The next thing they did was go into the field to do some hunting. They started off with some wild versions of the balloon like monsters from before,

Raphtalia actually did pretty well for a first time. Naofumi would let a monster cling onto him, followed by ordering Raphtalia to kill it.

She was still kind of sickly, stopping to cough rather frequently as the day wore on.

Applejack, unused to fighting these kinds of creatures -not to mention being in a different form than usual-, had a bit more trouble with the first few.

When she rolled down a hill after jump-kicking one, she'd actually glared at Naofumi and said, "Not ONE word."
Naofumi, to his credit, didn't say anything (or laugh) at all and made the classic "don't look at me" gesture. With a slight smirk still on his face, went back to what he was doing.

After that, Applejack started having more luck as she got used to fighting on her back legs. She got better, one enemy after another, letting fly with fists and hooves.

Most of the monsters they slew pretty much fell apart, leaving behind various miscellaneous parts of them. A few did not, however. Applejack made a mental note to ask Naofumi about that, later.

All too soon, however, it became night, and thus time to rest. So, they made camp for the night. They each had their own bedrolls and (in Applejack's case) a tent. It was apparently enchanted to stretch a LOT; from a few feet to several meters, if necessary. As a bonus, it was element-proof and was able to filter out poisons. As a result, they were able to keep camp relatively indoors.

Turns out that having a lady on your side in a matriarchal society can be a shot in the arm. Go figure.

Applejack still insisted on taking first watch when the time came, though.

The meal that night was roasted rabbit (one of the things that didn't burst into bits) stew with wild vegetables. Hot apple cider to drink (care of Applejack, of course).

Considering her equine physiology, Naofumi was surprised that Applejack partook of the rabbit, but didn't comment.

When Raphtalia started coughing violently, Naofumi gave her a leafy cup full of what looked like herbal tea (If, you know, it was 80% herbal and 20% tea). Applejack could tell there was more to it than that, but there were too many (and too many unfamiliar) ingredients for her to be able to tell for sure.

'My sister'd be more likely to know than I am, after all those lessons with Zecora.' she thought to herself.

Adding some of the apple cider to it did make the medicine FAR more palatable for Raphtalia. Either way, her coughing eased quite noticeably, so Applejack presumed that the medicine did what it was supposed to.

Later on, looking over, she saw Naofumi "feeding" the remnants of some of the monsters they'd defeasted to his Shield. Curious, she went to take a look.

"What y'all doin' thar, pardner?" she queried.

"Well," Naofumi said, "I'm collecting XP by feeding reagents to my Shield. You know, the little items that drop when you take a monster out? Anyway, as it grows stronger, so too do I. Though, of course, I'll make sure to save a few in case I need 'em later." he explained.

Applejack's eyebrows rose by an inch or so. "Huh." she said, "I'mma hafta try that. But... wait, why do summa those monsters explode into pieces, while others don't?"

Naofumi shrugged. "Maybe it's that the creature itself can be used as the reagents? Or the snow-pile effect -you know, how a larger pile of snow takes longer to melt? - Beats me."

"Either way, 's yer turn fer watch." she finished.

As Naofumi exited the tent, Applejack thought it was a good thing that she'd thought to save the bits she got from her kills.

As she fed the first bit to her gauntlets, a skill chart appeared before her, unlocking a couple of new abilities just then.

'High Cryo Blast? Interposing Hand? Those sound useful...'

A little later, Raphtalia jerked in terror. She was clearly not awake yet, but whatever it was she was dreaming about terrified her horribly.

Having a sister that occasionally went through night terrors herself, Applejack hugged Raphtalia tightly. "You're okay! You're safe. Ah'll protect ya." she did her best to assuage the violently awakening child. Slowly, Raphtalia began to wind down. "There ya go. Jes relax, now." She looked worriedly over at Naofumi, who had just entered the tent.

Raphtalia hugged back, in tears. "Mom... Dad..." she bawled.

Applejack asked, "Raphtalia... how long've ya been havin' these nightmares?"

After a moment Raphtalia sniffed, then answered, "Years. Just about every night. That horrible dog-like creature... every time it chases us down... it kills my parents and eats them... while I'm forced to watch. Then it turns to me... And just when it-"(1) she started shuddering.

"Ya poor darlin'!" Applejack said, "Ah know Ah'd be terrified!"

Naofumi kept his silence, but gritted his teeth, seething internally. 'On my honour as the Shield Hero -for whatever that's worth-, If we ever find the beast that gave her these nightmares, - or one of its kin, for that matter...' he thought to himself, 'It is dead meat..'

The next day, somewhere around midday, the trio went back into town. The first place they went was the apothecary shop. As it turned out, Naofumi had quite a collection of herbs from the day before. Approximately 40 silvers worth, but apparently the man would pay more for actual medicines made from it.

Naofumi made a mental note of that.

The next place they went was to see Erhard again, this time to get a proper weapon for Raphtalia. This time, he selected a wakizashi from the barrel. How he had one of those was beyond Naofumi's reckoning, but he decided that it really didn't matter.

Erhard handed the new blade to Raphtalia, saying, "Why don't you try attacking with two weapons at once?"

Raphtalia took the weapon, unsurely, but then faced toward one of the nearby training dummies. Taking a deep breath, and blowing outward slowly, she then nodded, indicating that she was ready.

Naofumi raised his hand, then sliced downward. "GO!"

Sure enough, Raphtalia basically became a false kamaitachi, scoring dozens of small gashes on the target within a few seconds. Naofumi was quite pleased with the result, clapping for the little kit.

