Light Novel Volume 15/Synopsis

Prologue: A Problem with Bandits
Naofumi and his party arrived back at his village after the events in Q'ten Lo. Eclair and Queen Melromarc want to discuss about a new bandit problem with Naofumi. To deal with the problem of bandits in the area, Naofumi goes to a rehabilitation farm for criminals. He convinces a bandit, whom he has a lot of experience with, to create the Chivalrous Bandit Guild. This thief's guild is to attack villainous merchants and then give half to profits to the poor people and villages. They will as a byproduct stop other criminals in the area.

Back at the village, Naofumi noticed in the ledgers that Keel has been extremely profitable. He decides to reward her by cooking crepes which she absolutely loves. Raphtalia's cousin, the previous Heavenly Emperor of Q'ten Lo, gives Naofumi her real name as Ruftmilia. Finally, Naofumi is told to meet Rat and Gaelion at Rat's lab.

Chapter One: Birth of the Raph Species
Entering Rat's lab, Naofumi is updated on her research from Q'ten Lo. In order to learn how to break the level 100 limit, Gaelion will need to defeat more dragon emperors. Gaelion also unlocks all the dragon shields that had been locked by Fitoria. Finally, they mention how all the monsters in Nsofumi's village are ready for their class-up ceremony so Naofumi takes them all to Melromarc's dragon hourglass for the ritual.

During the ritual, Raph-chan surprisingly interfered. With her help, all of the monsters turned into Raph-chan-like creatures against Raphtalia's wishes. With that, the Raph species was born.

Chapter Two: Territory Reform
With the growing amount of monsters in his village, Naofumi decides that he needs to build more stables. He takes this time as an opportunity to try out the Territory Reform skill from the shield he got in Siltvelt. With this skill, Naofumi was able to modify his village layout however he wished. He used this skill to create a stable out of BioPlant material and created a new strain of Sakura Lumina tree that can grow outside of Q'ten Lo. The new trees emitted a barrier that protected the whole village.

That night, Raph-chan unlocked multiple shields related to the Raph species including one that can adjust Raphtalia and the Raph's abilities. Naofumi plans to teach the Raphs magic so they can be more useful. He also encourages Ruftmilia to level up and learn how to lead with Melty. Melty, who had recently arrived, informs Naofumi that he still has to fulfill Fitoria's task which he had put off until now. Apparently, there are some rogue filolials that are causing trouble. They decide to deal with the problem the next day.

Just before Naofumi heads to bed, Fohl comes to talk to him. He asks Naofumi to not allow Atla to fight in the waves. Naofumi agrees to the promise as long as Fohl can keep Atla under control.

Chapter Three: Spirit Tortoise Shell
The next morning, Naofumi teleports to Q'ten Lo to check up on the Old Man. They were able to create weapons out of the Spirit Tortoise material and the old man was also able to upgrade Naofumi's barbarian armor. Naofumi picked up the remaining Spirit Tortoise weapons and returned to the village.

Chapter Four: Fitoria’s Request
Finally, Naofumi and his party head to the mountains to fulfill Fitoria's request. Riding along the path, they finally encounter Motoyasu in a pimped-out carriage pulled by filolials. Motoyasu welcomes Naofumi and introduces himself as "The Street Racer."

Chapter Five: The Street Racer
Upon realizing the Motoyasu was the threat that Fitoria and Melty had asked him to deal with, Naofumi got indignant that they tricked him into dealing with Motoyasu. The spear hero was mentally broken, joyfully calling Naofumi "father-in-law", worshipping Filo and seeing all other females as literal pigs. Realizing that there's no good way to avoid the problem, Naofumi agrees to listen to Motoyasu. Motoyasu challenges Naofumi to a race - with Filo as the reward - and immediately starts the race. Filo desperately races after him, but with his large head-start and hidden shortcuts on the track, it didn't look good.

Naofumi takes the time to meditate on the different magics he has learned. Putting the pieces together, he was finally able to cast Liberation-class magic by himself and significantly buffs Filo. Together, they beat Motoyasu.

Chapter Six: The Love Hunter
Even though he won, Naofumi declined to take one of Motoyasu's filolials. Motoyasu, still dealing with the fact that he had lost, he tries to brainwash Filo his Temptation ability but she is able to resist it. He asks again for Naofumi's approval in his and Filo's engagement but both Naofumi and Filo immediately reject him. Suddenly, Motoyasu is enraged and jealous of Filo's dedication to Naofumi and her companions and switches to his Lust Envy spear. He decides to try to take Filo for himself. Atla and Motoyasu's filolials, under the effects of Motoyasu's Ressentiment ability, also attack Naofumi and his remaining party.

To end Motoyasu's rampage, Naofumi gets Filo to say she likes guys that had good characters. She also added that he should leave her alone until the world is at peace. Listening to Filo's words, Motoyasu calms down and swears to be the good man that Filo had asked for. Both Heroes' parties then head their own way to Naofumi's village.

Chapter Seven: Filolial Terror
Naofumi and his party arrived to the village. As a reward for dealing with Motoyasu, Fitoria had taught Filo some filolial-exclusive magic. Motoyasu had apparently just arrived at the village so Naofumi checks up on him at the new stable. They find him with a large swarm of filolials that he had raised. The filolials then stampeded and ran over Naofumi and Ruftmilia. Naofumi and Ruftmilia later wake up, frightened by the new filolials.

Chapter Eight: The Third Hero Conference
During the next few days, the Heroes work on lifting their curses by bathing in the Car Mira hot springs. Naofumi's curse, which reduces every stat but defense by a third, had been completely lifted. The Heroes then decide to have another conference to bring together information concerning the Phoenix. At the conference, they discuss their different powers-up methods, their weapons, and magic. Naofumi also teaches them his newly-acquired Liberation magic. During their discussion, Ituski proposes that Naofumi has a couple of ESPer abilities from Itsuki's own homeworld. Itsuki reveals that he has an ESPer ability which greatly increases his accuracy.

