"Air Strike Shield!"

"Gurk!" A hedgehog-like animal had collided with the green holographic shield Naofumi had summoned with his shield: an advantage that Raphtalia had for the taking. In a quick vertical slash of her sword, the hedgehog-like animal was killed in succession. Naofumi revealed his status in front of him, noticing the increase of given EXP to each of the party members.

"Tch," Naofumi clicked his tongue in disappointment. Upon looking at his status, he found his own numbers being pitiful than the average person. 'How in the hell is a shield even a weapon?! With these pitiful stats, how in the hell could I even fight against the Wave on my own?!' He thought to himself as he stared hardly at his attacking stats: close to none at all.

"Naofumi Iwatani, are you unhurt?" Hearing the sound of a sheathing sword, he turned to Raphtalia, who stared at him with her usual cold demeanor. He couldn't help but click his tongue again, but not as loud as before.

"I'm fine. You don't need to worry about me at all." Giving her the cold shoulder, he focused on seeing what else he could figure out with his abilities as a Shield Hero.

"You are my party member, Naofumi Iwatani. Your safety is my top priority when it comes to the battlefield." As much as he wanted to continue focusing on himself, he found it annoying at how emotionless she sounded.

"..." He stood there, not wanting to give her any eye contact at all.

"Cerberus must be getting lonely. We must return to the house at once, Naofumi Iwatani." She tried to get a reaction out of him, but he continued to stare there looking at his stats with a glare.

"...Go ahead. Like I said before, I'm not a member of your party. And I would never want to join a party filled with annoying women." Just the thought of joining an all-female party annoys Naofumi. It reminds him of the annoyance of a man whose name was-

"Naofumi Iwatani," Having his focus forcefully taken away from him by Raphtalia, he found himself in the predicament like he once was before with Raphtalia: being lifted up in the air by his collar. "I do not care for your attitude with me, nor do I care for your relation with other females. You are to listen to what I say, Naofumi Iwatani, or I will be the one to kill you other than the beasts of the Wave. Understood?" Even when being lifted up in the air, Naofumi easily stood his… ground by continuing to glare at her. He could easily see the anger in her eyes now, which was terrifying him a bit, but as a man, he cannot let himself become victim to this woman.

"...Peachy." In a different circumstance, he would try to find himself wondering how Raphtalia had become the way she was, but why worry about women who are to betray him soon? To him, the closer he gets to a woman, the easier it will be for them to betray him. No, not just women, everyone in this world would soon throw him away because he's weak. And to that, his knuckles clenched hard to that realization.

"...Good." And without giving him the slightest chance of escape, Raphtalia changed their positions; once again holding Naofumi like a suitcase underneath her arm.

"..." As much as he didn't want to become a victim to this woman, Naofumi couldn't help but fear for his life. He wouldn't show it as it will display his weakness, but deep down, he was afraid of the members of 'his' party. Cerberus as they would call themselves were women not to be tested on. One small mistake would end up having him digested by them.

"...What?" Trying not to think about his position, he focused again on status, but not his own status: Raphtalia's status. Right now, she was currently level 20 while he was merely level 13. Because Naofumi hadn't had the chance to work with a proper team at first, he wasn't able to kill as many monsters as he was hoping to do so. It was because he had spent most of his time fighting Orange Balloons, that he was so underleveled. It was because of Raphtalia, that he was able to level up more quickly. But would it be enough for the Wave?

"Is there a problem, Naofumi Iwatani?" She asked while continuing to walk towards their shelter.

"...The Wave is coming soon." He gave as his short response.

"Is it now? Are you fully prepared to fight the beasts that torture this world, Naofumi Iwatani?" Her question had given him the chance to contemplate once again.

'...The Wave. That idiotic king told me that the biggest chance that I have to get back home, is to defeat all the Waves that come around and plague this world. Meaning that in order for me to return home, I have to work with a bunch of assholes that live in this world. But… for how long? How many Waves do the Heroes have to defeat in order to get back home? How long would it even take to defeat all of the Waves?' Naofumi found his worry beginning to rise.

There was only silence on the path to the shelter.

"Welcome back~!"

"Is anyone hurt~?!"

"Great job~!" Immediately walking into the shelter, they were both greeted by the three triplets. From the greeting to inspects, they were excited to see the two okay. Being let down, Naofumi sighed and stood back up.

"How was it, Raphtalia~?" The first stood in front of her with her tail wagging.

""How many did you kill~?" The second stood to her left, imitating the first.

"You're super strong~!" And the third to her right, imitating the other two.

"No problems. However, Naofumi Iwatani did manage to get harmed in the battlefield." To this, the three triplets immediately turned towards Naofumi, who stood there with his arms crossed.

"You must be more careful, Naofumi Iwatani~." The first teased.

"You could die, you know~!" The first warned.

"You're too weak~!" The third mocked. Naofumi could only clench the cloth from his armor in annoyance.

"Tch." Clicking his tongue, he walked towards the staircase, ignoring his 'party' while in the process.

"Where are you going, Naofumi Iwatani?" He heard Raphtalia ask, causing him to turn around and look at her with a glare.

"What? I can't go into my own room now? Are you trying to make sure that I won't leave your sight? I'm not your slave, I'm my own person." Naofumi didn't care to see her reaction. All that he cared about was to just go to his room and be alone.

"..." After Naofumi was no longer seen, Raphtalia sighed in annoyance. "How exactly am I supposed to deal with him," She asked herself while scratching her head. "How am I supposed to work with him if he keeps acting as if we're trying to fool him?"

"There, there, Raphtalia-chan~!"

"It'll all be okay~!"

