Lullaby at Dawn

Lullaby at Dawn (暁の子守唄) is the fourth episode of The Rising of the Shield Hero anime.

Synopsis
A celebration is being held to honor the success of the Heroes in subjugating the Waves. Motoyasu came to know of Raphtalia being a slave of Naofumi and challenges him to a duel for her freedom. Naofumi is forced to participate in the Duel.

How can the Shield Hero win with only defense alone? Will he be able to keep Raphtalia as his comrade? Or will Raphtalia part away from the Shield Hero?

Plot
Following the events of the Second Wave, the Kingdom of Melromarc celebrates. The Heroes and their companions are being thrown an elaborate victory celebration inside of Melromarc's castle, with the King personally congratulating them, or more accurately, the Bow, Sword and Spear heroes. Naofumi (who is sitting on his own) curses being there but notes he had no choice if he wants his promised payment. With everyone ignoring him, he scrolls through his help menu and learns of a teleporting feature for registered members to the Wave, which he considers could be useful for the next Wave. Naofumi also spots the Knight Captain bragging to some young noblewomen about defeating a huge monster, when in reality he deserted Naofumi and arrived too late to help any of the other heroes. The crowd of noble-people meanwhile discuss the Heroes' success for limiting the casualties to one digit.

Motoyasu, for his part, is surrounded by noble-women, some of whom inquire him about his love life, which is quickly interrupted by a jealous Myne. Motoyasu then spots Raphtalia walking through the crowd and tries to talk to her, but Myne stops him. She then whispers something into Motoyasu's ear, which makes the Spear Hero very angry. Raphtalia, meanwhile, is trying to get Naofumi to eat some of the food but he claims he's not hungry, (not seeing much point in eating delicious food when he can't taste it), and focuses on reading the help menu to fight the next Wave.

Even so, Raphtalia brings over some cake and persuades him to try some. Upon seeing this, a seething Motoyasu takes off one of his gloves and throws it at Naofumi's feet - challenging him to a Duel. The room falls deafly quiet at this, but Naofumi is unprovoked. Motoyasu tells him he knows that Raphtalia is his slave, which he believes is morally wrong and demands Raphtalia's freedom if he wins. Naofumi calls the Spear Hero out on this, stating that it is only Motoyasu's opinion and that slavery is permitted in this land. Motoyasu maintains that since they are people from another world, it is morally wrong for someone, especially a Hero, to take a slave. The other heroes, Ren and Itsuki, are also shocked to learn that Naofumi has a slave as a party member and are disgusted with him.

When Naofumi asks what he will get in return if he wins, Motoyasu answers (after a pause) that he could keep things as it is. Naofumi, however, isn't interested in taking part in a Duel where he gets nothing in return for winning. He attempts to leave with Raphtalia, but the guards stop him. A disgusted King Aultcary appears. Having overheard everything, he declares Naofumi is rotten to his very core and orders him to take part anyway. When Raphtalia tries to explain that she follows Naofumi of her own free will, she is seized, bound, gagged and dragged away by the Melromarc soldiers. The King reasons that Raphtalia has simply been forced to defend her master by the Slave Crest.

Left with no choice, Naofumi reluctantly accepts the duel but declares that they better hand Raphtalia back when he wins. Myne then proceeds to taunt the Shield Hero, reminding Naofumi (and everyone else) that the Shield Hero can't attack, much to sneer of the crowd. With the crowd clearly favoring Motoyasu, and after getting another painful reminder that he can't use any other weapons, Naofumi is escorted to the courtyard where he meets the Spear Hero.

Motoyasu (who is twenty-two levels above Naofumi) proceeds to mock his adversary with the tale about the all-penetrating Spear and the unbreakable Shield and wonders which one is stronger. When Naofumi ignores Motoyasu's offer to surrender gracefully, the later charges. Naofumi soon proves his metal, however. He proceeds to block all the incoming strikes with his Light Metal Shield and declares that Motoyasu lost the moment he couldn't penetrate his shield. When the Spear Hero uses his powerful attack skill, Chaos Spear, it has little effect and when it's cooldown time kicks in (which renders him helpless as he has to wait for the second attack skill) Naofumi takes advantage of the situation and attacks.

Using the Balloon monsters on his person as weapons, and the various Shields he unlocked, Naofumi beats Motoyasu into a corner. Motoyasu calls him out for using the monster but when he retaliates is suddenly attacked by The Dog Demon Shield. Knocking the Spear Hero down with Air Strike Shield, Naofumi sics several more Balloons on his winded opponent and locks them within the confined space of a Shield Prison, so that the monsters can devour Motoyasu.