To Naofumi's surprise, Motoyasu reveals that he has also been protecting the village from people like the world-destroyers, Q'ten Lo assassins, and remnants from the Church of the Three Heroes. After quickly questioning Motoyasu's mental state, Motoyasu offers to travel west to the Phoenix summoning zone to create a teleport location. Naofumi is designated as the leader for the Phoenix battle due to his experience. Finally, Naofumi mentions how Atla will not be fighting the Phoenix due to his promise to Fohl. Atla overheard this and walked away shocked.

Chapter Nine: Siblings’ Squabble
Two days later, Fohl returned from training with the Old Lady in Hengen Muso. Atla instantly challenges Fohl about his promise about not letting Atla participate in the battle against the Phoenix. Eventually, the argument evolved into physical fighting. The two fought impressively and Fohl complimented Atla on how much she had grown. Eventually, the brutal fight ends in a draw with both of them passing out standing up. After being healed, Fohl thanks Naofumi for making Atla strong.

Later on, Atla happily announced that Fohl is allowing her to fight the Phoenix. Naofumi then selects all of the powerful fighters from his village to also fight in the battle against the Phoenix.

Chapter Ten: Home of the Phoenix
Naofumi's party and Queen Melromarc's army arrived at where they were supposed to fight the Phoenix. Apparently, most of the people including the king have already fled this country after hearing of the Phoenix. This poor country did not have a good harvest and was running out of food so Naofumi told the Queen's Shadow to spread some of his BioPlant seed for crops. The queen had tried to contact the vassal heroes but so far there has been no response. Naofumi then heads to look at the collected research on the Phoenix.

Chapter Eleven: The Lost Hero’s Diary
When the Phoenix was previously revived, the Vassal Gauntlet Hero was able to seal it back away. This hero had left behind a journal. However, the pages focusing on the fight against the Phoenix had been burned out. They found a copy of the pages but it was illegible. Frustrated, Naofumi goes to the temple to see if it would be more helpful.

Chapter Twelve: The Final Seven Star Weapon
Upon reaching the temple, Naofumi found a long line of people reaching past the door. These people were trying their hand at lifting the Vassal Gauntlet left behind by the previous hero. So far, no one has been worthy to lift the gauntlets. Walking further into the temple with the queen and other heroes, they find murals of the previous revival. Through these murals, they were able to get the basic attack pattern of the twin Phoenix birds. They also learned that the birds have a self-destruction attack that would regenerate both birds. From these murals, they decide formations for the battle.

Later that night, Naofumi brings his non-hero party member and slaves to the temple to try to lift the gauntlets. No one, including Atla or Fohl, could lift them. According to the queen, there is some interference that is blocking them from summoning a hero to use the gauntlets.

Chapter Thirteen: The Night Before the Phoenix Battle
Naofumi then meets with the Queen to report recent events. During the report, Naofumi praising Melty for her good work running his territory and mentions that she will be a good queen. There will many many people at the battle of the Phoenix: filolials, dragons, demi-humans from Q'ten Lo, the Melromarc army, and more. They have the organization structure figured out and they are as ready as they can be.

The night before the Phoenix battle, Naofumi returns to his village. When there, Fohl protests Atla's position in the front lines. However, there is no convincing her to move backward. As she has said before, Atla wants to repay Naofumi for his kindness and be his shield whenever he is in danger. She reiterates to Fohl that she is no longer the sickly slave she was before.

Chapter Fourteen: Fighting the Phoenix
The next day, Naofumi and the Heroes check on the Phoenix's seal. To Ren and Itsuki's horror, a nearby statue of the Phoenix had been destroyed. According to their experience in the games they played, this meant that the Phoenix battle will be a much more difficult "hard mode." They launched an investigation and found that the statue had been destroyed recently.

Minutes before the seal is fully broken, the battle participants get into formation. With the army fully prepared, the twin Phoenix birds were summoned. Naofumi used his Hengen Muso to gather all of the Phoenix's attacks to himself while everyone else attacked. They planned to weaken both birds to the point where both could be one-shotted at the same time to prevent the self-destruction and revitalization attack. However, before both could be weakened, an attack from the horizon killed the weakest bird.

Chapter Fifteen: A Forbidden Flicker
With one of the birds dead, the other started to prepare for its self-destruction attack. Desperately, everyone tried to kill it before the attack could be unleashed but it was of no use. The bird started releasing its sun-like explosion. Naofumi tried to use his Hengen Muso to gather the explosion to himself to protect the defense forces. However, the explosion was too powerful. As the power was about to kill Naofumi, Atla stepped forward and redirected the entire explosion right into herself and released it away from the army.

Naofumi caught the charred remains of Atla. Despite all of the healing magic and medicine at his disposal, he could not save her. Atla explains that she has no regrets and thanks Naofumi for saving her. Atla makes Naofumi promise to be more open to women who "like" him and then dies.

Epilogue: The Girl Who Became a Shield
Naofumi, Raphtalia, and Fohl grieve for a moment. Suddenly, the Vassal Gauntlets flew into Fohl's hands. Not even reacting to his new weapons, Fohl threatens Naofumi that he better keep his promise to Atla. As he walked off, Atla's body disappeared and was absorbed into Naofumi's shield which unlocked a powerful new series of shields.

Unleashing their rage, Naofumi, Fohl, and the rest of the defense army then defeat the twin Phoenix birds. After the victory, Naofumi promises to hunt down whoever killed the first Phoenix bird which had resulted in Atla's death. Raphtalia comforts him and Naofumi realizes that, for the first time in a long while, he was crying.