Filo (episode)

Filo (フィーロ) is the fifth episode of The Rising of the Shield Hero anime.

Synopsis
During a diplomatic travel in another country, the Queen is informed about what happened at the castle by her envoys; meanwhile, the King gives rewards to the Heroes for their efforts in dealing with the Wave of Catastrophe, but refuses to give even a minimal reward to Naofumi, claiming it is paid for the service of having Raphtalia's Slave Crest removed. Ren and Itsuki intervene on his favor again, convincing the King to reward Naofumi. Afterward, Naofumi and Raphtalia pay a visit to the slave trader to recast the slave seal on Raphtalia by her request, despite Naofumi insisting it is unnecessary.

Naofumi bought a monster egg from the slave trader which hatches into a female Filolial, to whom Naofumi names Filo. But, is Filo a normal Filolial, or something else?

Plot
A woman is briefed by a spy while getting dressed by her servants. The spy explains that the actions of King is most likely of Malty talking him into it. However, the woman is happy to learn that Naofumi was able to find a slave to help him. Since the matter of the Shield Hero is taken care of, at least for now, the woman decides she needs to focus on keeping Melromarc's neighboring countries from interfering. She explains how Melromarc's summoning of Heroes is causing turmoil in the region where she is in and asks the spy to keep an eye out in the capital.

The day after the celebration party, the Heroes have been gathered to receive their rewards for fighting the Wave and also for fulfilling the crown's request. Motoyasu is given 4000 silvers, Itsuki and Ren each receive 3800 silvers, while Naofumi is given 500 silvers as promised of monthly payment but that amount was almost taken away for the cost of freeing his slave. However, Itsuki and Ren point out that Naofumi is being treated unfairly again: that the Sacred Duel itself was rigged, and dispelling the Slave Crest is something the King had done on his own after his daughter interfered in Naofumi's duel. Malty, however, counters their argument by stating that Naofumi was the first to break the one-on-one rule when he snuck Balloons into the fight. However, the pair follow up that the single-digit casualty count from the last Wave was because Naofumi chose to defend Riyute while the Knights were still getting on sight, therefore Naofumi still deserves to be compensated appropriately.

Despite the Heroes best efforts, all they succeed in doing is getting Naofumi his full 500 silver monthly promised allowance. Naofumi was rudely asked to leave the place. Having got his payment, Naofumi opts to stop wasting his time and leaves. Naofumi and Raphtalia return to Beloukas, who restores Raphtalia's Slave Crest by her own request, as it symbolizes Naofumi's trust on her - and she also wants him to notice her femininity, which falls flat when he completely misses the point. By absorbing the ink from the ritual into his Legendary Shield, Naofumi unlocks the Slave Series for his Shield, which gives Raphtalia an extra bonus to her stats per level up.

After turning down Beloukas' offer to buy back Raphtalia, Naofumi notices a monster egg raffle that if he pays 100 silvers, he'll be able to buy a random monster egg, at minimum he's guaranteed a Filolial which he can use to travel around the countryside or sell it back to Beloukas once it's an adult at twice the money. However, there's also a Dragon egg mixed into the lot worth 20 gold if Naofumi can find and raise it properly. Beloukas made his business talk of making a special price pack placing a new Slave Crest on Raphtalia and for buying the egg.

After buying a monster egg, Naofumi visits the Medicinal Shop Owner, who offers Naofumi an intermediate book on potion crafting as gratitude for protecting his relatives during the Wave. Similarly, the Magic Shop Owner offers Naofumi a similar deal for the same reasons, explaining that he has an affinity for Healing and Support type magic while Raphtalia can do Dark and Light type magic. She also suggests Raphtalia to learn illusion magic.

The Magic Shop owner would like to give Naofumi a crystal ball that will instantly teach him the magic sealed within, but her livelihood depends on that single crystal ball, which is mentioned to be expensive. She reveals the news of how the Kingdom purchased a large number of crystal balls for the Heroes. Naofumi concludes that it might have been given to the other Heroes excluding him. Reading the books given to him, Naofumi learns that although he understands what people are saying thanks to his Shield's auto-translation function, he still cannot read their language and is going to have to learn it on his own. Raphtalia wants to learn the magic and language together with Naofumi since they have more than one month before the next Wave strikes. In the meantime, they decide to spend the night in Riyute.

