)—(\IV/)|—(

"Hold on, so let me get this straight. Demi-humans grow up like normal people. However, their growth can be influenced by the Status Magic. As they gain levels, their age will rapidly increase until they hit a certain point and then they simply grow as per usual. In other words, they get to basically skip puberty if they put in levels when they're young which is your situation right now?"

"Pretty much, I think. That's what I recall from what my parents told me."

"So I guess the money-making question is obvious. How old are you right now?"

"Technically? Ten. Actually? I'm around sixteen now."

"... Huh."

Itsuki leaned forwards onto the lobby's table, holding his curly bangs up from his forehead as those hands sunk into their place instead, all while staring at Raphtalia from across the table. She had a rather wryly chuckle as Itsuki was coming to these terms, letting out a sigh.

"Geez, I know this is a fantasy world and all, but seeing you grow up quickly and be at my height in the span of weeks, I can't lie that it feels kinda weird."

After the unexpected encounter with Naofumi and Raphtalia, they all decided to catch up with one another to see how the other was doing so far, returning to the inn. He was still trying to wrap his head around the entire notion that levels influence the growth of demi-humans. On paper, it didn't sound absurd, but experiencing the phenomenon before his eyes was another factor all together.

There were a few onlookers that were passing through the inn, whether it was staff or other guests, but considering what he was told about demi-humans, the people of Riyute Village didn't seem to mind Raphtalia, casually sitting there. If anything, he felt like they were looking more at him, curious as to who he was. He would glance back at them before they conveniently scurried off to finish whatever task they had on hand.

Despite being a table of four, only Itsuki and Raphtalia had been seated. Naofumi was elsewhere and had been for a few moments, but he still had a good guess as to where he ran off to, especially when Itsuki offhandedly mentioned that he hadn't eaten a good breakfast this morning. Raphtalia and Naofumi hadn't eaten either and were trying to get their hands on ingredients for their own breakfast.

That left Itsuki and Raphtalia to talk with one another for a bit.

"So how's everything been going? Naofumi's been treating you well, I take it?"

"Yes, I couldn't have asked for anyone else. When you and Master Naofumi both came into the slave trader, I thought I was going to suffer even more like my previous master, but I was happy to be wrong. He makes me yummy food, makes sure that I'm not pushing myself too much, and my coughing has basically disappeared thanks to his medicine."

"Oh?" Itsuki brightened up when he heard that last part. "Naofumi can make medicine now? I should probably ask him to make some for me! We've been running out because we recently ran into a terrible situation that nearly got us dead. It was almost a miracle that we survived."

"W-What happened!?"

He still had a sour taste about what happened at Rabier's manor and he promised to himself that the next time that they met, Rabier would have been dealt with, but he was now, he was in no condition to be able to run it back to that man.

"Stupid things with a stupid noble," he said with every cell spiting his existence. His hand unconsciously tightened into a fist and slammed on the table lightly. "We were staying with that guy in order to investigate sightings of wave monsters that had been still lingering around, but he pulled the trigger when I discovered that he was keeping demi-humans slaves. After I saw them for myself, I wanted to confront him, but it got reversed on us, so we had to run."

Itsuki mulled over the memory of yesterday, stepping over everything that Rabier had said to them.

Through his sudden anger of his slave-keeping, he never had time to think it over and consult Kojeel about it, but if what he said was the truth, the implications hadn't been so bright for them, especially for Ren.

He was much too concerned about his apparent execution which they didn't have much to go off from.

Meanwhile, Raphtalia had been looking at Itsuki as if there was something on his face, but he didn't notice through his internal grumbling. Her face was a bit pale, stemming from the mere description of a fat noble who kept demi-human slaves.

"Mister Itsuki? I have a question."

Itsuki leered upwards. "Hmm? What is it?"

She wanted to ask out of curiosity, so after taking a deep breath and settling her heart, she opened up.

"Was that noble's name Rab—?"

"Alright, the food's all done!"

However, Naofumi had spectacular timing, coming in from the inn's kitchen with a platter of three bowls. Itsuki didn't manage to catch the first syllable of Raphtalia's predicted name as he turned around to see steam sailing from their breakfast. Even from a distance, the scent was strong and familiar to him, making him regret ever taking Naofumi's cooking for granted back home.

Naofumi placed down the two bowls, each with a set of chopsticks and a spoon, in front of him and Raphtalia, in which she had the same astounded expression, but for all the different reasons. She had never seen something like before, though still practically drooling over the delicious aroma. The noodles had been strangely submerged in a somewhat darkened liquid with vegetables, meat, and eggs to the side either sitting on the surface or against the edge of the bowl.

On the other hand, Itsuki knew immediately what this had been.

"Oh, I never thought I'd see ramen like this again!"

"I remembered seeing something like this back in the capital and the inn here sold something similar, more or less," Naofumi said as he settled himself down next to Raphtalia. "It wasn't exactly the same thing, so I used the same concept and tweaked it a bit to be able reproduce the flavor here. It was a bit tough, trying to get the right combination of ingredients, but I'd like to think it worked out in the end. I made sure to make yours a bit spicy and sour, just like how you usually like it."

"Raphtalia's really lucky that she usually gets all of this to herself!" He glanced up from the ramen. "You better enjoy Naofumi's cooking whenever he makes it, you hear?"

"Don't worry," she smiled. "I will!"

As Itsuki clapped his hands together, giving thanks for the meal alongside Naofumi, Raphtalia noticed that it had been the first time Naofumi did such a gesture here. She quickly imitated the heroes before they started eating.

Raphtalia thought it was great, though she had to eat it slowly due to the heat.

"Oh man!" Itsuki basically had stars ingrained in his eyes on the other side of the table. "If they knew, Motoyasu and Ren would be rolling around in their envy! I never thought ramen could taste so good!"

Naofumi chuckled. "Glad you liked it, Itsuki. Make sure there's nothing left."

Although Itsuki looked like he was the most proper and polite one out of the group, watching the scene of Itsuki slurping down his breakfast would make anyone think that he had no manners. By the time Raphtalia and Naofumi ate up a quarter collectively, Itsuki was already half done and he was still enjoying every bite.

Hearing the commotion, Welst had come down from his room to see Itsuki in his current state.

"H-Huh…? Sir Itsuki?" he yawned. His eyes were half closed, only being able to lay down peacefully for a few minutes. "You're already back? I thought it would have taken you longer than that."

