Author's Note: Okay so that's all done, Not much to say right now, Read, Review, Favourite and Enjoy!


Chapter 17: The Wave in Melromarc

"Murderer..."

"Monster..."

"You ate me!"

"Why did you kill us?"

"Die!"

"""Die!"""

A sound like stone shattering as someone plunged their weapon hard into the ground and all the phantasms took notice.

"Begone from here dead things."


Kaede awoke from the pile she and her companions had made on the bed staring up at the ceiling.

"Well that's new." Was the summation of Kaede's thoughts, knowing she wasn't going to get anymore sleep this morning, and shouldn't considering the wave, she opted to go and have a look outside instead.

Tanya's group was finishing loading the parts of their pre-built fortress onto the back of Filo's wagon, mere hours away from the wave.

"Good you're awake." Tanya stated head poking into the room. "Come on, we've got gifts in the mail."

Erhard had been busy since they last met. For Tanya a spider web slime lacquer set of body armour made in the style of modern guerrilla fighters, and therefore coloured for blending in with heavy brush. For Katarina a silver and blue Tabard decorated with a light blue Fleur De Lis on the front and a layer of chain mail below. For Kuro, no armour had been necessary for she had already made her own, so she gave the Siltvelt styled raider armour to Chem to use instead. Maple might have the Shield armour out constantly but that doesn't mean that she doesn't appreciate the gambeson made from the wool of some creature that turns sweltering heat into something much cooler and easier to handle. Course that wasn't the only thing of Erhard's Maple had to be thankful for right now. The Shield was also a sheath, a sword connected to the shield through a chain from the guard. Maple could not draw the blade, for even though they had been designed to function as two separate weapons the shield would not tolerate turning into a sword. But there was a much more vicious ability at the core of it.

"Do we know the plan?" Tanya asked looking at the others.

"If anyone asks I'm a demi-human that followed Kuro back." Maple stated putting on a pair of sheep horns that Kuro had fashioned for her. "Me and my friends Kyurie and Chem only need shields to fight, as stated in the scriptures of the Church of the Shield, for our weapons are our claws and teeth." And the two of them worked to support that theology through the use of their own shields, Chem preferred to fight in the form of a monster anyway, and Kyurie needed only his magic to be a threat. "I'll focus on defending any of the nearby towns caught up in the wave so that you three can focus on reducing the number of monsters we'll have to deal with and finishing off the boss as soon as possible." The others nodded in the affirmative, watching the clock tick down.

3.

2.

1.


Riyute Village was having a bad month, first the monsters of the first wave formed a nest inside of their mine, and now the second wave was letting out more to join them. Zombies. Freaking heavy armour wearing axe wielding zombies. Not only that but they were fast too, they ran to the village with a liveliness that bellied their undead status, and the damned dogs recognised their kin as they came out of the mines for a two prong assault. They almost didn't get there in time.

"Zweite Thunder!" Several echoes were released like the clapping of a lightning storm as Rifana's twin crossbows, charged with lightning, were released blowing away anything in a straight line.

"Zweite Aqua Slash!" Blades of water tore through armour as if it had been paper mache. A Filolial drawn Carriage stopped in front of the village as several soldiers emptied out.

"Should I assume you have the air above us?" Kyurie flapped his wings above as masses of air knocked monsters out of the sky, Chem in his horrifying glory pounced on downed enemies and tore them apart like they had been rabbits fresh for the kill instead of creatures of nightmares and legends. Raphtalia and Eclair swiftly travelled from one enemy to another like some manner of savage leaving trails of entrails and rot as they went. "Understood then." Eli stated clapping his hands and getting to work.

Trenches were dug and filled with branches sharpened into spears. The walls were set a foot into the ground and stood eight tall, slanted so that anything that landed on them would bounce off, and so that anything that tried to climb them could be shot with impunity, yet not so far as to make them easy to climb. The village itself had a canopy of Aranaya's silk draped over it to keep out anything that meant to enter through the sky. Course it wasn't a perfect defence, there was still one hole leading into the village, but there stood a defender sturdier than any wall. The Monsters saw their opening and so swarmed.