'Though...' he thought to himself, 'Come to think of it, she doesn't seem quite so little anymore.'

Indeed he was correct; Raphtalia had gone from a sickly, scared child to what seemed to be closer to a... squire? Was that the right term? Not quite a trained bladeswoman, but far from her starting point. He could swear that she was also taller than before.

'Maybe she's just holding herself straighter? Whatever.' he thought.

"Say," he started, having an idea, "Would it be better for her to have two similar blades? Can we trade in the shortsword she has for a second one of those?"

Erhard shrugged. "Sure." he said, getting a second wakizashi from the barrel. "I'll even sharpen both for an extra ten silvers." he added.

Naofumi cast a glance to Applejack, who nodded.

Getting an extra ten silver coins from his pouch, he handed those (Raphtalia adding both weapons) to the man, who got right to work..

As Erhard was sharpening the new blades, he said, "I believe that each piece of metal I use 'wants' to become a specific weapon. Within each lump of iron, bronze or silver there is a weapon waiting to come out.(2)"

When he was finished, he raised both blades to check the quality of his work. The edges of both blades shone in the light coming through the window, creating a stunning effect. They cast a rainbow on the nearby wall.

Erhard nodded. "Some of my best work yet, if I do say so myself..."

"Ya jus' did." Applejack pointed out. "Ya also said that 'bout what'cha gave me."

Erhard smiled, then handed the blades to Raphtalia, who (needing no prompting, this time) attacked the training dummy. She managed to take it apart in 11 hits, taking only a split second.

Naofumi was even more pleased by that result.

For the rest of that day, they had a little fun, figuring that they'd earned it. Selling some of the parts from the monsters they'd slain to a rather... eccentric merchant (who apparently was an avid collector of such) paid off. Quite literally.(3)

Naofumi facepalmed when he realized that he could have done that before geting a new weapon for Raphtalia, but done was done.

They had their lunch in the same tavern as before, the barkeep only too happy to let them in. The pies he made were, as promised, better than ever before. When he pointed out to other patrons that Applejack gave him that gift, she shrugged and explained to the crowd at large, "Quality ingredients an' quality o' skill make fer a quality product. 'S that simple. 'Th' extra in-gredient 's care', Granny Smith oft'n says. He was nice enough ta let us in. Despite only that day decidin' ta change his policy - Yes, Ah could tell. Either way, Ah thought that a 'thank ya' gift'd be nice."

Humble or earnest her words may have been, but the pie was hardly the former. A good time was had by all.

Monster parts and good will could only bring them so far, however. Taking the advice of a different merchant, the trio headed toward a small village called Riyute.(4)

On the way, they slew any monsters that crossed their path. This, of course, resulted in more training opportunities and consequently more XP and items. 16 encounters were had, in all.

Later on, selling a rabbit pelt to a vendor, Naofumi was less than enthused by the offered sum.

"I'd say... about two silvers. Give or take a copper."

Even more discouraging was that Applejack tended to agree.

"Ah'm 'fraid that's th' right of it. He ain't whistlin' Dixie, sugar-cube."

Naofumi sighed. "Look, is there anywhere that we can make some quick money?"

The merchant thought for a moment. "Well... The mine nearby used to move some pretty good quality ores. Recently it's become a home for some monsters, but you look like you can handle yourselves."

Before you could say 'done and done', their next destination was set. Upon arriving there, they found that the mine did indeed have some rare-looking ores - and gem stalagmites, to boot!(5)

Naofumi and Applejack started collecting, Raphtalia keeping watch, this time.

After a short while, Naofumi got up, nodded and said, "This ought'a be enough."

Applejack got up too, saying, "'Kay. Let's get out of- here?"

Looking over at Raphtalia, they could see that she was frozen in wide-eyed terror.

Quickly looking in that direction, they saw what appeared to be a giant two-headed dog, coated in swirling black shadows.

Thinking fast, Applejack grabbed both of her party members before diving into the natural river below.

Using as much of her race's gifted strength as she could bring to bear, Applejack manged to get the three of them to shore safely.

"You two okay?" she asked.

Naofumi coughed, but affirmed, "Yeah. I think we're alright."

Applejack glared back at where they'd fallen from. "We need ta put that dog down."

Raphtalia's ears perked up at this, eyes widening again. "What?! That thing terrifies me!"

"That's part'a WHY we need ta make sure that doggy gits along, if'n ya take mah meanin'. What if we find 'nother one? Would ya rather freeze up then too? Or e-limin-ate that fear right now and make sure that no other li'l'uns need ta feel that way or go through what you did?"

Naofumi sighed, but said, "She's right, Raphtalia. If you can't face that fear now, you'll keep feeling that fear every time you see one of... those."

"So... We need to kill it so I don't fear it later?" Raphtalia asked.

"Not quite, sugar-cube." Applejack said. "We need ta do this BECAUSE ya fear it NOW."

Author's Note

1: I made a bit of a change here. A fair bit darker.
2: Yes, this is a reference to Michaelangelo's philosophy; That within every block of stone there is a sculpture.
3: Reference to Kilton the monster parts merchant from Breath of the Wild. You like monsters? HE LIKES 'EM MOAR!
4: Yes, apparently the village is called Riyute, effectively killing the joke that was below. Lute is an "ambiguous translation". It still doesn't work quite as well, anymore.
5: Before you ask, yes... but the stalagmites were easier to reach.