Naofumi Iwatani (Web Novel)

Naofumi Iwatani (岩谷尚文) is the Shield Hero (盾の勇者), one of the four Legendary Heroes summoned to Melromarc.

Appearance
Naofumi is a roughly 20-year-old young man with black hair and fairly sharp features. He has a rather slim build and a permanent scowl on his face as a result of his mistreatment and cynical outlook on the world. The armor he wears is called the Barbarian Armor, and he is always equipped with his Legendary Shield. The armor in question is noted by others to suit him, even though one would expect a bandit leader to be wearing it.

Personality
Originally, Naofumi was an extremely trusting and positive person, he was also enthusiastic about his situation when initially summoned, but this all changes quickly after he is betrayed by Malty. Left penniless, framed for rape, and hated, Naofumi becomes distrustful, cynical and spiteful towards the world. He becomes unable to trust anyone who is not his slave as a traveling companion and begins planning for events where people try to deceive him or rip him off. This betrayal has left him in an almost permanent state of anger and hostility, even while he usually acts calm and level headed on the surface.

His hatred for Malty is utter without bound, to the point where he has become completely apathetic and ignorant to the advances of women in general, and even sometimes expresses disgust and hatred purely on the grounds that the other person is the same gender as Malty early on, though he never voices this to them. Due to Raphtalia and Filo, he becomes less inwardly hostile towards women over time, but is still evidently unable to notice their advances, Raphtalia herself, when her Slave Crest was being renewed, even asked him what he thought of her body, which had to be exposed for the application of the crest, only for him to completely miss the point. He was rather amazed when the Slave Merchant was willing to pay 15 gold pieces for Raphtalia after she became a beauty as well. He does, however, notice Atlas' feelings for him, if only because of how overwhelmingly blatant she is about showing them and goes out of his way to have others he trusts sleep with him solely so they can kick her out of his bed when she comes by. Finally, when Filo goes into heat later in the story he was willing to do almost anything, including sacrificing the future queen herself, Princess Melty, to her lust instead, to protect himself. When his hatred was completely removed by the Wrath Dragon absorbing it, he did finally show awareness of Raphtalia's beauty, but the women around him found his suddenly happy and uplifting self so creepy that they threw him into the dragon's guts to get his hatred back.

Eventually, he recovers more of his caring side and begins treating Raphtalia like a daughter rather than a slave(she would ironically prefer he treat her more like a woman though). by the time he sets up a base of operations in Rock Valley, he is visibly kind to the slaves under his command but not soft, as he still would not hesitate if discipline was called for. He comes to care enough about Filo to fly into a rage when he thinks she's dead, despite constantly finding her annoying. He is, in fact, has a rather unique opinion of slavery and a very business-like outlook in general. the prime example is when he bought Raphtalia; he fed her well, gave her medicine, sheltered her, defended her from bullies and even treated her when she was good. He genuinely earns her affection through his treatment of her, to the point where she chooses to remain his slave when given the option to leave him. In his mind all of these actions were taken because they're practical, I.e. an unhealthy, unfed and half dead slave would be useless, so he genuinely can't understand why someone would neglect their treatment and health. He never mistreated or exploited any of the slaves under him and has disciplined them only when they refuse to do as ordered. This same treatment extends to literally all of the slaves he comes to own, with them even coming to treat him like a Father figure in return. According to Rishia and Ren, it is even quite difficult to call them slaves, the latter even says outright that they look more like a large family.

He is also very observant, dislikes being ripped off, and will definitely not tolerate being stolen from; for example, his grudge against Mald grew noticeably when he realized the man stole what was to be his new shield and made a point to personally defeat him. When merchants tried to rip him off or he saw bullies picking on Raphtalia, he sends literal monsters at them, since he himself can't attack. He can be somewhat of a sadist in this sense, to the point Raphtalia actually tried to warn those same bullies to run away.

His feelings towards the world eventually clear up, but he's still incredibly cynical, for example, he will sell medicine to the rich for profit rather than give it out for free, he still buys slaves rather than trusts others, and he will treat another person's sense of justice as naive idealism. His feelings towards the other three heroes is also stained by Malty's betrayal, he accepts that he needs them to save the world, but when given the chance to kill Ren he was quick to take it. For reference, Ren is the one he hates least out of the other heroes.

