Ricardo Welkin

Ricardo Welkin (リカード・ウェルキン) is one of Anastasia Hoshin's followers and the captain of mercenary group Fang of Iron.

Appearance
Ricardo is a large wolf-like kobold with two large tusks hanging on the sides of his mouth. He has green eyes, a muscular build covered with short brown body fur around him with tan-color fur in the chest, biceps, mouth, and palm area, and has long dark-brown hair decorated as a mahican and two small red braids on the sides of his hair and also a dark-brown beard. Ricardo wears a long, black toeless pants, black arm guards, and white wrappings under his dark-colored clothes in his arms and waist and a orange belt. He also wears a shoulder guard that has a logo, represents the Hoshin Trading Company. In the web novel, Ricardo's fur was originally red brown with black eyes. However, it was changed to regular brown with green eyes in the light novel to use as camouflage with the environments. In the anime, his eyes are turquoise and the wrapping on the shoulder guard is leather instead of chains in the light novel. He was also given paws on the soles of his feet in the anime whereas in the light novel, it wasn't given.

In Anastasia's flashback of the manga, Ricardo legs are covered in a white wrapping on his ankles and wears waraji on his feet, almost similar to Al's design. It was later changed in the later events of Arc 3, however, it was given multiple redesigns.

During the battle in Priestella, Roy Alphard sliced off Ricardo's arm.

Personality
Ricardo is occasionally laid back and outgoing, he talks in a loud voice like a heavy wind blowing. As the captain of the Fang of Iron, he usually calms his teammates down right before battling, such as making jokes to make others laugh. Like Anastasia, Ricardo speaks with a Kansai dialect. Ricardo also tends to be rash and due to his habit of heading straight into battle, he usually listens to Hetaro's orders while in battle.

History
Ricardo was formally a slave who worked with Razcrew, until Anastasia had promised Ricardo and remove his collar. During his time as a slave, Anastasia wanted to ask him what was wrong, as she was quite busy working in the shop, but the demi-human wasn't able to quite say why he had called her over. And even though Anastasia spoke coldly to him, Ricardo had a hunch, that one day, Anastasia would be the one to remove the slave collar around his neck. As Anastasia seemed to have run into some issues with the Chamber of Commerce in the city. Ricardo pledged he would help Anastasia fix this by going along with her to the Chamber of Commerce and pay off her debt. They went up to his office, where the leader asked Ricardo what intentions he had with Anastasia, as he knew about how Ricardo had met her at the tavern. Although Ricardo tried to protest it, the leader insinuated that Ricardo was interested in Anastasia out of being a lolicon. After that, they were led to the main room which the Chamber of Commerce took place in. The leader continued to denounce Ricardo as a lolicon in front of the entire chamber, despite Ricardo and Anastasia's protests. This enraged Anastasia, making her demand them to leave him alone. She then demanded for them to remove his collar, which denoted his status as a slave. The Chamber of Commerce replied saying that she already had a large debt of 48 silver coins, and 32 copper coins. Removing Ricardo's collar would cost far more and would greatly damage her credit. However, Anastasia recalled the man who had once offered her her first job and continued with confidence, stating that she wanted Ricardo's collar removed so that he would regain his freedom and be happier. Anastasia had saved up for this moment, she took out a bag with 200 silver coins and 100 copper coins. Enough to pay both her debt and free Ricardo. After a few minutes of discussing Anastasia's offer and negotiating to remove his collar, the Chamber of Commerce agreed. Having been freed from his fetters as a slave, Ricardo pledged his allegiance to Anastasia.

Sometime in the past, Ricardo and Anastasia met a man named Chuden, he hired Anastasia to become his apprentice, and hired Ricardo as his bodyguard.

Abilities
Resonance Wave: Ricardo unleashes burst of a violent destructive mana from his mouth. Unlike the Pearlbaton triplets, he can do it all on his own. Physical Fighter: Ricardo mainly fights hand to hand using both instinct and intuition honed over many years. Equipment: Ricardo wields a large great hatchet. Liger (ライガー Raigā): Ricardo and the members of the Fang of Iron ride on large grey wolves called Ligers. Although they are similar to Earth Dragons, Ligers lack strength, but they are more agile and have higher speed and endurance. They have a high chance of winning if they were to fight in a melee combat. Slave Collar (奴隷の首輪): When Ricardo was a slave, he used to wear a collar around his neck until it was removed by Anastasia. However, he kept it as a treasure so he'll never forget that time.

Trivia

 * Ricardo's relationship with the Fang of Iron and the association with Anastasia lasted more than 10 years.
 * Ricardo likes to make jokes and imitates like a dog as it is a part of his hobby.
 * Similar to Anastasia, Ricardo likes to drink alcohol-based drinks, most presumably Sake.