Y/N and Sistine stayed another night in the capital before heading out. They ended up returning to the castle to have a reward given to them. The spear, bow, and sword hero received a great amount of silver coins, but Naofumi and Y/N did not. Didn't really bother the Y/N or Sistine, in fact Y/N told the king to screw off. Motoyasu tried standing up for him once more, but he backed down when Y/N threatened him with another ass kicking.

"Leave this instant!" The King ordered. Y/N simply waved his hand, he and Sistine left quickly. They were outside of the capital now and were heading out.

"So, where we off to now?" Sistine asked while carrying the egg.

"To see an old friend. Let them know about the king and princess. Because if this gets out of hand, we can kiss all of our asses goodbye. We ain't gonna get far, so I think we should stay at Loot village this evening. I've got a few things I need to look at." Y/N replied looking at his HUD screen. A bunch of new notifications popped up.

"Wonder how many combos I can do before I'm worn down" he mumbled to himself. Sistine looked at him in confusing and shook her head.

"You mumble a lot, and it gets on my nerves sometimes" she laughed.

"Hm? Why so?"

"I dont really know. Something about it makes it irritating. I'd like to know what you're talking about" she replied.

"With my two level increase, I was just wondering how many combos I can do before being worn down."

"Sounds like we can try that later on. After we get to Loot town" Sistine replied with a small smile. Y/N couldn't help but smile back.

"You need me to carry the egg? Yer little arms seem to be getting worn down" he teased. Sistine gasped and yelled at him.

"I am stronger than I look you know!" She huffed and started to walk faster, passing Y/N.

"Yeah" Y/N replied, "that's the truth" he whispered the last part.

It was getting pretty late in the evening, Y/N and Sistine finally made it to the hill before Loot. It was the same hill they got teleported to when the wave hit.

Sistine looked around, just really amazed how in a few short days, it looked like nothing happened to the place.

"Crazy how this world works" She muttered.

"Ya can say that again darlin." Y/N replied unwillingly. This made Sistine grow a blush on her face. Y/N could only sigh at what he said.

"Come on, we wanna make it there before dark" she whispered trying to hide her face from him. She walked ahead, Y/N took a second before following her.

"What am I gonna do?" Y/N spoke to himself. He looked at Sistine as she looked back to see Y/N hadn't moved.

"Coming?"

"Yeah, I'm coming" Y/N smiled through his mask and caught up with her.

"Hey Sistine" Y/N shook the girl as she was sleeping. It was very early the morning, he woke up due to the sound of cracking.

Sistine could only groan and toss around in the bed. "5 more minutes" she musterd out.

"The egg is about to hatch" that was all Y/N needed to say for Sistine to get out. She had a bit of bed hair, which caused Y/N to laugh.

"What?" She yawned and stretched. Y/N was about to reply, but both of them heard a cracking. They turned their attention to see the egg hatching. Pieces fell slowly, revealing the creature.

"Whoa" Sistine commented watching the egg hatch. Y/N didn't say anything, he just watched in eager to see what is happening. Little by little, they could start seeing black scales within the egg.

'Could it be?' Y/N thought. He knew that this wasn't a bird, because of the scales.

Soon enough, the egg cracked open, revealing a small black dragon. It yawned and batted its eyes.

"Its so cute!" She screaming. "I cant believe it was an actual dragon!"

"Neither can I" Y/N commented. The little black dragon looked at both Sistine and Y/N in curiosity. It decided to jump onto Sistine's head and lay down in her bed hair.

"W-what?" Sistine asked outloud in shock. She went to put her hands close to her head to feel the creature. To her surprise, it nuzzled into her hand.

"Seems to have taken a liking to ya Sistine" Y/N smiled. He looked at the creature on his hud.

"Have you thought about a name?" Sistine asked

"Nothing has came to mind yet really. We'll see what happens." Y/N replied. The small dragon jumped from Sistine's head to Y/Ns shoulders. It definitely surprised the both of them.

"Hey there little feller" Y/N stated while rubbing its head. Unfortunately for Y/N the small dragon shot an electric attack, shocking him. It jumped back to Sistine after it did that. Sistine couldn't hold the laughter in anymore. Y/N dusted his hat off and sighed.

"Ya just had to do that huh?" He commented putting his hat back on. Sistine kept giggling, but stopped when the little dragon started to giggle itself. Y/N noticed that when it was laughing, it didn't have any teeth.

"Ahh! That's adorable" she screeched. Y/N only shook his head to what was happening.

"The little thing even has it's own jokes and it don't have any teeth"

Over the next few days Y/N and Sistine stayed in the town of Loot and trained the dragon. It was growing slightly fast for it only being two days. They weren't able to ride him though still, but he mainly stayed by Sistine's side, while occasionally going to Y/N.

Turns out, the little dragon can retract its teeth when it wants to. They found this out during one the meals that they fed him.

