, the egg hatched into a filolial he named Filo. Soon after, Motoyasu arrived as the new lord of Riyute Village with an extremely heavy toll. Naofumi points out that the price is unfair and that Motoyasu doesn't know the value of money. He is then challenged to a mounted race. Naofumi reluctantly agrees and wins with Filo despite interference from Melty and Melromarc soldiers. As his reward, the village elder provides him with a carriage and commercial bill of passage his aid his future peddling enterprise.

After getting clothes for Filo (who had become a filolial queen), Naofumi starts his peddling operation while learning to read, cast magic and compounding on the road. Hiding his identity, he gains a reputation as "Saint with the Bird-god". At first he has difficulty with the "feel" of magic, but during his travels he helps an accessory dealer who teaches him how to use magic and create accessories. Along the way, he is also forced to fix problems created by the other heroes "helping" by stopping a BioPlant infestation caused by Motoyasu and cleaning up a Zombie Dragon created from the corpse of a slain dragon which Ren had left behind.

While fighting against the Zombie Dragon, Naofumi was deceived into thinking Filo was killed. In his rage, he uses his wrath curse series shield for the first time. However, he learns of the dangers which come with great power as he inflicts Raphtalia with cursed burns in the process.

Volume 3

In order to cure Raphtalia's curse, his party head back to Melromarc and meet a girl named Melty on the way. Expecting a reward, Naofumi agrees to escort her back to Melromarc's Castle Town. When they arrive at the town, they are able to get holy water to treat Raphtalia. However, they are soon confronted by Motoyasu in the middle of the town. Melty then reveals and uses her authority as first in line to the Melromarc throne to stop the fight. Realizing that he has been helping the royal family which has been persecuting him, Naofumi feels betrayed and bans any help or future interaction from his party.

By the time the third wave had started, Naofumi's good deeds (like saving Riyute Village) had inspired other people to follow his despite his horrible reputation compared to the other heroes. Both Ake's team and Elrasla fought with him during the third wave. It also became clear that the other heroes are falling behind the difficulty curve since they required Naofumi's help to find and defeat the Soul Eater as the third wave boss.

However, during the third wave, a mysterious woman who calls her self Glass appeared and challenged Naofumi to the death. She easily survived Naofumi's most powerful curse series skill Iron Maiden but was forced to flee as the timer for the wave ran out of time.

After the wave, King Aultcray demanded to know Naofumi's source of power. Naofumi agrees with the condition that the king bows down to him. The King refuses and ejects Naofumi out of the castle. As Naofumi's team starts their travels, they are met by Melty who asks Naofumi to try to talk with the King again. However, at the same time her guards attempt to assassinate her. After Naofumi saves her, he is labelled as a fugitive for kidnapping Princess Melty. It is only thanks to various shadows loyal to Queen Mirellia that Naofumi's party is able to escape the Melromarc soldiers and the other heroes. Naofumi is convinced to change directions in order to parlay with this mysterious Queen Mirellia.

Volume 4

Naofumi and his party continue their travels to escape Melromarc with the army and other heroes trying to track him down. However, as they stay in a friendly noble's residence, a malevolent noble (Raphtalia's previous master) storms the manor searching for them. Both the friendly noble and Melty sacrifice themselves in order to prevent Naofumi's party from getting captured. Naofumi also learned that the malevolent noble - Idol Rabier - was Raphtalia's previous master and a terrible man. Together, they decide to storm the Rabier manor to save Melty and the friendly noble.

Upon confrontation, Raphtalia is able to defeat her previous master and the group save Melty, the friendly noble and the slaves kept in the underground dungeon. However, in his last breaths, Idol Rabier unseals the Tyrant Dragon Rex in an attempt of revenge. Naofumi and his party lead it away from the town where they are saved by Fitoria - the Queen of the filolials. She warns Naofumi about the dangers about using curse series weapons and then transports the group to her territory for rest and discussion. The next day, Fitoria tests Filo and crowns her as the next queen of the filolials. Afterwards, Fitoria warns Naofumi that if he doesn't reunite the heroes, she will have to kill them to summon a new, more unified set of heroes. Naofumi promises to try and Fitoria transports his group to the nearest Hero.

The hero Fitoria transported Naofumi to turned out to be Motoyasu. Upon seeing Naofumi, the Spear Hero falls into a rage, claiming that Naofumi killed Ren and Itsuki. Naofumi's party is able to hold back Motoyasu's party when they are both attacked by an incredibly powerful pillar of light. The pope reveals himself as the one who "killed" Ren and Itsuki and declares his intent to kill both Naofumi and Motoyasu so he can maintain his influence. The two heroes fight against the pope and are reinforced by Ren and Itsuki who were revealed to survive their assassination attempt thanks to the queen's shadows. Together, with Queen Mirellia and Naofumi's curse series skill, they are able to defeat the pope. However, Naofumi is cursed from using his skill and his stats are reduced by 30%.

A few days later when Naofumi wakes up from his injuries, he meets the queen who apologizes for her husband and daughter's actions. She holds a trial where all of their false claims on Naofumi are publicly revealed. Malty and King Aultcray are stripped of their royalty, The Church of the Three Heroes is disbanded, and Naofumi becomes a free man again. Malty and King Aultcray are sentenced to death but Naofumi feels that death isn't a proper punishment and decides to humiliate them for the rest of their lives by legally changing their names. The Queen asks Naofumi to forgive the kingdom of Melromarc for all of their misgivings and Naofumi agrees to stay with them at least a little longer.

Volume 5

With The Church of the Three Heroes disbanded and Naofumi's reputation cleared, he is finally able to class-up Raphtalia and Filo and break the level-40 limit. Afterwards, Queen Mirellia called a conference between all four heroes to exchange information. It was clear that the other heroes were frustrated at Naofumi's apparent power through the curse series and called him a cheater. However, when they discussed their own power-up methods each hero had a unique method and disagreed about which ones worked. Naofumi took note of them all before the meeting disrupted into chaos.

Later that night, Naofumi attempted to try out the other heroes' power-up methods. and learned that he could use all of them as long as he believed that they worked. He then powered-up his shield as much as he could and tell the others about his experiment but the other heroes would not listen to him. During the previous meeting the Queen had mentioned about an experience-gain event at the Cal Mira Archipelago so Naofumi and the other heroes travel there. During that time, Naofumi and his party nearly double their level and become friends with two adventurers named L'Arc and Therese.

After defeating a surprise wave at the archipelago, L'Arc and Therese reluctantly attempt to kill Naofumi for the sake of their own world. The other heroes are immediately knocked out of battle while Glass joins L'Arc and Therese. The otherworldly heroes are repelled due to quick thinking from Rishia and Queen Mirellia

Volume 6

After seeing Naofumi's power compared to the other heroes, the queen calls another conference. Naofumi tries to explain that all of their power-up methods work together. However, the other heroes ignore his advice and just call him a cheater instead. After the conference, Naofumi noticed Rishia crying after being framed by Itsuki's party for something she didn't do. For her own safety, he invites her into his party.

Later on, the queen had arranged combat advisors for all of the heroes including Eclair to teach swordsmanship and Elrasla to teach Hengen Muso. Naofumi and his party are the only ones who don't try to skip out on this training. With the help of the medicine shop owner, Naofumi discovers a revolutionary way to feel the life energy or "chi" needed to utilize Hengen Muso. After the other three heroes escape Melromarc and their training, Queen Mirellia asks Naofumi to try to find them. He finds that the beast they were looking for is the Guardian Beast called the Spirit Tortoise. His party successfully beheads the disaster called the Spirit Tortoise and his party are celebrated as heroes. Despite the Spirit Tortoise being defeated, the other heroes are nowhere to be seen.

Volume 7

As Naofumi looks for the other heroes, he is met with a mysterious woman called Ost who warns him that the Spirit Tortoise had not actually been defeated. Upon discussion between himself, Ost and Queen Mirellia, they learn that the Spirit Tortoise has been revived in a new, terrible form and is heading towards Melromarc. Naofumi and his party fight the Spirit Tortoise as much as they can to stop or slow it down but it is no use. However, Fitoria arrives and Naofumi leads an invasion force inside the Spirit Tortoise. With Naofumi's investigation, they were able to find a way to stop it for good.

After being successful, Naofumi's party heads further into the Spirit Tortoise. They find the other three heroes captured and being drained of energy by an enemy called Kyo. With the help of the otherworldly heroes and Ost's sacrifice, they are able to defeat him and repel him back to his own world. As Ost starts fading away, she tasks Naofumi with returning the Spirit Tortoise's energy back to Raphtalia's World. Naofumi agrees and his party travel through the dimensional portal.

Volume 8

As Naofumi's party travels through Kyo's portal, they activate a trap and are separated. Also, upon entering another world, their level is reset back to level 1 and many of Naofumi's shields are no longer available. Naofumi and Rishia meet Kizuna, a Legendary Hero from Glass' World - who reveals that they are all stuck in the Infinite Labyrinth. They end up joining forces and Naofumi uses his gaming knowledge to break the magic keeping them inside.

As they leave, they find themselves in enemy territory. Undercover, Naofumi uses his peddling skills to provide money for equipment and their travels. They sneak to the country's dragon hourglass and teleport to Kizuna's home country.

Naofumi is met with suspicion since he is a hero from another world but Kizuna vouches for him. She then introduces Naofumi to Ethnobalt who tries to help Naofumi find Raphtalia. Using his blood and Raphtalia's hair, Naofumi creates a shikigami named Raph-chan. Using his connection with Raphtalia, Raph-chan then guides Naofumi and his group towards Raphtalia. After a long journey, Naofumi finds Raphtalia (along with L'Arc, Glass and Therese) on the run from a tyrant. The two are incredibly relieved to find each other okay and together, they fight off the "genius" whom Naofumi nicknamed Trash II.

Volume 9

With Naofumi's party finally reunited, they join forces with Kizuna and the otherworldly heroes to fight Kyo. During the last battle, Naofumi cast All Sacrifice Aura on himself, Raphtalia and Filo. This provided an incredible stat boost which allowed them to defeat Kyo. However, as a result, they were all cursed and their stats were significantly reduced. This curse would take roughly 2-3 month to fully cure. Naofumi then recovered the Spirit Tortoise energy from Kyo's lab and said his goodbyes to the otherworldly heroes.

Volume 10

Arriving back in Raphtalia's World, Naofumi returns the Spirit Tortoise energy and then meets with Queen Mirellia for an update. As a reward for his efforts, Naofumi secretly chooses to become lord of the Seaetto territory - a territory which includes Raphtalia's village. He then oversees the reconstruction efforts of Raphtalia's village (Lurolona Village).

As part of his reconstruction efforts, Naofumi decides to buy all Lurolona villagers who were forced into slavery. However, this mission causes the price of Lurolona slaves to skyrocket. As a result, Naofumi decides to go to Zeltoble which is the world's leader in slave trading. To fund the buying of Lurolona slaves, he decides to enter into the coliseum fights with Filo and Raphtalia. With the help of Sadeena they are able to win the tournament and bring many slaves back to their home of Lurolona Village.

