A New Comrade

A New Comrade (新しい仲間) is the sixth episode of The Rising of the Shield Hero anime.

Synopsis
Having a new party member, Naofumi started his traveling merchant life while aiding others for a reasonable amount. Naofumi also went on a small adventure to get a gem that can be used to make dresses for Filo that won't tear whenever she transforms. Meanwhile, rumors of other Heroes doing heroic jobs spread across the country, such as Motoyasu Kitamura saving a famine-stricken village with a miracle plant seed, Ren Amaki slaughtering dragons, Itsuki Kawasumi joining a rebellious sect against a tyrant lord, etc.

In Naofumi's case, even the common bandits know of his bad reputation and see him less. Will Naofumi have his own heroic tale?

Plot
Erhard is about to dig into his supper when Naofumi, Raphtalia and a young blonde girl wearing a cloak walk into the shop. When the girl mentions that she's hungry, Erhard offers her a bite of his sandwich, at which point the girl turns into Naofumi's Filolial, Filo, and devours the whole sandwich in a single beak bite.

The pair explain that they took Filo back to Beloukas, who explained that Filolial flocks typically have a King or Queen leading them, and said Royals disguise themselves as regular Filolials by using a shapeshifting power, after that is the Slave Trader greedily devoured all of Naofumi's money after fitting Filo with a high-grade Slave Crest.

Erhard explains that making transforming clothes for the girl is out of his league; instead, he offers a dress one of his other customers left for him and directs them to the local Tailor. The tailor states she needs magic threads to make shape-changing clothing and directs them to the Magic Shop Owner.

The Magic shop Owner explains that to make magic thread she needs a new magic crystal for her spinning wheel, which may take time to procure. As compensation, she gives Filo a free magic consultation and determines she has an affinity with Wind magic. Having run out of options, the group instead focuses on recouping their losses, having made some merchandise and are using Filo to pull their carriage from town to town.

While on the road, the group encounters a man who is desperately running along the road. He explains that he is trying to get home to his sick mother to give her medicine. After getting the man to promise payment, Naofumi takes him on Filo and they separate from the carriage before running to the mother's house at full speed. There, Naofumi uses the medicine and skill that enhances the medicine to cure the old woman of her ailment before collecting his payment in food and riding Filo back to Raphtalia and the carriage.

The group spends several days making money by selling goods, medicines, and giving people rides, gaining quite a bit of fame in the process. According to Hickwaal, an accessory merchant, Naofumi has gained quite the reputation as a "saintly healer" traveling from village to village as a merchant riding a carriage pulled by "The God of Domestic Birds." While discussing that, Raphtalia informs Naofumi that she had spotted a group of thugs on the road ahead.

Their leader explains that they want the merchant and intend to take all of their possessions, though seeing Raphtalia, they intend to have some "fun" with her first. Naofumi, Raphtalia, and Filo have to intentions of rolling over quietly, but the thugs claim they have a class-upgraded bodyguard with them. Naofumi realizes that he does not know what the class upgrade is and laments for not being able to use magic.

Raphtalia uses her magic to turn invisible to attack while Filo kicks up a tornado, stomping the bandits into submission in the process. Now that the thugs have been defeated, they reveal that another merchant sold Hickwall out. The bandits recognize Naofumi to be the Shield Hero and smile, as the guards will side with them than with the defamed notorious Shield Hero.

Naofumi's response to this is to simply feed them to Filo. However, after begging for their lives, Naofumi quotes their leader's earlier line: "We'll spare your lives at least". Thus the bandits lead the group back to their base where they line up for the "pleasure" of handing over all of their belongings and everything they have stolen over to Naofumi.

With the matter of the bandits sorted, Naofumi also squeezes extra payment from the merchant for causing them all of this trouble. The Merchant, having taken a shine to Naofumi's business spirit, offers him his connections and training as a craftsman. Thus, Naofumi learns how to refine precious metals, craft and enchant gems, and even learns a little magic in the process.

Naofumi is also introduced to the Merchant's contacts, who share rumors about the Heroes. Motoyasu has apparently planted the seed from a legendary crop, thus ending famine in a certain village in the southwest; Ren has been hunting monsters in the southeast direction and had even slain a Dragon; unfortunately, there's no credible rumor about Itsuki. Finally, he gives Naofumi a letter of recommendation that will allow him to mine for ores and gemstones.

Using the letter, Naofumi learns where the magic gem, necessary for Filo's clothes, is located and with the Magic Shop Owner travels there to get it. The location in question is a cave next to an abandoned temple that was the home of a dangerous alchemist, where the group finds an open empty treasure chest with a warning next to it, telling in an ancient language to not open it or take the seeds that were inside. This gives Naofumi a very bad premonition.

While inside the cave, the group hears each other's voices, Raphtalia voicing her dissatisfaction at being Naofumi's slave, and Filo voices a desire to kill and devour him. The Magic Shop Owner, however, warns that the monsters in the cave are mimicking their voices and reading their minds to learn the last thing they want to hear and from whom they want to hear it, in order to turn them against each other.

The Magic Shop Owner dispels the Voice Gengar's illusions and Filo smites them with Wind magic. Continuing down the path, the group spots a small Nue, one about the size of a lion, and Raphtalia and Filo attack it. Realizing that the Nue is relying on sound to track the invisible Raphtalia, Naofumi brings out his newest Shield, the Voice Gengar Shield (he had previously fed his Shield one of the Gengars), and has Filo yell into it like a megaphone while having the others plug their ears.

The resulting sound attack deafens the Nue (causing its tympanums to bleed and burst), which is further attacked with a fire blast from the shop owner, Raphtalia thrusting through with her sword, and Filo kicking its head (the kick was powerful enough to crush its skull), finishing the creature. The group collects the crystals and go back to the Magic Shop, where they produce the thread from Filo's own mana, to compose her clothes. Naofumi summarizes the cost of the clothes and high-grade monster seal as 340 silvers, plus the 100 silvers from buying Filo in the first place, equaling 440 silvers, and tells Filo to work hard to pay it off.

Trivia

 * Filo is revealed to be the Filolial Queen mentioned in the myths with her transforming ability.
 * Filo's magic affinity is mentioned to be Wind.
 * The term class-upgrade was mentioned, the complete understanding of which comes in later episodes.
 * Naofumi's bad reputation was reaffirmed by the bandits, who claim that their words will be taken than Naofumi's.
 * The rumors of other Heroes adventure were revealed and also the foreshadowing of their actions.

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