"Paralysing shout!"

And so all the monsters within range of Maple fell over on themselves, being absorbed into the shield as the young defender walked by.


Kuro's party stood as her vanguard, clad in the strongest armour she could manufacture and wielding the strongest weapons that she had short of the Noble Phantasms. She was motionless in the centre of it all, waiting for the moment to act. Eyes laced with magic darting around the landscape waiting.

"1543... 1670... 1770..." The number of monsters slowly rose, the best efforts of Tanya to snipe them all out of existence be damned. Every second over a hundred of them dropped out of the sky while Kuro's party kept her safe. It was not a matter of needing protection, it was a matter of needing time. "Thousand Swords!" And thus the magic number Kuro was waiting for, 2000, appeared. "Change Blade: Butterfly Blade!" The 1000 dagger like blades in the air changed their form, shape and number into 2000 scimitars, and then flew.


Tanya watched as two thousand blades flew through the air stabbing, slicing through and killing one zombie per blade.

"Understood. Now where are you?" Tanya's eyes darted around the battlefield for any sign of a unique monster that could be the wave's boss. It didn't take her long, for she soon found Chem's ugly cousin barking orders to the nearby zombies. "Lightning Shot!" Tanya shouted the name of the skill and the bolt of lightning flew from her bow directly at the boss.


And Katarina was watching. She had learned her lesson from her first wave, running at full speed alongside her party as they outright avoided monsters instead of fighting. Avoided their corpses mostly, Kuro's blades fading from bodies nearly split in half, or Tanya's arrows having left holes where rotted brains use to be when they didn't outright take their heads off. The waves were definitely not something they could take by themselves, or at least she could take by herself.

"Hang on! We're almost there!" Katarina and company soon found the boss, three of Kuro's blades lodged in it's back and still sparking with Tanya's lightning. Four heads, Lion, goat, dragon and Snake all convulsed in pain jittering and rattling. "Earth Hole!" Katarina shouted and the monster before her collapsed into the hole that ensued. "Crystal Spear!" Katarina slammed the weapon down and dozens of spears filled up the hole stabbing and skewering the boss in all directions. It didn't even get the chance to scream as the holes in the sky faded away into nothingness, the wave over before the Kingdom could properly dispatch their forces.

"Alright everyone." Katarina was far from being in bad shape but it had been a while since she had to run that fast, considering the amount of time she spent riding on a wagon in the past week, the excessive studying she had to do before that and most recently the time she spent lazing about in the hot springs. Looks like she had some trees she needed to climb in the days yet to come. Katarina put the monster into her bow while she walked back to the village that Maple should have been defending, joined along the way by Kuro's party and Tanya as she dropped down from the air.

"A good formation." Tanya noted watching the dead bodies on the ground. "But there's work yet to do, I will circle around again for the final few undead. I would appreciate another set of eyes to help me spot them." Kuro nodded her head and Tanya soon carried her through the air. Katarina alongside her party and Kuro's soon arrived back at the village.

"What Demi-human trickery is this?" The captain of the knight troop snapped glaring at the village protected by a tent of spider webbing and surrounded by death traps, a Spider woman climbing over the webs dislodging weapons and zombies caught up in it. "Do you mean to trap and kill the-"

"Shut up Gaston you old fool." A cold voice snapped in blatant displeasure. "This demi-human is a slave bound to the Bow Hero for benefit of her utility." Eli stated as he walked out through the entrance in the perimeter around the village they had been defending, dual swords stabbing into whatever corpse he walked by, less the effects of Paralysing shout worn off. "If you attack her then you will be striking at the Bow Hero's property for which I offer warning: she treats us like crap, and she likes us."

"Oh good everyone's here!" Katarina shouted waving her spear around like a flag to get everyone's attention. "You're Eli right? How did the situation here go?" Eli clapped his heels together at attention.

