It'd been about a week after that day, back in the mine. Since then, the three of them had grown in power and skill. To say nothing of the number of Skills they'd acquired as well!

Naofumi was feeding parts to his shield, awaiting the next hapless target.

"Master Naofumi!" Raphtalia called out in warning.

Turning to the side, Naofumi saw another Dire Porcupine running at him.

Raising his hand toward the beast, he called out, "{Shield Prison}!" In a flash, the prickly customer was ensnared. Raphtalia leapt and brought her blades downward, cleanly trisecting the creature, which of course fell apart.

Sheathing her blades, Raphtalia and Naofumi shared a high five (which he'd only recently told her about). "Nice job, Raphtalia!" he praised.

She bowed demurely. "Thanks, Master Naofumi."

Naofumi looked toward the sky and thought aloud, "The next wave will have to come sometime soon."

Coming up beside him, Applejack said, "Might be high time ta make final prep'rations back in town."

That agreed on by the others, the trio went back to the capital.

"Back again?" Erhard queried jokingly.

Naofumi actually smiled at that. "At least I get to see a friendly face whenever I come here."

Erhard grinned at that. "Fair enough. So! Time to get her the next grade weapon?"

"You know it." Naofumi put shortly. "But this time we brought some materials that might help."

Reaching into his inventory, Naofumi brought out some of the ore that they'd gotten from the mine.

"Think you can use some of this to give them a brighter edge?" Naofumi half-challenged.

Erhard grinned, said "Can I?" and got right on it.

Naofumi looked to the sky, wondering aloud, "I wonder if there's a way that I can get a sense of when the next wave'll hit..."

Erhard looked taken aback. "You mean they didn't tell you about the Dragon Hourglass?"

"I'm the Shield Hero, remember?" Naofumi deadpanned. "Like they'd tell me anything."

"An' Ah'm a recent addition, so there's only so much Ah can git done."

"Yeah, but you two've been a huge help, in that." Naofumi said. "The townsfolk were practically fawning over the two of you." he added, thinking back on the time they'd had in town thus far. The two girls seemed to get every advantage, from store discounts to free food. Naofumi, in that manner, basically gained celebrity privileges by proxy.

The townspeople seemed especially taken with Raphtalia, who appeared to still qualify as being "cute" despite being a couple of inches shy of Naofumi's height. Raphtalia, using her sub-species' cleverness, charmed up the place, basically fleecing the people there. They just couldn't get enough of her smile. (1)

Neither Naofumi or Applejack saw any reason to stop her.

"Well..." Erhard said, "If you go to the church there, in the center is the Dragon Hourglass. It'll tell you how much time there is left."

Before you could say 'clock's a'ticking', the three were due to see the church.

Raphtalia had requested somethhing special for her two partners. Erhard had agreed eagerly, proving Naofumi's earlier comment. They'd pick those up on the way back.

Coming into the church, they were greeted by the pope himself. "Welcome to the Three Heroes Church."

"Where's the Hourglass?" Naofumi queried curtly.

The pope's expression cooled by a couple of degrees, but he pointed. "Just over there." he answered.

Applejack said, "Thank ya kindly, yer holiness." getting the pope to smile a touch more warmly again.

Approaching the Hourglass, Naofumi wondered aloud, "Now how does this work?"

Having stepped into the artifact's proximity by this point, beams of light issued from their respective weapons.

"Great jumpin' juniper!" Applejack exclaimed.

Shortly thereafter. they were synced to the Hourglass, a countdown appearing in their vision, -approximately 20 hours left on the clock-(2)

"Well, well, well! If it isn't Naofumi and his partner. Still using your old equipment, are you?"

Naofumi facepalmed, while Applejack just rolled her eyes.

"Do you know these people, master Naofumi?" Raphtalia asked

Naofumi clenched his hands, but refused to say anything, making to walk past the lot of them.

Motoyasu walked up to Raphtalia, intent on taking stock of the young warrior-maiden. "Wooooow, you're cute." he whispered, much to Myne's chagrin.

Before he could touch Raphtalia, however, Applejack interposed herself. "Mitts off, pardner." she said threateningly. She then did the courteous thing and introduced the heroes. "Raphtalia, meet th'otherer three cardinal he-roes. Ren's th' one with th' sword, Itsuki has th' bow an' lastly -an' certainly leastly-" she growled at the end, "Motoyasu's the Spear Hero. If y'all might excuse us, we did what we came here ta do. We were jus' leavin'."

Raphtalia got the picture and made to leave as well. Motoyasu attempted to stop her. "C'mon, a cute little thing like you shouldn't be running off with a scoundrel like him. Haven't you heard the rumours about him?"

Raphtalia frowned. "All the more reason for me to stay at his side, as far as I'm concerned." she said.

Ren said, "See you when the wave hits, I guess."

Itsuki added, "Just don't get in our ways."

Naofumi grit his teeth, clenching his hands more tightly, but kept his silence.

"An' don't let the door hit ya on th' way out." Applejack said. "Jerks."

The door slammed behind them.

"Ah think ya took th' high road there, pardner." Applejack said. "If Ah'm ta be honest -An' that's why Ah'm here- if'n ya hafta change who you are jus' ta gain their approval, they ain't worth the trouble of gittin' their approval, in mah o-pinion."

Naofumi smiled wanly. "Thanks. That means a lot to me." he said.

Applejack said, "Aw, t'ain't nothin'. C'mon, let's git that new outfit a' yers and vamoose, maybe back ta Riyute village."

That agreed on, they went back to see Erhard. He gave them their new duds and Raphtalia a gleaming new pair of katanas.. "Possibly my best work yet." he said, like usual. "They even have a few different functions... But I won't ruin the surprise." he teased.

Thus equipped, the trip back was noticeably less hazardous. And that night, the three of them rested well, for late the next day, things would get more... interesting.

Author's Note

1: I'm not kidding; I broke out the d10s for this one; I think it's more than fair to give Raphtalia a 6d10 pool, given her charm and presence in-show, boosted by her race's features. If so, I managed to get seven successes (those who are int D&D will know what I mean), so the townsfolk didn't stand a chance.
2: I re-watched the episode. - about 20:12:44.