When someone he hates suffers or is injured, or if he has a chance for payback, he will take it readily, much to the annoyance of Raphtalia, who would prefer he act like a prim and proper hero after his name has been cleared. He is also not above antagonizing others if he finds it amusing or if they annoy him. This can reach outright villainous levels, as shown when Malty was sold off to Faulbrey's king. Ren, after his reform, found that Naofumi's policies might indeed be rather villainous for a hero. For example, Naofumi has made it a habit to rob any bandits foolish enough to attack him of everything they have, this policy, in particular, has begun to rub off on his subordinates. Even Eclaire, a knight with a stern belief in justice and yet one such imitator of Naofumi's policies, proudly calls his actions evil while seeing no problem with the fact that he's using them for good reasons, or because they are at the very least beneficial actions for his village and the country. He has even hired and trained, personally, a bandit group and made them into a type of privateering ring to deal with the growing problem of illegal merchants selling their goods in the country. It's precisely this attitude which makes him an amazing merchant and slaver, as noted by the Accessory Merchant and Slave Dealer he frequents, he doesn't concern himself with good, evil or justice and morality when making his decisions unless something is unduly harsh towards someone he actually likes or duly harsh towards someone he hates.

Despite being the most villainous, ironically Naofumi is perhaps the most effective of the heroes at getting things done, he corrected the problems the other three either started or worsened, and managed to deal with the Spirit Turtle, an act which required him to cheer up the allied troops, raise their moral, organize them, and effectively lead people his past would undoubtedly put him at odds with. The latter case is especially important because the other heroes unleashed it, to begin with.

Background
Animals have liked Naofumi since he was young. When he walked around the mountains, wild birds naturally perched on his shoulders, and he encountered wildlife easily. Once he encountered a bear and played dead to try to survive. Rather than attacking, it started licking his face. He later learned that playing dead didn't actually work.

When he was in elementary school, a large dog in his neighborhood let him ride on its back. More like it sat down in front of him asking to be ridden. He rode around waving a stick, pretending he was an Ainu Girl from a fighting game.

Naofumi was initially the less-liked child of the family, an all the pressure of his parents' expectations were placed upon his brother and he simply lived without having to meet these expectations. One day, when his brother started acting out because of this, it was Naofumi who introduced him to Galga themed games and managed to provide him with a hobby to relieve his stress. Despite being an educated student and having a number of skills under his belt, as evidenced from his ability to quickly adapt to living unaided in the world, he is noted to have had poor grades in school.

He has taken up multiple part-time jobs in the past, including one at a Crepe Stand, and one at a convenience store. Despite his reluctance to admit it, he has shown skill in cooking from an early age. His brother says he should go to cooking school lest he wastes all of his talents.

Chronology
Naofumi was once a successful otaku University student before being summoned to Melromarc. His past experience with Malty S Melromarc has made him dark and cynical, but he is still a generally nice person. He has an extremely high alcohol constitution, eating a heavily alcoholic fruit that would cause severe alcohol poisoning if ingested. Although he experiences a slow start because of the Malty incident and is on a much lower level than the other heroes, he is still able to keep up and even occasionally outshine them. Out of the heroes, he is the only one who has learned the written language because he was not given crystal balls to level up his magic abilities and had to learn from books along with Raphtalia. He is also the only one who treated the world as a world and not a game. He has learned to create medicine through recipes and scavenge for materials, something the other heroes left to their weapons. Lastly, he was the only one not killed in his old world before coming to this one. His village was named Rock Valley in spite of his many objections. After defeating the Goddess Medea, he created fragments of himself to live in his original world and this one while his main body traveled to save other worlds from Gods that prey on them with Raphtalia.

Legacy
While Naofumi himself became an immortal god and is thus still alive and well, he left a human incarnation of himself in both his and Raphtalia's worlds at the end of the main series. The version of him living in his original world evidently married Raphtalia there, although Atlas interfered during the ceremony. Meanwhile, the version of him in Raphtalia's world is deified in legend as the leader of the heroes and those associated with him became equally legendary. Trash ensured that a large statue in his honor was crafted after the war. Ultimately his friends name his territory as "Rock Valley," taking inspiration from his own name, despite his own objections. many hundreds of years later Rock Valley has grown into a country-sized entity, though Naofumi's god incarnation, upon return, couldn't tell what kind of country it was. Naofumi is known to have had an abundance of female relations and left behind such a large number of children that it's impossible to know just how many there are, the only widely known of his wives were Raphtalia, whose descendants with him are now the royals of Rock Valley, Melty, and Sadina. He is ultimately worshipped as a god of merchants and commerce because of his business ethics, while the blacksmith, Elhart, became known as a god of blacksmiths for being Naofumi's most frequent confident as a craftsman. When the god version of Naofumi returns, he and Raphtalia regroup with Filo (who is now immortal and one of the only women he didn't have children with) and leave fragments of themselves behind anew for another adventure.

Abilities
Naofumi doesn't just hold up a shield. He has to catch and shift the impact of opponents’ blows to stop them and parry them as well.