However, the smell of the food immediately caused his eyes to open wide up. It was less of an innate instinct and more of a roaming curiosity as he calmly walked over to the table.

"Huh, what's that?"

"It's called ramen," Naofumi answered in Itsuki's steed whose mouth was filled at the moment. "You're someone from Itsuki's party, right? It slipped my mind to make portions for you and the others on Itsuki's party, so I'll have to apologize."

"No, that's fine," he said, holding his hand up. "I'm not that hungry anyways, especially if the Shield Hero has to get up and make me food. Something about having a Cardinal Hero as a personal chef doesn't sit right with me."

"Oh, you know me?"

Welst scrunched his eyebrows, slightly offended with an exasperated grunt. "Sir Shield Hero, with all due respect, I was in the same room when the party members were distributed and during your trial."

Naofumi flinched at the casual tone that Itsuki's party members had. He was more expecting something of an outrage that Itsuki was eating at the same table as a criminal, but Welst had continued his thoughts, seeing the surprised expression covering the hero.

"Look, I'm not that dumb to think that you didn't actually commit the crime. I'd actually say that a decent percentage of people don't think you actually did it, but they will stay quiet because of the influence that the Church of Three Heroes have."

Welst came over to Itsuki's side, taking the free seat, but Itsuki stopped his intake and gulped down whatever was in his mouth quickly to speak.

"W-Wait, so you knew the entire time that the result was ridiculous?"

"Yeah, but there wasn't any point in saying anything about it," he said, leaning an elbow onto the table. "I'm just an adventurer with no ties to politics. There's literally nothing I could have done if that was the king's final verdict, so it's better to shut up. To be honest, the king probably gave you that sentence in order to prevent backlash from the Church since it was cut so short, but people will be people and assume what's on the surface."

Naofumi blinked at Welst's deduction.

"I never thought about it like that…"

"Well, you never know what the Church might do, both the main branch and the extremists."

Welst took one glance at Naofumi and another at the door, before leering over to Itsuki.

"In any case, we should probably distract Mald long enough for him to not realize that you're here."

Raphtalia tilted her head. "Is this Mald person another one of your party members?"

"Yeah," Welst nodded, "and he's not going to take too kindly to the Shield Hero and… Oh, you're a demi-human?" Welst took his first good look at Raphtalia and noticed the twitching ears on her head, but quickly responded with a sour slump on the table. "And with that, you just made the encounter with Mald all so more important to avoid!"

Raphtalia jolted up in surprise. "I-I'm sorry?"

Itsuki took a sip of the broth while realizing that Welst had validity in his concerns, but he thought the straightforward method was a bit rude to Naofumi. After all, it seemed like they had been stationed at Riyute Village for some time and he couldn't simply tell them to leave due to Mald's bad attitude.

However, Naofumi spoke up before Itsuki could.

"Ah, well. I can't really do that," he said. "I've been lending a hand to this village when they asked me to watch over the miners. Though, today should be the last day that I'll be here."

"Watch over the miners…?" Itsuki widened his eyes, darting between the duo. "Wait, were you two those apparent adventurers that helped solve that mineshaft problem?"

"Yes, we were," Raphtalia nodded. "It was a bit difficult, but we ended up killing the monster that was stopping the people of Riyute Village from entering. There are still a few more unnatural monsters in there, but none too dangerous if there are people prepared to fight against them and that's what we've been hired to do."

"The miners are probably grabbing as much as they can before the Shield Hero has to inevitably leave to go elsewhere," Welst deduced. "Until then, it looks like the Shield Hero has been offering himself as a personal bodyguard."

"After breakfast, we were going to meet up with the miners at the entrance," Naofumi followed up. "I hope we won't be in the way much of that party member since we'll be there for about half of the day."

"Ah, maybe Mister Itsuki should come with us!" Raphtalia said, clapping her hands at the idea. "It would be helpful if there were more people with us!"

"But I don't want to be bothering Itsuki if he had stuff to do…"

"Don't worry, I'll help you out," Itsuki answered. "The things that are important for me right now is debriefing with my party members. If Kojeel and Mald are busy right now, I might as well do something in order to help out the people here."

Itsuki glanced over to the mage.

"Want to come with us, Welst?"

"I got nothing better else to do, so sure. Why not?" he shrugged. "Though, I do need to stop by that weapons shop to get me a new staff for casting magic effectively." He stood up from his seat and promptly headed to the door. "I'll meet up with everyone at the entrance then. I'm assuming the backside since that's the direction to the Riyute Mines? We passed by some of them on our way to the inn."

With a nod from Naofumi, Welst left the inn, leaving the others to finish up their meals. Through the conversation, Itsuki had already been practically finished with his ramen whereas Naofumi and Raphtalia hadn't eaten half yet. He slumped back in his chair with a full and satisfied stomach, moaning a noise of relaxation.

Naofumi was expecting Itsuki to stand up and head off to prepare himself for the day, but he was certainly surprised when a grim expression suddenly overtook him. His fingers had been tightly held to one another on his lap and his sights were locked on a downward angle. He was concerned that the meal wasn't to the usual standard, but Itsuki had already expressed his enjoyment.

Then what was it?

"... Naofumi, we need to have a talk." His voice could have sliced the air. "I was planning to talk to you after breakfast, but if you need to help out the miners, then we'll talk as we go."

"A talk? About what?"

Itsuki's eyes slowly panned up.

"It's about Ren. I think he's in some serious trouble right now."

)—(\IV| Chapter 1-25 |IV/)|—(
)\( Sin of Justice )/(

As Naofumi and Raphtalia met up with the miners with Itsuki and Welst alongside them, he made introductions to the new 'adventurers' that would help them out for no further cost. That latter part made it easier for them to ease into the team as the miners didn't have anything to complain about having more people protecting them.

Itsuki noticed that Raphtalia's choice of weapon had been the sword, but she always kept a dagger sheathed on her, probably in case of emergencies.

They went off to the mineshaft where the area had looked much more better than when Naofumi had first arrived. The buildings were still in rough shape, but all of the fallen minecarts had been cleaned up and the interiors had been reorganized properly. A portion of the first day had been dedicated to this, having a better workplace for better efficacy.

