Filo (episode)

Filo is the fifth episode of The Rising of the Shield Hero anime.

Synopsis
In another land on diplomatic travel, 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 pay for the service of having Raphtalia's slave seal removed. Ren and Itsuki intervene on his favor again, convincing the king to reward Naofumi. Afterwards, 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.

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 Iwatani 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 explain how Melromarc's summoning of heroes is causing a 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 Kitamura is given 4000 silvers, Itsuki Kawasumi and Ren Amaki 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 Isuki and Ren point out that Naofumi is being treated unfairly again: that the duel was itself a rigged one and dispelling the slave crest is something the King had done on his own after his daughter interfered in Naofumi's duel.

Malty Melromarc however counters their argument by stating that Naofumi broke the one on one rule first when he sneaked Balloons into the fight. However the pair follow up that the single digit casualty count from the last wave was because Naofumi choose 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 leave. Naofumi and Raphtalia return to Beloukas who gives Raphtalia her Slave crest back by her own request, as it symbolizes their trust. By absorbing the ink from the ritual into his shield Naofumi unlocks the Slave series for his shield which gives Raphtalia a extra bonus to her stats per level up.

After turning down Beloukas's 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 a 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 herbalists shop who, as thanks for protecting his relatives during the wave, offers Naofumi a intermediate book on potion crafting. Similarly the Magic Shop Owner offers Naofumi a similar deal for the same reasons, explaining that he has a affinity for healing and support type magic while Raphtalia can do dark and light type magic & suggest her to learn illusion magic.

The Magic shop owner would like to give Naofumi a crystal ball that will instantly teach him magic sealed within, but her livelihood depends on that single crystal ball. She explains 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 can't read their language and is going to have to learn. Raphtalia wants to learn the magic and language together with Naofumi. In the mean time they decide to spend the night in Riyute.

There the Egg hatches revealing a newly born Filolial that rapidly grows in size as the pair hunt monsters around the village until after two days have gone by it has become a adult, something that Naofumi attributes to unlocking the Beast Tamer's shield. The Filolial is also given the name Filo for simplicity sake. As Naofumi is admiring his newest party member Motoyasu's party along with the royal Knights arrives at the village with a declaration from the king naming him the village's new lord.

The first order of business is hefty fifty silver tax to enter and leave the village, which means that the village will be broke by tomorrow. Naofumi objects to the tax, pointing out that a 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 night's worth of money.

As Malty prepares to have her knights silence the villages 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 for the right to control the village in a race. Though Naofumi wants to stay out of it 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 course is a simple three laps around the village with the gate as the start and finish line.

Once the race starts the insane leg strength of his bird 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 successfully make three laps around the village before Motoyasu.

Once the race is over Filo spontaneously transforms from a ostrich like creature into one that resembles a giant owl, though Malty attempts to use this as proof of Naofumi cheating, the Shadows reveal that they have thoroughly checked the course: it is littered with magic that Naofumi and Raphtalia have bad affinities for and Spear hero party was really cheated the race. Naofumi is surprised to know that these people already know of his and Raphtalia's affinity of magic. With this Motoyasu's party is forced to limp away while the village prepares Naofumi's reward.

Naofumi doesn't want money as reward. He has enough bad rumors going around about him without stealing all of Riyute's rebuilding funds. Instead Filo 'Suggests' a lightly damaged wagon that scraped through the wave relatively intact and Naofumi is 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 car sick and they have to camp while she recovers.

The next morning Naofumi discovers his bird gone and a little girl with angel wings in her place calling Naofumi master and asking for food.

Trivia

 * The title of the episode is the name of that character
 * Malty calls all the other heroes with the exception of Naofumi by their first name.
 * Bad blood between Filolia and Dragon is revealed