Naofumi's self-made defense style allows him to break opponents’ weapons, thus aiding his party. Though this doesn't work on Legendary Weapons. He can do Shirahatori, and grab weapons and arrows out of midair. He can interfere with magic as well, and support magic is his duty.

While he has enough agility and skill to dodge, as the person tasked with protecting those behind him, he is often unable to do so.

Magic

 * Fast Heal - A basic level healing spell.
 * Zweite Aura - A spell that grants its target with enhanced power.
 * Revelation Aura: Revelation - The level above Dreifach. In Volume 8 of the Light novel, Naofumi receives assistance from osto, helping him solve the formula and providing the energy necessary to cast this spell.
 * Revelation Aura X - The visibly dense mass of magic envelops the target, and permeates into his or her skin. It’s the spell Aura, which increases all stats, however, being a high-level skill every single stat more than doubles. After about 10 minutes, the effects of Revelation Aura wear off. Naofumi's magic and SP’s is drained clean, as cost.
 * Sacrifice Aura - Naofumi casts this version of the aura spell with the assistance of the dragon emperor core inside his shield. This variation of the aura spell drains the life of the target but dramatically increases all of their stats with the energy the spell drains from them. The aftereffects of the spell reduce all of the target's stats by 30% and can only be cured with time. In the case of Naofumi, it didn't affect his defense.
 * Faust Guard
 * Faust Heal
 * Revelation Aura
 * Faust Grow Heal
 * All Zveit Heal: An AOE recovery spell, that heals multiple allies' wounds.
 * Aqua Seal - Water support magic that increases fire resistance.
 * All Zveit Resist Fire
 * Revelation Heal
 * All Revelation Aura X
 * Zveit Fire
 * Zveit Water
 * Dreifach Heal

