The Ones We Must Protect

The Ones We Must Protect (守るべき者達, Mamorubeki Mono-tachi^?) is the twelfth episode of Season 3 and the fiftieth overall episode of the The Rising of the Shield Hero anime.

Synopsis[]

While spending their peaceful days in the Lurolona Village, Naofumi and the others are suddenly besieged by ninja-like warriors who are as tough as they look. Although they barely manage to defeat them, their battle results in a child getting injured, leaving Raphtalia guilt ridden. Naofumi turns to Sadeena and has her explain her strange behavior during the past few weeks, which results in her revealing a shocking secret about Raphtalia and the reason for the attack on their home.

Plot[]

Naofumi, Raphtalia, Sadeena, and Gaelion are shown drinking together at Sadeena’s favorite spot, with Raphtalia passing out due to being unable to hold her liquor. In a flashback, Naofumi and Raphtalia are shown training with Sadeena and Gaelion to tap into the power of the Dragon Veins to increase their abilities. This surprised Raphtalia and Sadeena as they learned that Gaelion could talk and had a mind of his own. Sadeena asks Naofumi if he and Raphtalia had made any progress, as she is aware that the two have feelings for each other, but Naofumi denies this as he sees her as his daughter and nothing more.

Some time later, they are visited by Erhard, who delivers some supplies, among them the Miko outfit that Raphtalia was given in Glass’s world. Erhard says that although he managed to fix Raphtalia’s outfit, it will take more time to fix everyone else’s. When the children see her outfit, they ask her to wear it, while Atla is envious of Raphtalia as she has her own new clothing. After wearing it, Raphtalia receives compliments from the children except Naofumi who only mentions that the outfit boosted her stats. Those of Lurolona are shown living their lives, when Sadeena returns from fishing in the ocean, she suddenly becomes hysterical after seeing Raphtalia wearing her Miko outfit and tells her to change immediately. Naofumi asks why is she so hysterical about Raphtalia’s Miko Outfit, but Sadeena scolds him for being so careless. Suddenly, an explosion goes off at the house where Raphtalia had gone to change her clothing, they all rush over and to their relief she is uninjured but a child that was with her was badly injured. Suddenly they are besieged and attacked by some unknown assailants who are wearing ninja-like clothing, who claim that Raphtalia has declared war by wearing her Miko outfit and start to attack them. Ren, Itsuki, and Rishia arrive to assist them, however the attackers are shown to be resistant to the heroes' attacks. Naofumi and Raphtalia use the power of the Dragon Vein to unleash a new skill called “form is emptiness” which confuses the assailants, allowing everyone in the village to defeat them, however the enemies unwilling to be prisoners end up blowing themselves up.

Afterwards, everyone is still reeling from the recent attack, when Sadeena reveals that Raphtalia is a descendant of the royal family of Q'Ten Lo, an isolated nation, When Naofumi asks what her Miko outfit had to do with this, Sadeena reveals that the garb is perceived by the assassins as a declaration of war for the throne, which prompted their attack and affirms that they will not rest until she is killed. Sadeena also reveals that she had been protecting Raphtalia and her parents since they took refuge in Lurolona, fleeing from the dispute for the throne as her father did want anything to do with his home country. Originally, Sadeena was working for Q’Ten Lo as a spy, but decided to help Raphtalia and her parents instead as she felt indebted to them and chose to defect from her homeland and chose to follow the two to Lurolona village to protect them. However, she failed as during the first wave she had been far out in the sea fishing and by the time she returned it was too late. As the village had been ransacked by some out of control (and currently former) Melromarc soldiers, which left her distraught. Naofumi asks Raphtalia if she wants to be empress, but she says she doesn’t as she barely knows about it in the first place. Suddenly, Eclair returns telling them that they managed to extinguish the Fire that was caused by the explosion and tells them that the child who was injured is stable but is still not out of the woods just yet.

Naofumi realizes that the reason Sadeena would end up suddenly looking around at random times was because she knew that they were being watched by the ninja like warriors and always kept her guard up. This leads Naofumi to ask another question “how long have they been watching Raphtalia? Sadeena answers to Naofumi and Raphtalia’s shock that they had been watching her since before she was even born. Meaning that they were present when the first wave occurred and did nothing to save Raphtalia and her parents, and watched as Raphtalia was captured and forced into slavery and did nothing to help her. But Eclair states that they most likely had hoped that Raphtalia would’ve died during her time as a slave as that would’ve been more convenient for them. Naofumi reluctantly agrees that most likely is the case, but even so, they should have noticed that Raphtalia had no idea about her heritage and yet they allowed her to suffer despite that.

Naofumi now enraged by their insistence to get rid of Raphtalia, even after she declares having no interest in the throne, decides to confront the empire of Q'Ten Lo, and will convince them to leave them be and if they don’t, then they will fight them if they have to. Naofumi informs the Queen of his plans and to his surprise agrees to help him as he had successfully gathered the other three heroes together, so she feels obligated to help him. Meanwhile, Atla and Fohl approach a nearby Aultcray, who is shaken upon talking to them as he had learned from them that Naofumi isn’t as cruel as he thought him to be. Having completed his task to assemble the four heroes, Naofumi decides to solve the dispute with Q'Ten Lo as fast as possible so they can concentrate on their imminent fight with the Phoenix, which will awaken in two months, and departs with Wyndia and Gaelion ahead to Siltvelt to arrange a transport there for his party. Naofumi swears that he will resolve this situation and will take down anyone or anything that threatens to hurt those that he cares about as he is the Shield Hero.

Characters[]

Light Novel & Manga Differences[]

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Gallery[]

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Trivia[]

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