Raphtalia/Relationships

Naofumi Iwatani
Initially, she was scared of Naofumi because of his sour demeanor and her horrible experiences with previous slave owners. She becomes surprised at how kindly Naofumi treats her, such as properly feeding her, giving her medicine, comforting her whenever she suffers traumatic experiences from her past, and fairly attending to her overall needs. After learning who he was and that he was fighting the Waves, she decides to give her all for him. Their relationship slowly improves that after a couple of weeks. When she quickly grows up physically through level grinding, she becomes more forward with him.

Her devotion towards him becomes so strong that she considers herself Naofumi's sword and will react negatively towards anyone who insults him. This loyalty is shown again where she returns to Naofumi's side after she angrily rebukes Motoyasu, Malty, and the King for freeing her slave status from Naofumi. This causes Naofumi to truly open up to Raphtalia, who becomes one of his greatest pillars of support.

Naofumi is constantly thinking of what would make Raphtalia happy. For most of their relationship, Naofumi considers himself a fatherly figure to Raphtalia while she has developed romantic feelings for him. He was unable to reciprocate her feelings due to his trauma from when he was originally summoned and the curse inflicted upon him from using the curse series weapon. She is consistently let down by his ability to reciprocate, though she understands the reason that he acts the way he does and rarely steps in to stop him.

This status quo remained the same for a long time, during which Raphtalia was able to help Naofumi overcome his trauma. However, the biggest change occurred when Naofumi unlocked the blessed series weapon which eliminated the curse which suppressed his emotions and empathy. This sudden release of emotions was a lot for Naofumi to deal with, but he eventually started to see Raphtalia as more than just a companion.

Along the way, Raphtalia's close friends like Sadeena encouraged her to pursue a relationship with Naofumi. Several onlookers teased the two about how slow the relationship was developing and waited with anticipation for when the two would formally become a couple. Eventually, Naofumi started showing signs of affection. He started by stroking Raphtalia's head. She then later gave him permission to stroke her tail in private which seems akin to hand-holding for demi-humans. Later on, the two have a heart-to-heart conversation which briefly touches on the subject of marriage. While they don't directly talk about getting married, Naofumi gives her an exclusive bracelet which contains objects relating to their time together which Raphtalia emotionally accepts.

Raphtalia is the most important person to Naofumi, is considered his right hand, and is among the few people in Melromarc whom he completely trusts. It was because of Raphtalia that Naofumi has seriously considered what his reasons are for fighting the Waves. She distresses over the idea that Naofumi will return to his world and leave her.

Motoyasu Kitamura
Motoyasu originally 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 Sacred 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.

Despite his stupidity, even Motoyasu is able to see Raphtalia's romantic feelings for Naofumi are genuine and asks him about their progress, only to be angered when Naofumi reveals his own denseness. Naofumi feels that Motoyasu's reason for freeing Raphtalia might be because of her being a cute girl and his desire to form a harem which, at that point, didn't have any demi-human's in it.

Ren Amaki
During their first meeting, Ren asks her not to hold him back, thinking that she was inferior to him. However, most of the people agreed that she was stronger than Ren many times. Eclair the swordmaster respects Raphtalia's prowess rather than his, causing him to become envious of her.

Itsuki Kawasumi
Itsuki was originally 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 thus branded as evil. However, after Naofumi's name is cleared, he asks Raphtalia about her relationship with Naofumi and her thought of wanting not to fight and be free, but her negative reply betrays Itsuki's feelings and thoughts, which were seen in his face.

Rishia Ivyred
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 the Hengen Musou martial art.

Sadeena
She sees Sadeena as a reliable person. When she was growing up, Sadeena acted as her family's guardian and sisterly figure. Raphtalia greatly respects and admires how extremely powerful Sadeena is that she had no doubt that both her village and her friends would've been saved from the Waves and the slave traders if Sadeena wasn't away from the village at the time. Sadeena has expressed guilt that she was unable to protect Raphtalia when she needed her the most.

When they reunite in the colosseum in Zeltoble, Raphtalia was unable to recognize Sadeena as she never saw Sadeena in her human form. It wasn't until they fought each other and Sadeena reveals her Orca form that the two recognize each other. After learning that they share the same goal in rescuing the slaves from their village, they work together (along with Naofumi and his companions) to get them back. While Raphtalia was initially happy to reunite with Sadeena, she also becomes immediately hostile when Sadeena becomes affectionally attached to Naofumi.

