Raphtalia

"You are the great Shield Hero, and I am your sword. No matter how rough the path, I will follow you."

- Raphtalia to Naofumi

Raphtalia (In Japanese: ラフタリア, Rafutaria), also known as the Katana Hero, is the deuteragonist of The Rising of the Shield Hero light novel series, as well as its anime & manga adaptions. Raphtalia was a demi-human slave girl purchased by Naofumi Iwatani, the Shield Hero.

She became the first member of Naofumi's party, eventually falling in love with him due to his kindness and benevolence as a master. After sometime serving in the Shield Hero's party, Raphtalia became the Katana Hero, wielder of the Vassal Katana.

Raphtalia is voiced by Asami Setō in the Japanese version of the anime and by Erica Mendez in the English version.

Appearance
As a tanuki demi-human, Raphtalia has several raccoon-like features that distinguishes her from regular humans. Instead of human ears Raphtalia has a pair of raccoon ears on the top of her head that occasionally twitch when experiencing some kind of sensory stimulation. She also has a fluffy raccoon tail protruding out of her backside which often makes motions based on Raphtalia's emotional state, such as when her tail stands on its own which conveys anger. She has tea-red eyes and has been described as incredibly beautiful for a demi-human.

In her initial appearance as a slave girl Raphtalia had long, dirty, unkempt hair that flowed down to her hips. In keeping with her destitute appearance, Raphtalia only wore torn rags and chain buckles around her neck and wrist.

Abilities
Tanuki are well known for their natural skill at casting illusion magic, Raphtalia is no exception to this, as she has a natural affinity for light & dark magic which allows her to cast illusions. The spell Illusion allows Raphtalia to make a temporary decoy of herself to confuse the opponent. Hide Mirage turns Raphtalia temporarily invisible, although opponents with sensitive hearing can still detect her presence. The spell First Light summons a bright light which can illuminate dark spaces or momentarily blind an opponent.

Trivia

 * Raphtalia was purchased for thirty-one silver coins with commission. After sometime with Naofumi she was worth thirty gold coins.
 * Raphtalia's English voice actress also voiced Megumin from Konosuba: God's Blessing on This Wonderful World!, Diane from Seven Deadly Sins, Mash Kyrielight from Fate/Grand Order, Retsuko from Aggretsuko, Nico Yazawa from Love Live!, Gon Freecss from Hunter x Hunter, Atsuko Kagari from Little Witch Academia, Sailor Uranus from Sailor Moon, Yuuki Konno from Sword Art Online, and Ryūko Matoi from Kill la Kill.