As Naofumi led the way for the miners deeper into the mountain, the rest of the combined squad had trailed close behind him. He had been informed which area had been the focus for today and had the torch in his hands, changing shields in order to increase its effectiveness. Raphtalia had the map, directing him where to turn.

A few monsters had blocked the path, but the grounded enemies had been easy for Raphtalia. After fighting them enough times, she had grown accustomed to their attacks and was able to coordinate with Naofumi to fend them off effectively. It was the bats that they had some trouble with, but having Itsuki and Welst, both ranged fighters, helped significantly on those ends.

They came to another clearing, brightened by the reflecting ores, that he couldn't recognize, but there was a river flowing to the side with rushing speeds. It didn't look strong enough to overtake a person, but if they had fallen in by accident, it could have led into trouble.

As the miners went off to do their work, Naofumi sat down with Raphtalia taking her place next to him. Their posture signaled that they were ready to get back up on their feet at any moment. Itsuki, on the other hand, took his seat on a nearby rock as Welst remained to be standing.

Itsuki had gone off after saying that he wanted to talk about Ren, but Naofumi had been too shocked to ask him for any further details or what he meant by the fact that Ren was in serious trouble, but somewhere inside, he already knew. Considering the state Ren was in when he ran from the capital, there was little to his imagination that could have happened.

"He got arrested, didn't he?"

Naofumi wanted to get it out of the way, first and foremost. He wanted Itsuki to laugh it off, but his seriousness in the tone wasn't so easily shaken off.

"So the news had already spread out over here."

Naofumi didn't know if he should tell Itsuki that it hadn't been his assumption, but as he thought about telling him about his departure on Ren, the attempts wouldn't come out of his throat, even if he tried yanking them out. They were stuck, almost making it hard to breathe.

"How much of it is known to the public?"

"We… don't know," Raphtalia answered instead. "We didn't hear about it, but considering how he was fending off that knight so that we could escape the capital…"

Itsuki widened his eyes. "W-What…? You sounded like you two were there when Ren was captured or something."

She went on to confirm Itsuki's concern, explaining how they tried to help Ren out of the capital, evading capture from the knights, merely for them to fail in the end. In the end, the only result they managed to win themselves for certainty was further incrimination of the Shield Hero.

He wouldn't have doubted that Ren had told them to leave him behind to deal with the mess; it seemed all too fitting, yet he couldn't bring himself to that conclusion.

"So you just left him there!?"

His scream pulled the attention of the miners, but Raphtalia quickly left the conversation in order to reassure them that everything was fine. They were slightly uneasy, but her attractive appearance and attitude was enough to let them ignore the outburst superficially.

"I-I didn't know what else to do…" Naofumi mumbled as his body quivered, just thinking about that day. He glanced away from Itsuki out of shame."If the fight went on, we both would have been captured and besides, Ren didn't want me there anymore. I got in his way and I couldn't do anything there."

"But if it was a losing fight, the Sword Hero still had the right idea," Welst comforted. "It was better for you to escape with your slave rather than to have everyone go down at that moment."

"No, that's not it!" Naofumi pleaded. "If I had known what I should have been doing, I could have helped Ren out there! I could have protected him properly!"

"I can imagine that Ren was really angry at you," Itsuki said, causing Naofumi to nod. Upon seeing it, Itsuki made a weak smile. "You know, he was never the type of person to be able to express himself properly. Do you remember what Ren was mad at you for?"

Naofumi returned his gaze to his friend, trying to shift through the clouded memories. "He said… I was functionally useless to him. It definitely hurts, especially if it was coming from him, but he was right. My contributions only slowed Ren down and—"

"That's not all he said, I know that for sure," Itsuki interrupted, disapproving the answer. "Think about the first time he lashed out, after the trial ended and we met up with you. Do you remember why he was mad at that time?"

"It was… because I told you two to not pursue my case. Something about me not taking it seriously."

"He was angry for your own benefit, Naofumi. It was his rant that got in your head, causing you to end up buying Raphtalia, right?"

They looked over to the demi-human who had been acting as the barrier from the workers before she dismissed herself to come back to Naofumi's side. She was a bit confused why the heroes had their eyes on her when she sat down and was about to ask if there was something on her face, but Itsuki continued beforehand.

"He knew you were going to end up hurting yourself, whether you knew it or not, in the long run. Ren just has a weird way of showing that he cares about people." Itsuki had a quiet laugh for himself. "You get used to it after spending enough time with him."

"Then what about Motoyasu? It seemed like he was really mad at him as well."

Itsuki wryly groaned while awkwardly averting eye contact. "Uhm, that's a totally different topic altogether. Ren does care for Motoyasu to an extent, but I think there are some... choice words that he would want to get out of the way first and foremost."

With Naofumi slightly cheering up from Itsuki's comment, the attention was returned.

"Look, I'm sure Ren was yelling at you for a different reason this time and it wasn't to hurt your feelings."

Ren's words, as if they were echoing through the cavern, were embedded in his mind.

"Stop worrying about me. It's honestly annoying. For a change, how about you start worrying about yourself? I'm not telling you to be entirely selfish, but you could stand to become a bit more self-aware."

Naofumi could only wince in that reflection, remembering how he was intending to give himself up in order for Raphtalia to escape from the dog monster. If he truly did die there, he would have failed in Ren's request for himself. Raphtalia even told him that she herself didn't want him to die. Even though he still considered their victory as a miracle, he wasn't sure if that was what Ren wanted for Naofumi.

What exactly did it mean to be 'self-aware'? How would he go about doing it?

He felt like he had the answer, but it had been constantly escaping his tongue.

"Anyways, that wasn't what I was intending to talk about," Itsuki said, shaking his hand out. "So yeah, Ren did get arrested from what I heard. One of my party members, Kojeel, was a knight in disguise of an adventurer and she was alerted about the arrest as well."

"I can only hope that Ren got off with a punishment similar to mine. Being the Sword Hero who can attack, I would imagine he would be in a better seat than me, but I'm not sure thanks to all the commotion we managed to stir up in the capital."

Welst hummed in the agony of seeing one's ignorance, but it couldn't have been helped if it wasn't common news yet. "If that was the case, we wouldn't even be talking about the Sword Hero, but Sir Itsuki and I heard some troubling news from the noble we were staying with before."

