"Wow! I barely recognize you!" Erhard said. He referred to Raphtalia's sudden physical growth. Raphtalia became a little red, the same type of red when someone points something out about you.

"You've turned into a real pretty lady." Saitama glanced at Raphtalia as Erhard finished. Now that Saitama really looked at her, he could see that she was rather different from what was about a week ago. He tried to find a reason as to why she aged so quickly. He shrugged it off a second later figuring that magic was the answer.

Erhard saw the way Saitama was blankly looking at Raphtalia. "Hey kid, you do know how demi-humans work, right?" Saitama didn't even seem to hear Erhard as he began staring into the ceiling.

"Mister, let's leave that aside for now..." The two watched Saitama slowly lose his grasp of reality. She turned to Erhard, "We're here for master's armor!" Her shout snapped Saitama back to reality, taking much longer to process her words than he should.

Erhard blinked at Raphtalia, soon so did Saitama. "Armor? For this guy?" Erhard remembered how one of his finest works shattered against the baldy's skin. He began laughing. As if something that could withstand a foot of sharpened steel hitting it with the speed of a bull would need armor. What would it even protect him from? Himself? Erhard stifled his laughter as the image of Saitama stretching in the armor and shattering entered his mind. "I don't think he needs any armor."

Saitama cut in, "Yeah, we came so you could get better equipment, remember?" Saitama reminded Raphtalia. She only puffed her cheeks.

"But you look like a glorified miner! There's nothing really protecting you!" Raphtalia gestured to Saitama's jumpsuit and the cloak he still wore. While an odd analogy, she was right when Saitama's clothing offered little to no protection against the... the anything really. Despite that, both Saitama and Erhard were sure that he needed no armor.

Raphtalia relented when she accepted that neither of them agreed. Instead, she grabbed a short sword off the wall and examined it. Determining the blade to be adequate, presented it to Erhard.

As Raphtalia and Erhard discussed the blade she had grabbed, Saitama thought about the armor. Specifically, the last times' armor had been relevant.

He recalled once imagining that he'd be a hero in a knight's armor, the helmet being an armet. He imagined being a shining ray of hope to humanity and a blinding light of penance to villains. While that didn't happen, he was still a blinding light, as long as the sun reflected off his dome at the right angle.

He thinks that the last time he thought of that was when he was 11. Look at him now, he's still a hero, and he still punishes monsters and villains, but it was so different from what he imagined. A lot emptier than he imagined.

But he can't argue. He's had some pretty interesting days. Met some rather interesting people. Images of Genos and Sonic flashed through his mind. And he's done some pretty interesting things. Who else can say they've played fisticuffs against an alien conqueror? Saitama glanced at Raphtalia and Erhard. And who can say they've traveled to another world? Not anyone he knows.

He might not be exactly what he wanted to be, but it turned out alright. Saitama was snapped out of his thoughts when Raphtalia walked up to him. She looked rather grim, or even a little concerned.

"The calamity will be here soon." She announced. Saitama blinked at her before remembering why heroes were summoned here in the first place. 'Oh yeah, the Spades of Clam Soup! I nearly forgot.' Saitama incorrectly remembered the name of the coming event that may spell devastation.

"Oh yeah... when exactly is it?" Saitama pondered out loud. Erhard looked at him in mildly dumbfounded at the Shield Hero's lack of knowledge. Erhard tried not to vocalize any of his feelings, instead, shoving those feelings aside with a question.

"You don't know? Near the palace, in the church near the clocktower is the 'Hourglass of time'. When the last grain falls, it's said the heroes and their allies will fly to the source of the wave." Erhard spoke with small excitement clearly directed towards the hourglass's existence. "Convenient" Saitama muttered to himself while Erhard rambled on. "You should check it out if you want to find out the time."

Saitama shrugged. With no reason to stick around, Saitama and Raphtalia gave their goodbyes and exited the shop. Erhard stood for a second, still staring at the door. His blank face cracked into an amused one. "Armor for that kid?" He chuckled a little while going over the funny possibilities in his head. 'I doubt he'll need armor anyway. Not like anything around here can take him on.' He still remembered some of the feats of strength Saitama had demonstrated, both the ones he's seen and the ones he's heard of in rumors.

The pair had only made it two feet away when a loud roar shook the very foundations of the capital as people climbed over each other to get away. "M-Master?" Raphtalia looked at Saitama.