A few things happened as well, they ran into Naofumi and Raphtalia again. Their egg hatched into a filolial. It grew twice as fast as Y/N's dragon but that didn't really bother him too much.

They were currently at a stable in the town. Sistine and Raphtalia were talking to each other while the little dragon nuzzled up to both of the girls.

"Have you thought of a name?" Naofumi asked while petting his bird. Y/N shook his head.

"Nah, but I think I might call him toothless or something. He can retract his teeth and only show his gums. The little feller has jokes too"

This caused Naofumi to shake his head with a small smile. Only Y/N noticed this.

"Well, what about your Filolial? You given it a name?"

"Yeah, her name is Filo" Naofumi replied petting her again. Y/N look bewildered by the answer.

"That's a plain Jane name, I mean no disrespect to you"

"Yeah it is, but she seems to like it. That's all that matters" Naofumi replied. Their attention was caught when a lot of people started to head towards the entrance of the town.

"We ought to check this out. Seems a little bit suspicious" Y/N stated. He started to walk out of the Stables. Raphtalia and Sistine quickly followed after Y/N. Naofumi let Filo out and they were quick to catch up.

As they got closer, the little dragon hopped onto Y/N's shoulder. This kinda confused him at the moment. Sure the little feller was on and off with his feeling about Y/N, but something was bothering him.

They approached the crowd and saw knights making a barrier. Y/N looked up and saw Princess Myne/Malty on a stand and Motoyasu, the spear hero, on a dragon. Y/N's dragon saw this one and startled to snarl.

"Hey, settle down. Itll be alright" Y/N commanded. Fortunately for him, he did listen and just started to stare at Motoyasu.

"From this moment, Sir Motoyasu, the spear hero, will be the new lord of the Town of Loot. In efforts of rebuilding this place after the Wave. There will be a toll of fifty silvers to enter and to leave this town" Princess Malty stated while reading from a scroll.

"Fifty silvers? We will all go broke and suffer" one citizen complained.

"Yeah! And who even appointed The Spear Hero? It was the Shield Hero that saved the town!" Another citizen yelled.

"You dare defy royalty and his worthiness?" Malty spat back towards the citizens.

"Damn straight, these people know the truth" a familiar voice rang into Princess and Motoyasu's ears. They both looked towards the crowd and saw a familiar cowboy hat making it's way to the front.

"Long time no see Cinderella, you've healed up since I gave you that ass whopping?" Y/N questioned walking by a few citizens.

"Why you..." Motoyasu gripped his weapon. Myne was very surprised to see him.

"Guards! Do not let Y/N come any closer"

"How about that" Y/N smirked it was covered by his mask though. "I've gained your respect that you call me by my name. I do have a question for Motoyasu though."

"Yes..."

"Do you know how much it costs to stat at the Inn here?" Y/N replied petting his dragon to calm him down. Naofumi was doing his best to keep filo in check.

"No, I honestly do not"

"One silver" Y/N replied flipping the coin. "One silver coin a night. That includes food and everything. And ya expect to charge these people a toll? I've said it once, I'll say it again. Yer dumber than a box of rocks and duller than rusted iron"

"Hey!" Myne tried to yell back. But a few people covered in cloaks appeared in front of her.

"I believe you know who we are associated with" one stated while handing Myne a scroll. They soon left, but Myne opened the scroll and became bewildered by it. She closed it and pointed at the Shield Hero.

"Shield Hero! Motoyasu challenges you to a race for the title of being this town's lord!"