The King, Melromarcs Nobles and Myne are clearly shocked by The Shield Heroes resilience and ability to hold his own. Although Ren and Itsuki seem genuinely surprised at this unexpected development, several of the nobles call out Naofumi's dirty, underhanded tactics. The atmosphere in the courtyard is suddenly very tense, with everyone realising that if things carry on like this, there is the distinct possibility that Motoyasu is going to lose!

Then, as Naofumi readies another attack, standing on the cusp of victory, he is suddenly blown away by Wind magic fired by Myne and Motoyasu (his cooldown time having ended) unleashes a savage attack, Lightning Spear, beating Naofumi down. Drained and clearly exhausted, Motoyasu scornfully declares that he has won. Naofumi tries to call out on the cheating and asked for the witness from the audience. No one answers to his claims. All he gets is Motoyasu calling him a sore loser, whilst Myne reminding everyone that Naofumi is scum, and not to listen to him.

Declaring the fight in Motoyasu's favor, the King makes his way down. Myne, meanwhile stands alongside the man she betrayed and gleefully taunts him that now he will have to fight alone again. The King graciously congratulates the Spear Hero and declares that his daughter chose wisely, revealing that Myne is actually the Princess Malty Melromarc.

Upon hearing this, everything starts falling into place, and Naofumi realizes that he was set up from the very beginning. The Princess framed him in order to get close (and win favor) with her favorite hero. The King agreed to use his power to back her up on this and every single one of the nobles was in on the conspiracy against him. The duel was rigged from the start as well. All Myne had to do was appeal to Motoyasu's ego claiming that Naofumi had enslaved Raphtalia against her will, was using his powers to abuse the girl and that Motoyasu should save her. This duel was never for Raphtalia's sake, it was meant to deprive Naofumi of his one true ally and make him suffer even more.

A dark mist emanates from the shield, as Naofumi sinks further into depression, reflecting on the unfairness of his situation. He did not come to this world willingly and did not ask to be a hero. Nor did he do anything to warrant this unfair treatment, so why are they all making him suffer? With the orator declaring that Motoyasu has now freed Raphtalia, every noble in the audience begins to demean the Shield Hero (one even demanding that he should be executed).

Hearing all of these insults, Naofumi snaps. A deep, intense, festering rage takes over him, as he drops to all fours, slamming the ground in frustration a thick black mist surrounding him. He watches on helpless as Raphtalia (seeing her in her child form) has her Slave Crest forcefully removed. Naofumi, under the Shield's influence, hallucinates the child Raphtalia abandoning him like everyone else, before walking off with Myne. Crying out in despair, Naofumi imagines himself trying to toss the Shield away but being unable to run away from it, the Shield reattaching itself to his arm. Having reached his lowest point, The Shield Hero declares venomously that he has had enough and desires nothing more than to let this unjust world, and all of the foul people within it, die for all he cares.

As a result of his hallucinations, and negative emotion, something called the Curse Series begins to activate, Naofumi's Shield reacting in response to all of this.

Blinded by his emotions, and the Shields power Naofumi is oblivious to what is going on around him!

With everyone watching on, the newly-freed real Raphtalia rewards her "savior" with a massive slap to the face. As everyone stares on in shock, Raphtalia proceeds to yell at Motoyasu, calling him a cheater, and telling him that she never asked to be freed in the first place. She then lectures the Spear Hero (and everyone else present), saying that he knows nothing about Naofumi or any of the things that he has done for her. Visibly shaken by Raphtalia's lack of gratitude, Motoyasu tries to defend his actions, insisting that Naofumi is a bad person, who is clearly abusing her by forcing her to fight and that the Shield Hero will just use Raphtalia for his own benefit before throwing her away. He also insists that nobody should be forced to fight against their will (ignoring that he, with the backing of the King, forced Naofumi into this confrontation in the first place against his will).

Raphtalia counters each and every one of these flimsy arguments by saying that Naofumi never forced her to do anything she couldn't do, and only activated her Slave Curse when she needed it. He took Raphtalia in and cared for her when she was sick, dying and no one else wanted her. He gave her medicine when she was sick, trained her to fight and plenty of time to rest. Most importantly they work together and protect one another for mutual benefit. She finishes off her argument by asking a clearly rattled Motayasu if he would do such things for a sickly and almost dead slave? When he insists that he would, she counters by saying that if that was true why does not have one in his party?

Before Motoyasu can answer, Malty, unable to stand things any further openly demeans Raphtalia for being a demi-human and raises her hand to strike the tanuki girl. Before she can, however, they are interrupted by Ren and Itsuki, who march onto the scene, much to the noble's confusion. When a clearly vexed Itsuki demands to know why Myne illegally interfered in the duel, Myne feigns ignorance. The Spear Hero is taken aback by this comment, however, prompting The Sword Hero to tell Motoyasu quite bluntly that he lost the duel, and only won because one of his party members illegally interfered using Wind Magic. When the Spear Hero turns towards Myne confused, she argues that can't possibly be the case since no one else in the room saw it or pointed it out. Ren and Itsuki promptly counter this, stating it's clear that the King has ordered everyone to stay quiet about it, prompting Aultcray to look away sheepishly. The Bow and Sword Heroes express their disgust that the royal family and Melromarc nobility would debase a Sacred Duel as they have, which catches the attention of the High Priest.

