“Is this the village you are rebuilding, Shield Hero?”

I was sure they had already heard from Eclair and Melty, but the soldiers asked anyway.

“Yeah. I’d like to at least get something with a roof up by sundown. I know it’s a lot to ask, but I’m counting on you.”

“Leave it to us.”

“Thanks. So for now, we’ll leave the building to you soldiers. As for Raphtalia, Rishia, and Filo . . .”

“Yes?”

“Yeeees?”

“What is it?”

The three responded when I called their names.

“I’m going to make lunch now. Once you three have finished eating, I want you to take the slaves and go hunt monsters with them.”

“Understood.”

“Okay!”

“I’ll do my best.”

“I’ll leave it up to you to form parties. I’m guessing the experience probably won’t be very good if you all hunt in one big group.”

I’d never actually tried measuring it. How did experience points work when everyone fought together? Were they distributed somehow, or were they shared by everyone? I wasn’t really sure how it worked.

“Does anyone know how experience works in groups?”

“Umm . . .”

Rishia raised her hand embarrassedly.

“I knew it. You can always count on Rishia at times like these. So?”

“Umm . . . All members of a party receive experience points. The amount differs depending on abilities and level, but the distribution is unbiased. Six people is the limit. Any more than that and the amount of experience begins to drop.”

Aha, so that’s why Itsuki and his group always left you out!

I didn’t actually say that, because all I’d get is a loud “fehhhh!” And I’d had enough of those. So as long as we split up into parties when going out in a big group, there shouldn’t be any problem. We’d just form parties of six and that should take care of it.

“If there’s still room and they’re free, you might try inviting Eclair and the old lady, too.”

“Understood. I’ll take care of assigning everyone.”

I made Raphtalia the group leader and had her create the parties. We currently had a total of ten slaves, so I had her assign four to Rishia and three each to Filo and herself. She put Keel with Rishia since he had already gotten stronger to a certain degree.

“Alright, I’m going to make lunch now, so give me a hand.”

“Okay!”

The three of them got busy doing what they could to help with the preparations.

“You’re not going to help cook, Raphtalia?” Keel calmly asked Raphtalia, glaring at me as I prepped the food. He had already recovered from his state of shock. That was quicker than I expected. Maybe it was because he was a kid?

“You were always a good cook, Raphtalia!”

“Rafu!”

“Umm . . .”

Raphtalia glanced over at me with a look of uncertainty on her face. What? Was she expecting me to say something? I guess she wanted to show off a bit in front of her friends or something, because she finally said something after hesitating for a moment.