Several days later.
Firo is pulling the wagon across the highway, while looking like an ordinary Philo Rial. We are mostly trying to ignore villages and towns.
Repeatedly camping out at night.
We're almost at the border.
"Gueeee!"
Firo cries in alarm.
Is it an enemy!?
The second princess and I hide in the straw to observe.
"Hehehe, hand over all your money and you may leave."
A familiar sounding voice.
Why look at that, if it isn't the thief who tried to rob the accessory merchant before.
What is wrong with this guy?
He's seriously going to attack a wagon full of straw?
"Hey! Hurry up and leave all your valuables! Oh? you look pretty famili-"
The bandit's complexion instantly pales after he takes a look at Raphtalia in disguise.
"You look different."
It's probably not necessary to hide any more, so I jump out of the wagon.
Firo who senses that it's not necessary to disguise herself returns to her Philo Rial · Queen form.
"Are you fighting?"
The second princess anxiously asks from the midst of straw.
"Yeah, probably. Don't worry about it."
"Why not? Will we be okay?"
It seems about two thirds of the bandits haven't fought with us before, most of them look at me with a puzzled expression while the rest turn blue.
"D-D-D-Don't be afraid. Th-This guy has a bounty now. I-If we beat him we can get it."
He declares while stuttering and trembling.
That's one hell of a stutter.
"Even though I ransacked you last month, you're already back on your feet. Quite quick if I do say so myself."
One of his companions who had a puzzled expression prepares to attack.
"Sh-Shut up! Because of you I'm just a lackey in another group of thieves now!"
"Ah, so you guys merged?"
"The boss has returned to his country!"
"That's great. You should also resign from these types of jobs."
"Sh-Shut up! You're going to get it!"
They all take up their weapons and charge us.
"Firo! Raphtalia!"
"Okay!"
"Okay~!"
I step back to protect the second princess.
Neither Raphtalia nor Firo will lose to thieves of this level.
"Eat this!"
One of the thieves swings his sword at Firo.
"Firo-chan!"
The second princess pops out of the straw, extends her hands and starts to chant.
What? The second princess can fight?"
"I command the origin of power. I have read and deciphered a law of nature. blast them with water!"
"Ars ・Tzuvait・Aqua Shot!"
Tsl note: 「アル・ツヴァイト・アクアショット!」 Anyone got a better name let me know.
Huh?
Water erupts from the second princess's hands and speeds towards the thieves.
Tzuvait. It is an adjective that makes a magic intermediate class. As for Ars, it means multiple magic systems.
"Uge!"
"Gawa!"
"Ugu!"
The thieves near Firo are blown away.
That packs quite the punch.
"I command the origin of power. I have read and deciphered a law of nature. Cut them with blades of water!"
"Tzuvait・Aqua Slash!"
The second princess follows up immediately with another spell.
More water erupts from her hands but this time instead of a ball of water, blades of water released.
Somehow, I heard something dangerous.
She missed her target, but the tree that she did hit was cut in half.
"Next...I'll use..."
She's gasping for breath. It seems to be difficult casting continuously.
"They have a magician! She's also an expert!"
"Firo-chan!"
"Okay~!"
The bandits who are staring at the second princess in surprise are kicked like toys by Firo.
"I'm finished over there."
"Not yet~!"
One of the thieves snuck around us by taking advantage of the confusion, and tried to jump the second princess.
"Air Strike Shield!"
"Argg!"
Right as he jumps I summon a shield in between them.
"Not yet!"
The remaining thieves start charging at the second princess who is our weakest link.
"Second shield, Change Shield"
I call another shield to protect her and then I instantly change shields.
I'll just use the Bee Needle Shield this time. they may accidentally die from sustained poison damage. I'll just stun them with paralysis.
"Ugh,arg..."
One of the thieves is hit by my the second shield and falls down convulsing.
"Still not done yet!"
The first thief who approached the second princess begins to crawl.
"No, it's over."
"Ah..."
A big shadow looms over the thief. It seems he noticed too. I hear crying.
Probably one of thieves crying in resignation.
"I'll help Mel-chan!"
And with a thud, Firo just body slams him.
"You guys know the drill. Tell me where your hideout is."
I ask after tying up all their members.
"We'll never talk-"
"Firo"
"It's over there!"
"H-hey!"
It seems the newbie thieves don't know their position.
"What's wrong?"
One of the thieves who encountered us last time desperately pleas.
"That fat bird will eat us if we don't accept obediently!"
"Are you joking?"