Welst watched Itsuki to see if there were any cues to stop talking about the incident at Rabier's, either if Naofumi had already been informed already or he didn't want for him to know for whatever reason, but without any cutoffs, Welst went ahead and explained what happened to them yesterday night. He kept the story straight on the point, but much to Raphtalia's curiosity, he never revealed who the noble was by name.

"That's when we heard from him that the Sword Hero was getting executed for his crimes."

"S-Seriously!? That can't be real!"

Naofumi's outburst had drawn the miners' attention again for the second round, but they tried not to let it bother them as the first time around. His shock managed to kick him back up on his feet though, holding his head in grief.

"How… How could they just decide to do something like that? The king said that they couldn't punish me properly because I was a hero. What's with the drastic change in rules here!?"

"Honestly, I'm not too sure what the game is here," Itsuki said, biting his thumb. "The logic doesn't make any sense. If Melromarc has influence of the Church of Three Heroes, you would think that the Shield Hero would be the one on the executioner's calling, not one of the gods that the Church praises."

"Hey, we still need that confirmation from Kojeel, but I don't think those words were meant to be a parting gift," Welst added. "It felt like a final bag of salt being rubbed into the wound before we were suppose to die."

Itsuki clicked his tongue. "Either way, I won't stand for this. I don't understand what type of justice system would allow for these types of things to happen to us. Weren't we supposed to be helping save everyone in this world from the waves of destruction? How the hell are we supposed to do that if the capital keeps arresting us?"

"What are you planning on doing then, Itsuki?"

Itsuki paused for a moment. "I'm… not too sure myself, but I want to head to the capital to see someone first and foremost. I don't know why the situation played out the way that it did, but beside the noble and his connection to the Church of Three Heroes, we also had a name to go by, the person that had links to the attack on us."

"Aldrecht, the Lord of Calamity himself," Welst answered, almost disappointed by it. The image of the old man had flashed in Naofumi's head. "How could a man, highly regarded by us mages and other scholars, stoop so low to go against the Cardinal Heroes like so?"

"We have no other leads here and besides, Ren thought about Naofumi's situation before and he concluded that it was either the Church or Aldrecht that was in charge here. Never once did he guess them to be working together, but that could also be the case while Ren was receiving red herrings the entire time."

Itsuki held onto his bow tightly.

"But no matter what, I can't let Ren die like this."

Seeing Itsuki's resolve like this, Naofumi found it to be a little too bright for him. Even after running away, here he was, minding his own business at Riyute Village for the past few days even though he was one of the reasons Ren got captured in the first place. Of course, that would have left a bitter taste on his tongue but he had no one else to blame except himself.

"You'll have to talk with Kojeel about this in depth," Welst suggested. "She'll probably be able to offer more options to you, being a knight and our ally at the same time. At least, I hope she's our ally. Aldrecht does have good influence on the Melromarcian Knights, due to his close relation to the king and queen."

"Then we'll have to leave that for later."

Naofumi stayed silent, circling the thought of Ren's execution in his mind. He hated that thought that it was his actions that directly led into that event's occurrence and to some degree, he felt obligated to fix things here.

"After we're done here, I want to come with you, Itsuki."

"That's what I originally wanted to talk to you for," Itsuki answered, "but given your circumstances, I don't think your presence is going to make things any better. I didn't know that you were there when Ren was arrested. The moment you return to the capital, the knights will probably be all over your head."

Naofumi's eyes slumped down towards the ground, unable to argue. It was true that he could have made more problems for his friend, just by being there.

"T-That's…"

"Hey, Naofumi!"

One of the miners shouted the hero's name, causing the group to look over towards the river, where the voice had originated from. The man was relatively muscular, holding his pickaxe over his shoulder while he, alongside a second and third person, had been glancing out to the water.

"I think you might want to check this out."

Naofumi ran over alongside the others and caught up with the scene that they were seeing. He flinched at first, not knowing what it was that he saw despite properly being able to register it in his mind. There was a monster body against the rushing water, just hovering a small portion of its black pelt above the surface.

As Naofumi squinted his eyes to get a better read on it, Raphtalia noticed what it was almost immediately.

"Master Naofumi, that's… that's the monster we fought the other day! The two-headed dog monster!"

"So you really did kill that thing," the miner said, pleasantly surprised. "I'll be honest, I thought you were pulling our leg, especially when you didn't exactly bring back the evidence that it died."

"I don't think there's any reason to be frightened of it and everyone should go back to their jobs, but…" Naofumi thought about the monster, humming a bit. "It's a unique monster that I haven't encountered before. I think we should pull it out for the sake of… collection's sake."

Naofumi knew about his infamy, so he never really told anyone that he was the Shield Hero here, just another adventurer. His lying ability still wasn't good, but it was made up by what truth the villagers assumed about him and even now, the miner was truly lax about Naofumi's odd desire for the monster.

"Well, you're free to take it. We just wanted to have you check it out, just in case if it was a monster waiting to pounce on us. We'll call you when there's another problem."

As the miner left, Naofumi had covertly changed his shield to the [Rope Shield] and activated one of its other abilities, one that had less combat performance and more utility. It had the ability to shoot out a rope at his target and wrapped itself around it for teetering, pulling and other niche activities.

He aimed the shield at the monster and caught it in the rope, pulling it back slowly like it was a fish from a pond. A very large, dead fish with legs and fur.

He backed up to drag it up from the current, dropping the drenched corpse onto the cavern floor. Seeing the wounds and punctured skin, he became very certain that this was the monster that Raphtalia managed to defeat, but the body had definitely deteriorated over time.

Raphtalia took out a black dagger and started cutting up the pieces for Naofumi. It was a bit brutal and Itsuki saw that Raphtalia had to stop a few times to get a hold herself, but she looked like she wanted to persist for some reason. After it was all finished up, Raphtalia took another second to take deep breaths.

"Don't like dead bodies?" Welst asked.

"It's the blood more than the body. Most of it is washed up now, but there's still some left. I used to freeze up in its sight," Raphtalia said, "but I'm starting to get better…"

She offered Naofumi to absorb one of the pieces, having him unlock a new shield.

[Two-Headed Black Dog Shield] 0/45 UC
(Equip Bonus) : Alert Shield
(Special Effect) : Dog Bite Counter
(Mastery Level) : 0
(Item Enhancement) : LV0

"Huh, this is a new one."