Volume 11

While Naofumi has mostly recovered and prospering since being framed as a criminal, the other heroes have declined in popularity - especially since losing their parties in the Spirit Tortoise incident. During his travels, Naofumi comes across both Ren and Motoyasu who are each near their mental breaking point. Naofumi attempts to try to help Ren, but Malty steps in and deceives Ren before Naofumi is able to finish their conversation.

When Motoyasu finally breaks, Naofumi and Filo try to comfort him. However, the broken Motoyasu starts becoming obsessed with Filo which annoys Naofumi and forces him to run away. Eventually, with the help of Eclair and Motoyasu, Naofumi is able to defeat the rampant Ren and talk to him. Realizing his mistakes, Ren becomes the first Legendary Hero to join Naofumi. Motoyasu, on the other hand, runs away before Naofumi can talk to him.

Volume 12

As Naofumi's influence spread, many visitors and gifts start to arrive at his village. Naofumi decides to hatch a dragon egg he was given and called the dragon Gaelion. One day, the mischievous dragon ate the demon dragon emperor dragon core and became possessed. This dragon fed off Naofumi's shield of wrath and improved it significantly before it was eventually defeated.

After defeating the dragon, Naofumi came across Itsuki in the Zeltoble coliseum. Similar to Ren and Motoyasu, he had approached a breaking point which Malty had used to control him. With the help of Rishia, Naofumi was able to convince Itsuki to join his side. Ituski became the second hero to join Naofumi and his village.

Sadeena and Gaelion then taught Naofumi how to use Way of the Dragon Vein magic. Afterwards, Sadeena also asked Naofumi what his intention was with Raphtalia and warned that she was royalty. Near the end of the day, Erhard had arrived to Naofumi's village with the miko dress for Raphtalia. Naofumi had custom-ordered this dress because he really liked when she wore one in Glass' World. However, the nation of Q'ten Lo saw this as a declaration of intention for the throne and attacked. Naofumi's village were able to repel the attackers but Naofumi decided to stop the attacks from their source.

Volume 13

On the way to Q'ten Lo, Naofumi's party passes through Siltvelt - a demi-human country which worships the Shield Hero as their deity. However, while Naofumi is given utmost respect, he is treated as a political tool. Naofumi is able to repel the women trying to have children with him but the last straw is when he and his party are nearly poisoned by Jaralis and his co-conspirators. Eventually, Naofumi is able to defeat the enemy and prove his authority through Fohl and Atla which allow them to continue their way towards Q'ten Lo.

With the help of the Water Dragon, Naofumi and a few select members of his party are able to bypass the barrier surrounding Q'ten Lo. He meets the revolutionaries and decides to make Raphtalia the new "heavenly emperor" of Q'ten Lo. With the revolutionaries' help, he is able to gain control of the barrier over Q'ten Lo and starts taking over the nation.

Volume 14

During his conquest of Q'ten Lo, Naofumi finds a magical inscription which tells him 3 of the 4 power-up methods for the Legendary Shield. Up until now, he had been relying on the power-up methods from the other weapons. During this time, Naofumi also finally starts to see and understand the essence of life force and Hengen Muso. With the help of S'yne, Naofumi is able to learn the lost defensive applications of life force.

Eventually, Naofumi and the revolution are able to defeat the enemies in their path - including the corrupt Makina. Naofumi then falsifies Ruft's death and places Raphtalia and the throne in his place.

Volume 14.5

On the way back from Q'ten Lo, Naofumi passes through Siltvelt again. While there, Raphtalia forces him to fulfill his position as Siltvelt's lord. He reluctantly parades around Siltvelt. During his travels he eventually meets the Vassal Claw Hero named Rhubaldt. However, Raphtalia discovers that this Vassal Hero is actually an enemy under an illusion. They chase off the fox woman but this warns Naofumi of weapon wielders and foreign powers who are preparing a war against him.

Volume 15

Returning to his village, Naofumi conducts the class-up ceremony and creates the Raph species with Raph-chan's help. He also finally confronts Motoyasu - the last renegade Legendary Hero. After learning how to cast Liberation-class magic, Naofumi able to defeat Motoyasu in a challenge. He then uses Filo to convinced Motoyasu to join Naofumi and the others at his village. With all four heroes together, they have a conference to discuss what they know - this is the first time all four heroes are able to talk together in peace.

With the Phoenix about to be unsealed, Naofumi prepares his village to fight along the rest of the defense force. When the fight starts, it looks as if they were going to win, but an outside force causes one of the phoenix birds to detonate in a devastating explosion. Naofumi is nearly killed trying to defend everyone but Atla sacrifices her life to save him and everyone else. Naofumi is devastated but this act of sacrifice unlocks the Blessed Series shield called the Shield of Compassion. This shield removes the curse placed on Naofumi when he first used the Curse Series shields which unsuppresses his emotions and empathy. For the first time since his duel with Motoyasu, Naofumi is able to feel the full depths of his emotions and cries in grief.

Volume 16

In the aftermath of Atla's death, Naofumi fell into great grief and was emotionally unstable because of the release on his emotions. Trying to keep his promise with Atla to think about other people's desires, Naofumi tries to experiment and fulfill what he mistakenly believed what other people wanted from him. Thankfully, Sadeena corrects him and his companions protects him and the people around him before any harm is done. Being awaken from his stupor, he declares that he is serious about getting more powerful and for the first time in a long while - dedicates time to levelling up and getting stronger.

After talking with Queen Mirellia about the Vassal Heroes, Naofumi decides to organize a diplomatic trip to Faubrey. However, their meeting turned out to be an ambush by a false hero named Takt. During the confrontation, Takt had stolen the Legendary Shield from Naofumi and him dealt a mortal blow before Naofumi and his party could escape. As Naofumi teetered on the edge of death, he communed with the Spirit of the Legendary Shield for the first time who then offered to send him back to the world he was summoned from. Naofumi refused for the time being so the shield then warned him about a dangerous enemy he would have to face.

After Naofumi woke up, he and his party are able to confront and defeat Takt. Naofumi is able to reclaim the Legendary Shield and used his authority as a Holy Hero to strip Takt of all of the Vassal Weapons he had stolen so they could return to their rightful owner.

Volume 17

During Takt's ambush which nearly killed Naofumi, he also killed Queen Mirellia in the same strike. Being first in line to the throne, Melty was then coronated as queen. of Melromarc. After the ceremony, Naofumi teased her about her responsibility so Melty bestowed Naofumi the highest title possible - the title of archduke. The unintended consequence is that the two may be considered politically engaged until Melty becomes engaged with someone else.

During Takt's campaign to take other the world, Raphtalia was forced-transported by the Vassal Katana to Glass' World. With Ethnobalt's help, Naofumi is able to go back and joyfully reunites with Raphtalia. While in Glass' World he learns that Kizuna had been kidnapped and some of the Vassal Weapons had been stolen. Naofumi then joins to effort to save Kizuna.

During the fight against Miyaji to get Kizuna back, S'yne's Sister activates an experiment which suppresses the Legendary Shield. Naofumi and Itsuki are nearly killed until the Vassal Mirror selects Naofumi to be its new wielder. During this fight Naofumi also learns that Malty had joined the enemy behind the waves. Eventually, Miyaji is defeated and Kizuna is saved.

Volume 18

The Vassal Mirror's power-up method turns out to be related to eating food so Naofumi starts try to improve his craft. He eventually goes up against a Vanguard of the Wave named Seya in a cooking competition and wins due to his expert cooking skills.

After multiple battles against enemies who can nullify support magic, Naofumi and his party decide to look for source of magic which can repel nullification magic.

Volume 19

In efforts to find a way to stop nullification magic, Glass leads the Heroes to her country. Within the Holy Tool Grotto at the Vassal Fan temple are various weapons which seem to work - including the Okitsu Kagami: Hetsu Kagami mirror.

Some time later, the Harpoon Reincarnator led a battle in two location against the heroes. Naofumi and some of his partners decided to defend the Demon Dragon's castle where they were met by Malty, S'yne's Sister and two Reincarnated Individuals. However, during the fight one of Malty's companions literally stabbed her in the back and revealed herself to be Rino - now employed as a spy for Melromarc. Unfortunately, Malty's soul is spared by the organization behind the waves. S'yne's Sister warns Naofumi that since they "killed" Malty, the enemy organization will try to destroy Naofumi's new home.

Volume 20

Taking heed to S'yne's Sister's warning, Naofumi and his party return to Raphtalia's World. However, just as they are settling back in, their village is targeted by an experimental weapon by the organization behind the waves and are sent back in time. Naofumi meets the previous Shield Hero named Mamoru Shirono. The two then work together to save the proto-Siltvelt country named Siltran.

Natural & Learned Abilities

Name	Details
Alcohol Immunity	In his previous world, alcohol had no adverse effects towards Naofumi. His ability to eat Rucolu Fruit without any problems has become such a well-known trait about him that it's considered the gold standard in confirming the Shield Hero's identity. Itsuki believes that this comes from the ESPer ability called 'Nullify Sickness'.
Motion Sickness Immunity	Even in his youth, Naofumi has been naturally immune to motion sickness. This is a natural trait derived from his alcohol immunity ability, which affects his inner eardrum and makes him unable to become seasick or carsick.
Animal Whisperer	Ever since childhood, animals always feel naturally at ease and become friendly towards Naofumi. This not only affects animals but Demi-Humans and Beastmen as well. Itsuki believes that this is Naofumi's second ESPer ability.
Cooking Abilities	People habitually become addicted to Naofumi's cooking, even monsters that Filo runs over with her carriage and tosses into the back wagon like a sack of potatoes become first-class gourmet cooking after a few minutes in Naofumi's capable hands. Some people have started calling Naofumi the "Cooking Hero" because of how delicious his cooking is.
Negotiating Abilities	Cut off from Melromarc's cash flow, Naofumi had to learn to make money as a traveling merchant. He can easily haggle products being sold at a high price down a twentieth of their cost. The fact that he's been known to carry Balloons around with him under his cloak and have them bite people who try to refuse him service or rip him off helps.
Potion Crafting	One of the first things that Naofumi learns to do in the new world is to make potions. He is initially a novice, but after extensive self-education and constant practice, the art of potion-making becomes second nature to Naofumi to the point where he can create healing potions, cures for various diseases, herbicides, and even the legendary Yggdrasil medicine.
Accessory Crafting	As payment for defending him from a group of bandits, Hickwaal trained Naofumi in the accessory-crafting business, helping him become more proficient in refining ores, enchanting gems, and even shaping monster bones into first-class items.

