As much as this would delight all the degenerates out there, Naofumi can’t have Filo running around naked. But every time she transforms into a chicken, she tears her clothes to pieces. What we need is magical clothes, so it’s time to go questing! Kinda…

— The weapon-slash-armorsmith knows what’s up.

— So we are told that Naofumi brought Filo back to the slave trader, and the latter proceeded to slap a crest on the chicken. Why? Because this is supposedly the only way to tame a monster like Filo. But why does she even need to be tamed? Isn’t she already following his orders? Doesn’t she already think of him as his master? Are we gonna slap a crest on every woman who joins Naofumi’s party just because he got burned by Malty? She’s already subservient to him, but I guess this isn’t good enough. They don’t quite say that she’s been enslaved, but let’s just roll with it.

— By the way, Naofumi tells us that he only thinks of Raphtalia as his daughter. Naturally, the girl doth protest! This is all just a sham, though. We all know how this works. We all know that the raccoon is in this guy’s harem. Hell, she’s the main haremette. His current insistence on the fact that she’s just his daughter is nothing more than a cheap ploy to maintain his innocence. “See? He didn’t want to fuck his daughter! She wore him down! She asked for it!” I just want people to look beyond the story. Look beyond the literal events in front of you and consider the big picture. Who’s writing this story? For whom is this story written? Why are certain characters written this way? Think about it.

— Anyways, Naofumi needs magical threads in order to craft the magical clothes that won’t rip to shreds every time the loli turns into a chicken. To craft magical threads, you need a special gemstone. At the moment, they have no clue where to locate said gemstone, so in the meantime, our hero hits the road with his two slaves to earn some money.

— Eventually, they come across a desperate man on the road. He just spent all of his money to buy medicine for his ailing mother, and he needs to get back to her before, well, she dies. Cynical Shield Hero won’t do anything for free, though! One silver for transportation! The guy doesn’t have money? Okay, gimme foodstuffs that you probably need because you’re a poor villager! To be fair, Naofumi also uses his skills to enhance the dude’s medicine, so it ends up being more effective.

— Our hero then realizes how much money he could make by not just trading, but also acting like a UPS guy. He even ends up building up some precious rep by “helping” people out. I put that in quotes, because hey, he’s still getting paid. He’s not exactly doing it out of his good will. More on this later.

— Oh boy, Naofumi’s two “daughters” are fighting for daddy’s attention. Ugh, just makes you cringe.

— When transporting an accessory merchant, Naofumi and his slaves run into a group of bandits. Unfortunately for the bandits, Raphtalia is apparently all badass now; she can cloak now. Plus, the chicken is not so bad in a fight.

— So in this dumb world, Naofumi can’t turn the bandits in, because the guards would apparently believe their word over the Shield Hero’s. As a result, the guy threatens to have his chicken eat them instead. If they want to keep their lives, they’re going to have to pay. In the end, we see Naofumi looting the bandits’ hideout. Raphtalia can’t help but wonder if what they’re doing is evil. After all, it’s not like our hero is going to return these stolen goods to the people.

— So lately, a few people have been pissing and moaning at me for bagging on Naofumi. “Wah wah, he’s an anti-hero, so he isn’t supposed to be righteous and moral!” Sure, I have no problems with an anti-hero charging people to transport medicine for the sick. I have no problems with an anti-hero threatening bandits with death and eventually stealing from them. I have no problems with an anti-hero keeping the loot for themselves when there are poor people all around them. I don’t agree with these immoral acts, but I don’t hate them either. It’s fine to get a hero who is selfish and motivated by greed every now and then.

— On the other hand, call me crazy, but I draw the line at slavery. I’m so sorry that I can’t root for an anti-hero that owns little slave girls just because he can’t trust anybody. I’m so sorry that I wrote all these mean posts about a bitter dude who forced a traumatized slave girl to fight lest he abandons her.

— Naofumi’s willingness to threaten the bandits with murder impresses the accessory merchant, so the latter ends up teaching our hero a thing or two. We also get some boring exposition about the other three heroes and what they’ve been up to. Basically, our hero is still extremely bitter. Dude needs therapy.

— In the end, the accessory merchant points Naofumi towards that special gemstone that Filo needs for her magical threads. It’s time to go dungeoning.

— In this dungeon, the monsters have the ability to prey on your insecurities. Haha, imagine that. As a result, we get to hear all about how Naofumi is still afraid of being betrayed by his two slaves. The trauma! Oh, the trauma! How will I ever recover from being accused of rape!

— Eventually, the party comes upon a nue standing between them and the gemstone that they need. The two slaves can’t help but charge in recklessly. This is what Naofumi gets for always acting as if he only needs them if they’re materially useful. As a result, the two girls feel as though they have the prove their worth to their POS master.

— So a perfunctory action scene follows. I’m not going to recap most of it. All you need to know is that the monster is sensitive to sound, so the party defeats it by having Filo scream into what is essentially a megaphone strapped to Naofumi’s shield.

— Cover your ears, he says. Obviously, he can’t cover both ears if he has his shield out. Nevertheless, the guy suffers no ill effects from this whatsoever. It’s almost as if it doesn’t even matter.

— In the end, Filo gets some new threads. Essentially, she’s wearing a white dress instead of the pink hand-me-down. And of course, Raphtalia is still jealous. Well, she knows what to do. If she wants to be a cute loli again, just go out there and delevel. Do it for your slave owner.