"Don't be mad, Raphtalia-chan~!" Feeling all three of them pat her head, she growled in annoyance.

"Stop that. I'm not a kid anymore." She spoke after getting their hands off of her head.

"So cute~!"

"Very cute~!"

"Super cute~!" The three screamed in joy. And Raphtalia rolled her eyes in annoyance.

"Naofumi Iwatani worries for the upcoming Wave. Sooner or later, we will be requested to fight the Wave with him. Will you three be able to fight?" She asked the triplets.

"Of course~!"

"Anything for Raphtalia-chan~!"

"Yes!"

"...Alright." Deep down, Raphtalia was a bit worried for them. Sure, they helped her escape from the grasps of slavery, and helped her hold a sword properly, but she's worried for was the fact that they didn't carry weapons. Ever since they first met, the three triplets had never once displayed anything that correlates as a weapon.

'They'll probably be fine.' Raphtalia had remembered worrying for the three triplets when she was young, but even they could handle themselves. Besides, they taught her how to survive in this world, so they should be fine.

"I'll be speaking to Naofumi Iwatani again. We will be leaving for our next location in a few hours. Be sure to be prepared as we will be dealing with guards from the castle. The three didn't say anything as they quickly disappeared to prep themselves.

And with that, Raphtalia walked to Naofumi's room.

"Naofumi Iwatani." Even while hearing his name, Naofumi didn't bother to see who entered his room.

"..." There was no need to respond to his 'party member'. Raphtalia didn't care for his childish behavior, she let herself within the closed space around them.

"We will be heading to the church within the town, Naofumi Iwatani. Make sure to be prepared," With her animalistic hearing, she could hear Naofumi's low growl. "Is something the matter, Naofumi Iwatani?" Turning a bit, she could see Naofumi glaring at her.

"And why would I need to go to a place that resents me?" She wasn't taunted by his gaze.

"We will be needing to know how much time we have left, Naofumi Iwatani. Was it not you who was worried about the next Wave?" Standing up from his chair, he turned to look at her.

"And how did you get this information?"

"I have my ways of getting people to talk, Naofumi Iwatani. And I do make sure to choose the right ones with valuable information. Are you done questioning?" She crossed her arms while leaning back on the door frame.

"Tch," Naofumi clicked his tongue again. "No. In fact, I'm not done with my questions," He spoke while walking towards her. "In fact, I would like to know your reasoning as to why you keep me here. In fact, I would like to know why the hell you keep insisting that I'm in your damn party! Who the hell do you think you are, forcing people that you don't know anything about into your party?!" Naofumi was now in her face, expressing his anger to her.

"...Is that so, Naofumi Iwatani?" By her calm expression, Naofumi was starting to get annoyed.

"Damn you, woman! Screw you and this damn world to hell! You can forget about working with me, I'll be finding my own way home myself!" Naofumi was about to walk past Raphtalia and out the door, until he was pushed back into the room aggressively.

"Tch," Summoning his shield again, he was ready to go against her. And to this, Raphtalia casually walked towards Naofumi. "Don't think that I won't fight back! I might be weak to attack, but I have things up my-" Before he could finish, he felt a sudden force on his face, causing him to fall back to the ground.

"Gah! My… damn nose!" He yells in pain while on his back. If he wasn't the Shield Hero, Naofumi was going to be dealing with a broken nose… or something worse than that. Before he could get back up again, he was pushed down by Raphtalia's foot.

"...You're too weak, Naofumi Iwatani. Tell me, do you honestly think that you'll be able to survive in this world in this pitiful state of yours?" She mocked.

"Get. The. Hell. Off!" He tried pushing his body upwards, but Raphtalia was easily overpowering him by her foot alone.

"And this answers my question. Naofumi Iwatani, if I was anyone else, I would be doing anything that to you. And the best part is that you won't be able to do a single thing to me." Raphtalia pressed harder onto his chest, causing him to grunt in pain.

"You say that I don't know a single thing about you, but I can already guess: you're a sad man living in the reality of this disgusting world. With your anger of becoming a member of my party, I can guess that your previous party betrayed you. And judging with your face being imprinted onto these walls as a criminal, your partner was a woman, correct?"

"..." He only stared at her with a glare.

"Being judgmental will get you nowhere, Naofumi Iwatani. Either you join, or you will die alone in this world. And to be truthful, I don't want the hero that kept my race alive for a long time to die." Stepping off of his chest, Raphtalia walked out of the room.

Sitting up, Naofumi found himself looking at his shield in a bit of anger. A part of him was angry at the shield, and another was saddened for the fact that he was to be one that deals with the Shield Heros' previous responsibility: to fight and to protect this world.

'Do I really have a choice?' It was lucky for Naofumi for a group of people to take him in, but his lack of trust in people isn't helping him. And he probably wouldn't have the chance of getting another party. If he doesn't get along with them, then surely, he will be thrown away and forced to fight against the Wave alone.

Naofumi would be needing to think some more on his decision.

(A/N)

Hey everyone. As to explain what's going on right now, it's going to be weird to say because it sounded good in my head.

Raphtalia is finally free from the torture of slavery with the help of Cerberus. But not after having her mentality a bit turned. Now, after she had been set free, Cerberus was going to have to help the young Raphtalia survive in that world. Now, listen... Cerberus is a devil/demon. Learning anything from a devil/demon is worse enough. I will be having a bit of... flashbacks that show Raphtalia's experience with Cerberus. They won't be long, but it'll give everyone an idea of Cerberus' teaching.

As for Naofumi, I wanted to have a bit of a realistic approach of a man that's not always angry, but always conflicted too. I'll be trying to have Naofumi's mentality a bit different, so please don't hate this decision.