Naofumi Iwatani, Megumin, Satou Kazuma. Fanfiction 3. Chapter 11:

Naofumi, Raphtalia, Filo, Megumin and Melty are sitting in a carriage not far from the town owned by the noble Idol Rabier. Their mission is to locate and covertly extract demi-humans or other unfortunate souls trapped in Idol's underground torture chamber. In the meantime Kazuma had been teleporting the soldiers that attacked Reichnott's mansion to Belzberg to both hide them and keep them under control. The soldiers feared the worst possible treatment when they came to this new country, but let us see what really happened to them.

"Care to explain why you suddenly show up with these soldiers dad?" Masaharu asked in an annoyed tone, working as a replacement leader was much harder than he had thought.

"They are currently prisoners of war, and I need your help with containing them," Kazuma informed, as the 5 soldiers tried to process that the guy in charge of this castle was calling their masked captor "DAD"

"Let me guess there are more than just these?" Robin said as she popped out of thin air startling all the soldiers while Kazuma remained unfazed, clearly she had been using {Lurk}.

"That is correct, I am bringing a total of 171 soldiers, and one rotten noble," Kazuma said as he saw his kids eyes grow as they heard the information.

"You are sure they are exactly 171?" They queried in unison.

"Yes, plus one rotten noble, which need to be imprisoned and kept away from his soldiers," Kazuma demanded.

"If he is a noble we will just give him the test mom started giving nobles under suspicion of crimes, to find the most suitable prison cell for them until they are put on trial, but about these soldiers," Masaharu said as he redirected the subject back to the soldiers.

"Yes, there will be 171 soldiers, they are all level 1, I already checked," Kazuma relayed as he gestured back to the now very nervous soldiers.

"Wonderful, that is the exact amount of people we need for building the new school!" Masaharu exclaimed happily, making the soldiers think about hard working hours and little food.

"Ok, glad I can help, just put them to work while I go and get more, be back in 10 minutes," Kazuma said as he vanished from thin air.

"So, that is your dad?" A brave soldier fearfully asked.

"YES!" Robin proudly exclaimed while Masaharu reluctantly nodded, sending shivers down the soldiers spines remembering how Kazuma had killed so many soldiers in little time.

"Well, we have to establish something VERY IMPORTANT!" Masaharu said as he rose from his throne, as he reached for something in his breast pocket, making all the soldiers sweat nervously.

"You don't have to, we get it," the brave soldier spoke again.

"No, not doing this now will just lead to suffering and possibly death later down the line if not taken care of now," Masaharu argued as he was struggling with retrieving something from his breast pocket making the soldiers go down on their knees and beg for mercy, making Masaharu look on in confusion as his sister did her best to stifle her laughter.

"What's up with them? I just wanted them to take note if anyone had any food allergies we should know about," He said as he looked pleadingly back at his sister, which was now laughing hysterically at her oblivious brother.

"They thaha, they thought you were going to hurt them and you didn't even notice, OH MY, that is just too funny," Robin was able to explain in-between her hysterical laughter, making the soldiers look on in confusion as they now stared at Masaharu holding a note block outstretched to them.

"So, we just register all the soldiers and their food allergies?" The brave soldier asked in disbelief, as he took the note block from Masaharu's hand and stared at it like a block of gold.

"Well, for now, after that you have to help us build some places for all you POWs to sleep and eat, then we can start building the new school," Masaharu explained as the soldiers took all this in.

"Do we get to build our own barracks?" Another soldier asked.

"Technically yes, but there will be experienced construction workers on the field with you, that will instruct you how to build, and how not to build," Masaharu informed, making the 5 soldiers stare at each other in astonishment.

"But, where will we live until the barracks are ready?" the brave soldier asked, fearing the answer.

"Each soldier will be living with a retired soldier's family, a handbook on what is expected of a POW and their rights will be instructed in this book, which is written by the royal family of Belzberg," Robin said as she tossed a little handbook to the brave soldier which he quickly opened and started to read, all their eyes going wide as he read out loud.

