Raphtalia

"Please believe me. I believe, I know you never committed any crime. You gave me medicine, saved my life and taught me what I needed to survive. You are the great Shield Hero, and I am your sword. No matter how rough the path, I will follow you"

- Raphtalia to Naofumi Iwatani, Volume 01, Chapter 23

Raphtalia (ラフタリア) (also ambiguously translated as Raftalia) is a Tanuki-type demi-human who was the first real member of the Shield Hero's party after he purchased her as a slave. She is now the Katana Hero (刀の勇者)

Personality
Initially, Raphtalia is very shy, sickly, and fearful as a result of her status as a slave as well as traumatic memories of the destruction of her village. After the encounter with the two-headed dog monster, she overcomes the trauma from her parents' death at the hands of the Cerberus and acknowledges Naofumi as a hero in her own mind. The current Raphtalia is focused on efficiency, in both combat, training, and money expenditures, she is extremely devoted to Naofumi and harbours feelings for him which he remains oblivious to, preferring to see her as his 'daughter' he raises in lieu of her deceased parents.

Appearance
She has undergone some significant changes throughout the story. When Raphtalia is first introduced, she is a child that has long, unmanaged hair and a dirty cloth gown. After being purchased by Naofumi, he gave her a haircut to an acceptable length, gave her a bath, and bought her a much more suitable set of clothes to adventure in. As a Tanuki demi-human, Raphtalia is shown to have fluffy dog-like ears and an averagely sized bushy tail. After several weeks of traveling with Naofumi, Raphtalia's body inexplicably changes and she gained the appearance of a teenager or young adult. It is revealed that demi-humans grow in relation to the progression of their levels, which led to Raphtalia's rapid development (though it is believed that she still has the mental maturity of a child, as seen when she stares enviously at children playing with a ball). In her adult form, Raphtalia began to wear clothing much more fitting for a warrior which consisted of a hide breastplate, skirt, lace-up boots and a pair of gloves. Raphtalia also switched from a small knife to a full sized sword during this time.

Abilities
She generally uses a sword and illusion (Light and Dark) magic but began to be able to use a wider variety of magic types after her Class Up. She was able to study magic under the tutelage of the Melromarc's Court Magician and later went with Granny to study and become a master of Hengen Musou.

Blade Skills:

 * Illusion Sword: Used with Raphtalia's magic sword. It creates the illusion of the blade of a sword used to attack the enemy. This blade does not damage its target physically but causes mental damage associated with the supposed strike of the sword.
 * Ying Yang Blade: A technique where she fires the energy released by a defeated enemy and converts it into an attack.

Vassal Katana Skills:

 * Powder Snow: Drains the enemy's magic power by releasing it in the form of snow from the wounds made by this skill.
 * Misty Moon: Generates a ghostly moon-like disc by lowering the katana and then slicing upwards.
 * Instant Blade: Mist: Similar to Kizuna's Blood Flower Strike, it connects the enemy's weak points and slices through them.
 * Brave Blade: Mist: Traces and shoots out an energy cross by using two blades.
 * Double Sword: Creates a second sword.
 * Spirit Blade: Soul Slice: A skill similar to soul eat that depletes enemy SP. It's also effective against non-corporeal enemies, such as ghosts.

Vassal Katana Accessories:
The Vassal, seven star and legendary weapons can be strengthened by equipping accessories on them.
 * Gemstone Sheath: The gemstone in the sheath starts to charge up once the katana is sheathed. It activates High Quick when the gemstone is charged up and the blade is drawn. The increased agility can be also used to shorten spell chants.

Magic:

 * First Light: Produces a bright illumination that reveals hidden monsters. Can also be used to blind enemies momentarily to escape.
 * Illusion: Magic that creates an illusion of Raphtalia to confuse her opponents.

Hengen Musou:
Later on in her adventures, Raphtalia learned the Hengen Musou style of fighting, and ever since then, she has become considerably more powerful.

Background
Until the age of 10, Raphtalia lived in a small coastal village outside of Melromarc, where everyone lived in harmony until the first wave of calamity attacked. During the attack, Raphtalia and her parents fled their home but considering they could only dive into the sea to escape the monsters Raphtalia's parents made the ultimate sacrifice. Her parents pushed her off a nearby cliff as the wave approached them, and she watched as her parents were engulfed by it. Raphtalia survived the fall and went back to find her parents, but was unsuccessful. Shortly thereafter a group of slave traders came to her village and captured her. After that, she was sold to several different people before ending up in a slave dealers tent in Melromarc. Alone and sickly she was picked up by a slave merchant and put up for sale in the capital of Melromarc. Raphtalia was at the slave traders for a few months until she was purchased by Naofumi Iwatani where her life would be changed forever.

Volume 1
Raphtalia was first introduced in the slave trader tent, she was sold into slavery and later brought by Naofumi. Raphtalia was afraid of her new master but slowly opened up after seeing how well Naofumi treated compared to her previous masters. Unlike her previous masters, Raphtalia was able to express her happiness around Naofumi.

Raphtalia was able to overcome many of fears while traveling with Naofumi. Raphtalia learned how to knife and how to kill monsters while overcoming her fear of blood and eventually overcoming her trauma of the Cerberus that killed her parents after killing the two-headed dog.