Legendary Shield

Main article: Legendary Shield

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Offensive Abilities

• Energy Blast「エネルギーブラスト Enerugii Burasuto」

A skill that is exclusive to the Spirit Tortoise Heart Shield. Shoots the Spirit Tortoise's Energy blast from the shield. Must be charged to 100% before firing.

• Night Terror「夜恐声 Yakyou Sei (lit. Night Terror Voice)」

A skill exclusive to the Nue Shield. This ability unleashes a terrible shriek which causes the target to be frightened.

• Shield Bash「シールドバッシュ Shiirudo Basshu」

This skill knocks back enemies and can induce a brief moment of unconsciousness. Due to how Naofumi's stats are allocated, this attack does negligible damage.

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Defensive Abilities

• Air Strike Shield「エアストシールド Easuto Shiirudo (lit. First Shield, Erst = "First" in German)」

Instantly create a shield for defense anywhere within a radius of 5 meters which lasts for a duration of 15 seconds. This ability is very versatile, as it can create shields in the air that allow him and others to jump over them to reach or escape threats, it can also be used to immobilize the enemy by blocking their path with shields. The Air Strike Shield was shown in the anime to be able to be thrown at targets, dealing light damage and knocking targets off balance.

• Air Strike Shield → Second Shield「セカンドシールド Sekando Shiirudo」

It creates a second shield in sequence after Air Strike Shield.

• Air Strike Shield → Second Shield → Dritte Shield「ドリットシールド Doritto Shiirudo (lit. Third Shield, Dritte = "Third" in German)」

It creates a third shield in sequence after Second Shield. While under the effects of Sakura Sphere of Influence, shields summoned through Air Strike/Second/Dritte Shields take on the form of cherry blossoms that spread wider as they get hit, providing a wider protective radius. It was mistranslated as Torrid Shield「トリッドシールド」in the raws on some occasions.

• Shield Prison「シールドプリズン Shiirudo Purizun」

It creates a cage of shields anywhere within a radius of 5 or 6 meters which lasts for a duration of 15 seconds that can be used to protect himself or others as well as trap enemies.

• Shooting Star Shield「流星盾 Ryuusei Tate (lit. Meteor Shield)」

A thin wall of light is created. It's a defensive barrier similar to the Air Strike Shield, but it allows party members to pass through it. Its effective radius is 2 meters centering around the user, its SP consumption is around 5% of Naofumi's max SP, and it has a cooldown time of 15 seconds. When Naofumi wields the Spirit Tortoise Shell, the Shooting Star Shield takes the form of a tortoise shell, drastically increasing its defensive power.

• Shooting Star Wall「流星壁 Ryuusei Kabe (lit. Meteor Wall)」

Deploys a defensive sphere similar to the Shooting Star Shield on allies within a certain range. If the allies are formed, the effect of each shield is increased.

• E Float Shield「Eフロートシールド Easuto Furooto Shiirudo (E is short for "Erst")」

It creates a shield that floats and moves along the user within a radius of 1 meter centering around the user.

• S Float Shield「Sフロートシールド Sekando Furooto Shiirudo (S is short for "Second")」It creates a second shield that has the same properties as E Float Shield.

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Utility Abilities

• Change Shield「チェンジシールド Chenji Shiirudo」

Allows Naofumi to change shields summoned by certain skills, such as Shield Prison and Air Strike Shield, to other kinds of shields.

• Change Shield (Attack)「チェンジシールド（攻）Chenji Shiirudo (Kou)」

A variant of Change Shield which allows Shield Prison to have direct applications of counter-attacking effects of a chosen shield though the selection list is narrower. "(Attack)" is omitted when calling out the name of the skill.

• Chain Shield「チェインシールド Chein Shiirudo」

A variant of Change Shield that summons a chain linking the shields summoned through Air Strike/Second/Dritte Shields, trapping any enemies that are near the shields. and also allows the chain linked shields to move somewhat. Chains can also be summoned to capture enemies without the need for Air Strike Shield.

• Modify Bioplant「植物改造 Shokubutsu Kaizou (lit. Plant Remodling)」

A skill that allows Naofumi to alter the stats and properties of various different BioPlant Seeds.

• Plant Analysis「植物解析 Shokubutsu Kaiseki (lit. Plant Analysis)」

Allow Naofumi to see the characteristics of the plants.

• Alert Shield「アラートシールド Araato Shiirudo」

Sends an alert if an enemy gets within 20 meters of the user. It is not very useful in combat, but it is useful in caves, poorly lit places and dungeons.

• Hate Reaction「ヘイトリアクション Heito Riakushon」

A skill that lures the attention of monsters within 15 meters of the user. It can also forcibly expose anyone that are lightly concealed by magic or skills. Those affected by Hate Reaction has their attack slightly increased and their defenses lowered, it also interrupts the casting of magic. During volume 22 this ability also managed to affect humans, demi-humans and theriatropes, so apparently the ability broadened the range of species it affects. In the anime, the ability creates an eye of red energy in the sky upon activation and covers all affected enemies with a red aura.

• Portal Shield「ポータルシールド Pootaru Shiirudo」

It allows the user and their party members the ability to teleport to set locations. This was initially limited to 3 locations but was later upgraded with the Vassal Gauntlet power-up ability.

• Bubble Shield「バブルシールド Baburu Shiirudo」

A skill that provides a limited supply of air to the user, which can be replenished by exiting the area that has limited air. When upgraded with at least 3 points from the Vassal Gauntlet power-up ability it creates an air bubble around the user.

• Beast Transformation Assist「獣化補助 Juuka Hojyo (lit. Beastification Aid)」

Allows Naofumi to enhance a therianthrope's beast transformation, allowing them to transform into a new, more powerful form. Additionally, with the use of the demon dragon's magic Naofumi can add the power of his rage shield or his own or an ally's magic power to the transformation, granting additional abilities to the user based on the magic attribute added. While under the effects of Sakura Sphere of Influence, the target of the skill receives an even bigger boost to their stats.

• Attack Support「アタックサポート Atakku Sapooto」

A skill summons a dart which will double the damage of the next attack for whatever was hit with this dart within 30 seconds. When this skill is used under the effect of Sakura Sphere of Influence, the dart created by Attack Support splits up into five cherry blossom petals which restricts the opponent's movement. Since volume 22 the number of darts this ability summons seems to have increased.

• Sakura Sphere of Influence「桜陣結界 Oujin Kekkai (lit. Sakura Formation Barrier)」

This skill changes the effects of other skills when activated and provides a power-up for the surrounding allies. This ability cannot be activated unless the Sakura Destiny Sphere「桜天結界 Outen Kekkai (lit. Heavenly Sakura Barrier)」is also active.

• Territory Reform「領地の改革 Ryouchi no Kaikaku (lit. Reformation of Territory)」

By collecting and sacrificing 'offering points', Naofumi can take materials from inside of his shield and manufacture buildings based on them and spawn them within his territory. Available commands under this skill are: Move, Place, Remove, Create, and Combine.

• Poison Sensing「毒物感知 Dokubutsu Kanchi (lit. Poison Detection)」

It allows the Shield to detect any poison thus sending a warning to Naofumi.

• Reflect Shield「リフレクトシールド Rifurekuto Shiirudo」

Allows you to temporarily give the counterattack of a shield to another shield that does not have one.

• Shine Shield「シャインシールド Shainn Shiirudo」

Produces a beam of light. While it is pretty bright, it doesn't cause a blinded effect like other weapons with a similar skill.

• Shield 0「０の盾 Zero no Tate」This skill has 0 damage, cooldown and SP consumption. However, it was found to be effective against illegitimate powers.

• Beast Transformation Support Expansion

Unknown, likely a passive modifier to the Beast Transformation Assist skill.

• Beast Transformation Additional Access

Unknown, likely a passive modifier to the Beast Transformation Assist skill.

• Voluntary Beast Transformation Support

Unknown, likely a passive modifier to the Beast Transformation Assist skill.

• Cost Reduction (Large)

Unknown, likely a passive modifier to the Beast Transformation Assist skill.

• Pacifier Support

The effects of this skill are unknown, but likely an active shield skill, that is capable of 'pacifying' aggressive targets as opposed to hate Reaction's effect.

• Transformation Support

The effects of this skill are unknown.

• Magic Bullet「マジックブレット Majikku Buretto」

A skill exclusive to the Iron Shield Pistol. It allows you to transform spells into magic bullets that, when hitting something, will trigger the effect of the spell the bullet originated from. Because the only magic Naofumi has access to is support and healing, he cannot use these bullets offensively, but he has been able to use them to enhance magic using the Magic Prison combo skill and an accessory that has given him the ability to enhance the magic reflected in their shields.

• Magic Prison「マジックプリズン Majikku Purizun」

A combo ability of Float Shields transformed into mirror shields with Change Shield. The user uses the ability to reflect magic of the floating shields to be able to reflect magic multiple times to the enemy, or in case the user uses an accessory that allows the shields to improve magic when they reflect it, improve said attack or as Naofumi upgrade a support magic.

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Counter Attack Abilities

• Needle Shield (Small)「針の盾（小） Hari no Tate (Shou) (lit. Shield of Needles (Small))」

After the shield has been hit, the shield shoots out several needles. Special effects in certain shields allows the needles to inflict status effects like paralyze or poison. This was unlocked by the Animal Needle Shield, Bee Needle Shield & Bee Needle Shield II.

• Dog Bite「ドッグバイト Doggu Baito」

After the shield has been hit, two dogs heads howl and bite into the attacker for 30 seconds. This was unlocked by the Two-Headed Black Dog Shield, after feeding the slain monster into his shield.

• Poison Snake Fang (Large) 「蛇の毒牙（大） Hebi no Dokuba (Dai) (lit. Snake's Venomous Fangs (Large))」
  • formerly Poison Snake Fang (Medium)「蛇の毒牙（中）Hebi no Dokuba (Chuu) (lit. Snake's Venomous Fangs (Medium))」

After the shield has been hit, the snake from the shield appears and bites the attackers. The bite inflicts a weak poison. It was eventually upgraded when Naofumi was testing the Power-up methods that Motoyasu, Ren & Itsuki shared.

• Soul Eat「ソウルイート Souru Iito」

After the shield has been hit, the shield changes appearance to bites the attacker and steals their SP. This is especially dangerous for spirit people as SP is tied with HP and attack power.

• Heat Beam Shield (Medium)「熱線の盾（中） Netsusen no Tate (Chuu) (lit. Shield of Heat Rays (Medium))」

After the shield had been hit, it releases a ranged laser-like heat beam towards the attacker. This was unlocked with the Whale Magic Core Shield.

• C Soul Recovery「Cソウルリカバリー Kauntaa Souru Rikabari (C is short for "Counter")」

After blocking the attack, the shield launches a magic missile that steals SP upon hit. This was first unlocked with the Spirit Turtle Heart Shield (Awakened).