Meanwhile outside Idol Rabier's domain

"It is really quiet," Naofumi noted as he looked at a few soldiers walking at the gate.

"So how are we going to get inside?" Raphtalia asked, her voice a little strained, as she paced back and forth nervously.

"I think what is left here is a skeleton crew, so we could try and knock them out and get through the gate forcefully, if successful we would have a secure way for the victims to be extracted through," Raphtalia quickly suggested.

"I would rather like for you to use {All First Hiding} on us to make us invisible, then find another way in that the guards won't patrol, and then get the victims out of that shithole," Naofumi suggested

"Finding another way in will take more time than just knocking out the guards and securing the gate, and then we will bring the carriage through and load up the victims and quickly escape," Raphtalia argued, it was clear she was impatient.

"What if one of the guards get away and alert the others, what do you think will happen to the victims, do you think the soldiers will just leave them alone, they are probably going to keep them hostage if it means they will survive," Naofumi warned, but Raphtalia stood by her plan.

"You could combine the two, use Raphtalia's skill to survey the guards on the gate and then if it is certain you can take them all down at once, do it, but if that isn't a viable strategy, find another way in," Megumin shot in, which seemed to please both of them.

Raphtalia then used {All First Hiding} on herself, Naofumi and Filo. They then silently started to creep up to the gate, without anyone noticing them. If Kazuma had been there he would have scolded Naofumi and Filo for being so clumsy, but Raphtalia executed an almost flawless crawl towards the position. Only another expert in stealth would have any chance of detecting her, but the same couldn't be said for Naofumi and Filo. However, Raphtalia's skill was more than enough to fool these drunk guards.

"Did you hear anything?" A guard with bright red cheeks drunkenly asked as he heard some rubble rustling.

"You are trying to distract us again, so you can cheat, it was probably just a mouse or a cat," another guard stinking of booze retorted as the two others grunted in agreement with his statement, they were clearly too drunk to perform coherent speech.

"Ok, enough of this, I am going all in," the 2nd guard said as he pushed his last 30 silver coins onto the table.

In response the 3rd guard pushed in his share of money before he finally passed out, the 4th quickly following suit, while the 1st soldier threw in 30 of his silver coins with a big smirk on his face.

"Ok, show them," the 1st guard demanded as he confidently leaned back.

"Read them and weep," the 2nd guard stated as he revealed that he had three kings.

"Hahaha, I win!" the 1st guard laughed heartily as he revealed that he had three queens.

"Dumbass, we are playing poker, the kings are higher than the queens," the 2nd guard scolded as he smacked away the hands of the 1st guard that was trying to rake in all the money.

"We are playing Melromarc poker, which means the queens are above the kings," the 1st guard argued as his tone got rougher.

"WE ARE PLAYING NORMAL POKER YOU SHITHEAD!" the 2nd guard yelled as he pulled out his sword and tried to take a swing at the other guard, but he was too drunk to hold the sword properly so instead of chopping off the head of his opponent he clumsily threw it in his face.

"YOU JUST TRIED TO KILL ME, YOU BASTARD!" The 1st guard yelled in anger as he struggled to draw his own sword, finding it too difficult he eventually decided to just use his fists instead, as he got on top of the 2nd guard and started to relentlessly pummel him.

"WHAT IS ALL THIS RUCKUS ABOUT?! SOLDIER GET OFF HIM IMMEDIATELY OR I AM RUNNING MY SWORD THROUGH YOU!" A commander with red triangle painted on his chest ordered as he masterly drew his sword, and when the drunk soldier didn't stop punching his pinned down comrade he got the commander's sword in his side, killing him almost instantly.

"Oh fuck, what a mess, two passed out drunk soldiers, one unconscious and a dead one, why did I get all the useless idiots, couldn't I have gotten like at least 1 that doesn't drink, well I will have to call for reinforcements, can't really hold the gate alone," The commander mumbled to himself as he pulled out a bag and pocketed all the money laying on the table, with a slight grin.