"Sir Hero. Fortifications progressed as planned, though mostly unnecessary by virtue of your swiftness we should consider this an excellent trial run. All the Siltvelt Mercenaries provided by the Sword Hero are still alive along with the residents of the village. Otto along with the Tanuki and Selwea are currently working to remove the last of the infestation from the mines." Translation, Maple and her party are still alive and okay, which was good, and the monsters from the first wave should be gone soon too. "On a side note, the response time of the castle town knights was less than stellar, improvement will have to be made if the next wave lasts for longer." If Eli's goal had been to slight the castle guard then he succeeded.

"The only reason you and your Damned Demi's were so successful is because you were here first!" The Knight Captain snapped angrily.

"Which is true, but also irrelevant." Eli coolly replied. "Given the fact that one among the summoned was attacked and killed within a day of arriving here you naturally understand why they seek only the trust worthy to work with." Aranaya climbed down, spider legs allowing her to stand in a way that revealed her cleavage, and the seal that laid on top of them. "For instance, bound in slavery." The Knight captain was dismissed by Eli, less he try his patience, and instead the clean obsessed soldier turned his attention to Katarina. "Where are the other two?"

"Tanya wanted to circle around to make sure they got them all and took Kuro and her magic eyes to look for them." Which made sense in it's own right, the lessons of Seatto were fresh and hard. Do not let the rot linger, less it spreads.

"Understood, whatever message you have from the Prince Consort should be saved until all of them are here. In the mean time there is filth that needs to be removed so come with me Filolial." Eli stated and he left to go gather the bodies with Filo and her wagon, less the rot poison the soil.

The knight captain turned to the sheep demi-human's direction and glared, it was the same armour that the Demon of the Shield had been wearing in the church's footage of the false bow hero. He should strike her down now, she was after all a 'Demi-human' without a owner provided that the truth had been told, the same as a monster, and there's no one who would argue with slaying a monster after all. Thus he approached her.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." The Girl stated lightly even as she carried off a corpse that she had yet to stuff into her shield.

"Are you threatening me you brat!?" The Knight asked and in response Maple struck with her shield.

"We aren't sure all the zombies here are dead dead." The sheep horned girl stated having shield bashed the zombie in question into submission, even as the knight captain nearly yanked out his sword to cut her down. "We would greatly appreciate it if you could use that to kill some of the undead." The Knight captain's eye visibly twitched at the girl.

"You have a sword you use it!" The Knight captain snapped clearly goading the girl into trying to do something he reasonably suspected she couldn't do.

"I can't it's stuck." Maple stated as she tried to pull the Not blade out of the shield and the not sheath refused to give. "Here you give it a try." To the knight's credit the blade that wasn't gave about two inches before he gave up and the weapon slid back into it's socket. "I know right? Right properly embarrassing isn't it?" The Knight Captain wasn't sure if she was making fun of herself or him.

"In that case you can use mine." The Knight stated pulling out his sword and handing it to Maple.

"Why? Your arm's not broken isn't it?" Maple replied head leaning to the side in confusion.

"You should use your own sword." Which was precisely what the rapidly running out of patience knight was about to do when he was interrupted.

"Cade, you're still wearing your horns." Raphtalia stated one of the bodies she had been carrying around with her thrown onto the pile they had been preparing.

"Oh thanks." And thus Maple removed the head band with sheep horns and tucked it into her waistband.

"...You're human?" The Knight asked realising another avenue of offence has been taken from him.

"Humans in Siltvelt aren't treated very well, but a cheap headband and no one's ever the wiser." Maple stated as she resumed carrying bodies. "Me being human makes it easier for them to operate here as well."

The Knight had to walk away, sword left undrawn, as the young girl had cut off his every legitimate avenue of offence.

"Ahem." Viktoriya cleared her throat with practised ease. "Announcing the return of Warrant Officer Tanya Von Degurechauff and Lady Chloe Von Eisenberg." The other two heroes touched down at the gate leading into the village. Kuro looked into the village, seemed to spot something, whispered into Tanya's ear whose glare narrowed in response.

"Viktoriya!" Tanya snapped her accent thick, her party had come to learn that meant she was particularly crossed, causing the woman to salute in response. "Who is this man?"