"Sorry. I'm hungry." They left to feed themselves so the earthshaking roar may cease. Erhard chuckled. How coulda anything born around the capital take on the caped baldy?

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Saitama and Raphtalia walked into the main hall of the church. It was rather empty. Only a few people sitting and praying. The place was decorated with unique pillars and etchings on the walls. The ornate windows showed pictures of gloriously dressed people in poses, and any light that passed through the stained glass shone colored light mimicking the very image in each window.

But the most eye-catching thing for everyone in there was a single multicolored dome near the entrance. All sorts of colors shone off the dome as it glistened and glimmered from the shining sunlight. That passed, however, when Saitama sneezed and moved his head away from any of the sunlight shining through the windows.

"Woah, this place is big." Saitama idly said as he walked through the massive church. He was so mesmerized by the structure that he failed to notice the two nuns walking towards them.

"Hero of the Shield, correct?" One of the nuns spoke. Saitama snapped back to reality, turning his attention to the nuns.

"Yup! Could you show me where that hourglass thingy is?" The nuns had to hold back their appalled reaction to the blunt and utter obliviousness Saitama had presented. Nonetheless, they guided the pair to the hourglass.

Opening a pair of massive double doors, the two were presented with a massive capsule-shaped room. The most notable thing being the massive hourglass in the middle of the room. The hourglass itself was held by tall columns, each one having identical engravings etched from top to bottom and some extra decor near their midsections, small bits sprouting off the pillar created to look like leaves. The main hourglass part comprises two pair-shaped glass bulbs connected by a smaller glass piece. But what was probably most eye-catching was the fact that almost all the sands within the hourglass were in the lower bulb.

"Wow."Saitama idly said as he gawked at the large structure in front of him. He was snapped out of his marveling when a box with text appeared in front of him. It read, "20:12" Saitama stared at it in wonder.

"Is this 20 hours or 20 minutes?" He mumbled to himself all the while a certain party of people approached from behind. Each of them wearing some type of scowl or malicious grin. Saitama remained oblivious to their approach and continued staring at the text.

"Still fighting in that goofy costume?" Raphtalia had long since heard them coming their way. She may not know why they're acting in such a rude way, but they're still insulting her master. "Oops, that's right." With every word that exited his mouth, he smiled wider and he drew closer, each step making Raphtalia tense up. "This guy couldn't fight!" He finally came to a stop, his lackeys and himself about to break into laughter. What had stopped them was seeing Raphtalia's body loosen and seeing her blankly stare at them.

Then proceed to follow up that action by looking away and snickering. For a second, she thought that this person knew her master. Motoyasu snapped out of his puzzlement and decided to ask, "You came to check on the hourglass too?" He decided to approach the pair once more. Saitama had been relatively quiet the entire time and Raphtalia stood at his side, looking at the group with hidden amusement.

One person, in particular, stepped out from the posse and pointed at the pair, or more specifically, Saitama. "You!" She extended her arm towards Saitama's back. "Sir Motoyasu is speaking! Answer him!" Myne continued to point at Saitama's back.

Not many could hear, but Raphtalia was close enough to her master to hear what he was saying. "It would make more sense if they were hours. If they were minutes then the other numbers would shrink." He was mumbling his thoughts instead of paying attention to the situation. He hadn't even known that another cardinal hero had walked up behind him. It would seem to have continued this way if Motoyasu hadn't been angered by Saitama's ignorance.

"Hey!" Motoyasu reached his hand out to grab Saitama. He was forced to take a step back when Saitama suddenly turned around to look at Raphtalia.

"Hey Raphtalia, can you see this?" Saitama gestured towards the floating box that seemed to follow his shield. Motoyasu took the time to recollect himself after that small act. He had turned so suddenly, and he hadn't even seen him move. What shocked him the most was the sudden push he felt from Saitama. As if the space between them gave way under some kind of immense pressure. If this force hit him a week or two ago he would've been thrown onto his rear.

All these thoughts transferred into the only thing Motoyasu could say. "What the hell?" Or the only thing he could whisper. Only audible enough for him to hear.

"It seems like those are hours, master." Raphtalia concluded for Saitama as he brought his shield back to his own face. He watched as the last number decreased by one. "Oh. I see it now." Saitama too concluded that the first pair of digits were hours.

Raphtalia was starting to get fed up with these people. Seeing them being rude towards her master, even if it had no effect, and acting somewhat aggressive was getting on her nerves. Standing between them and Saitama, she asked, "Excuse me, but who are you?" Their attention was immediately directed towards the raccoon girl now.