Legendary Shield Skills

 * Improved Toughness: The wielder of the Legendary Shield has his toughness increased. This is shown when orange balloons were biting Naofumi and he did not even notice.
 * Translation: The shield translates foreign spoken languages so Naofumi hears it as his own and lets him converse back.
 * Weapon Copy: Like the other Legendary weapons, the shield is able to copy standard weapons and other items by simply touching it to their weapons which adds to the number of weapons available as well as adding more equipment bonuses with each new shield.
 * Blue Mushroom Shield: Adds Compound skill and Recipe 1 skill.
 * Hate Reaction: A skill that lures monsters. Actually, it has one other hidden effect that was confirmed on Cal Mira Island. It can drag out the real form and reveal opponents lightly concealed by magic and skills. Therefore, detection can be used in cases of concealment.
 * Air Strike Shield: Instantly creates a shield for defense anywhere within range. This skill is very versatile as shields can be created in the air allowing him and others to jump on them to reach escape threats. The Air Strike Shield can also be thrown at targets doing light damage and knocking targets off balance.
 * Second Shield: Creates the second shield in a chain.
 * Third Shield: Creates a third shield in the chain.
 * Chain Shield: Links the floating shields with chains, trapping enemies in between.
 * Rope Shield: Produces a rope that can be used for climbing.
 * Pickaxe Shield: Gives mining 1 skill.
 * Pipe Shield:
 * Shield Prison: Creates a wall of shields that can be used to protect himself or others as well as trap enemies. A technique whereby Naofumi creates a prison using a wall of shields around his intended target, this can be used to protect himself or detain his enemies. Initially limited to 15 seconds and rather frail compared to Eclair's attacks, Naofumi later managed to increase the shield's duration to 5 minutes and made it strong enough that Eclair cannot cut through it.
 * 「Light Metal Shield」Defense +1. Gives enhance magic defense.
 * 「Dog Bite」Twin headed dog shield Special effect. The twin heads on the shield bite on their intended target causing great pain.
 * 「Voice Ganger Shield」Special effect. Microphone. Can amplify sound loud enough to deal great damage to the eardrums.
 * Book Shield: Looks exactly like a book. Used so that the traditional shield does not draw too much attention.
 * Curse Shield: Shield of Wrath:
 * Self Curse: Ignition: When contact is made with the shield, an intense flame is produced, counter-attacking the attacker.
 * Self Curse: Burning: 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 where normal healing will not work. As its, a curse based flame, holy type healing is needed to guard against it.
 * Change Shield (Attack): Allows Naofumi to change his weapon into a shield to inflict damage.
 * Bee Needle Shield: While Shield of Wrath is equipped, Naofumi summons shield prison around his target. He then uses Change Shield (Attack) along with Animal Needle Shield to create a new skill, Bee Needle Shield. This creates several spiked needles that pierce and skewer the inside target.
 * Iron Maiden: While Shield of Wrath is equipped, Naofumi combines Shield Prison and Needle Prison to create a giant cage. This case is filled with violent spikes and when the door closes, deals deadly damage in most cases killing the target. While this is one of Naofumi's most powerful skills, it also consumes a lot of magic. As shown after one use, he almost collapses from exhaustion.
 * Blutopfer/Blood Sacrifice: 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. Use of this technique has the unfortunate side effect of seriously wounding its own wielder, to the point where his first use nearly killed him and his second weakened him for a full month.
 * Dark Curse Burning Physical : "description here"
 * Roar of the angry Dragon : "description here".
 * Frenzy of Companions : "description here".
 * Roar : "description here"
 * Magic Sharing : "description here"
 * Dark Curse Burning S : "description here"
 * Mighty Dragon's Rage : "description here"
 * Roar of the Raging Dragon : "description here"
 * Portal Shield: Allows the user and his party members the ability to teleport.
 * Meteor Shield: A thin wall of light is created. It's a defensive barrier similar to the Air Strike Shield skill from the Rope Shield but it allows companions to pass through it. Its effective range is 2 meters centering around the user, its SP consumption is around 5% of the max, and has a cooldown time of 15 seconds.
 * Bee's Poison (Paralysis) : "description here"
 * 「Chimera Viper Shield」Higher Detoxify. Poison Tolerance (M). Snake Venom (M).
 * Snake's Fang (Intermediate) Hook: The snake on the shield become alive and bites its target. The poison is lethal and if untreated, kills the target.
 * Change Shield : "description here"
 * Snake's Fang (High) Long Hook : "description here"
 * Shield of Stinger (Small) : "description here"
 * Bee Poison (Poison) : "description here"
 * Soul Eater Shield: Gains the following effects: Vengeance +6, 35/35 SR, Second Shield, Soul Resistance (Medium), Psychological Attack Resistance (Medium), SP Gain. Exclusive Buff: Immunity to Soul Eat, Drain, etc.
 * Soul Devour : "description here"
 * Second Shield : Creates a second shield.
 * Drain Effect : "description here"
 * Intangibility : "description here"
 * Undead Control : "description here"
 * Shark's Fang : "description here"
 * Shark's skin : "description here"
 * Shield Bash : The user attacks with the shield. The enemy is placed under ste status effect stun or confusion. Stun last 3 seconds with a 5 second cool down.
 * Diving Time Up : "description here"
 * Meteor Shield : "description here"
 * Spirit Turtle Carapace Shield:
 * E Float Shield : "description here"
 * Gravity Field : "description here"
 * C Soul Recovery : "description here"
 * Spirit Turtle Heart Shield:
 * C Magic Snatch : "description here"
 * C Gravity Shot : "description here"
 * Monster Book : "description here"
 * Portal Shield: A technique unlocked from a shield of the same name, allowing Naofumi and 6 or so allies to teleport between one of three designated locations in an instant. Requires an hour charge time after use.
 * Spirit Turtle Shell:
 * S Float Shield : "description here"
 * Reflect Shield : "description here"
 * Gravity Field : "description here"
 * C Soul Recovery : "description here"
 * C Magic Snatch : "description here"
 * C Gravity Shot : "description here"
 * Tenacity Enhancement : "description here"
 * SP Drain Block : "description here"
 * Growing Power : "description here"
 * New Seven Deadly Sins Series:
 * C’mon Raphs: An ability to summon the Raphs by a portal.
 * Shield of Compassion:
 * Change Shield (Attack): This technique allows Naofumi to turn one active shield into a different type. Namely, Naofumi can summon an Instant Shield and then change it to a Spike Shield, making a variable weapon out of it. This technique can be used for a number of combinations.
 * Iron Maiden: "description here"
 * Meteor Wall: "description here"


 * Others
 * Filolial: The skill was given to him by Fitoria as a courtesy. They're parasite Filolials made of magic and are always there to protect Naofumi. They were inside of him for a while, silently adapting to his magic power.
 * Fililial: Naofumi can tamper with his Filolials' settings.

Seven Star Cane Skills

 * Fenrir Force X: The clamped wolf head ornament opened its mouth and fires a beam of light from Jewel portion. It is capable of completely disintegrating a person, but it takes 3 seconds to cast and has high SP consumption.
 * Ragnarok Blaster: Upgraded version of the Fenrir Force skill by mixing magic and energy into the skill.
 * Gleipnir Rope: Binds targets with rope.

