It was absolute horror the two felt as they were forced to watch as their fellow hero was branded by the wickedly grinning witch of a princess, the smell of charred flesh and blood soon filling the large room making both Ren and Naofumi sick to their stomach.
Motoyasu's screams had long since been silenced, a silent cry replacing the shouts of pain and agony. A testament to the endurance of the shield, the mind may be weak but the body would not fail. He soon stood on his knees, but his body would not let his back bend.
"That's quite enough, we believe," A voice echoed before a pair of cloaked strangers appeared before Malty, the crimson haired princess flinching as she dropped the brand, "This transgression shall be noted."
Aultcray only growled as he grit his teeth before sighing, "Fine! I shall cross that bridge when it comes… Heroes," He muttered, "As is expected of me, you are to be presented with your monetary aid. However, as this cretin has still been charged for crimes against the crown, he shall receive the minimal sum before being banished from my kingdom!"
The cloaked figures said nothing at this, but looked perturbed at the king's stance on punishing the guilty hero.
"Is no one going to get him off the floor!?" Naofumi shouted before being pushed back.
"An escort of guards shall lead him away from this town," Aultcray replied, "From there, he shall walk until he finds our hallowed church."
"Oh that is bull-" Diona shouted before being pulled back, narrowly dodging a spear tip pointed at her head.
"Let's just follow them out," Sucrose offered softly.
"For the dog," Aultcray mumbled as a sack of coins was tossed next to Motoyasu's still heaving body for he dare not move and collapse, "One hundred copper coins."
"That's it?" Naofumi whispered with worry.
"For the rest of you," A knight hurriedly throws two more bags at the group of four, "Two hundred silver each. Unlike this worthless pile of filth, you two are expected to fight on my kingdom's behalf."
"Don't worry," Sucrose stated solemnly before pulling Ren back gently, "We'll be there."
"Come on, Master. Motoyasu will…" Diona tried to find her words before looking away, pain in her eyes, "Let's go."
Once away, the group of four were immediately pulled away by the tavern guard, "Information has been found on your Raphtalia."
"Wait, really!?" Naofumi cried out, "Where is she!"
"I swear to God, Naofumi," Ren muttered, "Nope! I am going to wait for Motoyasu and follow him out. Not my fault you can't keep it in your pants."
"Look, I'm sorry, but I don't know what else to do!" Naofumi grimaced before he looked down at the bag of silver in his hand, "Wait, I got it! Here!"
Before Ren could say more, Naofumi practically threw his silver at the boy before running off, Diona and the tavern guard sighing before running off to get him.
"I'm never going to understand him," Ren grumbled before looking back to the castle entrance. Before long, the tortured hero was being strung along, an iron clasp around his neck as he struggled to to stand and walk.
"I know what you're thinking, you suicidal bleeding heart," Sucrose commented idly as she kept a hand around Ren's wrist, "And it's a terrible idea no matter how you cut it."
"So I'm just supposed to watch?" Ren asked as he bit back his anger.
"For now. Things will get better, I promise…"
/- - -/
-Itsuki-
"I can… break these… cuffs!" Itsuki growled as he struggled against his bindings, the metal grinding against his sore skin from the seemingly endless amount of time that had passed.
"You can't break those cuffs," Keel taunted as Itsuki gave a rebellious yell. Shaking his head, Keel sat down and crossed their arms, "Hey! So why do you know my friend!?"
"Your friend?" Itsuki questioned as he fell to his side, "Who's your friend? Razor?
"Huh? That weird boy?" Keel asked quizzically, "No! I mean Raphtalia!"
"Wait, Raphtalia?" Itsuki wondered aloud, "You mean she's real!?" Keel had been taken aback by this. Why would he ask if she was real if he was looking for her?
"Of course she's real!" Keel shouted with rising anger, "She's my best friend! We… I was saving up enough to get her out of slavery. Maybe even get her on the ship with Shipmaster Beidou. So don't tell me she isn't real!"
"A… slave?" Itsuki asked as he grunted and righted himself, "Naofumi was looking for a slave girl?"
"I don't care who the other heroes are if they're as mean as you!" Keel shouted in response to Itsuki insulting his best friend, Itsuki, mouthing out the word 'mean' in confusion, "I don't care if you are the Shield Hero!"
"Wait, but Naofumi said she was the answer to everything," Itsuki offered.
"Huh? What's that supposed to mean?" Keel asked as his anger faded.
"She's important," Itsuki replied in wonder, "She has to be. Look, Naofumi knew her name before he was sent to this world."
"Wow! Really!?" Keel exclaimed before scooting closer, "Is Raphtalia really important!?"
"I…" Itsuki would have shrugged the boy off, but wondered if this would work to his advantage, "I think she is the key to everything… I think we, as Shield Heroes, need her help to save the world."
"Y-you mean that?" Keel whispered in awe, "I always thought I was supposed to protect Raphtalia cause I'm a boy."
"Well maybe you can," Itsuki offered as Keel tilt their head to the side like a dog, "Put in a good word with your captain, get me out of these binds… then I'll tell you everything I know."
Keel couldn't run off fast enough, Itsuki praising the absolute dumb luck that fell on him as he did his best to hold back a laugh of triumph. Sighing, he closed his eyes and started to rest… before several watts of electricity jolted him awake.
"Keel told me an interesting story~" Beidou said sweetly as she looked down at Itsuki before placing a boot on his shoulder, "That the slave child you're looking for is more than important."