"To think there are people that don't know of sir Motoyasu.." Myne was answering her with a smug grin on her face. "You see, this man is-" Myne was cut off by the very person she followed.

Motoyasu had regained himself after the odd shift of air. Now he was able to take in Raphtalia completely. And to say he was ecstatic would be an understatement. "Cute..." He muttered before suddenly being upon Raphtalia, his hand wrapped in hers. Raphtalia was too shocked by the sudden change of Motoyasu. From antagonizing her master, albeit with no effect, to trying to charm her. "A pleasure to meet you, my fair lady!" Although it did nothing more than make himself look like a fool to most.

Raphtalia was quick to pull away from Motoyasu's grip, much to his chagrin. "I'm sorry, but I am already with Sir Saitama." Raphtalia explained, still somewhat appalled by Motoyasu's previous actions.

"With him?!" Motoyasu glanced at the back of Saitama's head. "No No No! I can't a-" He was cut off by Saitama who had finally finished examining the shield on his forearm.

"Hey Raphtalia, we should probably go get some stuff for the wave thingy that's coming," Saitama suggested, turning around to address his companion. "Let's try a few of the stores. I thought I saw something about healing potions... When did you all get here?" Saitama had finally turned fully, seeing a rather large group of people in front of him. Alongside that, he saw two vaguely familiar faces.

Motoyasu stared at Saitama's stale, yet confused, expression with his own aghast look. "W-We've been here for over 20 minutes! Were we just talking to the back of your head?!" Motoyasu shouted in exasperation.

Saitama looked at them with slight embarrassment. "I guess?" Motoyasu He glanced at Raphtalia and whispered at her, "Who are these guys?" hoping to save some face by at least knowing their identity. Unfortunately, he was just loud enough for the Spear Hero's group.

Motoyasu was practically choking. Astonished by Saitama's lack of recognition of himself and someone he believed was a victim. A certain rage started to build up in Motoyasu. A rage brewed by what he believed to be a righteous reason. To defend the dignity of the women around him. Truly, his hormones know no bounds.

"How dare you!" He spat from his close teeth. 'How dare he disregards those he hurt. How dare he call himself a hero.' Motoyasu thought. In the darker depths of his mind, he muttered, 'How dare he still live!' Before Motoyasu could use the many angered words in his head, he was tapped on the back.

He quickly hid his rage behind a mask. His rage simmering and being put out when he saw the many beautiful faces of his party. "Yeah?" He asked.

The girl that tapped his back glanced to the double doors behind her. "...They already left." She winced as the double doors that closed the room off from the rest of the church finally fastened shut.

"Eh?" Motoyasu instantly turned to look at where Saitama had stood only to see stirred dust slowly reaching the ground. He started turning in circles trying to find Saitama. Becoming dizzy from his sudden movements, he fell on his rear. Wincing, his eyes finally settled on the double doors.

The anger from before was quick to build up again. "SAITAMA!"

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"Wasn't it rather rude to just leave, master? They were talking with us." Raphtalia asked Saitama as he trotted down the road of a nearly empty field.

Saitama shrugged in turn. "Neither of us really knew who they were." He looked back at Raphtalia, "Besides, we have better things to do. That weave thingy is coming up."

"It's called the 'Wave', master." Raphtalia corrected him. He gave a rather inattentive, 'right' while walking down the path. "But I do agree. We should start preparing some more. It was a good thing we visited Mr.Erhard earlier."

They watched as the timer of the wave ticked down to zero. Saw the people, both knights, adventurers, and simple townsfolk prepared. Some knights and townsfolk sat down solemnly, traped with their thoughts. Some said goodbye to their loved ones, few acknowledging that they most likely won't see them ever again. But the adventurers, on the other hand, seemed rather relaxed about the situation. Many chatting amongst themselves, cocky. Saitama and Raphtalia were a blend of all three.

Raphtalia waited beside Saitama, deeply thinking of the events that led up to this point, thinking and wondering about what happens next. She was nervous, but at the same time, she was determined to stay by Saitama's side. A sword for her hero, even if he didn't need it.

Saitama too was in deep thought. He had a great question in his mind. The biggest he'd had in the past week. A thought that was miraculously unrelated to what's happening now. 'Where's the nearest bathroom?'

As their thoughts began to close in preparation for the fight to come, the timer ticked zero and their vision blurred and flashed.

End-Chapter 7