"Sir Gaston Baumeister, captain of the Castle Town's Knight guard." Viktoriya stated gesturing to the man who had nearly attempted to strike Maple earlier.

"And why is he not guarding said Castle town at the moment?" Tanya asked aiming the question more at the man himself than her own Party member.

"Our unit was sent to reinforce the village that was under attack by the wave." The Knight captain stated looking down at the hero in question.

"You are late." A fact that Tanya could tell by the fact that the man had no blood on his armour nor his sword out putting down zombies, he had done no fighting tonight and what's worst was not making himself useful now that he was here. Apparently annoyed at being looked down upon she used her magic to float up to eye level. "I was given to understand that Knight's are suppose to be a cavalry unit. Where's your mount?"

"They refused to come any closer on account of the giant mass of dead bodies that have littered the area." The Knight commander stated as he pulled out a royal decree. "All of the Legendary Heroes are suppose to return to the castle town immediately for a celebratory feast to be held in their honour now that the wave stands defeated." The Knight Commander stated as he then looked Tanya directly in the eye and closed the scroll. "All of them."

"I should remind the people to whom you work for that the Heroes are not curs for they to summon at whim." And somehow the Knight was made to understand that Tanya was not talking about the king.

The Three heroes, and occasionally sheep horned mercenary, walked into the house belonging to the village headman before excusing the man himself.

"Are we being watched?" Tanya questioned looking at Kuro, who in turn paused as the church's shadows were apprehended and taken away.

"Not by anyone we can't trust." Kuro stated though her tone remained grim.

"That knight was in charge of the men who tried to kill you." Tanya stated looking at Maple directly in the eye. "From what Kuro could see he was operating directly under the orders of the woman Katarina kicked out of her party."

"The Princess Malty Melromarc." Katarina herself contributed. "We... incapacitated her outside of the castle grounds." Tanya and Kuro looked at Katarina like they needed more information. "There's a farm, where prisoners are kept enslaved. Elena forged her paper work."

"Maple, what do you want to do?" Tanya questioned looking directly at the young hero in question.

Kaede Honjou tightened her fist in response.


There were four plus one carriages prepared, one for the legendary Heroes, three for their companions and one more that was already there, being pulled by Maple's Filolial. Kaede was about to be the first to climb onto the when she had been stopped.

"That is for the Three Heroes girl!" The Knight commander snapped grabbing Kaede by her arm.

"I wouldn't do that if I was you." Kaede slowly turned her head to face the Knight in question.

"Your men died when they tried to do that." The Knight let go of the shield hero, smiling sinisterly as she climbed aboard the carriage for the Heroes.

The five wagons rode towards Melromarc's capital city, even as Kaede kept her eyes shut tight. Angry whispers started again, accusatory and demanding, voices wanting to know why she had returned to this place where half a dozen people had died by her hand, before the sound of something striking stone hard enough to shatter sounded in her mind.

"It's been a few days since you unlocked it, the Shield of Compassion I mean." Kuro mentioned looking at Kaede questioningly. "Has it been talking to you too?"

"My shield?" Kaede asked looking confused. "I don't know. I hear voices in my sleep, but if you mean something has changed since yesterday... I feel something looking at me, staring, and when it does the voices gets quieter."

"Lovely. Your weapons are driving both of you insane." Tanya stated glaring in annoyance.

"Save your talk of madness for when we are finished with these formalities the King has planned for us." Tanya's tone was hard and compassion was gone, but one should not mistake that for lack of concern. "For now there are sharks that we must swim with, and if they sense you bleeding they will bite." The others had been forced to acknowledge this fact with a tender nod.

The five carriages were parked outside the gates of the castle, one of the Prince Consort's attendants stood at attention calling each of the four Heroes by their full name and title, even the nick name Kuro went by and Kaede's screen name. The brick sailed through the air and cracked against Kaede's head, the child who threw it glaring at her face bitter and full of tears, Raphtalia was about to retaliate when Kaede grabbed her by her wrist.