Naofumi was very confused about what just happened. "Huh?"

~~~~~~~~~~

"I decline" Naofumi told Y/N and the citizens.

"But Sir Shield Hero, we will be doomed if you dont do this" the current lord pleaded. Naofumi sighed and looked away.

"Look, I know this ain't your idea for charity, but still, these people need your help. I know how Myne and Motoyasu are. This is your chance to start getting back at them for everything they've done to ya." Y/N explained. The Dragon was on his shoulder and it kept nodding its head, like it knew what they were saying.

"You know they'll do whatever to win. They'll cheat! It isn't worth my time." Naofumi retorted.

"Well partner," Y/N started, this confused Naofumi. Y/N grabbed his pistols and twirled them,

"Time to give them a taste of their own medicine."

Naofumi sat there for a second, thinking of everything over. Something caught his attention, Filo was giving Naofumi gestures to do this.

"Well partner, seems like Filo wants to kick that ass too." Y/N laughed putting his pistols away. Naofumi groaned and looked away.

"Fine, I'll do it."

Sistine and Raphtalia watched this from a distance. They were both surprised that they were getting along so well. The little dragon sat on top of Sistine's head looking the area in curiosity.

"Master Naofumi hasn't acted like this before" Raphtalia commented.

"Y/N is a little different. He has his own personality, but he also had the Erron Black personality too. So you dont know what you're going to get." She laughed and shook her head. "But Y/N does care a lot. I'm very thankful for that day he saved me" she smiled. She continued to stare at Y/N, Raphtalia noticed this and smirked.

"So you like Y/N, don't you?"

Sistine's face went beet red, "w-what!?! Sure he saved me, but I don't! Yeah, maybe he is cute under the mask and all. It's just I dont know what I would do if I didn't have him in this world." She then realized what she said and covered her face. This caused the little dragon to fall off, but he jumped on top of Raphtalia's shoulder.

"Mhm, I'm sure you dont. It's okay, your secret is safe with me" Raphtalia laughed while petting the dragon.

"Please kill me now...." Sistine muttered in embarrassment.

Everyone gathered around the entire town to watch this race. The citizens all found spots to where each racer would pass through. The guards did the same.

Motoyasu decided to try to smack talk to Naofumi, but ended up getting his goods kicked in by Filo. This sent him flying into a hay bale stack. Which caused Myne to scream and demand for healing magic on him.

The rules were simple, on paper at least. Three laps around the city and the winner would be the lord of the town.

Y/N noticed Myne talking to a guard with a devious smile on her face. Sistine was with Raphtalia still, so Y/N stepped aside and hid himself.

The race started, the first lap was fair in terms of the rules. Naofumi and Filo were leading by a few steps, but when they turned the corner to start the second lap, Naofumi spotted one of the knights ready to use a magic attack.

"As source of thy power-" he said but was cut off when a clicking noise came into his ears and something pressed against his helmet.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you. Yer brains might be splattered across the track." A familiar cowboy said. This made the knight very nervous.

"I- I was just doing my orders"

"Well tell the rest of your lackeys to not do their job or there will be a mess and it will be because of me" Y/N threatend.

"I-I cant do that. Or I will be punished"

Y/N had enough of the nonsense and knocked him out cold. During the interacting, he saw that Naofumi and Filo had a spell casted on them, causing them to slow down.

"This should fix the problem" Y/N talked to himself while loading a magic cancellation bullet. He fired off quickly to cancel the spell and saw that they passed Motoyasu in an instant.

"Do whatever you can to stop the shield hero!" He overheard a knight nearby. Y/N slowly made his way over and saw they made holes in the ground to prevent Naofumi's Filo from running. Y/N changed into his 'Outlaw' variation and walked over towards the knights.

"Well, well, well. What do we have here? A bunch of cheaters"

"Its the criminal!" A knight yelled. They all started to run after Y/N. Y/N crossed his arms and looked at them with disappointment in his eyes.

"You never learn." Y/N sighed and pulled his sword out. He ran after the knights, fending off their attacks. The odds were not in his favor, but that didn't matter.

A few dodges was the start of the fight on Y/N's side, but he retaliated by kicking one off into a tree. He dodged another sword and readed himself for a bull rush. He drop kicked another knight, knocking him out of breath. The third knight was trying to think of a plan. Y/N was already having his time wasted and pulled out his revolver and shot the last knight with an electric attack. Y/N didn't see Naofumi round the corner. However, a yell caught his attention.

"Air strike shield!" He yelled. Filo jumped on the shield and the others to get over the holes made by the knights. This surprised Y/N and Motoyasu.

"That sumbitch, he is a lot smarter than I anticipated" Y/N mumbled and ran to see who would win the race.

Naofumi and Motoyasu rounded the corner, neck and neck. Either person had no advantage at the moment. However, the fiery passion that Filo had outweighed the dragons and with two big leaps, Filo was the winner of this race.

Everyone in the town cheered, while Myne and Motoyasu were very salty about the situation. She tried calling out that Naofumi cheated, but in reality it was her. Y/N called her out on this, but Motoyasu wouldn't believe Y/N at all.

Fortunately for them, Myne and Motoyasu did leave the town, signaling they have given up.

"Mighty fine racing there partner" Y/N walked up to Naofumi. He was congratulating Filo for her hard work.

"I saw what you did. Thanks for it" he smiled. That really had Y/N surprised.

"That strategy at the end was something else too. Using a move to help yourself. That takes a lot of brains to do. Major respect"

The little dragon ran and got on Filos back. She turned her head and made a squawk in happiness. The dragon laughed and showed its gums.

"You were right, he doesnt have any teeth."

"He does, he just rarely shows them." Y/N replied.

Sistine and Raphtalia went to get food for the dragon and Filo, and they were now returning. However, Raphtalia was stunned to see that Naofumi was smiling for a change.

"Master Naofumi is smiling" she uttered out in awe. Sistine saw this and was happy that they were getting along. This definitely will help in the future with the Waves.

'I'm glad this is working out. It's good to see you interacting well with another hero. Like you said I needed to smile more, I think you need to do this more Y/N.' Sistine thought. 'I really am grateful for you saving me that day. I really am'

Y/N and Naofumi saw their companions and waved them over; they all got together and started to talk more about what is going to happen in the future and their ideas for their training. Y/N couldnt help but think a little bit better about this whole place, but one thing remained in his mind,

The challenges that lied ahead of everyone.