Covertly switching over to the new shield, it was a bit frightening, replicating the monster's two heads on its surface instead of a solid surface that the shield had. It was as if someone had placed the animal trophies, usually reserved over fireplaces, onto the armament instead.

"It looks like [Alert Shield] tells me if there's any monsters around the area and [Dog Bite Counter] is a skill I can activate if someone is attacking me."

Switching back to a normal shield, Raphtalia had handed Itsuki another piece of the monster.

"Mister Itsuki, please take one. There's more than enough for you to unlock a weapon for yourself."

Itsuki nodded and took the monster piece close for his bow to absorb, thanking her in the process. The bow did take the material in. A notification would usually pop up, alerting him that a new weapon was unlocked, but he didn't receive any of the such this time around which didn't make sense, considering how Naofumi just unlocked his.

He tilted his head at the weapon, slightly confused.

"Hey, the bow didn't give me a new form for use here."

"Huh? Really?" Naofumi said. "Try another piece."

Raphtalia grabbed one more and had Itsuki absorb it like normal, but once again, it didn't happen. If anything, he went to check his inventory to see if there was a reason for that. He was relatively surprised to see that the bow had been rejecting it from the weapons and simply added it to that stash alongside all the other materials.

"Yeah, I'm not getting anything from this."

"Maybe not all monsters give out weapon forms for every hero?" Raphtalia guessed.

"That seems a bit unfair and dumb," Itsuki grumbled. He honestly thought that the [Two-Headed Black Dog Shield] looked cool and wanted to see how it would have looked on his bow, but if the system was going to be finicky like this, he had no other choice except for succumbing to its odd rules.

He wondered if any other weapons had that rule and he simply didn't notice it.

He never really glanced through his entire list of weapons, for there were too many to keep track at once, but as he scrolled through all of them, he started to see some unusual weapons that he had never remembered getting before. Of course, it was obvious that he wouldn't be able to remember each and every one, but his jaw dropped when he came to a particular weapon.

It was the [Two-Headed Black Dog Bow].

He had it already unlocked somehow.

"... Huh?"

[Two-Headed Black Dog Bow] 0/35 UC
(Equip Bonus) : Alert Bow
(Special Effect) : Dog Bite Arrow
(Mastery Level) : 0
(Item Enhancement) : LV0

"Oh, so it did go in properly!"

Naofumi cheered as he saw Itsuki's bow transformed in a form with a black pelted frame and two smaller dog heads around where the arrow was launched out. However, Itsuki was less astounded by it despite his interest in having a version for himself.

"What's wrong, Itsuki?"

"It looks like the reason why the material wouldn't unlock the bow was that I already had it unlocked."

Raphtalia gasped. "You fought one already?"

He shook his head. "You would think that, but I haven't even seen anything with two heads in this world yet aside from this moment."

Welst nodded, rubbing his chin. "Yeah, this is my first time seeing a monster like that in my life. There's no way we encountered something like that in our journey so far."

"That's… weird…" Naofumi rubbed his chin, trying to come up with a guess at it. "Maybe… it glitched out and forgot to show you the notification box? I don't think there's a feature where it tells you when you unlocked it, so you could have recently unlocked it now."

Itsuki mused about the idea, but there wasn't any other explanation to it that he could think of.

He remembered how on the first day that they were there, he had opened up the status magic in order to check the rule on their inability to party together. That was when Itsuki noticed that the text had been jumbled up, but he quickly saw that it returned back to return, making him doubt that he even saw it in the first place.

It wasn't as if there were any bug report systems in place for some development team to fix here. He imagined that the Status Magic wasn't something that could be touched upon so easily.

"I guess it's nothing worth troubling my mind about," Itsuki grumbled, changing his bow back to a normal steel frame. In the meanwhile, Naofumi had stuffed the rest of the monster into his inventory. "I still have better things to worry here like seeing what I can do for Ren here."

"Well, it looks like it's going to be an easy day for us," Raphtalia said. "Monsters haven't been appearing like the last few days, not that there were many attacking us to begin with."

"What about a short snack while the miners are finishing up their job?" Naofumi suggested, seeing the workers starting to fill up the minecarts.

"No, I'm not eating the dog like that," Itsuki said monotonously.

"T-That's not what I was saying!" Naofumi exclaimed, slightly flustered. Out of his inventory, he started taking out a paper bag that was filled with a fresh bakery scent. "I-I bought some pastries at the local shop and I just wanted to see if you wanted some."

"Yeah, I guess that's a much better treat," Itsuki said, breaking into a subtle laugh. That's when Naofumi realized that his prior comment was merely a joke and he tilted the bag to his friend. "Thanks, Naofumi."

After handing everyone their own bun, they kept watch for about another hour before the miners had gotten what they needed. They were thanked and they headed off back to the village once everyone had made it out safely.

)—(\IV/)|—(

Upon entering the inn, Itsuki noticed that Kojeel had been sitting down in silence. She had changed her outfit to be more suited as a knight figure, most likely having no further intentions of hiding her identity once it was exposed. Even her spear had been different, looking more high quality than what she was using before.

When he and Welst stepped in, the chimes at the door rang, prompting Kojeel to glance over to the entrance before she stood up from the table and came over. She looked like she wanted to be on track first, but she saw who had been accompanying them.

"So the Shield Hero is here as well?"

Kojeel asked rhetorically. Naofumi paled, realizing who she was from the emblem on her armour while Raphtalia was ready to fight for him, but before Itsuki could clear anything up, Kojeel raised her two hands.

"Fear not," she calmly responded. "I may have orders to bring you back to the capital if encountered, but the circumstances surrounding the Bow Hero is my current priority. I'll overlook your presence for now, not that I have any other reasonable option."

Itsuki sighed a breath of relief.

"So you're the incognito knight that Welst was talking about?" Naofumi asked. He extended his hand outwards, believing she was expressing the truth. "It's nice to meet you. My name's Naofumi."

Instead of taking his hand, Kojeel bowed. "I am Dame Kojeel, a high knight of Melromarc's forces. Under normal terms, I would be glad to be of your assistance if asked."

Naofumi awkwardly pulled his hand back, seeing that Kojeel had no intention to shake his hand. Though, he told himself it was more about the chivalry rather than any personal attacks or grudges to him.

"Anyways," Itsuki said, causing Kojeel to release her posture, "have you found out anything else about Ren's situation? You still need to tell us about what's going on here."