"Does that guy look like he jokes?"
I was surprised as the thief talks.
"Who is that anyway? He used some strange skills and magic."
'Don't you understand!? That's the shield!"
"Eh!?"
The remaining members of the group of thieves all turn blue.
"The devil and his man-eating bird!?"
"That's right! that bird eats everything including the head. I'd rather just get kicked and get away!"
"Please just spare our lives! We'll give you all our property, even the leader's!"
It seems another rumour has been added to my notoriety...
Raphtalia sighs and face-palms.
"If you tell a lie-"
"I know! so please spare our lives!"
The thieves inform me of their hideout location. Of course, we occupied it with overwhelming combat power.
That day, we spent the night at the bandit hide- I mean inn. And took everything the thieves accumulated.
It was mostly just food. But since we have been living like fugitives recently,and only eating demons, a decent meal was appreciated.
When we entered the second princess was scared, but after a while she settled down.
Anything that was valuable was collected, and anything that was too troublesome to take was burnt.
Well if anything is missed, and the thieves reclaim it, I don't really care.
I half-smiled at the thieves who were despairing.
They were then rolled out of the hideout.
"Hey second princess, it seems you practice magic."
"Yup. I learnt it for self-defence."
"How much can you use?"
If the second princess joins our party we could fight better in the future.
"What level are you?"
"Uhmm, I'm level 18... I can use a few Intermediate class water spells."
That's unexpectedly low. Well, if we're judging by appearance and age she would be very high levelled.
But intermediate magic huh?
"So you are good with water?"
"Yup"
Her hair is blue. Are they related?
"I can use a little earth magic too."
"Hoh..."
Her repertoire is unexpectedly wide.
"Oh right,does your elder sister use wind magic?"
I would rather not remember her.
I was hit in the back during that duel with wind magic.
Damn, I'm getting irritated just thinking about it. Let's stop.
"Older Sister? she is proud of her fire magic, and uses a little wind."
Oh, it makes sense due to her hair colour.
"Your mother is good with fire and water?"
"That's right"
Not that it matters.
"This is probably for the best. for the time being enter my party."
"Okay"
I don't intend to rely on her.
But this is insurance in the case of an emergency. It would be best if we didn't fight though.
There is always the risk of death.
I don't want to go in a direction that would not require us to rely on the second princess.
"Hey. Why did Hero of the Shield-sama make father so angry?"
"Now that I think about it I didn't tell you. It all started when your sister framed me-"
That night, I told the second princess everything that trash and bitch did to me.
Firo also seemed to be listening to my story for some reason, but she stayed quiet.
I did not hide anything or lie, I just told her the truth.
Well my feelings and grudges were mixed in a little, but I'll just think of it as education.
"Father and Elder sister are cruel! Even though Hero of the Shield-sama said bad things to them I can't complain."
"Right, right."
"Mother even said to value the Hero of the Shield-sama as much as possible."
"What?"
What did you say? Doesn't the religion of this country designate the shield as the devil?
Is the queen different?
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing, I'm just wondering what your mother thinks of me."
"Um...I don't know. But she sent a letter to father telling him to treat all the heroes the same."
I understand the second princess's story a little, it seems the queen was worried this would happen to me.
Oh well, since it all happened anyway thanks to trash.
"Master, a lot of things happened before Firo was born."
"That's right"
"Eh?"
The second princess has a dumbfounded look.
"Uhmm Firo-chan how old are you?"
"One month and three weeks old."
"Ehh!?"
Being surprised is correct. Her growth was rapid even for a demon.
"Firo-can is so precocious"
"Ehehehe...I was praised."
"You were praised?"
"Then I'm the older sister."
"Well, in the age category. Raphtalia over there is about the same as you."
"Raphtalia onee-chan is..."
Firo looks at Raphtalia with an extremely disappointed expression.
Raphtalia looks at me coldly.
Well, I understand your feelings since the bird said something like that.
"Wh-what?"
"Demi-humans... even if we are the same age she feels older."
"Well... I was not allowed to lose."
The atmosphere is delicate.
"Well, despite Raphtalia's age, her appearance suits her."
That would have immediately labelled me as a lolicon.
Also, both the second princess and Firo are children.
Not to mention, Raphtalia became my slave when she was a little girl.
"This is just how things work out."
"Naofumi-sama..."
These three would be considered a Loli-Harem.
I wonder what the other heroes would say.
"Anyway, we'll rest here today and cross the border tomorrow."
""Yay~!""
"Okay!"