Relationships

 * -|Legendary Heroes=
 * Motoyasu Kitamura: Initially Naofumi believed Motoyasu played a part in framing him for raping Malty, but over time has come to realize that Motoyasu is very stupid and evidently doesn't know he's being manipulated by Malty. It was Motoyasu nearly taking Raphtalia away from him through a rigged duel which finally set Naofumi off enough to awaken the Shield of Wrath. Motoyasu tries to behave in a friendly manner towards Naofumi, despite the charges placed on him, but becomes something of a rival to him, especially with Malty's continued influence upon him. Once Naofumi's name is cleared he begins to show more of a kind side towards him, but refuses to accept it when he's told that Malty is the one who set him up. After Malty finally betrays him as well, Motoyasu completely breaks, falls completely in love (or lust) with Filo, and starts calling Naofumi Father in Law. He becomes even easier for Naofumi to manipulate, and all but swears loyalty to him.


 * Ren Amaki: Like the other heroes, Ren was initially led to believe Naofumi guilty of the charge of raping Malty, however, he was also, alongside Itsuki, one of the only people to defend Naofumi when Malty cheated to allow Motoyasu to beat him in their duel. He is also the only one of the heroes to actually believe Naofumi when he is later charged with kidnapping Princess Melty and he denies it. Naofumi considers Ren something of a loner, who runs his party like a guild and acts on his own at most times. While it can be said Naofumi does not find him as unbearable as Motoyasu or Itsuki, he still displays petty dislike of him and even tried to kill him when he succumbed to the influence of his Curse Series weapons. He does however see Ren's good side as a hero, and defends him when criticized by Raphtalia's high standards. When Ren refused to take responsibility for his actions in releasing the Spirit Tortoise and getting his comrades killed, Naofumi's opinion of him took a dive, causing him to view Ren as a selfish brat. Finally, after being freed from his Curse Series and finding himself in Naofumi's custody, Ren has begun learning from Naofumi and accepts the faults and responsibilities of his former self and past actions. Ren later finds employment as a blacksmith and monster hunter in Naofumi's territory and seems to genuinely aspire to atone for his crimes to him, to the point where Naofumi actually begins to worry about it. Naofumi later encourages his pursuit of Eclair and gives him advice to that effect. After they were defeated by Medea the first time Naofumi spent eons in the void becoming a god while Ren spent two years in a completely different world increasing his strength, however, despite the fact that Naofumi's deification completely reduces his two years of effort to near insignificance, he doesn't hold a grudge and in fact chooses to keep the two years when Naofumi offers to go and find his younger self, as he believes this power will be useful. The current Ren places so much trust in Naofumi that when the Shield "God" told him that he'd be fine he immediately dropped his defences completely and charged the enemy knowing Naofumi would ensure he wouldn't be harmed (he was right). Finally the current Ren was even bold enough to propose to Eclaire and Windia on the same night, and eventually, with Naofumi's subtle aid, married them both.


 * Itsuki Kawasumi: Naofumi's relationship with Itsuki is strained to put it politely, he dislikes how Itsuki acts solely to flaunt his pride and show off, and, like the other heroes, is quite begrudged at Itsuki for believing Malty's frame-up. Later on, he did defend Itsuki from Raphtalia's criticisms by stating that Itsuki was stuck up, but would never let harm befall his allies, however, what little respect he had for Itsuki completely disappears when Itsuki kicks Rishia out of his party for being weak. When they are reunited, Itsuki, in his cursed state, accuses Naofumi of various crimes, including partaking in slavery without rewarding said slaves and selling medicine to the rich while ignoring the poor. Naofumi comically remembers that his slaves love to eat his cooking, wondering just how unrewarded they really are in their services, and points out that he needs to make a profit, so the latter issue can't be helped. As of now, Itsuki remains in Naofumi's village, still undergoing his cursed state. In his cursed state, he is emotionless, expressionless, and his ambition as being seen as the hero of Justice, non-existent. After Itsuki recovers from this state he states to Naofumi that he's worried the enemy might have taken hold of him through his cursed weapon and asks Naofumi to "deal with him" if the time comes, he also apologises to Naofumi for not believing in his innocence at the start, though he isn't forgiven, and states that if the him of now could go back to the beginning he hopes that he would have at least investigated the situation before placing blame. Naofumi is very supportive of Itsuki and Rishia's relationship and even provides the somewhat awkward couple with some friendly encouragement (Booze as a Christmas gift).