Because of her demi-human features, Raphtalia body grew rapidly to keep up with her level growth having the appearance of a demi-human in their early 20's even though she is mentally around the age of 10.

After the events of the Clock Tower incident, she was troubled with the relationship with Naofumi and the other Heroes. She asked Naofumi but never received an answer and decided the subject.

Volume 13
It was revealed by Sadeena, that Raphatalia was an equivalent of the royals at her parents native land, before they sneaked into Melromarc. She is from a subspecies of Tanuki like and not an exact raccoon type, with a unique lineage that comes from a certain hidden village within a secluded country in the east,

Relationships
Legendary Heroes 

Initially, she was scared of Naofumi, because of his demeanor and her experience with previous slave owners. After learning who he was and that he was fighting the wave, she decided to give her all for him. Their relationship has become quite close, and Naofumi is constantly thinking of what would make Raphtalia happy. Though Naofumi considers himself a father figure to Raphtalia, she has developed romantic feelings for him and is constantly trying to get him to notice those feelings. She is consistently let down by his personality, though she understands the reason that he acts the way he does and rarely steps in to stop him.
 * Naofumi Iwatani:

Raphtalia is the most important person to Naofumi and is considered his right hand, and is among the few people in Melromarc whom he trusts.

It was because of Raphtalia that Naofumi seriously considered what his reasons were for fighting the waves. She stood by him, even after the rigged duel to free her. After the party exchange, Raphtalia considered Naofumi to be the only hero who deserves the title, but Naofumi reminded her that the other heroes are humans and that humans making mistakes is inevitable. He also asked her about his flaws to remind her that heroes are human, which she begins to list, much to his dismay.

Motoyasu thought Naofumi was forcing Raphtalia to be his slave and took it upon himself to free her. He challenged and defeated Naofumi in a rigged duel and forcefully removed her slave crest. He expected her to be grateful and give him a warm hug, but instead, his actions only upset her and she slapped him across the face for coming to his own conclusions and left with Naofumi. Though she doesn't hate Motoyasu quite as much as Filo does, she doesn't really care for him either.
 * Motoyasu Kitamura:

Despite his stupidity, even Motoyasu was able to sees Raphtalia's feelings for Naofumi were genuine and asked him about their progress, only to be angered when Naofumi reveals his denseness.

At their first meeting, Ren asked her not to hold him back, implying her to be inferior to him. But, most of the personals agreed that she was stronger than Ren many times. Éclair the sword master respected Raphtalia's prowess rather than his, causing him to become envious of her.
 * Ren Amaki:

He was under the same impression as Motoyasu, that Raphtalia was being forced to work under Naofumi, which reinforced his bad opinion of Naofumi because he was from a time and place where slavery wasn't tolerated and considered slavery evil. However, after Naofumi's name was cleared, he asked Raphtalia about her relationship with Naofumi and her thought of wanting not to fight and be free, but her negative reply betrayed Itsuki's feeling & thoughts which was seen in his face. Vassal Wielders  Companion When Filo first hatched and grew as a normal Filolial, Raphtalia initially only saw her as comrade to help her and Naofumi in their travels but was also somewhat jealous on how Naofumi became attached to her. This was first hinted when Naofumi starts showing emotions and expressions that she never seen until Filo joined. When Filo takes on a human appearance, she began seeing Filo as a love rival for Naofumi's affection. As a result, Raphtalia gets jealous whenever Naofumi gives Filo special attention. They later develop a sisterly relationship where they both friendly compete for Nafoumi's affection as they both share the common problem of him not seeing them as love interests. This bond is also shown on how well they work together in battle and display great concern for each other.
 * Itsuki Kawasumi:
 * Kizuna Kazayama
 * Glass
 * L'Arc Berg
 * Filo:

The two are childhood friends who lived in the same village before the Wave destroyed it. They also became slaves under an abusive master because of how they were Demi humans. They would go separate ways with Keel believing that Raphtalia died. When they reunite, Keel expressed great joy and worry for Raphtalia, initially believing Naofumi was treating her badly. After Keel was rescued, she claimed how she too will become stronger so that she can protect Raphtalia too. When Keel becomes Naofumi's companion under a slave contract, she tries her best to be useful to her comrades, including Raphtalia. They quickly get along, after learning that they both are in similar situations in regards to their love lives. They promise to help each other reach their goals. Both of them become pupils when learning Hengen Musou technique.
 * Melty Melromarc
 * Keel
 * Rishia:
 * Raph-chan
 * Sadeena: Raphtalia sees Sadeena as a reliable person. When she was growing up, Sadeena acted as her family's guardian
 * Fohl
 * Atla
 * Wyndia
 * Imiya
 * Erhard:

Raphtalia considers Erhard to be a very kind man and a bit of a mentor, as he was the first person to instruct her on the basics of proper sword usage. He was worried about her condition at first but amazed at her being in good condition with Naofumi.

Raphtalia was under the governorship of Eclair's father. They view each other in good light. Eclair taught her in depth about swordsmanship. It was her actions that led Raphtalia to Naofumi, though not directly.
 * Eclair Seaetto:
 * Mirelia Q Melromarc:

Raphtalia