"Please come with me then. I would rather that we talk inside a private room than out in an open lobby."

Itsuki looked over to Naofumi to see if he wanted to come along, but he was rather silent in his response. He seemed like he wanted to come into the meeting, but considering the nature of it, there was a part of Naofumi that didn't want to intrude.

"You could always tell me what happened later tonight," Naofumi said, shrugging. "I need to get sorted out to leave tomorrow morning. I have to leave as soon as possible, right?"

Raphtalia nodded. "Yes, I remember that our travel supplies were running low before we entered Riyute and we haven't had the chance to restock yet."

Itsuki could guess that Naofumi was pushing away his curiosity for now, but it wasn't as if this was his last chance to hear about. Agreeing to Kojeel's terms, Itsuki and Welst left the lobby up to a separate room reserved on the third floor, being reserved for the hero. The room itself hadn't been anything special, just like most of the other inns, but Itsuki could feel his muscles tensing up as Welst closed the door behind them.

Something about the situation made him want to look away, now that he had the opportunity to look at the truth. As much as he wanted to do something to help out Ren if it was true, he didn't understand his own dissuasive mind.

As Welst took a seat on the bed, Kojeel turned around to face Itsuki with a clear sight. Her eyes had been much more focused and sharp than Itsuki had remembered, but it might have been her new—rather he should say old—outfit adding to that effect.

"So what did you find out, Kojeel?" Welst had been the one to ask, noting that the first few seconds had been quiet for some reason. "Hopefully some news that we misheard Lord Rabier. I haven't met the Sword Hero yet, but doesn't seem like a bad person enough to warrant an execution."

"Unfortunately, I have not," Kojeel said, shaking her head. She crossed her arms, as if unimpressed by herself. "I could not make any contact with the kingdom. Typically, there would have been someone to be able to take my report with my written concerns, but no one had shown up this time."

"It sounds like somebody is slacking on their job," Welst said, whistling the other way.

"If it was a normal messenger, I'd be obligated to agree. However, these people are paid by the kingdom and are expected to be diligent in their work. I have seen nothing except for that same diligence ever since I became a knight," Kojeel sighed heavily. "It means that there is another issue at hand, but I don't know much about it to make a sensible guess."

"So you can't contact the king or anyone in the capital to confirm if Ren is getting executed here?" Itsuki asked. "Isn't there any other option?"

"In accordance with the capital, Riyute Village is not very far away. On horseback, it's likely to take less than a day to reach it. I plan to leave tomorrow morning to give my direct messages."

Itsuki nodded. "Then we should make our own preparations right away so that—"

"Perhaps you misheard me, Sir Itsuki." Her voice had been firm, unrelenting in its coldness. "I am leaving by myself and entrusting both Welst and Mald to protect you while I'm gone, alongside some of the guardsmen here. It's something I rather not want to do, but given the circumstances, I must make such decision."

"Wait, you're just leaving us here!?" Itsuki felt enraged, taking a step forward with clenched fists. "No way! I need to find out Ren's situation for myself too!"

Kojeel grunted unamusingly, closing her eyes and turning her head slightly away. "That's unnecessary and more importantly, it's an unneeded risk." Itsuki flinched at her explanation, but before he could inquire more, she continued anyways. "The ones that attacked us at Lord Rabier's manor had been the Holy Knights, correct? If their intentions were true to eliminate the Bow Hero, I cannot risk bringing you closer to their main base of operations, especially if what you heard about the Sword Hero was truthful."

"Yeah, I think I have to agree with Kojeel here," Welst added on, removing his shoes and crossing his legs on the bed. "Besides, those knights don't know our location yet. As far as they know, we must have rushed over to the closest village instead of heading over to Riyute Village thanks to Kojeel's recommendation. We have some time to spend here and I don't think Kojeel would waste any of hers."

"That's ridiculous!" he stomped heavily. "I'm not going to just stay put here while Ren is potentially facing his death here! And I need to have a few choice words with Aldrecht while I'm in the capital!"

Kojeel shook her head with such a dismissive tone. "Honestly, with what happened with Lord Rabier, I felt obligated to leave you behind. Did you not rush in to confront Lord Rabier after discovering that he had slaves?"

"That's because what he was doing was wrong!"

"And for that," Kojeel said, walking around him until she was behind, "I fear that you would do the same thing."

Itsuki clicked his tongue, feeling the heat reaching his head. "How else am I supposed to execute justice without confronting them!? If I don't deal with the problem at its core, then it's as good as nothing! I could have tried to free them back at the manor, but then Rabier would have simply bought more! I had to stop him, then and there!"

"And so what?" Itsuki turned around to see Kojeel, for the first time, having such an annoyed expression. It honestly frightened him slightly, but Welst seemed much more taken aback from the new face. "If the Sword Hero is determined to be executed soon, who will you stop? The king that made the final decision? And if you find out that Aldrecht had been orchestrating that attack on you, what would you do? Have the king's advisor be arrested?"

He knew that they were big figures in the country, but if evil lurked in their hearts, he had to find a way to stop. Justice didn't care about the status of a person, but it cares about their evil wrongdoings and seeks to correct that. Heroes of justice fought to protect that ideal and that's what Itsuki believed from when he learned what it was.

Their world was cursed to never have this ideal sense of justice where evil was allowed to harm with no repercussions. It didn't matter how much they hurt others, they never got what had been coming to them and that always frustrated him. That's why he wanted to pursue that ideology, to make sure that evil was judged correctly and punishment was appropriately executed.

"Then I'll expose the king and Aldrecht for his crimes," he said sternly. "Have the people revolt against them. If their crimes are shown to everyone, then it'll be hard to deny them, right?"

And yet, he didn't realize the hypocrisy of it.

If Ren truly committed a crime, he would have been under that radar of justice, but Itsuki kept looking the other way. He kept excusing his friend out of that spotlight, blaming others for the apparent injustice dealt against him, just as he did for Naofumi's case. He never thought about turning the gun onto his friends' heads and he would continue to never think about it.

"That simply strengthens my response to not let you leave the village, Sir Itsuki." Kojeel felt like she was hitting a brick wall and intended to end the conversation without rebuttal, so she reached for the door. "I don't know how it works in your world, but that isn't how things work here. We knights have our own justice to uphold here."

She turned her head away.

"Hold on! I'm not done yet!"