 * -|Seven Star Heroes=
 * Aultcray Melromarc: Naofumi hates the king, and with good reason. With his daughter Malty, the king set Naofumi up as a criminal with the charge of rape and spread the word all over his kingdom. However, given his genuine display of stupidity in believing the claims that Naofumi could brainwash people, it's also likely he just believed Malty's claims. Ultimately, the king hates the Hero of the Shield, and that just unfortunately happened to be Naofumi. When the Queen cleared Naofumi's name and allowed him to punish the king, Naofumi immediately asked for the death penalty, but was talked down to renaming the king to "Trash" and stripping him of all his rights to the throne. After the death of Witch, Trash seems to no longer be mentally aware of the world. However after Witch turned out to be alive, and she conspired with Tact to kill her mother, Aultcray was utterly shocked by her betrayal as she even discarded him like a used tissue. Finally, with his wife and niece, Atla, both dead at Tact's hand, Trash lost hope and gave over his duty to protect the country to Naofumi, who his wife told him to share the responsibility with. Naofumi refused to accept this and blatantly told Aultcray to stand up and do as his wife asked of him, protect his country and daughter. Aultcray finally redeems himself, acknowledging that everything that transpired was his fault, whether due to his actions or his inaction in relation to Naofumi and his daughter respectively. He retrieves his staff and apologizes to Naofumi for his past transgressions, though Naofumi refuses his apology and instead simply tells him to show through his efforts that he's a changed man. Aultcray led the battle against Tact's army and gave Naofumi his staff, in effect entrusting him with avenging his wife and niece. Following this moment, Aultcray also embraced the name Trash, stating it's "suitable for the fool who could not protect his loved ones". He has also started to treat Naofumi and Fohl with great care, in the former case he treats Naofumi as his son in law and he dotes on the latter, his nephew and last surviving relative excluding Melty, to a scary degree. Naofumi can no longer deal with him, especially when he compares the current Trash to his past self, Trash even had a statue erected in Naofumi's honor following the successful triumph over the waves. Eventually, Naofumi did indeed marry Melty (and several other women, including Raphtalia) and in effect became Trash's son in law.


 * Raphtalia: Naofumi's first slave that he bought from the Slave merchant. A Tanuki Demi-human. Naofumi bought her early on to compensate for his inability to attack and chose her both for her low price and because he wanted to imagine enslaving Malty. Despite his questionable reasons for buying her, Naofumi treats the growing child well, giving her medicine, food, and protects her during battle. The only times he ever activated the Slave Crest is when she's too scared to do it on her own. He also shelters her and comforts her during her various night terrors. By the time she physically matures due to level grinding. One week later, Raphtalia becomes significantly more outgoing towards Naofumi and even has a decent handle on him, carefully findings ways to get him to comply with her choices despite their master-slave relationship. She becomes a much needed pillar of support for him; even willingly chooses to remain his slave, despite her new status as a free woman, all because of Malty's actions, Naofumi can't trust anyone who's not a slave. She's the first person, after Oyaji, to take his side after what Malty did to him, and the one who ultimately succeeds in bringing him out of his despair. She want’s Naofumi to look at her as an adult woman, to the point where at least once she's stripped completely naked in front of him and asked him what his opinion of her naked body was, only for him to miss the point completely. The primary issue is that he knows that she's really ten years old despite looking like a twenty year old, and thus he doesn't think of her feelings are romantic. That, and Malty's betrayal has left him apathetic towards women in general. Naofumi constantly believes they have a father-daughter relationship but Raphtalia would very much beg to differ. She's the one he trusts the most, and the one he ultimately cares for the most. It's slightly possible he subconsciously notices her romantic feelings for him after all, but has his own reasons for pushing them aside. These reasons are implied to be logical, as he doesn't want to dismiss her as war potential by making a mistake with her. Emotionally, as he remembers his initial reasons for buying her, he doesn't feel deserving of such a relationship. He figures out that she loves him, but believes she's mistaking her feelings for what should be a father figure with feelings of romance instead. Raphtalia is also the only real leash that's reliably restraining Naofumi's more villainous tenancies as she would prefer him to act as a prim and proper hero, which he doesn't think he is. Whenever Naofumi takes joy in the suffering of those who've caused him grief, especially Malty and Trash, Raphtalia tries to caution him against showing his joy. On that note, she hates the people who've hurt him as much as he does, especially Malty, who she ultimately takes the chance to beat up and humiliate when she rebels against her own kingdom, she just doesn't revel in their suffering like him. For Naofumi, Raphtalia is a reliable partner, she saved him from his hatred from being betrayed by Bitch, and is his most loyal follower. She is the friend with whom they shared their joys and sorrows together, at the same time he thinks of her as something similar like a daughter. He prioritized his mission to make her world become peaceful, he has no interest for romance aside from parental love. Also acting as his moral compass. After the waves ended and he overcomes his trauma, Raphtalia becomes his first wife, the royal family of Rock Valley, which eventually became its own country, are all noted to be largely her descendants


 * Filo: Naofumi's second real comrade and slave. He bought her as an egg from the same slave trader that he got Raphtalia from and he raises her quite lovingly together with Raphtalia. She quickly grows beyond a normal Filolial and is revealed to be a Queen, and later demonstrates the ability to assume human form. 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. After she started to assume human form, he has found her to be visibly annoying at times, especially for her selfishness and gluttony, but he still cares for her greatly. The moment he thought died was enough to invoke his Shield of Anger for the first real time since Raphtalia was nearly taken away from him.