• C Magic Snatch「Cマジックスナッチ Kauntaa Majikku Sunacchi (C is short for "Counter")」

After block attacking, the shield launches a magical missile which steals magical energy upon hit. This was first unlocked with the Spirit Tortoise Heart Shield (awakened).

• C Gravity Shot「Cグラビティショット Kauntaa Gurabiti Shotto (C is short for "Counter")」

After blocking the attack, the shield launches a magic missile that increases gravity at the enemy by hitting and crushing them. This was first unlocked with the Spirit Turtle Heart Shield (Awakened).

• Lightning Shield (Medium) 「雷の盾（中） Kaminari no Tate (Chuu) (lit. Shield of Lightning (Medium))」
  • formerly Lightning Shield (Very Slight)「雷の盾（微小）Kaminari no Tate (Bishou) (lit. Shield of Lightning (Very Small))」

After the shield had been hit, the shield discharges electricity and shocks the attacker. It wasn't particularly useful until the shield was upgraded.. This was unlocked with the Nue Shield.

• Demon Elephant Tusk (critical)「魔象の牙（会心） Mazou no Kiba (Kaishin) (lit. Tusk of Demonic Elephant (Critical))」

After the shield had been hit, it unleashes a sphere of black light from the elephant tusk relief on the shield. This attack occasionally inflicts critical hits. This was unlocked by the Demon Elephant Shield.

• C Demon Bullet「C魔弾 Kauntaa Madan (lit. C Demon/Magic Bullet, C is short for "Counter")」

After the shield had been hit, it unleashes a torrent of magical demon bullets at the enemy. Since the bullets are magic, they are not affected by gravity. This was unlocked by the Demon Dragon Shield.

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Combination Abilities

• Hiding Shield「ハイディングシールド Haidingu Shiirudo」

A combination move with Raphtalia that uses both Air Strike Shield and First Hiding. This skill summons an invisible shield.

• Tornado Shield「トルネードシールド Toruneedo Shiirudo」

A combination move with Filo that uses both Air Strike Shield and Zweite Tornade. This skill summons an Air Strike Shield made out of wind magic. When the shield is attacked, it counters with a tornado stronger than what Filo could normally produce.

• Mirage Shield「ミラージュシールド Miirajyu Shiirudo」

A combination move with Raphtalia which summons an Air Strike Shield combined with the First Mirage Spell. When the shield is attacked, it counters with an illusion which encloses the target and confuses their sense. Enemies hit with this skill may attack their own allies.

• Prismlight Shield「プリズムライトシールド Purizumu Raito Shiirudo」

A combination move with Ruftmila which combines the Shine Shield skill and Drifa Illumination Magic. This skills powers up the light of the Shine Shield to blind enemies.

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Curse Series (Wrath)

• Dark Cursing Burning S「ダークカースバーニングS Daaku Kaasu Baaningu S」
  • Formerly Self Curse Burning「セルフカースバーニング Serufu Kaasu Baaningu」& Dark Curse Burning「ダークカースバーニング Daaku Kaasu Baaningu」

Activated on close physical contact. The flames produced from this can cover a large range. This is no ordinary flame, but a curse type flame that reduces healing effects. As it's a curse based flame, holy type magic is needed to guard against it.

• Robe of Rage (Large)「憤怒の衣（大） Fundo no Koromo/Kinu (Dai)」
  • Formerly Robe of Rage (Medium)「憤怒の衣（中） Fundo no Koromo/Kinu (Chuu)」

Changes to user's armor to a terrifying powered-up form. This is a skill unique to the Rage series.

• Shield Prison → Change Shield (Attack) → Iron Maiden「アイアンメイデン Aian Meiden」

A skill that has to be activated by first using Shield Prison to trap an enemy and Change Shield (Attack) to run them through with spikes. Summons a giant iron maiden that slowly descends upon the shield prison. The iron maiden is filled with violent spikes and when the door closes, it deals deadly damage and, in most cases, kills the target. While this is one of Naofumi's most powerful skills, it also consumes all of his SP when activated.

• Blood Sacrifice「ブラッドサクリファイス Buraddo Sakurifaisu」

Naofumi's blood is extracted from his body in a large quantity when using this ability. It then forms a bear trap-like shape under the intended enemy and repeatedly mashes them to death. The use of this technique has the unfortunate side effect of seriously wounding its own wielder and cursing them by reducing their stats by 30% should they survive. For Naofumi, however, his defence is not reduced. The curse can be healed with time, but the process can be accelerated by using purifying elements. This skill was unlocked with the Shield of Wrath III.

• Megiddo Burst「メギドバースト Megiddo Baasuto」

This skill is the next step in the wrath cursed series. While the effects are unknown, Naofumi believed it to be too dangerous to use.

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Spin-off Exclusive Skills

Expand

Web Novel Exclusive Skills

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Vassal Staff (Temporary

Using the special ability of the Vassal Staff, Naofumi was able to quickly analyze opponent's magic, cast his own magic and even cast select combo skills on his own.

• Fenrir Force「フェンリルフォース Fenriru Foosu」

Fires a beam of energy at target(s). This skill take a very long time to charge up with enough magic to fire but also does an extreme amount of damage.

• Air Strike Front Mirror「エアスト・フロートミラー Easuto Furooto Miraa (lit. First Float Mirror, Erst = "First" in German)」

Summons a floating mirror to reflect skills and magic. The name is a mistranslation of Air Strike Float Mirror.

• Second Front Mirror「セカンド・フロートミラー Sekando Furooto Miraa」

Summons a second floating mirror to reflect skills and magic. The name is a mistranslation of Second Float Mirror.

• Air Strike Blast「エアストブラスト Easuto Burasuto (lit. First Blast, Erst = "First" in German)」

Charges with energy to release a beam of energy.

• Blast Prison「ブラストプリズン Burasuto Purizun」

A combo skill of Float mirror and Air Strike Blast. Naofumi shoots Air Strike blast towards the target and uses his float mirrors to repeatedly reflect it back at the target.

• Energy Blast

An apparently versatile offensive skill which can be applied with other skills to create combo skills. A mistranslation of the Power-up method of Energy Boost.

• Ragnarok Blaster「ラグナロクブラスター Ragunaroku Burasutaa」

A combo skill using a concentrated deployment of Fenrir Force and the application of Hengen Muso. This skill take a long time to charge but shoots a beam of energy so concentrated that it is even capable of destroying Blood Sacrifice from a level 350 user.

Vassal Mirror

Main article: Vassal Mirror

After the Legendary Shield was suppressed in Glass' World, the Vassal Mirror decided to lend its power to Naofumi since Naofumi had previously freed it from the tyrannical Kyo. While the Legendary Shield specializes in total defense, the Vassal Mirror specializes in magical defense and movement while having an overall lower physical defense.

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Offensive Abilities

• Mirror Bash「鏡強打 Kagami Kyouda (lit. Mirror Slug)」

Pushes the targets back and cause a brief moment of unconsciousness. This is the mirror equivalent of Shield Bash.

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Defensive Abilities

• Stardust Mirror「スターダストミラー Sutaa Dasuto Miraa」

Similar to Shooting Star Shield, this skill erects a defensive barrier around the target.

• Formation One: Glass Shield「一式・硝子の盾 Isshiki Garasu no Tate (lit. Form One - Shield of Glass)」

Summons a static mirror of energy in the air. If this mirror is broken, the fragments attack the enemy for extra damage. This mirror can also reflect magic even if it breaks after that. This skill is the mirror equivalent to Air Strike Shield.

• Formation Two: Glass Shield「二式・硝子の盾 Ni Shiki Garasu no Tate (lit. Form Two - Shield of Glass)」

Summons a second static mirror of energy. This skill is the mirror equivalent to Second Shield.

• Formation Three: Glass Shield「三式・硝子の盾 San Shiki Garasu no Tate (lit. Form Three - Shield of Glass)」

Summons a third static mirror of energy in the air. This skill is the mirror equivalent to Dritte Shield.

• Formation One: Float Mirror「一式・浮遊鏡 Isshiki Fuyuu Kyou/Kei (lit. Form One - Floating Mirror)」

Summons a floating mirror which the user can move and control remotely. It is capable of reflecting the skills of allies or enemies. This is the mirror's equivalent to E Float Shield.

• Formation Two: Float Mirror「二式・浮遊鏡 Ni Shiki Fuyuu Kyou/Kei (lit. Form Two - Floating Mirror)」

Summons a second floating mirror which the user can move and control remotely. This is the mirror's equivalent to S Float Shield.

• Mirror Cage「鏡の檻 Kagami no Ori (lit. Cage of Mirrors)」

Manifests a cage of mirrors. This can either be used to restrain the target or to create a defensive barrier for the user. This skill is the mirror equivalent to Shield Prison.

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Utility Abilities

• Teleport Mirror/Movement Mirror「転移鏡 Teni Kyou/Kei (lit. Relocation Mirror)」

Allows the user to return to any mirror they have seen previously.

• Transport Mirror「転送鏡 Tensou Kyou/Kei (lit. Transportation Mirror)」

Allows the user to connect two mirrors like a portal or doorway. This skill has a longer cooldown than Movement Mirror and is a unique skill to the Vassal Mirror. The translations for「転移鏡」&「転送鏡」(Teleport Mirror, Movement Mirror & Transport Mirror) are completely and utterly screwed up so please read with caution.

• Scroll of Return/Return Transcript「帰路の写本 Kiro no Shahon (lit. Transcript of Returning Roads)」

Allows the user to return to the dragon hourglass they had last registered with.

• Return Dragon Vein「帰路の龍脈 Kiro no Ryuumyaku (lit. Dragon Vein of Returning Roads)」

Allows the user to teleport from one dragon hourglass to another which they had already registered at.

• Chain Binding Mirror「連鎖捕縛の鏡 Rensa Hobaku no Kagami (lit. Mirror's Apprehending Chains)」

Links the previously summon glass shields with a chain to restrain the target. This is the mirror's equivalent to Chain Shield.

• Boosted Mirror Fragements/Multiplying Mirror Fragment「倍加の鏡片 Baika no Kyouhen/Keihen (lit. Mirror Shard of Magnification)」

Summons a piece of sharp glass to throw at the enemy. Upon success, the next attack will inflict double the regular damage. This is the mirror's equivalent to Attack Support.

• Release Rebound「解除弾き Kaijyo Hajiki (lit Canceling Deflection)」

Reflects all magic including buff and debuff magic.

• Relay Mirror「中継鏡 Chuukei Kyou (lit. Relay Mirror)」

Allows Naofumi to see the desired location when using the Transport Mirror.

• Changing Mirror「変異鏡 Ihen Kyou/Kei (lit. Mutating Mirror)」

Changes the mirror from one form into another. This skill is the mirror equivalent to Change Shield.

• Changing Mirror (Attack)「変異鏡（攻）Ihen Kyou/Kei (Kou) (lit. Mutating Mirror (Attack))」

A variant of Changing Mirror. This skill is the mirror equivalent to Change Shield (Attack).