Silence falls once again, as Raphtalia angrily storms past Myne, Motoyasu, and the King without showing them any gratitude or respect. She calls out to a barely responsive Naofumi, who has not heard any of this, continuing to rage against the world and his Shield. Naofumi initially refuses to listen to the "traitor", ordering her to go away. Cautiously, Raphtalia admits that she has heard the rumors concerning Naofumi and his supposed crime, which angers him. As Raphtalia tries to admit that she doesn't believe he would do such a thing, Naofumi rebuffs her, even pushing her away when she tries to touch him.

Still despairing at the unfairness of his situation, Naofumi reminds her that she is free, and asks if she is only there just to taunt him. Thanks to the effects of the Curse Series, Naofumi can still only see Raphtalia as a child and doesn't realise that she is trying to comfort or express her belief in him. Thinking that this is nothing more than a cruel trick, similar to the one Malty played on him, a despairing Naofumi demands to know what else the citizens of Melromarc are going to take from him?

Having had enough of his situation, Naofumi tries to rip the Shield from his body. Raphtalia, however, places her hand on the Shield and reminds him that the Shield had saved her life and that during the Wave, he did what no one else would - defended many others, despite not being able to fight. When he admits that he is not a nice guy and saw her as nothing more than a useful instrument to start off with, Raphtalia ignores this declaration, declaring he saved her!

When Naofumi tries to argue against this, the tanuki-girl reaches forward and embraces him. Raphtalia then declares it doesn't matter what anyone else says, she knows he is kind and better than anyone else in Melromarc. In a clear declaration of loyalty, Raphtalia tells Naofumi, (and everyone else) that no matter what happens or is said about the Shield Hero - she intends to stand by him, to take his side! She will stand by the man that saved her, and who helped her find meaning and purpose again.

Releasing him from her embrace, Raphtalia appears as a teenager and promises to be Naofumi's sword, who will follow him to the very end. Throughout all of this, the power of the Curse Series wanes, and as Raphtalia says the words that he always wanted to hear, Naofumi becomes emotional, realizing just how much he took his partner and her previous declaration for granted. Finally, the Curse Series gets neutralized and the mist that engulfed him clears off.

Naofumi is confused to see a now fully grown Raphtalia in front of him and asks who she is, as he always saw her as a child. After answering his question, the tanuki demi-human once again promises that even if she might be a burden, she wants to stay with him. Overcome, Naofumi breaks down in tears, and Raphtalia hugs him close in a gesture of comfort.

King Aultcray, Princess Malty, The Melromarc Knights, Priests, Nobles and other Heroes watch all of this unfold in the background. With the Slave Crest has now removed, they know that Raphtalia's open pledge of loyalty to Naofumi was made entirely out of her own free will. Knowing there is nothing they can do about it, and with their "efforts" having been snubbed by the Demi-Human, the King, Malty and all the nobles leave the courtyard in silence, clearly dissatisfied with the results.

Motoyasu, meanwhile, stares on in despair. Downcast at the fact that his actions didn't accomplish anything, and trembling with shame, he weakly tries to defend his "heroic" actions with his own principles. His ego has taken a massive blow, but Motoyasu still insists that a Hero should not own slaves and tries to argue that Raphtalia must have been brainwashed in order to remain so loyal to Naofumi. Disgusted, Ren and Itsuki both call him out on this, stating that anyone who looks at the pair of them can clearly see that is not the case. Still weeping, Naofumi ultimately falls asleep on Raphtalia's lap in the empty courtyard.

The next morning, Naofumi wakes up and realizes that Raphtalia was indeed an adult and asks her about it. Raphtalia explains that Demi-humans share a unique biological quirk with monsters: Demi-human children rapidly age in proportion to their level, and this is one of the main reasons why they're considered the same as monsters and discriminated against in Melromarc. Raphtalia scrounges together the leftovers of the feast in the kitchen for the two of them, with Naofumi, visibly marvelled, realizing that he can taste the food once again. Raphtalia once again reassures Naofumi that they will go through everything together.

Trivia

 * The levels of Naofumi, Motoyasu, and their party members were shown.
 * The causalities of the waves were revealed to be of in the single digit.
 * Naofumi uses Balloon monsters as his weapons in his fight against Motoyasu.
 * Magic exists in this world as Myne used a spell during the duel.
 * Myne's affinity for magic is revealed to be Wind magic.
 * Demi-humans age to their primes as they level, because of which they are seen as monsters by Humans.

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