(This is going to be easy) Raphtalia thought as she quickly got up behind the commander and

promptly knocked him out with the blunt side of her sword.

"You heard him, we now have control over this gate, let's bring the carriage here as quickly as we can," Raphtalia said as she ended the spell, making them all visible.

"Ok, Filo get back to Megumin and Melty and bring the carriage her as quickly and covertly as you can," Naofumi ordered.

"What does covertly mean?" Filo asked, curious about this new word.

"It means that you have to be silent when you bring the carriage down here, understood?" Naofumi explained.

"Yes master, I will be as quick as I can," Filo said as she sprinted off at a frightening speed.

"I will bind these up master Naofumi, while you find a way to open this gate so we can get the carriage through," Raphtalia said as she pulled out some rope and started to tie all of the still alive soldiers together, while staying as far away as possible from the new corpse.

After a few minutes Naofumi was able to unlock the gate as he started to push it open, the gate had been oiled well so it was easy to open and close when one needed to. Naofumi then went over to the bag of money and pocketed it, Raphtalia acknowledged the action, but didn't mention it. Then after a few more minutes the cart was being dragged by a speeding Filo, with absolutely no regard for silence.

"See master I was really quick, what is my reward?" Filo asked excitedly as Melty and Megumin stumbled out of the carriage.

"Filo, at least warn us before you start dragging the carriage along," Melty reprimanded as she dusted herself off.

"But master told me to be as quick as I possibly could be, so I had no time to explain," Filo excused.

"I also told you to be sneaky, but it doesn't matter doesn't look like anyone noticed," Naofumi noted as he got onto the carriage, while Raphtalia took control of the reigns.

After a few minutes of this calm riding they came to a stone staircase leading underground, which sent chills down Chomusuke's back as she felt the negative energy emanating from this place. She had the aspect of violence, but this was just pain, suffering and despair. No justified violence had been performed here, only pure sadism. She would remember to claw out the eyes of that fat bastard when she saw him again.

"This is the underground area Idol imprisoned his demi-human prisoners, and where he tortured them for hours on end, the only thing we could hear every day was screams of pain, until he either got tired or his victim passed out, he… took pleasure from it. That sick smile adorning his disgusting face as he raised his whip to lash someone, he is a monster!" Raphtalia told them as she gripped the hilt of her sword.

"You don't have to do this Raphtalia," Naofumi said as he saw how much the memories pained her, but she didn't even look back at him as she started to walk down the staircase.

"It's ok, I am going to be alright," She retorted as she did her best to stay calm as she took a seemingly confident step after confident step down the staircase, her rage barely hidden behind a thin mask.

"Mel, are you feeling ok?" Filo asked worriedly as Melty pinched her nose to avoid the smell of rotting flesh, piss and shit that was close to making Melty throw up, the smell was so overwhelming the she could barely nod in response.

(Let me be wrong, let me be wrong) Raphtalia frantically thought as she calmly opened the metal gate, making it creak open. As she took slow steps forward to the closest cell.

Raphtalia reluctantly looked into the cell seeing nothing but chains, her angst only increased as she gazed upon the rusty chains that had been used to hold her in place as that scum whipped her.

(Raphtalia was trapped in a place like this, doesn't take much imagination to think what happened here… it makes me SICK) Naofumi angrily thought as he followed behind Raphtalia.

"There is a survivor!" Megumin said as she ripped the cell door of its hinges with her brute strength, catching everyone's attention, the adult male demi-human was too tired to get scared by her feat.

"What happened to him?" Naofumi asked looking at the demi-human, which was half-rabbit. His limbs lay limp on his side as he tried to look up at the new people in his cell, but quickly gave up.

"P-p-please, j-just leave me alone," he pleaded with great effort, which made Melty instinctively cast {Zweite aqua heal} which filled the cell with the sounds of bones reattaching and a surge of energy overwhelming the poor demi-human as he fell unconscious.