 * Fitoria:


 * Rishia: Recruited to Naofumi's party after being kicked out of Itsukis party. She was framed for breaking one of Itsuki's accessories by another member of the party. After Filo saved Rishia, Naofumi swear to make her stronger so Itsuki would beg to have her back on his team. As she spent time with Naofumi's village, she gained confidence and immense fighting skill. According to the Battle Instructor, her abilities are one that come every hundred years. As of now, she is a confident and skilled member of the Naofumi's party. After she defeats Itsuki and takes the rehabilitated Bow Hero into her care, Naofumi even begins to worry that she's becoming a Yandere of sorts, but this turns out to be unfounded. He ultimately supports her relationship with Itsuki and even provides the somewhat awkward couple with friendly "encouragement" (booze as a Christmas gift).


 * Fohl:


 * Wyndia: A girl who is good at raising monsters. Abandoned as a child, she was raised by Gaelion. But crazy things happen on the mountain, and it was up to Gaelion to protect her new home. After Gaelion died, she was captured and sold off as a slave. Through a turn of luck, she ended up at Naofumi’s village.


 * Midori:


 * -|Other Heroes=
 * 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 moments before defeated the other three heroes and their respective parties, all of which are groups larger than Naofumi's party, at the same time). Like many others she finds some clear fault with Naofumi's personality, namely when he first appeared before her and steps on the unconscious Malty's head. Later on, when Glass returned during the tenth wave, she and Naofumi started to communicate about the issues of their two worlds and he decided to help her by bringing the people of her world over to Melromarc's since her's was effectively already dead. She contributed to Witch's and Tact's executions, providing the Soul Eaters that ensured that the two were dead for good this time. She also reacted to Naofumi's story about Malty's betrayal with dull surprise and noted that her world suffered a similar b*tch's influence. Her relationship with Naofumi seems to be strictly professional, though they are willing to ally and use each other for their own purposes they hold no ill will towards each other and can even be called comrades by the end. He even offers to help her find the long lost friend she's searching for with his powers as a god, however she declines and ultimately goes on a journey to find said friend herself, from what can be inferred she is never seen by Naofumi again from this point on.


 * Melty Melromarc: The Second Princess initially believed her father's lies about Naofumi and hated him, she attempted to make him apologize for dishonoring her father but was treated by him as an annoyance in return. After the Three Heroes Church tries to kill her, Naofumi becomes the only person Melty can actually rely on to save her life as the other heroes, her sister, and her knights are all either being used by the Church or are willing participants in the conspiracy. Because of this, she has become something of a Tsundere towards him, and it's implied that her feelings for him extend beyond what she wants him to hear about. She dislikes being treated by him as a child or being called "second-princess" by him, and gets him to call her by name instead. He's not above playing pranks on her and still uses her for his own convenience; to which he once called her Firlo's fiance and spread that to Motoyasu to get him off his case. The end result of this was that when she found out she destroyed his house, with him still in it. She appears to be one of the few people he trusts well enough to keep Atlas out of his bed, a task which would require her to sleep in the same bed with him, when asked, she blushed and ran away. They're fully capable of behaving professionally with each other at times and bickering the very next minute. After the Queen dies and Melty succeeds the throne this teasing relationship hits a proverbial ice burg, Naofumi teases her about the amount of work she now has on her plate, prompting her to grant him the title of Arch-Duke so that he can share her burden, she happened to also forget that the Arch-Duke in Melromarc is also basically the Queen's fiance and as a result of Trash's immediate pushing they became engaged. Some time after the waves are over Melty is indeed noted to have become Naofumi's wife(one of many though) and they had descendants.


 * Kiel:


 * Eclaire Seattle: A knight sent by the Queen to watch over Naofumi’s progress in the village. Is amazed by the behavior of Naofumi’s monsters. She has learned the basics of Hengen Musou swordsmanship and can see the flow of magic. Otherwise, she is mostly self taught. She is the daughter of the previous lord of the land Naofumi rules over. Eventually Naofumi grants her a piece of land within his territory and she becomes a prosperous landlady in her own right.