• Mirror 0「０の鏡 Zero no Kagami」

This skill has 0 damage, cooldown and SP consumption. However, it was found to be effective against illegitimate powers..

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Combination Abilities

• Megido Iron Maiden「メギド・アイアンメイデン Megido Aian Meiden」

This is the iron maiden ability upgraded via demon dragon magic. This skill summons a an even more evil-looking Iron Maiden with pitch black flames within and decorating the outside of the torture device. As skill skewers the target, a massive pillar of cursed fire then burns the target. This ability drains the SP of both Naofumi and the Demon Dragon.

Curse Series (Wrath)

• Rage Infusion

Any spell, attack or ability that is reflected in the mirror of rage will be imbued with the curse of rage.

Bless Series (Compassion)

• Bless

Any spell, attack, or ability that is reflected in the mirror of compassion will be purged of whatever curse is on that attack.

Weapon Accessories

• Accessory (crafted by Erhard)

After blocking a number of attacks at once, the accessory triggers and shatters, causing a defensive barrier like shooting star shield. Once the barrier shatters, the pieces burst into flames similar to those of the Self Cursing Burning flames.

• Accessory (crafted by Naofumi)

When the shooting star barrier shatters, some of the shards stay afloat in the air and shoot straight at enemies or turn into light and blind enemies.

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Magic

Naofumi has a natural affinity for healing and support magic. He first learned the "feel" for magic from Hickwaal who taught him how to infuse magic into accessories. He can cast up to the hero-exclusive Liberation-class magic after learning of it from Ost and obtaining the Energy Boost power-up method from Q'ten Lo.

Ritual Magic

• First/Zweite Guard「ファスト/ツヴァイト・ガード Fasuto/Tsuvaito Gaado」

Simple support-type magic which gives a boost to defence.

• First/Zweite/Dreifa/Liberation Heal「ファスト/ツヴァイト/ドライファ/リベレイション・ヒール Fasuto/Tsuvaito/Doraifa/Ribereishon Hiiru」

Works on a similar principle to Naofumi's health potions to quickly mend his own or another's injuries. After learning of the Vassal Staff's power-up methods Naofumi upgraded this spell to Heal X which can also treat curses.

• Zweite/Liberation Aura「ツヴァイト/リベレイション・オーラ Tsuvaito/Ribereishon Oora」

A spell that buffs allies, providing an increase to all stats. He first learned this spell at the Cal Mira islands inscription.

• All Sacrifice Aura「アル・サクリファイス・オーラ Aru Sakurifaisu Oora」

The sacrifice-class of the aura spell. This skill sacrifices the targets' health and life force for a significant, temporary power-up. The downside of using this effect is that a particularly strong curse is applied to those who use it. The curse reduces stats and takes about 2-3 months to recover with the usual purifying elements ineffective.

• Anti Drifa Firestorm「アンチ・ドライファ・ファイアストーム Anchi Doraifa Faia Sutoomu」

Negates the spell Drifa Firestorm of equal level or less.

• Zweite Fire「ツヴァイト・ファイア Tsuvaito Faia」

Produces a first attack. This spell is only usable when Naofumi is in possession of the Vassal Staff.

• Zweite Water「ツヴァイト・ウォーター Tsuvaito Uootaa」

Produces a pressurized stream of water to attack the target. This spell is only usable when Naofumi is in possession of the Vassal Staff.

• Zweite/Drifa Decay「ツヴァイト/ドライファ・ディケイ Tsuvaito/Doraifa Dikei」

This spell is only effective when Naofumi's shield has been suppressed. It is a type of healing magic which causes festering wounds to appear on the target.

• Anti Drifa Hellfire「アンチ・ドライファ・ヘルファイア Anchi Doraifa Herufaia」

Negates the spell Drifa Hellfire of equal level or less.

Dragon Vein

• Aqua Seal「アクアシール Akua Shiiru」

This spell manipulates surrounding water to create a barrier.

Cooperative Magic

• All Liberation Aura「アル・リベレイション・オーラ Aru Tsuvaito/Ribereishon Oora」

Ost has once assisted Naofumi in producing a stronger version of Zweite Aura when he has yet to learn to use Dragon Vein Magic.

• Descent of the Thunder God「雷神降臨 Raijin Kourin (lit. Advent of the Thunder God)」

Cooperation magic cast with Sadeena and sometimes Gaelion using Zweite Aura as a base. Summons lightning to strike and envelops the target. This support spell great buff all stats and inflicts a lightning counter-attack to those who try to hit the target of this spell.

• Form is Emptiness「色即是空 Shikisokuzekuu (lit. Everything is of Nothing)」

This spell is cooperative magic with Naofumi and Raphtalia that involves Way of the Dragon Vein magic. This spell creates sensory illusions that confuse a group of enemies into thinking their target is somewhere else.

• Emptiness is Form「空即是色 Kuusokuzeshiki (lit. Nothing is of Everything)」

This spell is very similar to Form is Emptiness and is cast by Naofumi and Raph-chan. This spell creates illusions of something that does not exist. All nearby enemies are targeted and can be knocked unconscious.

• Emptiness is Form: Hollow「空即是色・虚 Kuusokuzeshiki Utsu (lit. Nothing is of Everything - Hollow)」

An upgraded version of the spell Emptiness is Form where Daph-chan & the peudo-personality Demon Dragon joins in with the formation of the spell. It is strong enough to affect even heroes albeit with limited capacity.

Jewel Magic

With the use of Way of the Dragon Vein, Naofumi is able to cast jewel magic. However, this puts stress on the gemstones and cannot be used often.

• Jewel High Speed「ジュエル・ハイスピード Jyueru Hai Supiido」

This spell increases the speed of the target. This spell is actually a simulation of Dragon Vein magic with the assistance of magic jewels.

• Nameless Support Magic

Naofumi used a gem to do some support magic on Glass to test her new Lawless Counter ability.

Demon Dragon Magic

After the Demon Dragon Emperor unlocked his exclusive magic to be used for non-humans, Naofumi was able to make a contract with the Demon Dragon. As a result, when this magic is used, the demon dragon emperor's magic is infused into whatever skills or magic Naofumi uses.

0 Magic

A mysterious magic that Naofumi gained access to when Beginnig of 0 an equip bonus he got from Dragon King Shield 0, evolved into 0 Territory. Every time Naofumi uses a spell of this mysterious magic, he loses attack and gains a percentage with an unknown meaning.

• Fill First Heal Zero「アル・ファスト・ヒール・ゼロ Aru Fasuto Hiiru Zero」

The user unleashes from their hands what appears to be a distortion of space itself which spreads across the targets' wounds and removes any illegitimate power residing within them. This spell drains a lot of magic power from the user so after casting it the user tends to fall from exhaustion.

Hengen Muso

After learning how to control Ki from Elrasla, Atla and S'yne, Naofumi became able to repel or redirect attacks including defence-rating or defence-ignoring attacks. It turns out that the Legendary Shield makes Naofumi's flow of ki quite unusual. As a result, he is only able to use a select few defensive or evasive techniques.

• Gathering「集 Shū」

Uses ki to bend the trajectory of magical attacks to the user. This technique is effective within a radius of 3 meters which can be extended further as more ki is applied.

• Wall「壁 Kabe」

Creates an invisible wall that can stop magical and physical attacks for a few seconds. It is very versatile in shape but weak in actual defensive power.

• Orb「玉 Tama」

Allows the gathered magical attacks to be concentrated and then thrown back at the enemy.

• Point「点 Ten」

Allows the attack this technique is combined with to become a defence-ignoring or defence-rating attack. Naofumi is only able to use this when the Legendary Shield is suppressed.

• Magic Purification「魔道祓い Madō Harai」

A lost technique of the Hengen Muso style. Basically an extension of the technique, 「Gathering」, whereby Support Magic (Buff, Debuff or Nullification) is gathered and sent flying. As a secondary effect, all surrounding magic within a 2-meter area are dispersed though it has been noted that reliably causing such a phenomena is close to impossible.

Companions and Familiars

• Slave Crest

Most of Naofumi's companions and monsters have a slave crest registered to him. This greatly improves their stats and growth rate due to the Shield's influence. This also allows him to set restrictions or punish the slaves. However, he has only used this functionality to save those who are in immediate danger. Wielders of Legendary or Vassal weapons cannot receive a slave crest and any crest they had when receiving the weapon will disappear.

• C'mon Raph「カモンラフ Kamon Rafu」

This skill allows Naofumi to summon his Shikigami Raph-chan. This skill is flexible as Raph-chan can bring other shikigami or members of the Raph race along with the skill.

• Mind of the Demon Dragon

After reviving the Demon Dragon, the master of magic in Glass' World, the dragon placed a copy of her personality into Naofumi's head. This personality assists Naofumi in casting magic and can intimidate other creatures with its presence

Legendary Heroes

Motoyasu Kitamura

Naofumi initially believed Motoyasu played a part in framing him for raping Malty for his own personal gains, but over time, Naofumi came to realize that Motoyasu is very naive, delusional, stupid and evidently doesn't know that he's being manipulated by Malty.

Motoyasu would continually believe Malty's words and cause Naofumi and his party trouble. These troubling events lead to Naofumi awakening the curse series.

Motoyasu tries to behave in a friendly manner towards Naofumi, despite the charges on him, but becomes something of a rival or more rather an annoyance, especially with Malty's continued influence upon him. Once Naofumi's name is cleared, he begins to show more of his decent side towards him but refuses to believe Naofumi when he's told that Malty is the one who set him up.

After Malty eventually betrays him, Motoyasu falls into depression, which leads to Filo cheering him up and causing him to fall completely in love with Filo and start calling Naofumi "father-in-law." Naofumi finds his new personality troubling, but easier to cooperate or manipulate since he has sworn his loyalty to him.

Ren Amaki

Like the other three Legendary Heroes, Ren was led to believe Naofumi was guilty of the charges of "raping" Malty. However, he was also, alongside Itsuki, one of the only few people to defend and stand up for Naofumi, albeit a couple of times, only for personal gains.

He is grateful and apologetic towards Naofumi after he is told directly by him that he had to clean up the messes that Ren caused because of his careless actions. Naofumi originally believes Ren was cold and heartless, but after seeing him apologize and regret his actions, his views on him have improved. He is the only one of the other three legendary heroes who had doubts about Naofumi kidnapping Princess Melty.

After the events of the Spirit Tortoise incident, Naofumi meets Ren again, this time their roles reversed, Naofumi is now loved and adored by the public while the three other Heroes are hated and despised. As Ren explains how his party was murdered during the Spirit Tortoise Incident, he calls them weak and blames his now deceased party members for their deaths and not himself, causing Naofumi to call him out for this. Ren refuses to face the reality that he was easily manipulated by Malty, who later betrays him, causing Ren to unlock his Curse Series and going rogue.