"Cough, COUGH!" a female fox demi-human coughed loudly, and when they got into her cell they saw her hanging upside down with a bloody belly, she had clearly been left like this after being whipped until she was almost dead.

"{First heal}" Naofumi chanted, mending her wounds shut, as Raphtalia cut the chains off, finally freeing the poor woman.

"It will all be fine now, please rest now," Raphtalia calmly reassured her.

"Thanks," the woman was barely able to utter through her blood crusted lips, before she also fell unconscious.

"There is another one over here," Filo alerted them as they rushed into the last cell, what they saw was a demi-human with dog-like features. To Naofumi it looked like a little boy that had been beaten until he had passed out.

"KEEL!" Raphtalia screamed as she rushed over to the poor demi-human chained with one arm to the wall, quickly cutting the chains off Keel's arm.

"Who are you?" Keel asked with tired blue-eyes trying to figure out who the new people in the cell was.

"It's me, Raphtalia," she said with tears in her eyes.

"no way, you can't be her," Keel said in disbelief.

"I am, don't you remember when I talked to the village and you were the first one to speak up and support me, you don't know how much that meant to me," Raphtalia said as she sent a Keel a wide smile.

In response Keel just stared on in shock, inspecting Raphtalia's face intently. (Am I dreaming, no I can still feel my bruises aching,) "But how!?" Keel managed to utter with more energy present.

"The shield hero saved me, and took me in to his party," Raphtalia happily informed as she carefully picked up Keel and let Naofumi come into Keel's vision.

"So he is real?" Keel asked, still wary of this new person, since he had such a menacing stare, and Keel could see that there was a lot of underlying hatred beneath those cold green eyes.

Before Keel could even react Naofumi had grabbed her arm and casted {First Heal}, which made most of the bruises go away after a minute, but the wounds on Keel's back would probably turn into nasty scars.

"YOU ARE REAL!" Keel yelled with uncontrollable exhilaration as wounds mended and HP recovered.

"So Keel, where is Rifana?" Raphtalia asked all of the sudden, her voice filled with hope, but Keel's mood took a total 180 when she mentioned the name.

"Uhm," Keel halted, but Raphtalia already feared the worst as she handed Keel over to Naofumi and sprinted down the hall to the innermost cell.

For every step Raphtalia took down that hall it felt like the smell of spoiled meat mixed with piss and shit increased tenfold, but she had to be wrong right now. Please let her be wrong, if there was one thing in this world she didn't want to see right now it was that. But fate was yet so cruel to allow the sight before her. In the last cell she had seen her friend Rifana laying, she now saw a corpse in her place, her bones picked clean by rats and worms with the same little flag Raphtalia had given her the day before she was sent back to slave merchant.

"NOOOHOOOO! NO!" Raphtalia screamed as her legs couldn't manage to hold her up anymore, all the despair and sadness from that day returned, the day she thought she would never smile again. Life was so unfair, why wasn't Rifana sent back to the slave merchant, it was Rifana's wish to marry the shield hero, and now it felt like she had stolen everything from her, and she couldn't return it. She couldn't even save her from this place, she was a horrible friend.

(I LIED, I LIED, I DIDN'T SAVE HER, THE SHIELD HERO DIDN'T SAVE HER!) She screamed in her head as tears streamed down her face

Her self-loathing was suddenly interrupted by Naofumi's firm hand on her left shoulder, with Megumin standing on her right, her crimson eyes glowing with anger, which made Keel try to instinctively hide behind Naofumi.

"It's not your fault for what happened to her here," Naofumi tried to reassure her, but it all felt fake. This happy life she had now just felt like something stolen and undeserved. If anything Rifana should be the one standing here with her master, not her. She started to cry again at the thought of never ever seeing Rifana again.

"You a-are WRONG!" Was the only thing she managed to utter between sobs, which made Megumin's magical aura grow thicker, making Chomusuke hide behind Naofumi.