 * Sadina:


 * Raph-chan:


 * Kuu:


 * Marin:


 * -|Companions=
 * Malty Melromarc (former): Naofumi hates Malty for setting him up for the crime of raping her, this hatred grows exponentially over the series as Malty continues to antagonize him and try to add to the misery she'd already made his life into. After Malty's mother, the Queen, clears Naofumi's name and strips Malty of her right to inherit the throne as punishment for her actions, he immediately asked that she be executed, but was talked down to renaming her "Bitch" and later "Witch" instead. Malty remains utterly unrepentant for her past actions and aims to do whatever she can to get back at Naofumi. At the end, when Malty's attempted revolution fails and she's sentenced to be married off to the King of Faubley as punishment for her actions, she immediately freaks out and becomes desperate enough to even beg Naofumi to take her back as an ally and save her. To put this in perspective, the King of Faubley treats women as toys and frequently "breaks" them, having gone through 9,999 women before Malty. Being banished into this King's custody is enough to utterly break even Malty's high and mighty attitude and leave her literally begging for help, but by this point she's exhausted everyone's sympathy and nobody is willing to lend it, least of all Naofumi, so she rather predictably gets sent off to her fate instead. She died two weeks later and her body was returned as proof, it was, by Naofumi's own words, not a pretty sight.


 * Elhart: He runs a forge in Melromarc. The only person who believed in The Hero of the Shield after he was falsely accused by Bitch. He made most if not all of the equipment worn by Naofumi as well as his carriage. 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 skill to be sub-par. He and Naofumi retain a prosperous business relationship until the end, and he becomes worshipped as a God of Blacksmiths, for this fact.


 * Beloukas: While Naofumi considers the Merchant to be a useful ally due to his role in providing him various slaves for his growing army, he does not per say trust the man. The merchant has noted that Naofumi has good business sense, and is not an easy man to deceive, he refers to Naofumi as his favorite customer.


 * Mirellia Melromarc: the queen and Naofumi are on fairly good terms as business acquaintances go. While he knows he's being used by her, he also knows that she needs him, so he's willing to put up with it. The fact she cleared his name and punished her husband and daughter for their mistreatment of him seems to be the crux of their relationship. Mutually benefiting off of one another, Naofumi and Mirellia have a business like relationship. After her death at Tact's hand Naofumi set out to avenge her due to the immense debt he owes her and his guilt over failing to shield her from the fatal attack in the first place, he eventually succeeds.


 * Roudy: a bandit that, much to his misfortune, had encountered Naofumi many times. He was often threatened to become food for Filo, and then also Gaelion, making him either confess his crimes or surrender. Ironically, just when he made the decision to give up his life as a bandit, return to his village, and live a decent lifestyle, Naofumi approached him to give him a under-the-table deal as the Hero wanted the bandit to resume his life of crime. The reason why was because, in order to deal with the growing number of foreign bandits, Naofumi wanted to find a positive use for them by making them target specific people, such as those affiliated with the anti-shield coalition and merchants that do not play by the merchants guild rules. Thus the bandit, though hesitantly, accepted his role which lead him to be very famous later as he led large organization known as the Chivalrous Thief Guild.


 * Atlas: To Naofumi, Atlas is like a young child who forcefully tries to approach him since her arrival in Rock Valley. Naofumi speculates that the Yggdrasil medicine that has given her the miraculous recovery may have made her infatuated with him as a side-effect. Despite being pushed away by him due to her forwardness towards him, he sometimes trains with Atlas and even allows her to join him on his ventures due to her skills on par with Raphtalia. However, she cannot replace Raphtalia as his moral compass because her infatuation with Naofumi makes her support even his most evil actions such as his attempt to kill Ren.


 * Gaelion: Naofumi has a fairly strong master-pet relationship with the child Gaerion, and a rather professional relationship with the adult one. The adult Gaerion, partially unbeknownst to Naofumi, has been a powerful catalyst in strengthening his Wrath Shield over time. His soul entered the shield during the fight against his own zombified corpse and gave the hero's shield the ability to use the dragon's flames as a counter attack. Naofumi is stunned by the fact that Gaerion is so proud, even when admitting rather shameful things like the fact he's the weakest of his kind or the fact that he's still weaker than Filo. Both Gaerion are willing to listen to Naofumi's orders, and share his hatred for the sword hero, Ren, until they ultimately settle things with him. Gaerion draws strength from Naofumi's Shield of Wrath just as Filo does, but since he's also a source of power for it he shows much more authority over that power. Even before then, being the Shield Hero's dragon has already made the adult Gaerion far more powerful than he was in his own life, to the point where he absolutely dominates Ren, the one who killed him in that life, while the latter is powered up by a Curse Series weapon, and ultimately defeats him. He has agreed to use his power to assist Naofumi if Naofumi brings him the Dragon Emperor's cores, which would make him even stronger and thus even more useful to Naofumi anyway. The Dragon Emperor's memories also become a useful source of information via Gaerion.


 * Rototil Anthreya:


 * Imya Quariz:


 * Trinemier Quzariz:

Trivia

 * No other Hero of the Shield has appeared after him since he is an immortal God, while new wielders of the other Holy Weapons has appeared in generations later on.