Eventually, after tracking down him down, Naofumi, with the help of Eclair, suppresses him and knocks some sense into him. After his rampage, Ren finally admits it was his fault that his party died and starts to atone for his sins as he begins training with Eclair while living in Naofumi's village.

He gets rid of the cold, lonely, and cool persona he was trying so hard to maintain for a genuine hard-working attitude. He also holds Naofumi in high regard and follows his requests, such as implementing the Power-Up systems and learning a new language.

The current relationship between the two is very good, both consider each other as a good friend. Naofumi also usually gives Ren some advice so that he can solve his personal problems, such as what he should do with his infatuation with Eclair, how to deal with Wyndia, or his mistrust when forging weapons.

Itsuki Kawasumi

Naofumi's relationship with Itsuki is very strained, to put it politely. He dislikes how Hero of the Bow's actions are driven with the sole purpose of flaunting his pride and showing off for applause. He also begrudges the latter, along with the other Heroes, for believing Malty's false accusations and their subsequent treatment towards him afterwards.

Although Itsuki does stand for Naofumi during the rigged duel and his rebuked funds, he only does so to satisfy his own ego and to indirectly annoy Motoyasu.

Later on, Naofumi defends Itsuki from Raphtalia's criticisms by stating that Bow Hero is stuck up, but will never let harm befall his allies. However, Naofumi's attitude changes when he loses what little respect he had for Itsuki after finding out that he kicked Rishia out of his party under the pretense of a crime that he and other party members orchestrated against her.

After finally tracking the whereabouts of Itsuki after the events of the Spirit Tortoise Incident, this leads to a fight between Rishia and Itsuki who was under the influence of numerous Curse Series and was being manipulated by Bitch (who later betrayed him.)

Following his defeat, Itsuki completely breaks apart, losing his pride, sense of justice, and becoming near-emotionless. He follows any orders given to him and is unable to lie. Naofumi, seeing Itsuki in his current condition, brings him to his village where Rishia continues to look after him.

After Itsuki's curse is lifted, the two heroes have a heart-to-heart conversation. Itsuki admits that he was wrong as a hero and he regrets his actions, especially what he did to Rishia. From now on, he desires to truly help people in trouble and to make everything right again. This greatly improves Naofumi's perception of Itsuki and he recognizes the drastic change in attitude.

Kizuna Kazayama

Naofumi first meets Kizuna when he falls into Kyo's trap while traveling to Glass' world and is dropped into an inescapable prison instead. She quickly decides to trust him after hearing he has been working with Glass. He feels sympathy for her and they pool their knowledge together and Naofumi is able to engineer their escape, earning him her eternal gratitude. They decide to keep travelling together because it is safer, especially for Naofumi because his levels have been reset. He remains cautious of her because Glass and the others have tried to kill him before. But Kizuna completely takes his side and lectures her friends on what they had done, diffusing that threat.

They come to admire each other’s talents and sympathize with each other. They have both suffered injustice after being summoned to a new world and have the same kind of limitation placed on them by their holy weapons.  The fact they were both serious otaku in Japan means they sometimes get into serious discussions their other friends cannot follow at all. They share many other personality traits and seem to develop a close friendship.

While the two heroes are both authentically trying to save their respective worlds, they have two different styles. Kizuna tends to be more diplomatic and friendly to her enemies while Naofumi would rather show a strong hand. Naofumi respects Kizuna attempting to be diplomatic but doesn't hesitate to point out the flaws in her efforts.

Shildina

She met Naofumi accidentally while trying to get information on Raphtalia and introduces herself as Zodia, a simple civilian. Like her sister, she was impressed by Naofumi's inability to get drunk and, like her sister, she ended up falling in love with Naofumi, even handing him a card that contained a part of her soul.

Naofumi openly shows his dislike for Shildina's constant sexual harassment, as well as Sadeena's, but still respects her and considers her a powerful asset, entrusting her and her sister with Adeans training.

Naofumi also began to pamper her a little more since in the world of Glass she took a form according to her age for a while, when Naofumi saw that she was not older than Raphtalia when she met her so when considering everything she went through being so Young, Naofumi decided to pamper her a bit.

Vassal Weapon Holders

Raphtalia

Naofumi's first slave, a Tanuki demi-human child, that he purchased from Beloukas. Naofumi was forced to purchase her as a slave early on in order to compensate for his lack of offensive abilities, along with the stigma of the false charges against him that prevented him from forming a party with anyone else. Naofumi initially chose Raphtalia for her low price, and because he wanted to imagine enslaving Malty, who trumped up the false charges against him. Despite his questionable motives for obtaining her, Naofumi becomes a naturally benevolent master and treats Raphtalia very well after acquiring her. He provides her with medicine when she is ill, food when she is hungry, and protects her from harm during battles. Although she is a slave to him, the only times he would ever activate the Slave Crest to force her compliance was when she was too frightened to fight on her own. He also provides her with adequate shelter and comforts her during her various night terrors.

Raphtalia matures rapidly from a child to a young adult within a week or two due to the effects of her level grinding and her being a demi-human. Raphtalia becomes significantly more outgoing towards Naofumi and even has a decent handle on him, carefully finding ways to get him to comply with her choices despite their master-slave relationship. She becomes a much-needed pillar of support for him throughout their time together. When the three other Legendary Heroes, along with the King and Malty, attempt to sabotage Naofumi's ability to excel by forcibly removing the master-slave relationship between him and Raphtalia, she rebels against her new status as a free woman and willingly chooses to restore her Slave Crest at Beloukas' tent in order to remain beside Naofumi.

She's the first person, after Erhard, to take his side after what Malty did to him, and the one who ultimately succeeds in bringing him out of his despair. She wants Naofumi to look at her as an adult woman and has stripped completely naked in front of him to get his opinion of her nude figure. Unfortunately for Raphtalia, Naofumi misses her point completely, as he still sees her as the young girl he started with despite her maturity.

Naofumi constantly expresses a father-daughter relationship with her, but Raphtalia very much begs to differ. Naofumi trusts her implicitly. In fact, among his companions, she is one about who he cares the most. Raphtalia is also the only reliable restraint against Naofumi's more villainous tendencies and she expresses to him her preference that he acts as a proper hero, despite his belief that he is not. Whenever Naofumi takes pleasure in the suffering of those who've caused him grief, especially Malty and Trash, Raphtalia tries to reign him in and cautions against expressing this joy.

For Naofumi, Raphtalia is a reliable and loyal friend who he shares his joys and sorrows together with and is one of few he is willing to wholeheartedly trust with a sense of no doubt. Naofumi notably defines Raphtalia as "very charming" when he sees her dressed in a traditional Japanese miko (shrine maiden) outfit.

After Naofumi unlocked the blessed series which suppresses the effects of the wrath series shield, he is able to feel proper feelings and empathize with others for the first time since he first found Raphtalia. He struggles with these newfound emotion and tries to sort out his feelings - including the ones with Raphtalia.

At this point, Naofumi and Raphtalia are constantly bombarded by onlookers who are anticipating their relationship to get more intimate, but the two take their own pace. Eventually Naofumi shows his first signs of affection by stroking Raphtalia's head with her permission. In private, she also allows him to stroke her tail which seems akin to holding hands in demi-human culture.

Eventually, the two have a heart-to-heart conversation which briefly touches on the subject of marriage. While they don't directly talk about getting married, Naofumi gives her an exclusive bracelet which contains objects relating to their time together which Raphtalia emotionally accepts.

Rishia Ivyred

She joined Naofumi's party after being kicked out of Itsuki's party. She was framed for breaking one of Itsuki's accessories by another member of the Bow Hero's party, with Itsuki himself being a willing participant of it after Rishia inadvertently stole the spotlights that he wanted for himself during a clash with Glass and the Heroes from another world.

Naofumi empathizes with Rishia and feels a mutual connection with due to his similar situation of being framed on false charges. After Filo saves Rishia, Naofumi swears to her that he will help make her stronger so that Itsuki will beg to have her back on his team.

As she spends time within Naofumi's village, she gains confidence and immense fighting skills. Rishia doesn't share the negative view of the Church of Three Heroes because of her education at Faubley and expresses fear at Naofumi's demeanor until Raphtalia is able to remove her doubts. Since then, she greatly respects and aids Naofumi with whatever he needs to.

While Itsuki was under the Pride curse and began accusing Naofumi of being evil, Rishia defends Naofumi from Itsuki's baseless accusations. She points out how Naofumi has saved many demi-humans from slavery, gave them a home, and has worked tirelessly to help them. She further describes Naofumi as being like a parental figure to all his slaves - much to Naofumi's annoyance, as he denies being a slave master.

Glass

Glass seems to consider Naofumi and his party to be worthy opponents, even asking for his name after he manages to force her to retreat during their battle (for reference, she had moments before effortlessly defeating the other three Heroes and their respective parties - all of them being groups larger than Naofumi's party - simultaneously). Like many others, she finds some clear fault with Naofumi's personality. She later warns her comrades of Naofumi.

When they meet again in the Spirit Tortoise, which was rampaging because of a man named Kyo from Glass's world, they display their respective hostility towards one another but are willing to become allies against Kyo as their common enemy.

When Naofumi enters Glass's world and rescues Glass's most important friend, Kizuna Kazayama, Glass starts showing her softer side, which he didn't really expect and sees as "out of character" to him. Because of Kizuna, Glass starts to become more mellow towards Naofumi. In their final battle against Kyo, the two eventually develop a bond of deep mutual trust. A significant sign of this new friendship is when Naofumi gives Glass the recipe for soul-healing water, a concoction that didn't exist in Glass's world, which helps cover her SP weakness in battle.

By the time Naofumi return to her world for a second time, Glass sees him as a valuable ally to fight alongside.

L'Arc Berg Sickle

L'Arc and his comrade were tasked to killing the four Holy Heroes of the other world, especially the Shield Hero, whom Glass considered as a threat. L'Arc heard about Naofumi from Glass, and also other rumors of the Shield Hero from Melromarc commoners, completely believing such rumors. He even encountered a number of fake heroes and got fed up in his search.

When he came face to face with Naofumi, he was too friendly with him and refused to believe him to be the Shield Hero, as he claimed to be. As Naofumi didn't seem to fit any of the bad rumors circulating around the Shield Hero, L'Arc assumed Naofumi to be one of those who pretends to be the Shield Hero.

After confirming that Naofumi was indeed the Shield Hero, he tried to kill him in a fair fight. He was thrilled to fight Naofumi and enjoyed the resourcefulness of the Shield Hero. He refuses to believe all the rumors of Naofumi's "evil deeds" and claims that there must be a reason for his doings.

