Cal Mira Archipelago (episode)

Cal Mira Archipelago (カルミラ島) is the twenty-third episode of The Rising of the Shield Hero anime.

Synopsis
On the ship to Cal Mira, Naofumi once again runs into L'Arc, who keeps throwing him off. However, the strange man's friendly nature shines through, and Naofumi quickly takes a liking to him. After having a fun time grinding levels and a lively meal, Naofumi feels happy and fulfilled for the first time in this world.

Plot
En route to Cal Mira Archipelago, L'Arc Berg, and Therese Alexanderite introduce themselves formally to Naofumi, Filo, and Raphtalia - however, the latter couldn't understand their language properly, so Therese picks the translation function from L'Arc's Scythe for better comprehension, making Naofumi recollect that his shield was translating her speech for him.

Naofumi gets annoyed as L'Arc and Therese thinks that he's using the Shield Hero's identity as his "adventurer name" and advised him not to. L'Arc seriously recounts the Shield Hero's bad fame but claims that Naofumi wasn't such a person to the delight of Nafoumi's party. L'Arc anyways refers to him as "shield kiddo" and offers to team up with him. The ship immediate tells Naofumi that the crew wants to talk to the Legendary Heroes, to which Naofumi intends to tell about his Shield's newly-unlocked weapon copy system. In the open air, the other three Heroes are severely seasick, to which Ren again blames Naofumi's "overpowered" Shield. As Naofumi goes to explain about his discovery of their weapon, Filo (who is showing her swimming abilities) throws huge shark-like monsters into the ship, intending to have them grilled for dinner, but their stench gets Ren and Itsuki even worse.

L'Arc and Therese offer materials (including a good-looking crimson gem) for Naofumi to craft a jewel, to which he'll work on only outside his level-grinding journey. L'Arc comments that a storm is coming, much to the sea-sick Heroes' disgust. Finally, they arrive at Cal Mira, and as the seasick Heroes are removed on gurneys, Naofumi questions how Raphtalia could travel without getting sea-sick if she always gets car-sick during wagon travels. The island governor, the Earl of Habenburg, greets them personally and intends to take the Heroes to their inn - that is until their seasickness heals.

Cal Mira Islands became a popular tourist destination due to a legend saying the past Heroes trained there, but since the monster activation brought many adventurers to the island, some rules were set, like avoiding to steal prey from other parties' battles and so. At the central square, a totem-like statue has an epigraph left by any past of the past Heroes, whose magic writing grants a boost for combat power (evidenced by Filo jumping super high after a boost), attesting the legend is true. They reunite with L'Arc and Therese, and Naofumi agrees to team up as long as they don't hold them off in battle. At the nearby plains, as they start grinding level, even low-level monsters who re-spawn endlessly award a good amount of EXP - however, after a while, the monsters stop granting EXP, much to the suspicion of Naofumi's party and the other Heroes (perhaps this is due to the rule of not prying into others' battles). As the Heroes start ranting again, Naofumi's party goes to another island with ruins, where they fight a black-winged bull-like boss monster which grants a lot of EXP.

They notice how Raphtalia's sword and Filo's wyvern talons are heavily worn off, so they need new equipment before the next Catastrophe Wave comes. By feeding parts of the black bull monster to his Shield, Naofumi uses the item crafting system to create a brand-new sword and a clawed glove for Raphtalia and Filo respectively. Night falls, but they continue to grind. Raphtalia notices how Naofumi is tired which he confirms that the Blood Sacrifice curse still weighs a little on him. They are suddenly approached by L'Arc and Therese, who were worried about Nafoumi's party for not returning. They suggest them to finish for the day and have a drink at the nearby inn. During a night party, several funny things occur - Filo singing and dancing to the island's native culture, Motoyasu performing his idiotic antics; Raphtalia and Mald, both drunk with wine, engage in arm-wrestling, with the tanuki girl beating him effortlessly; Naofumi eats a number of Lucor Fruit without side effects as Motoyasu promptly passes out from eating just one. L'Arc explains that the fruit is so strong it must be first diluted in huge barrels of water before consumption. As everyone is happy, Naofumi spends his first quality time since his summoning.

The next day, Naofumi gives Therese the starfire bracelet she asked for the previous day, much to her tears of joy. She pays generously, in several gold coins and felt that she still under-payed Naofumi for his craft. As they go to another island to fetch levels (the EXP learning curve gets much rougher after level 70, according to Naofumi's Shield), they come across a bunch of penguin-like monsters and start to destroy them - L'Arc with his Scythe and Therese with her blue flames, she was impressed with the bracelet's power (they are summoned from her starfire bracelet, changing her hair color from blue to red, and whose unique chant is something new for Raphtalia). They approach the Penguin boss monster and its flock. As Naofumi and Therese sort out the little ones, Raphtalia, Filo, and L'Arc take down the boss. Therese's blue flames not only kill the lesser monsters but also surround Naofumi without damaging him, and even lifting the rest of Blood Sacrifice's curse off him. After the battle, they split the drops, among them having a "weird" object.

In the afternoon, Naofumi offers to have L'Arc and Therese join the party after the level grinding, something he never does according to Raphtalia. But, was rejected. After the other two are gone, Naofumi's party decides to take a day off to rest, since they couldn't get any more leveling. The next morning, as they enjoy the beach, Filo reveals to have found another island underwater whose ocean floor has a big brick building emitting a distinct red glow. Naofumi considers this as a good change of pace to their level grind. As they prepare to dive (in a ridiculous penguin-themed diving suit with Santa hat), Naofumi sees Raphtalia clad in a scantily blue bikini, which fits her perfectly for underwater swimming much to her resentment. The party goes to explore the mysterious underwater red building, to which Naofumi easily unlocks the main door with his Shield. Inside, Raphtalia casts First Light to light the place up, where they find a huge Dragon Hourglass, similar to the one in Melromarc's Cathedral, in the advanced countdown. Naofumi explains that any place containing the Hourglass can be attacked by an incoming Wave. The Shield's analysis displays that the Next Wave will strike in exactly 2 days.

Light Novel & Manga Differences
Information to be added later on.

Trivia

 * This is the first episode to be named after a location, similarly to episodes 5, 9, and 15 being named after their respective title characters.
 * Filo is a natural swimmer, even in the ocean and underwater holding her breath for long.
 * Nafoumi's craftsmen skill is mentioned to be of top-notch.
 * Nafoumi's tolerance to alcohol is revealed.
 * L'Arc and Therese are at levels 56 and 52, indicating that they had undergone a class upgrade.
 * Nafoumi still suffers from the usage of Blood Sacrifice, which was mentioned to take at least a month to heal.

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