Itsuki moved towards her, about to grab her hand to stop her, but he was surprised when Welst had stood up and grabbed the extending arm to stop him. Welst had shook his head, telling Itsuki silently to not pursue the problem any further. He knew that despite any loud howling, Kojeel won't budge.

As the door closed, prompting Kojeel's departure, Itsuki had yanked himself out from Welst's grip.

"Why did you stop me!?" he growled. "I could have convinced her!"

Welst's hand slightly hurt from the sudden movement, shaking it a bit on his side without addressing the inconvenient pain. "Listen, I'm only trying to look out for you, Sir Itsuki. Keeping you in Riyute Village for now sounds like the better idea here."

"And you expect me to simply forget what we heard at Rabier's manor?"

"And you simply believe that the citizens will trust your words over the king and his advisor?" Itsuki staggered slightly from Welst's question. "I'm not a politics guy, but I do know that the Wise Sage King and the Lord of Calamity are both heroes trusted by them due to their contributions to the Siltvelt War. Furthermore with the guidance of this country's peace for many years. They won't ever believe the words of a Bow Hero, who hasn't even been here for a month, over them."

Itsuki gritted his teeth, unable to say a single thing about that harsh truth.

"You accuse them of something evil and it will most likely backfire. The people won't revolt and they'll see you as someone crazy. Maybe even a criminal as well."

"How would I be the criminal here!?" Itsuki stiffened at the hypothesis and took it as the conclusion. He pounded his chest and raised his voice even louder. "I'm trying to bring justice for everyone here! That's what my job is as a Cardinal Hero!"

Welst had stepped back from the burst of volume, but he found his footing quickly. He felt a bit awkward staring at the enraged Itsuki in his eyes, so he glanced somewhere else in the room, closing his eyes. He was trying to find the right words to get the Bow Hero to think a bit more rationally.

"Sir Itsuki? What is 'justice'?"

Itsuki frowned at the odd question. "What do you mean by that? Justice is when evil is punished! It's not a difficult concept!"

From games and books, this was what he learnt about that ideology. Granted, some of them had implications that justice must be done in secret, but that additional detail was something only on a backshelf.

"Then how do you define 'evil'?"

Itsuki was rather baffled, raising his eyebrow. "W-What are you trying to get at here, Welst?"

"Please answer the question, Sir Itsuki."

He stammered, trying to collect up what he defined as evil. It was something he definitely knew when he saw it, but it was much difficult to place the act into words, especially if the question came out of nowhere.

"Y-You just know it when you see it! Alright?"

"That's a pretty vague response, but I can't say that you're wrong. I get inexplicable gut feelings sometimes," Welst said in a low tone. There was some form of disappointment in his voice, but it felt like there was some type of understanding tacked onto it. "Though, I don't think Kojeel's own sense of justice is necessarily wrong either. She has her own duties to uphold here and her own code of conduct when it boils down to it."

Itsuki didn't understand what Welst was rambling on about, but Welst sighed deeply, putting up his hood and looked to exit the room.

"Maybe it's better if you sleep on it, Sir Itsuki," he said, still looking over at the docile-increasing hero. "I'm sure there's more you can do than take up the path, one equivalent of a criminal. Kojeel looks like an early-bird, so if you manage to figure out what you can do before then, I won't intrude on that moment."

"Own sense of justice, huh?"

Welst groaned rather heavily, scratching his head. "L-Look, the mood is getting way too dreary for me to be able to be here. I still need to find that idiot Mald and tell him of what's happening here. I enjoy your company, but I really don't want all the responsibilities to drop onto my lap."

Itsuki made a rather quiet chuckle, cheering up a bit.

"I thought you would have let him do what he wanted."

Holding onto the door, he hummed for his reply.

"Well, yeah, but after our escape from the manor, I guess…" Welst felt a bit embarrassed just saying those words. He hid his face, but it was a bit red under the hood's shadow. "I-I guess I can trust him a little bit. It doesn't change the fact that I still hate his guts!"

Itsuki let out another amused chuckle as Welst quickly left before he could become anymore flustered. It left himself alone as he unconsciously trailed himself towards the window, opening it for some fresh air. Even if what Welst said was unpleasant, it made him wonder what the state of this world had been if justice was failing him.

This world said that it was okay to have demi-humans as slaves and would overlook cruel acts by nobles.

This world said it was okay that a Cardinal Hero would be condemned for a crime he couldn't have done out of simply knowing his personality. This world said it was okay for a Cardinal Hero to be executed, if that even had been true, and another to be attacked by the same religion that worshipped them.

He didn't understand the type of justice would permit this to happen.

If this was Kojeel's sense of justice, he hated it. It was flawed and it allowed evil to pass and go as it pleased. He knew that in this flawed system, he himself needed to be the judge and the punishment, but he needed to hear the truth itself before he could act.

But if confronting and accusing him meant that he was to be deemed a criminal somehow…

'No, that has to be a scare tactic by Welst. There's no way something like that could make me a criminal.'

Itsuki wondered if there was a way to convince Kojeel to allow him to leave the capital and meet with the king and his advisor. If not, perhaps there was a way to convince Welst and Mald to let him go.

But he was a bit confused with himself.

He had doubt about meeting them, pursuing this justice and this truth.

Both Naofumi and Ren had been arrested and both seen as criminals, but when that tag had been directed onto him, there was fear. Knowing that heroes were not invincible to the name, he didn't really realize what it meant until the target had locked on his head.

He wanted to help, but he was scared.

Ever since he was little, he wanted to be a hero. To have this chance, only to throw it away, it only left him frozen in his thoughts.

He simply dipped his head out the window, trying to get fresh air. Perhaps Welst was right and he needed to get some sleep. Despite the sun still being up high, he decided to take a nap, draping the blanket and pillows onto the ground and closing his eyes.

)—(\IV/)|—(

An armoured man had walked into the forest, hidden by the denseness of the trees around him. His suit had been strong, enough to easily take on any of the monsters, hiding in the area. Through the shadows and trunks, he noticed a figure standing behind one of the trees and quickly approached it, but he knew it wasn't a monster.

It was another man, younger and smaller than him, but he could tell that he wasn't someone to mess around. With a dark cloak to blend in with the surroundings and a mask that hid the person's identity, staring at him was enough to send shivers on the spine, doubting on whether or not he was going to kill him.