When Raphtalia's noble heritage is revealed, Sadeena is revealed to have been Raphtalia's father's retainer in their homeland.

Filo
Filo is Raphtalia's second traveling/fighting companion after Naofumi. When Filo first hatched and grew as a normal Filolial, Raphtalia initially only saw her as a comrade to help her and Naofumi in their travels but was also somewhat jealous of how Naofumi became attached to her. This was first hinted when Naofumi starts showing emotions and expressions that she never saw until Filo joined.

When Filo takes on a human appearance, she begins seeing Filo as a love rival for Naofumi's affection. As a result, Raphtalia gets jealous whenever Naofumi gives Filo special attention. This results in them competing for Naofumi's attention.

They later develop a sisterly relationship where they both friendly compete for Naofumi'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. When Raphtalia thought that Filo was killed by a Dragon Zombie they were fighting, she was greatly disheartened and is relieved that Filo survived. Raphtalia also has shown concern whenever Filo picks up any of Naofumi's bad habits.

Melty Q Melromarc
The two got along when they first met. Although Naofumi starts displaying his hostility towards the princess after learning of her identity, Raphtalia was more lenient towards Melty as she claimed they did travel together a bit. However, this didn't stop Raphtalia from somewhat complying with Naofumi's actions and decisions to not be involved with her.

The two became close comrades when Melty joins her, Naofumi, and Filo in their quest against the Church of the Three Heroes, who were conspiring with Malty against Naofumi with more false charges. When Melty starts showing more intimate attachment towards Naofumi (like asking to be called by her first name), Raphtalia becomes uncomfortable on how close the two were getting. Regardless, their time together has made Raphtalia and Melty share a strong mutual trust.

Keel
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 they were demi-humans. They eventually went separate ways, with Keel believing that Raphtalia died. When they reunite, Keel expresses great joy and worry for Raphtalia, initially believing that Naofumi was treating her badly. After Keel was rescued, she claims that 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.

Atla
When Raphtalia recognized Atla's affections towards Naofumi, the two became rivals in both love and combat where they would spar with each other. Like how Raphtalia is considered Naofumi's sword, Atla desired to be Naofumi's shield. For Naofumi's sake, they were both willing to work together.

Eclair Seaetto
Raphtalia was under the governorship of Eclair's father. They view each other in a good light. Eclair teaches her in-depth about swordsmanship.

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 is amazed at her being in good shape with Naofumi.

Mirellia Q Melromarc
It was her actions that led Raphtalia to Naofumi, though not directly. Mirellia wanted the slave trader to sell Naofumi a slave and asked her Shadows to arrange for it. However, she didn't specify whom to arrange and was surprised when a demi-human of Seaetto territory became the Shield Hero's first party member. Raphtalia was grateful for Mirellia's action later.

Malty S Melromarc
Due to the malcontent shown on end towards Demi's by the nobility coupled with the harsh, unsubstantial accusations by the despicable first princess of Melromarc towards the Shield Hero. Raphtalia understandably holds Malty in the bitterest contempt. Particularly for the arranged duel between her master and the Spear Hero which she manipulated her father; the King, into orchestrating to deprive Naofumi of his only real means of protection.

She also found the vile royal annoying for constantly being a thorn in her master's side simply for the sake of being her abrasive, bratty self. Even finding contention with Bitch's sickening pleas for mercy when after all her crimes were exposed and she was stripped of her royal status. Rolling her eyes in disbelief at the rather revolting display of shallow praise she coaxed Naofumi to avoid a more serious punishment for her crimes.

Idol Rabier
A rather pugnacious noble whom fought alongside King Aultcrey against Demi-Humans during past wars, Idol was a cruel and malignant slave owner whom often harried Raphtalia as a child slave of his. Rabier's harsh treatment of the Demis in service to the repulsive lord ended up killing her best friend Rifana, finding out this awful truth some time after being taken in by Naofumi nearly drove Raphtalia over the edge with anger and despair. In spite of all his monstrous actions, the Shield Hero's sword could not bring herself to end the reviled noble's life. Even after he began lashing her with his switch whilst insulting her repeatedly when she caught back up to him.

Raphtalia/Relacje