"It's alright. I didn't feel anything." Kaede lied as she turned around and walked into the palace of the royal family.

"Hmph. A party." Tanya looked around the ball room eyes unimpressed. "If the Kingdom has this much gold and resources lying around they should be rebuilding the village that was destroyed." Tanya stated as she none the less bit into a chicken leg.

"Morale is important for the army too Tanya." Katarina scolded as she none the less proceeded to consume her body weight.

"If the army was here I would agree with you." Tanya retorted looking around at the assembly of noblemen before her.

Katarina had already taken out the mangled corpse of the wave's boss and put it on display in front of the entire ball room for the various nobles to ooh and awe at.

"Huu. What a waste of perfectly good meat." Katarina stated sighing in displeasure at the monster she mangled.

"Are you serious?" Tanya asked looking at Katarina like she had gone mad. "Can you even eat something like that?"

"It looks mostly like lion meat." Kaede stated prompting the other three heroes to look directly at her.

"It'll be okay if you soak it in Milk first to remove the ammonia." The others found themselves staring at Kaede like she grew a second head. "Dad butchered a lion once, when we were on vacation in Africa." As Kaede said that a metal gauntlet hit her in the side of her head, Gaston the Knight captain who was a part of the group of people who had conspired to kill Kaede, bare hand held up in a position which indicated that he had just finished a pitch. "Did you just throw this at me?"

"So I did." There was a happiness to see in Gaston's frowning face, which told the group he wasn't really frowning at all. "I Gaston Von Baumeister of her Majesty's Order of the Golden Filolial hereby challenge you, Shield Hero and Murderer of my men, to a duel."

"Enough!" Three taps against the stone blocks indicated that there was attention to be had, the entire court turned their attention to the host of this gathering, The Prince Consort of Melromarc tapping his cane on the stone floor of the second story balcony while making his displeasure known. "It was the royal family who summoned the four Heroes into this world." The Prince Consort snapped anger plain as day in his voice as he limped down the stairs and towards where the Heroes and their accuser had gathered. "Therefore the actions of the four will be addressed to the royal family, and the grievances made against them and by them will be addressed to the royal family."

"Do you mean to defend Melromarc's oldest enemy, your majesty?" Gaston asked his tone of voice carrying none of the respect the words demanded.

"Our enemy? No. But I was the one who brought the shield here." Again the cane slammed against the stone floor, and Kaede couldn't help but note how familiar it was starting to sound.

"Your majesty I have something I would like to address." Kaede stated causing the King to turn his attention to her. "The people I killed were under your command?" Kaede had been told as such by the others, but she needed to hear it from him.

"Aye, Most of them you miserable devil." Gaston stated back glaring in hatred and contempt.

"Then the people who were trying to kill me were under your command." Kaede said it, she needed to say it, to tell everyone including herself that the people who died that day and the destruction wreaked was not her fault.

"No evidence of that has been made present." Gaston snapped back glaring scornfully.

"Then it shall be a matter settled through honour." The King stated tapping his cane again. Why was he trying so hard to draw attention to that? "Should the Hero win, then the men under Gaston Baumeister will have attempted to kill the Shield hero. Should The Knight captain win, then his men died attempting to stop the rampage of the Shield Hero."


Author's Note:

RonaldM40196867: It was a shield unlocked during the battle against the Phoenix, luckily fewer sacrifices are needed this time. It also has a skill that makes it so that any attacks landed on Naofumi's party members instead land on him, not unlike dedicated affection. They have their pros and cons, Anime tends to adapt out a lot of content from Manga these days, which is a shame because it use to be that anime came up with some fairly good original stories in between manga publishing.

drmcgraw186: Which is why his plans don't involve turning the heroes against each other at all. All things that I am aware of, and appreciate the compliments. Thank you for saying so.

Captain Imaginat: All good to know.

Kisame Hoshigaki: All good to know, thank you for saying.

Halo: Who says that Kuro needs to get zapped to use Rule Breaker on him? And don't worry, Faubrey's getting what's coming to them soon enough.

reindark: Keel.