"NO YOU ARE WRONG! IF IT WASN'T FOR YOU THE REST OF US WOULD GIVE UP FIGHTING A LONG TIME AGO!" Keel managed to fight through his fear for Megumin's menacing aura and tell her the truth as bluntly as possible.

"But, I lied," Raphtalia tried to argue but Keel just continued.

"You gave us hope Raphtalia, even though all hope seemed lost you managed to give us a glimmer of light in this darkness, with your smile, and you didn't lie, you told us the shield hero would come to save us, and LOOK you are with the shield hero now, and you ARE rescuing us," Keel smiled and gave Raphtalia a hug.

"To me it sounds like you saved them twice," Melty pointed out as she walked into the cell, she didn't care about the smell if it meant she could comfort her friend.

Suddenly Raphtalia found herself in a space she could only describe as pure heaven and in front of her stood Rifana smiling brightly as the sun.

"Thank you Raphtalia for always being there for me, and please remember me," Rifana happily said as her smile washed away the feelings of despair that tugged

"I-I will, I promise I will never forget you Rifana," Raphtalia managed to say as her tears streamed down her face, only this time they were tears of joy.

"Maybe you can call your first daughter up after me, or maybe after something I like, like maple trees, might give you more choice," Rifana said with a teasing smirk on her face.

"What do you mea… OH MY!" Raphtalia suddenly flushed red as she understood what Rifana meant.

"Hehe, but at least bring my remains back to our village, I don't want my last resting place to be this hellhole, but this is it Raphtalia live on for me and other and GOODBYE!" Rifana happily said as she spun around and started to walk away.

"Of course, bye… Rifana," Raphtalia whispered to herself as she again was back in the cell, but the smell didn't bother her anymore, Naofumi, Keel, Melty, Megumin and Filo were all hugging her. After a long minute they broke away from the hug, Naofumi being the first and Megumin being the last.

"If you want me to, I can blow this place to high hell," She whispered, and Raphtalia was about to say yes, but then she thought of all the other demi-humans that had died here and their remains, so it would have to wait.

"Do it later, not now," Raphtalia whispered back to Megumin.

"Ok," Megumin quickly retorted as she started to drag her staff on the floor, while gently picking up the fox lady with her other hand as she went back to the carriage. Chomusuke went wide-eyed when she saw her mistress' action.

They had rescued a total of 3 demi-humans, and recovered the remains of Rifana. Without any further incidents. Since no guards were available to patrol the city streets, all the remaining guards had been put at the gates, and they had just taken out everyone at the main gate, so it was a simple task getting out again unnoticed.

When they had traveled for 10 minutes with Melty and Raphtalia making sure the victims were comfortable, Raphtalia heard a faint rumbling.

"Master Naofumi, something or someone is coming from the woods, and there is a lot of them," Raphtalia quickly relayed, as Naofumi silently ordered Filo to speed up, but he had to stop because the road was blocked by a bunch of filolials.

"What is going on?" Naofumi wondered as he saw more filolials surrounding their carriage.

"Don't worry you are not in danger," a calm voice rang out through the forest, before a giant, no, an enormous filolial emerged from the forest. Imagine Filo just about 100 times bigger.

"Meow," Chomusuke said, which translated to (What is your business here overcharged mana bird?)

"I am Fitoria and my business here is with the filolial queen candidate known as Filo, lazy cat," Fitoria responded to her insult in kind.

"Meow, meow," (Oh, so you can understand me, should I be scared of you, all I see is another bird with too much mana in them, my adopted brother Zell had more mana in him at birth than you have now) Chomusuke mocked as she jumped up on the roof of the carriage.

"Such audacity from a measly familiar, you realize I could kill you, right?" Fitoria said a little surprised by this weak creature's audacity.

"MEOW, meow, meoooow," (If my mistress were to release me from my seal I could take all of this world's wrath for myself and slaughter you in seconds, and even if you kill me my mistress will certainly destroy you in one blow, like she did me) Chomusuke informed as she gestured down to Megumin with one black paw.