When they meet again in the Spirit Tortoise, which was under control of Kyo Ethnina - whom they both saw as an enemy, they entered a temporary alliance. When Naofumi enters L'Arc's world and ends up befriending Kizuna, they eventually rekindle the old relationship they had before L'Arc tried to kill him. This bond eventually developed into a deep and true friendship after they finally defeated Kyo, where they're willing to trust each other in battle. After seeing L'Arc's home and influence, it inspired Naofumi to create his own territory to fight the Waves. Since their first meeting, L'Arc calls him 'Kiddo' to a point where he finds it uncomfortable to call him by his real name while Naofumi, after visiting L'Arc's homeworld, calls him 'Boy'.

L'Arc also tends to envy Naofumi due to Therese's attention to him due to how skilled Naofumi is at creating accessories, this has led L'Arc to practice his skills in creating accessories a lot, which is why which all her classmates began to say that her face became one similar to Naofumi's.

Ethnobalt

Unlike most people of Glass' World, Ethnobalt didn't fear Naofumi since he came from another world. Instead, he helped the Shield Hero (at Kizuna's request) in making a shikigami to find Raphtalia. Naofumi considers Ethnobalt to be an incredible intellectual resource. When his world was under attack for a second time, Ethnobalt came to Naofumi for help.

Naofumi also finds Ethnobalt to be quite an effective intellectual asset and has thought about replacing Filo with Ethnobalt several times, which upsets her when she realizes Naofumi is thinking of it.

Sadeena

An Orca demi-human who was Raphtalia's family guardian before the Waves destroyed Raphtalia's village. The two first met when Sadeena, under the alias Nadia, gives Naofumi advice on how the Zeltoble colosseum works. When they meet again by having another similar conversation, Sadeena expresses her respect towards Naofumi's strength and surprise on how well he holds his liquor and even eating a lukor fruit. When they finally face each other, Raphtalia ends up revealing their respective true identities. This makes them realize their shared goal in saving the villagers who were slaves in Zeltoble, leading the two to work together.

When Sadeena returns to the rebuilt village with Naofumi and his allies, Naofumi expresses both his shock and displeasure on how Sadeena ostensibly wants to make him her life companion because of how well he can hold his liquor better than her. While Naofumi doesn't realize this, it is revealed that this flirting is partially Sadeena's way to push Raphtalia to pursue her relationship with Naofumi more aggressively. Naofumi thinks about how he would've originally liked this before being betrayed by Malty but now finds it annoying. As a result, he constantly rebuffs Sadeena's flirting. When Naofumi's emotions were released and he becomes confused with his newfound feelings, he attempted to accept Sadeena's repeated advances. However, for Naofumi and Raphtalia's sake, she declines.

Regardless, Naofumi deeply respects Sadeena for her strength and begins depending on her in the rebuilding of the village and training the villagers to fight the Waves. This reliance also expands towards becoming a party member, where she helps fight various adversaries for him and Raphtalia. He also considers doing the slave contract with her to further increase her strength through the slave bonus stat leveling even if she has to restart her level, although Sadeena doesn't mind.

S'yne Lokk

Naofumi and S'yne first met at the Zeltoble Coliseum, where they both fought and S'yne warned Naofumi that he must become stronger or he would die.

They met again shortly after, when S'yne suddenly appeared in Naofumi's village, where he asked if he could stay and work for him, a request that Naofumi initially refused, but after S'yne saved him and him rest of your group. from otherworldly invaders, she agreed to let her stay in her village and work for him.

Since then, S'yne has only proven to be extremely loyal to Naofumi by accompanying him almost everywhere as if he were his shadow.

After S'yne managed to speak again without any interference in his voice and S'yne's Sister revealed part of S'yne's past to Naofumi, he has tried to get her to tell him what he knows. which S'yne flatly rejects, as he believes that anyone he tells will die.

It has been hinted on a few occasions that S'yne may have romantic feelings for Naofumi.

Fohl Fayon

While Naofumi was ultimately Fohl's dear sister's savior, Fohl was ultimately antagonistic towards Naofumi. This was mainly driven by Fohl's sister-complex and Atla's repeated rampages and advances towards Naofumi. Since he saw his sister as perfect, he considered Naofumi an enemy who was trying to harm his dear sister. Anything Naofumi said towards Atla, positive or negative, was seen from the worst possible perspective. However, as Fohl slowly matured, he began to cooperate with Naofumi and started seeing him in a better light.

Ironically, the main event which help strengthen the bond between Naofumi and Fohl was Atla's death and sacrifice to save Naofumi. In his grief, Fohl promised to not blame Naofumi for her death which he continued to live up to. Instead, they both blamed Takt for her death and they worked together to get revenge.

After Atla's death, Naofumi's mental state was unstable. In his grief, he asked to Fohl sleep in bed with him since he resembled his sister, which was rejected. However, Naofumi has to live with the long-term consequences since Fohl has become wary and untrusting of Naofumi, though they do eventually mend their friendship.

Aultcray Melromarc XXXII

Naofumi hates the King, and with good reason, as he played a part, along with his daughter Malty, in setting Naofumi up with the criminal charge of rape and made certain to spread the word all throughout the kingdom. Although given the King's genuine display of stupidity in believing the claims that Naofumi could "brainwash" people, it's likely he may have just believed Malty's claims and acted upon them rashly. Ultimately, the King hates the Shield Hero in general, which just unfortunately transferred to Naofumi because of that relationship.

When the Queen returns and clears Naofumi's name, she allows him to mete out punishment to the King, Naofumi immediately asks for the death penalty, but is talked down to a less extreme punishment that results in changing the King's given name to "Trash." Naofumi at this point realizes the real threat of the Waves of Calamity (after witnessing Glass's strength) and avoids making any new enemies, so he agrees to just rename Aultcray to Trash. He is subsequently stripped of all his rights to the throne, along with any power he had already accrued within the kingdom.

Trash's unreasonable hatred for Naofumi continued after this until he meets Atla, who closely resembles his deceased sister, under Naofumi's care. After this, Trash resigns himself to remain silent in front of Naofumi, unlike previously when he would create a ruckus against him.

Volume 16 Spoilers This all changed after Takt's ambush where his wife Queen Mirellia was killed. To spur him into action, Naofumi pretended to be villain. This motivated Trash to wake up from his stupor and regain his title of the Wisest King of Wisdom and the Staff Hero. Trash soon prove to a humble yet incredibly talented ally which drastically improves Naofumi's impression of him despite the months of oppression.

Companions

Filo

Naofumi's second real comrade and slave. He purchased her as an egg from the same slave trader that he obtained Raphtalia from. Although she was purchased more along the lines of a beast, he raises her with compassion alongside Raphtalia. Like the phenomenon of level grinding that Naofumi experiences with Raphtalia, Filo quickly grows beyond a normal Filolial and is later revealed to be an extremely rare Filolial Queen, manifesting in her ability to assume the form of a youthful human girl.

Filo is far more direct with expressing her impulsive nature, which in some instances has been encouraged by Naofumi when he finds it amusing to him and negatively impacting those he views have wronged him. For example, when she kicks Motoyasu in the crotch during her first encounter with him, Naofumi immediately feels she was a brilliant investment and tells her to do it every time henceforth. Generally speaking, Naofumi has found Filo's expression of selfishness, gluttony, and childish-tantrum behavior to be annoying. However, despite these misgivings, he still cares for her greatly as a companion. This reflects a relationship similar to a parent and daughter.

Overall, the two truly do care for each other so much that the second time he invoked his Wrath Shield, his belief that Filo had died fueled that manifestation. Like Raphtalia, Filo displays great affections (including romantically) towards Naofumi. She even sometimes competes with Raphtalia as a love rival. Naofumi sees himself more as Filo's owner like how he views Raphtalia as his own daughter, thus not seeing Filo as a love interest. She constantly seeks Naofumi's attention and approval and expresses great joy when she pleases him but displays great worry that he may possibly leave her.

Eventually, as more people joined Naofumi's village, Filo's romantic advances towards Naofumi dies away. When Naofumi hatches Gaelion the dragon, Filo and Gaelion compete for Naofumi's affection, much to his annoyance.

Melty Q Melromarc

The Second Princess, and younger sister to Malty, she first got along with Naofumi for befriending Filo until her status as the Second Princess and Malty's younger sister was revealed, making Naofumi immediately distrust her. Whenever Melty tried to speak to Naofumi or when she didn't understand why he was so cynical and cold towards her, Naofumi expressed disdain, as he believed she was no different than the other nobles and royalty who looked down on and ridiculed him. She attempted to force Naofumi into apologizing for dishonoring her father and amend the relationship between them but was treated by him as an annoyance in return.

After the Three Heroes Church attempted to kill her due to a trumped-up conspiracy, Naofumi became the only person that Melty could actually rely on to save her life, as the other Heroes, her sister, and her Knights were all either being deceived by the Church or were willing participants in the conspiracy. It was through this journey that Naofumi begins to see she is very different from the other nobles and royalty but still finds her rather naive.

She has become something of a tsundere towards Naofumi due to these events, and it's implied that her feelings for him extend beyond what she wants him to hear about. She dislikes being treated as a child or being called "second princess" by him and eventually convinces him to call her by her name instead. Their relationship improves to the point that he allows Melty to play with Filo again when he originally warned Filo not to befriend her and would entrust Filo to Melty when he returned to his world.

After the death of her mother and the victory of war against Faubrey, she succeeds in the position as the new queen. Naofumi teased her about her new responsibilities, which causes her in a fit of rage to promote Naofumi to archduke to make him share some new responsibilities, which is a position only second to the queen. In addition, without realizing at first, she accidentally makes Naofumi her fiance in name.

Keel

Besides Raphtalia, Keel became the first villager of Lurolona Village which Naofumi saved. Due to their early history, Keel becomes the voice of the villager slaves but also acts casually and familiarly which annoys Naofumi. Naofumi puts Keel in charge of the peddling operation to generate revenue for the village and ends up being extremely good despite Keel despising being dressed up as a girl. Keel is also obsessed with Naofumi's cooking and will even eat it off the floor if it drops.

Raph-chan

Immediately upon creation, Raph-chan is very affectionate of Naofumi. She constantly watches out for him such as enemies Naofumi cannot sense or see. She also acts according to Naofumi's darker actions such as torture. In return, Naofumi is fond of Raph-chan. He enjoys petting her that it's how he spends some of his free time. As a result, Raph-chan becomes a source for relieving Naofumi's stress.

Atla

A Hakuko-human hybrid slave that Naofumi purchased from Beloukas, along with her brother to help Raphtalia's village. Naofumi bought the siblings because of the potential he saw in their bloodline and saw her as a means to ensure her brother's loyalty. Despite being blind, Atla felt Naofumi's presence, which she described as being "both strong and kind, though with deep sadness hidden within." This made Atla trust Naofumi and request him to take care of her brother because of how she originally wouldn't live much longer. When Naofumi cured her with an Elixir of Yggdrasil, which was created by his Shield, Atla became very attached, if not affectionate, towards him and wished to be of great use to him.