The egg hatches, revealing a newborn Filolial that rapidly grows in size as the pair hunt monsters around the village. After only two days, it had already become an adult, something that Naofumi attributes to unlocking the Beast Tamer's Shield. The Filolial is also given the name Filo, for sake of simplicity. As Naofumi is admiring his newest party member, Motoyasu's party and some Royal Knights arrive at the village with a royal decree, naming Motoyasu the village's new lord. The first order of business is a hefty tax of fifty silvers to enter and leave the village, which means that the village will be broke the next day. Naofumi objects to the tax, pointing out that night at the local inn is just 1 silver, food included. In other words, just for the honor of entering and leaving his village, Motoyasu is demanding 100 times worth of money. With this objection, Naofumi unwittingly instigates a rebellion of the villagers against such abuse.

As Malty prepares to have her Knights silence the villagers, a group of Shadows show up and stop her. The Shadows bring with them a message for Malty and as a result, she changes the decree: Naofumi and Motoyasu will compete in a Dragon Race for the right to control the village. Naofumi, logically, wants to stay out of it, but Filo is already challenging Motoyasu's dragon, and the current lord promises a reward if he wins.

While preparing for the race, Motoyasu continues to taunt Naofumi and make fun of his bird, for which he gets kicked in the crotch by Filo and is sent flying. Raphtalia also notes that the sight of Motoyasu in pain has made Naofumi legitimately smile for the first time since she's met him. The race consists in a simple course of three laps around the village, with the gate as the start and finish line.

Once the race starts, Filo's insane leg strength gives Naofumi a clear edge over Motoyasu and his dragon. However, Malty's Knights cast magic to litter the perimeter of the village with traps that Filo has to avoid. Motoyasu initially has the lead but Filo still outpaces him, in spite of having debuff magic cast on her and speed buff magic cast on Motoyasu's dragon. Thanks to the powers of his Shield, Naofumi is able to avoid the traps and wins the race just in time.

Once the race is over, Filo spontaneously transforms from an ostrich-like creature into one that resembles a giant owl, though Malty attempts to use this as "proof" of Naofumi cheating. The Shadows once again step in, revealing that they have thoroughly checked the course: it is littered with magic that Naofumi and Raphtalia have no affinities for, and Spear Hero party was the real cheater during the race. Naofumi is surprised to know how these people already know of his and Raphtalia's magic affinity so accurately. With this, Motoyasu's party is forced to limp away while the village prepares Naofumi's reward.

Naofumi doesn't want money as a reward - he has already had enough of bad rumors going around about him "stealing" all of Riyute's rebuilding funds. Filo instead "suggests" a lightly damaged wagon that scraped through the Wave relatively intact, and Naofumi is also given a merchant's pass that will exempt him from toll charges. Naofumi is impressed with the idea of making money as a merchant and fighting monsters along the way. A while outside of the village, Filo's incredible speed has left Raphtalia carsick and they have to camp while she recovers. Naofumi also feels how warm and comfortable Filo's feathers are.

The next morning Naofumi discovers his bird was gone and "replaced" by a little blonde girl with angel-like wings, calling him "Master" and asking for food.

Trivia

 * The title of the episode is the name of that character.
 * This episode marks the very first time in the anime that an adult Raphtalia shows romantic affections towards Naofumi and even wants him to see her as a woman, which fails due to his complete obliviousness to romances in general.
 * This episode also marks the first occurrence of the "Filo kicking Motoyasu's crotch" running gag.
 * Malty and Aultcray call all the other three Heroes, with the exception of Naofumi, by their given names, while they address Naofumi as "the Shield."
 * Using the crystal balls, one can learn magic sealed within it while in Grimoire, one can learn much magic as one can. But learning magic with a crystal ball was faster and easier in comparison.
 * To read Grimoire, one must know the local language, and the Legendary Weapon doesn't have any skill to translate letters, unlike spoken words.
 * Naofumi's magic affinity is Support and Healing magic, while Raphtalia's affinity is Light and Dark magic, which is best suited for illusion.
 * Tanuki-type Demi-Humans are well-know for their illusion magic.
 * This episode reveals Filolials and Dragons to be natural enemies.

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