"I may have said something along those lines," Itsuki replied with a vicious grin, "What's it matter to you?"
"I thought it may have been a child's way of getting what they want, but this does change things," Beidou murmured before idly grazing her blade along Itsuki's face, lightning dancing as it shocked him and forced his hair to stand on end.
"Then you'll let me go?" Itsuki asked as Beidou giggled.
"Oh no no no~ I'm going to electrocute you a few more times before you tell me what I want to know," Beidou replied with a vicious grin… a grin which turned into a grimace of surprise as her ship lurched, "What bastard!? We will finish this later!"
With that, the pirate captain was gone as Itsuki smirked. Whoever or whatever decided to attack the ship, gave him the perfect opportunity to escape… especially since:
[Lightning Shield Unlocked,
Lightning Resistance Up]
/- - -/
-Motoyasu-
Was it all over? The eldest Hero thought as he panted, several screens seemingly screaming at him as his life bar seemed to spasm from constantly losing and regaining a single health point. It didn't exactly help that the mana poisoning problem still hadn't gone away… Shaking the pain away, as well as the various screens that may or may not have been important, Motoyasu allowed himself to be dragged out of the castle as the mustache knight from before, Mald took the bag of copper.
Once out, a crowd of people had started to throw everything from bricks to fruits and vegetables at him. To think, all this started because he offered to make a dress. Not like anyone cared, but it was an utter shame that the person now wearing that dress was a… word far too improper to refer to a lady as. It was a very nice dress after all. He worked really hard on that dress.
What was he to do now though? Was the question on his mind. Find a church? It didn't sound too difficult, but there was a nagging in his head that said 'If Myne- Princess Bitch The First, was a villainess in disguise, then finding the church would be like finding a nine inch needle in a ten inch needle factory.
As he pondered this, he was finally thrown away again as several items were practically pelted at his face. The first was a torn pair of brown shorts that seemed more like an oversized pair of boxers. The second had been the bag of copper and last was a single key that almost got lost in a patch of grass.
"May you rot as you traverse the path of repentance," Mald growled as he walked away, the contingency of knights following closely.
"Motoyasu," Ren murmured as he walked up to his fellow hero, the blonde now on his back as he stared at the sky, "You look like shit."
"Oh Ren-Kun… I feel like shit," Motoyasu replied as Ren picked up the key and helped him out of his cuffs, "Where's Naofumi-San and Itsuki-Kun?"
Ren gave an angry hum before sighing, "Itsuki's M.I.A and Naofumi is-"
"Right here, actually," Diona spoke up as Ren gave himself whiplash, "I managed to convince him to see you off…" The cat girl did look a little perturbed as she held Naofumi's hand.
"Yeah… sorry about running off like that," Naofumi offered.
"Eh, it happens," Motoyasu said nonchalantly as he slipped his shorts on, "Man, I really wish I had some shoes…"
"You can have mine!" Naofumi said quickly as he took off his worn pair of sneakers, "They're relatively clean I guess."
"Bomb!" Motoyasu cheered as he took the offered pair and slipped the slightly tighter shoes on, "I'm pretty sure the witch stole my clothes."
"Princess Malty, right?" Ren asked as he dropped the two bags of silver next to the still floored Hero, "You'll have to tell us the whole story while we still have time."
"Gladly!" Motoyasu shouted as he looked at his silken shield, "So, one of us got a rope shield, yeah?" The other two heroes shrugged but nodded as they showed the mass of coiled rope, "Cool, cool… did you get the Silk Shield too?"
"Yep," Naofumi offered as he held up the spiraling fabric, "It's really smooth."
"Yeah! So, turns out, you can make silk from your mana bar," Motoyasu explained, "I figured that out after I met Princess Bitch," When the other two heroes nodded, Motoyasu continued his tale, "I spun some thread, I ran out of mana. She bought me a few bottles and told me to chug so I could make more silk and make her dress!"
"That gaudy red thing she had on?" Sucrose asked, as Motoyasu glared, "Sorry, sorry, didn't mean to hurt your fragile feelings. I'm certain it can be considered a work of art, it's just not my style."
"Uh huh, so anyway, I wake up with Mana Poisoning-"
"How many bottles did you drink!?" Diona asked in fear.
"Five! Of the strongest mana potions…" Motoyasu replied softly as he fell on his back and sighed, "All back to back! I don't even want to move…"
"It's a wonder your stupidity hasn't killed you yet," Sucrose said with a pained sigh.
"It's a wonder our stupidity hasn't killed any of us yet," Ren offered, "Motoyasu-San, just because the kingdom kicked you out, doesn't mean you have to follow through or go alone if you do."
"I hear you and I agree," Motoyasu offered as he stood up, slowly and shakily, "But you know what? I wanna see where this goes."
"That is a poor decision," Sucrose said coldly.
"Yeah, but it's mine to make," The blonde said in defiance as he nodded and gave a salute, "Gentleman! May we meet again in the future."
As the group of four watched the man take his silver and put it into his shield, the mass of metal changing form into a brilliant circular buckler made of silver and adorned with the image of a lion, they could only think:
Wow. What an idiot.
/- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -/
Another day, another chapter! I wonder what will happen next? (I don't need to wonder, I do know what happens next~) ((About the Brand. No, Motoyasu isn't a slave first and foremost. Second, I have it in my head that because his body was forced to OD on a practically volatile substance such as refined, consumable mana, it isn't in the best of shape Shield be damned.))
Hello Icy here sorry for so long for this chapter to be released I had finals and finishing up my master's degree.