"What is it that you wanted?" the masked man asked coldly. "If it was a report, you should have probably asked for one of the Church's shadows if so. I'm no messenger."

"You've been the one clearing the area of shadows, have you not?" the big man said with some snark, twirling his mustache. "Allies and foes alike, you've been eliminating them without discrimination."

"They all look the same to me."

"That, I can agree with, but that leaves me with no messenger to send my report."

The masked man turned away and grunted. "Then out with it."

"I believe Sister Altara should know that the Bow Demon is going to be isolated in Riyute Village for the next few days while his undercover knight is leaving towards the capital. She leaves tomorrow morning, much quicker than expected." There was a smug smirk added underneath the mustache. "We can't have any witnesses to alter the story, after all."

If the masked man had to be honest, he would probably be ordered to to take care of the knight anyways, but if he didn't have the direct command, he couldn't really be damned enough to do it ahead of time. Besides, if it was the knight that was going off by herself, then she would have been isolating herself to whatever fate had in store for her, making it much easier for him.

"Then I suppose that I'll go tell her." The masked man sighed and started walking away, unsheathing his dagger out from his sleeve. "Anything else you want to say?"

"That the Shield Demon somehow lived," he said with great displeasure. "I heard that he managed to defeat the monster we sent out into the mineshaft for him and the one that was supposed to be watching over to ensure he dies didn't exactly report back."

The masked man turned his head over his shoulder.

"Huh. You don't say."

"But this is a good way to wrap up loose ends, wouldn't you agree? Let's have the stories of the Shield Demon and the Bow Demon end here."

Continuing his departure, the dagger started to emit smoke to cover the masked man's body.

He didn't necessarily like to interact with people, especially if they were obviously too narrow-minded, but he supposed that was what he was signing up for when he decided to enlist himself as a free-lancer for the Church. They were all too concerned with the immediate results for their religion without thinking about the greater picture. Even the pope, the position regarded as the highest seat in their organization, did not question why this mysterious masked man decided to lend his help.

Though, that only made it easier for him.

"By the way, what about that mage that's with the Bow Hero? Seems like he'll be a bit troublesome, considering what the plan is. He must be dealt with by the end of this."

The mustached man laughed, holding onto his armoured suit.

"Don't worry about him. I'll easily take care of that useless mage. I have a bone to pick with him anyways and it'll be fun taking him down."

"Is that right? Then I'll leave you to that."

Something told him that with that attitude, he was going to find some difficulty in doing so, but that wasn't his own problem. If his brain wasn't able to have the capacity of being careful, it wasn't worth the trouble.

Without another word, the smoke completely devoured the masked man and as it collapsed to the ground, he was no longer able to be seen. The mustached man, on the other hand, turned back to Riyute Village, in preparations for what would result tomorrow.

He'd show 'Sir Itsuki' what happens when he sympathizes with demi-humans slaves and the Shield Hero.

If that fake hero called it justice, then it was up to the Church to call it a sin and give the people a reason to know that.

Author's Notes

I previously mentioned that I didn't want to give the Two-Headed Dog Shield to Naofumi, but I decided against that feeling and allowed him to pick it up. It adds a bit more to the arsenal, but I have a whole other reason for allowing Naofumi to get it. And it doesn't even involve the Two-Headed Dog Shield at all.

Man, I love how things just somehow work out inexplicably, allowing a good opportunity that couldn't be passed down.

)—(\IV/)|—(
SKIT 046 : Naofumi's Cooking Skills

[Raphtalia] : "Master Naofumi's food is truly amazing! It might not be efficient to have him cook all the time, but I would love to have his meals for special occasions or one-in-a-while!"

[Itsuki] : "Yeah, his food is out of this world! Even in a new world with different, unknown ingredients at his disposal, he still manages to somehow create a wonderful dish. It's even better than what meals I had back at the royal castle!"

[Naofumi] : "You two are really playing up my cooking, aren't you? In my eyes, the ramen hadn't been exactly perfect yet. It was more of a test run to see how the ingredients would mash up together, but I have a better idea how to make Melromarcian Ramen now."

[Itsuki] : "Your ability to cook is something amazing, Naofumi. It feels like you're cheating the system, almost. I remember you once went to a restaurant with us and we expressed how good the food was, so you decided to just literally make the meals the next day. You didn't even have the recipe and you still nail the taste!"

[Naofumi] : "It's just practice. It's nothing special. I had to cook for myself when I was younger, but I ended up liking it as a hobby. It was simply overtime that I developed more skills pertaining to tasting and making. It's not particularly crazy, you know. There are chefs that can do that across the world."

[Raphtalia] : "The people in your world sound amazing, Master Naofumi. Did your parents help teach you?"

[Naofumi] : "They… uhm…"

[Raphtalia] : "Why are you looking the other way?"

[Naofumi] : "They thought I was a lost cause and completely neglected me in favour of my younger brother. When they found out that my cooking was actually good, they ended up using me to make high-end restaurant meals for the family."

[Itsuki] : "Ouch. At least we don't abuse you like that."

[Naofumi] : "W-When you phrase it in such a way, I'm not sure if that's supposed to be a compliment."

)—(\IV/)|—(

)—(\IV/)|—(
SKIT 047 : Itsuki's Shooting Skills

[Naofumi] : "Raphtalia, I'm going to try and bait the bats down here!"

[Raphtalia] : "I'm ready to attack!"

[Naofumi] : "It's coming!"

[Raphtalia] : "Hah! O-Oh no, I missed! I'll get it next time!"

[Naofumi] : "It's fine. I feel like these bat monsters are getting quicker by the day."

[Welst] : "..."

[Itsuki] : "..."

[Welst] : "Sir Itsuki?"

[Itsuki] : "Yeah, I know. I'm firing an arrow right now. And..."

[Raphtalia] : "Ah! It got hit out of the air!"

[Naofumi] : "Itsuki, you're amazing! You got that to land, even when it was flying about so quickly!"

[Welst] : "Sir Itsuki rarely misses his arrows. If it's not blocked or parried, I have confidence in betting on his shots landing."

[Itsuki] : "Yeah. Turns out I'm pretty good with a bow! I should have joined the archery club at my school if I knew about it. Not that I was able to due to my job, but still, it's the thought that's fun."

[Welst] : "Though, I wouldn't want to be on the receiving end of those arrows…"

)—(\IV/)|—(