While Naofumi found these actions rather bothersome, he continued to care for Atla like the other slaves he purchased for the village. He didn't think much of Atla's goal to be his "shield," not realizing Atla was very serious about it. He began to see how Atla had more potential in combat than her brother and reconsidered her usefulness that he sparred with her along with Raphtalia. This level of trust developed to where Naofumi was able to entrust Atla in a strategy and battle against the Demon Dragon.

Volume 15 Spoilers During the battle against the Phoenix, Atla was able to fulfill her promise to be Naofumi's shield and sacrificed her life to protect him. Her death devastated Naofumi as he desperately tried to save her. However, due to her compassion, Naofumi was able to unlock the shield of compassion which suppressed his shield of wrath and allowed him to feel proper emotion again. Thanks to this and his last promise to her to consider other people's feelings, Naofumi's life was forever changed as he became a kinder and more compassionate person.

Ruftmila

Despite their first interaction with each other, they get along very well with together and enjoy each other's company since they both have a fondness for the Raph species. Ruft currently sees Naofumi as basically an older brother.

Naofumi is also surprised at how quickly Ruft has matured, and how skilled he has become in both the combat and diplomatic arenas.

Acquaintances

Mirellia Q Melromarc

The Queen and Naofumi were on fairly good terms as business acquaintances. While he knew he was being used by her, he also knew that she needed him, so he was willing to put up with it. The fact that she cleared his name and punished her husband and daughter for their mistreatment of him seemed to be the crux of their relationship. Both of them treated each other as equals, but she acknowledged his worth both politically and as a Holy Hero.

Erhard

He runs a weapons shop in Melromarc and is the only person who believed in Naofumi after he was falsely accused by Bitch - ironically, it was Bitch herself who had introduced Naofumi to Erhard. He makes most, if not all, of the equipment worn by Naofumi along with his carriage, especially his Bandit-themed Barbarian Armor, and is also responsible for teaching Raphtalia the basics of swordsmanship. His skills come from a blacksmith from the East. He wants Naofumi to find another blacksmith, as he believes his own skills to be sub-par, but Naofumi places a higher value on his skill and his friendship.

Beloukas

While Naofumi considers the slave merchant to be a useful person due to his role in providing him with various slaves for his growing army, he does not indicate any real trust for the man. The merchant has noted that Naofumi has good business sense, referring to him as his favorite customer and a man who cannot be easily deceived. Naofumi, on the other hand, creeps out on him. Regardless, Naofumi continues to do various forms of business with him, whether it involves purchasing more slaves, establishing slave contracts, or obtaining valuable information.

Ost Horai

At first Naofumi was suspicious of Ost since she claimed to be a familiar of the Spirit Tortoise. However, she proved to be a valuable ally in defeating the corrupted Guardian Beast. Through her unique magic, she was able to provide assistance in battle and even prevent Naofumi from being overcome by his Shield of Wrath. She also taught him about the hero-exclusive magic: Liberation-class. Naofumi deeply respected her and her sacrifice needed to defeat her own body.

Eclair Seaetto

Eclair was first introduced as one of the mentors Queen Mirellia had called in order to train the heroes how to properly fight. Unfortunately, Naofumi was the only hero that didn't try to skip out on training and she eventually joined his party for a small while.

Eclair was also the governor of the land which Naofumi eventually took over. While she was a proficient fighter and eventually helped contain the rampaging Ren, she was a terrible governor and preferred to train instead of managing a territory. Naofumi eventually stripped her of her responsibilities and gave them to Melty instead.

Elrasla Ragnarok

Elrasla was an old lady which Naofumi helped deliver medicine to while he was a peddling trader. It turns out that she was the last remaining practitioner of the art of Hengen Muso. Due to his help, she was inspired to come out of retirement to help fight Melromarc's enemies and teach others about Hengen Muso. She was one of the experts which Queen Mirellia found to help teach the heroes how to properly fight. Naofumi's party where the only ones who properly trained under her. Eventually, she came to Naofumi's village to help train the villagers in Hengen Muso to fight against the waves. Due to her training, Naofumi's combat potential greatly increased and he started to be able to see life force.

Imiya Leuthurn Reethela Teleti Kuwariz

The first time Naofumi met Imiya he had mistaken her for a boy due to her inexperience with beastmen, then Raphtalia explained that Imiya was actually a girl.

Currently both get along very well, both usually work together making accessories. Naofumi likes Imiya largely because she reminds him of Raphtalia when they first met. Naofumi is also aware that Imiya probably has feelings for him, but she decided that she would figure out what to do with it when the waves were over.

Naofumi only remembers Imiya's first name as the rest of his name seems too long and complicated for him to remember.

Queen's Shadow

The two met when Shadow helped Naofumi and his group escape after the battle with the other heroes over Melty's alleged kidnapping. After that, they met again on several other occasions, mainly to exchange information. In each of those encounters, Naofumi recognized Shadow from the rest of the shadows only by the particular way of speaking about her.

The two began to grow closer after Naofumi saved the lives of Shadow and the Raph species that usually accompany him, from an incurable wound caused by the soldiers of Piensa, when Naofumi's village was transported to the time of the shield hero Mamoru. Shadow tends to exasperate Naofumi mainly because of the teasing attitude she often takes towards him and her belief that if Naofumi takes someone to level up it is because she wants to make him her lover. Even with all of the above, Naofumi considers Shadow a very useful asset due to his information gathering abilities, and is very grateful for all the help he has given him and the rest of his teammates.

Enemies

Malty S Melromarc

Malty is ultimately the cause of Naofumi's darkened and cynical personality due to the fact that she betrayed him, stole from him and falsely accused him for the attempt of raping her for no visible reason. Naofumi's originally kind personality snapped violently, he became distrustful of anyone who is not a slave, and for a very long time held contempt for women in general. She continued to make him suffer by any means necessary, like trying to take his slave away from him and interfering in the duel for ownership of her, calling him a criminal at every given opportunity, going so far as to cheating during a race for protectorate ship of a recently destroyed town and framing him for any/every crime she can think of in general. When Naofumi's name was cleared, the queen gave the choice of punishment for Malty and Aultcray to Naofumi. Bitch attempts to use her cunning to try and appeal to the Shield Hero's sense of chivalry despite her antagonizing him once too often, with the intention of nullifying her punishment. But her accuser would have none of that, seeing right through her and demanding the death penalty for it. This was the first and only time for Malty to call Naofumi by his name. After been talked down, her punishment was having her completely stripped of her royal status and her civilian name changed to "Bitch." Comparatively; her adventurer name was changed to "Whore" while she traveled with her heroes party.

Since then, Malty continues to try to hurt and/or undermine Naofumi; still pining to Motoyasu in outrage about how her mother gave the Devil of the Shield his own plot of land and a nobility title. Whore hypocritically still blaming him for her past comeuppance after citing how vengeance breeds vengeance during her punishment only to turn around and give him death threats for her well earned fall from grace. Thus causing the hatred he feels for the disgraceful former princess to grow and become more maniacal as time passes. Bitch going so far as to direct Ren and Itsuki; under the effects of their own curse series holy weapons, into attacking the Shield Demon and manipulating a great many of the kingdoms subjects into assailing him & his during a staged populist uprising. Even still colluding and directing multiple vanguards of the waves to come after the Shield numerous times after secondary punishment in the form of a political marriage. A tragedy which resulted in a few of Naofumi's companions dying off. It is Naofumi's main dream to be able to one day capture Witch and reciprocate all of the evil which has been done to him.

Biscas T. Balmus

Despite coming off as friendly and charitable when they initially met, Naofumi could see straightaway just how much of a condescendingly self-righteous individual Pope Balmus was behind his pretense of altruistic sanctimony. Often talking grandiose speeches of gods mercy while the former simply came to them for a purchase of holy water. But when the veil upon the church's conspiracies had been dropped and he made his intentions clear for all to see. Naofumi realizes his suspicions of the man and his movement had been more right than not. The churchman portraying the true character of a fascist megalomaniac with a god complex, backed by narrowminded delusions pertaining to holy justifications for all the great deal of many horrendous actions committed by his Church/Cult. Later likening said pope as a hypocritical tyrant whom threw others in his sect under the buss while spouting blatant sanctimony as absolvent and martyrdom despite such loyalties having clearly been begotten through mind control charms and abuse of charisma. Such findings being based upon the falsehoods by the church that the Devil of the Shield had in fact been using those very same methods to turn the public to his favor when that was not at all the case.

Idol Rabier

Finding the portly looking man to be little more than a rather disgusting individual with a fanaticism issue. Naofumi likened Mr. Rabier to be a rather revolting slob of a noble with inflated self-worth. Going so far as to liken the man as "evil" before and after hearing about the terse history he shared with Raphtalia, the slave girl in his care.

Story of Joining Sora's Team

Naofumi joins Sora's team along with his alliance with his friends especially his behavior like Masayoshi Kimura, Sugino, Takishima, and several other heroes from Class 3-E's words as an older brother especially He is like Isogai as an older brother makes Naofumi's alliance surprised but what Class 3-E says is not wrong that Naofumi is the older brother especially him, and his alliance gained absolute immortality, pain tolerance, and still a lot of strength from Eua, and other heroes especially He became private teacher of Isogai, and Nagisa Shiota because Nagisa was able to control he bow curse perfectly than Itsuki then Isogai studied leadership techniques then Isogai get Shield just like Naofumi, and Mamoru but Isogai just like Naofumi even thought Isogai can handle very perfect use Shield then get new type shield when Isogai can change shield just like Naofumi in any differnet form from Isogai power in Isogai heart especially Isogai said that sometimes leaders always face failure and defeat even experience death from sacrificing time, and sacrificing one's life is something that leaders and heroes do, then Isogai said that that was what happened to Aguri, Korosensei, Rein Shroud, and other heroes when they experienced it, like how to sacrifice themselves in their own way as heroes, making Naofumi's alliance understand it from Isogai's words about Naofumi's ways especially Naofumi likes Isogai about Isogai using his leadership as a shield for Class 3-E, the other heroes, and the innocent especially Naofumi is the enemy of Tomoki, Hibiki Otonashi, Clayman, Kagurazaka, Genma, Ehit, goddess, Vysis, Alva, Hiyama, Eri Nakamura, and other villains especially Naofumi using the Genbu shield when Genbu shield material can turn into his own strength then Tsurugi's shield and Makoto Narumi's shield which when become their own strength in his shield especially Naofumi releases a fireball like Malty but much more makes Malty surprised that Naofumi can release fireball when using Genbu's shield which makes the villains retreat for some time because Naofumi can turn it into a weapon to protect Raphtalia, and other heroes especially Itsuki, and Ren is happy that Naofumi's shield can be used as a weapon because Ren, and Itsuki saw some villains like Genma then Tsurugi as a shield hero who uses shields as weapons so Itsuki, and Ren ask Naofumi to use shield materials from other heroes makes Naofumi happy about Ren's words, and Itsuki who doesn't underestimate him anymore.