After the sun had set and the night had grown late, Raphtalia's stomach growled again, so I left our luggage at the inn and went to a nearby eatery to grab dinner.
What we had earlier was basically a pre-meal snack.
Raphtalia seemed unsure about what to order since the place was unfamiliar to her.
Well, my wallet was reasonably flush, and we'd be camping outdoors for a while, so I figured I'd treat her to a bigger meal.
"I'll have two Delia sets and a Napolata, please."
I placed the order with the server, and the food was brought out.
"Alright, let's eat."
"Okay."
Raphtalia immediately started eating with her hands, stuffing her cheeks full as usual.
Being around ten years old, she was at that age where kids were always hungry. She kept eyeing my portion longingly, so I placed an extra order.
"We'll be sleeping outdoors starting tomorrow, so eat up as much as you want."
"Mmm-gf!"
I wanted to tell her to either eat or nod, not do both at the same time, but she looked so happy eating that I just left her alone.
After that, I headed back to the room to deal with the issues with Raphtalia that I'd noticed earlier.
"Your hair's a mess. Let me tidy it up a bit."
"...Okay."
Raphtalia looked anxious, so I patted her on the head.
"Don't worry. I'm not going to give you some weird hairstyle."
Honestly, her current look was weirder.
I loosened out the tangles by hand as much as I could, then used a knife to cut away the excess. I trimmed the overgrown hair to about shoulder length and called it done.
"There. That should be good enough."
It was a decent improvement over before.
This would make her look a little more presentable at least.
Raphtalia twirled around in circles, beaming at her own reflection.
No idea what she was so happy about.
While I was cleaning up the hair, the shield reacted.
...
She didn't notice.
*Swoosh*...
I opened the skill book to check. It said the Tree and Level requirements weren't met.
"Hm?"
Crap, she turned around.
"Alright, time to go to sleep."
"Okay!"
She was oddly well-behaved compared to yesterday.
Well, fine.
She might scream again, so let me just brew some potions while I'm at it...
...
Nutrient Potion created.
Nutrient Potion — Quality: Poor → Slightly Poor. A potion that recovers fatigue. Also has the effect of rapidly replenishing nutrition.
Healing Potion created.
Healing Potion — Quality: Slightly Poor → Normal. A potion that treats illness. Less effective against severe diseases.
Hmm... I could make quite a few things with herbs from the forest and mountains.
These fetched a pretty good price at the Potion Shop, if I remembered right.
The material consumption was steep though. Whether it was worth it was borderline.
I managed to produce a total of six Nutrient Potions, along with a decent assortment of other medicines.
That said, making anything of truly good quality was still difficult. I probably couldn't compete with a professional.
Then again, I was the Shield Hero, not an apothecary.
...Let me have the shield absorb these.
Calorie Shield conditions unlocked.
Energy Shield conditions unlocked.
Energy Shield conditions unlocked.
Calorie Shield Ability locked... Equipment Bonus: Stamina Increase (Minor)
Energy Shield Ability locked... Equipment Bonus: SP Increase (Minor)
Energy Shield Ability locked... Equipment Bonus: Fatigue Resistance (Minor)
Looks like I had all the status-type bonuses lined up.
What was Stamina anyway? Was that the same as physical endurance?
I'd need to look into that.
As for the herb-related stuff... I was picking up way too many crafting skills at this point.
I wanted more combat-oriented abilities.
Oh, and the herb skills alone still weren't enough to meet all the unlock conditions.
Well, whatever.
"Hmm..."
I was stretching my back, contemplating whether to call it a night, when Raphtalia's eyes snapped open and met mine. Actually, no — she'd been asleep. This was the prelude to her night crying.
"Kyaa—!"
I clamped a hand over her mouth to stifle the scream, then gently patted and rocked her to calm her down.
Phew, I managed to contain it today.
If I let her go, she'd start screaming for real.
I guess there was no helping it. I'd just have to sleep beside her.
...She felt cold somehow.
I gradually became aware of daylight on my face and opened my eyes.
Raphtalia, who should have been sleeping right next to me, was curled up in the corner of the room, trembling.
"What's wrong?"
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry!"
She kept blurting out apologies over and over. I furrowed my brows, and looking down, I figured out why she was so cold.
Right... Raphtalia had wet the bed.
*Haa*...
She thought I was going to be angry.
I didn't know whether ten-year-olds typically wet the bed, but I couldn't very well get mad when she was looking at me like that.
I walked over to Raphtalia.
The moment I reached out, she flinched, shielded her head with her arms, and curled into a ball.
"Honestly..."
I placed my hand on her trembling shoulder and gave it a gentle rub.
"If you wet the bed, you wet the bed. It happens. Come on, strip down quickly so we can wash up."
I'd need to get some spare clothes too.
"Huh...?"
Raphtalia stared at me with a confused expression.
"You're not angry?"
"What good does beating someone who's already sorry for themselves do? If you're reflecting on it, I'm not going to get mad."
The sheets were dirty. I'd have to figure out how much to pay the innkeeper... For now, I just asked for the sheet to keep as cloth.
Then I explained the situation to the innkeeper, compensated them for the sheets, and dashed off to the Weapon Shop to buy spare clothes.
The well water was freezing, but I scrubbed the stains on a washboard and stuffed the laundry into my bag.
I could just tie it to a branch and let it dry while we walked through the grassland.
"Alright."
Watching Raphtalia trudge along looking all guilty was starting to get under my skin for some reason.
"I said don't worry about it!"
"...Okay."
*Sigh*... She really was an earnest kid.
But if she had no motivation, that was a problem for me too.
*Rumble*...
Raphtalia's stomach growled again.
Oh, she was blushing, looking embarrassed.
"Let's get breakfast soon then."
"Okay..."
She followed along, clutching at the hem of my clothes.
"*Cough*"
"Then drink this as punishment."
I handed Raphtalia the container with the Healing Potion.
She was sickly, so she needed to take medicine regularly anyway — this would work out perfectly.
She sniffed it and made a terrible face, but upon hearing it was a punishment, she steeled herself and tried to drink it.
"Blech... It's so bitter..."
"Just bear with it."
*Gulp, gulp, gulp.*
By the time she'd finished, Raphtalia's face had gone green enough that she looked like she might throw up.
Incidentally, the potions I'd brewed sold at a decent price. The quality was poor, but apparently supplies had been running low.