"OK, so you can understand my familiar, and from the sounds of it, you don't like each other, but can you please stop insulting my familiar and get back on track," Megumin spoke before Fitoria managed to muster a response to Chomusuke.

"Very well, as I stated earlier I am here to talk to Filo, to see if she can become the next Filolial queen," Fitoria restated

"I can't leave Filo alone to be tested by you, we need to transport these survivors back to Lord Reichnott's mansion," Naofumi shot in.

"Worry not shield hero, you can bring your companions with you while my servants bring these victims to this lord you speak of," Fitoria informed.

"Meow," (Hey my neck is hurting, can't you bow down or something) Chomusuke said, clearly annoying Fitoria.

"Yes, this form isn't very suitable to converse with, give me a second," Fitoria said before she in a bright flash of light turned into a girl looking about the age of Filo and Melty, only with red eyes and silver white hair cut short.

"Are you done being awestruck now?" Naofumi said as he waved a hand in front of the wide-eyed princess with her mouth wide-open.

"I wasn't… I mean… It is the queen of all the filolials why wouldn't I be awestruck," Melty defended as she turned quite red.

"Now, if you would please come with me," Fitoria said as she gestured to another gloriously decorated carriage drawn by two filolias, as 4 other filolials took the reins of their specialized carriage and started to drag it away.

"We don't really have another option anymore," Naofumi stated as he saw the carriage with the three unconscious demi-humans getting dragged away.

As Raphtalia was the last one to embark the carriage, she looked back to the carriage in which her friend Keel were sleeping soundly, with the remains of Rifana and two other survivors. She was certain Keel would respect the remains of Rifana and keep them safe. So she sat in the carriage next to her master, still a little worried if they would get back safely.

Meanwhile in Reichnott's mansion, 4 hours into the transfer process

Kazuma sat in his chair waiting for the 10 minutes to pass so he could transport more soldiers, when all of a sudden Reichnott burst into the room followed by two maids.

"There is a problem right?" Kazuma guessed, seeing the expression of stress prevalent on the maids' faces, while Reichnott kept his cool.

"Indeed, it seems the spear hero and his party has come from the north, while the bow hero has arrived from the south, my subjects are doing their best to delay them, but at best I can only hope that they are kept distracted for an hour before reaching the mansion," Reichnott quickly summarized.

"Hmm, the only thing you need to keep the spear hero distracted would be potted plants, but the bow hero is another thing entirely, maybe a challenge to prove his worth as the bow hero would suffice, the kid seems very prideful and would probably get rather mad when he keeps losing," Kazuma planned.

"How do you intend to distract the spear hero with only potted plants?" Reichnott asked clearly intrigued.

"Well usually I would go and throw a potted plant in the back of his head while I was being stealthy, but since I am preoccupied at the moment, you should be a great replacement, how is your throwing arm?" Kazuma asked.

"I would say I can hit a still target most of the time, but if he moves I will have some difficulty hitting him with something as unwieldy as a potted plant, but it shouldn't be too much of a challenge, but who will challenge the bow hero?" Reichnott asked a little intrigued by this plan.

"Well, Iris would be the best option since she can twist her words like Megumin to always end up winning, and she is quite a capable fighter if it comes down to the worst, plus she would have reason to get back at him since he "scammed" her fiancé," Kazuma sarcastically said with a grin.

"Hmm, you must tell this story to me another time, but I will send for lady Iris so you can plan with her, meanwhile I would like to see the spear hero's reaction to a potted plant," Reichnott said before he left.

A few minutes went by before Iris came into the room, sword and armor at the ready.

"Challenge the bow hero, you can use the little trick he played on us as an excuse to challenge him for gold, offer him a double or nothing for every time you win," Kazuma quickly summarized.

"I got to change the challenges or else he will think it is useless to try when I beat him utterly," Iris thought out loud, and headed for the door.

"Iris, if he gets violent, you can kill his party members, but you can't under any circumstance kill the bow hero," Kazuma said with a dead serious tone, that sent shivers down Iris' spine.

"Understood, if it comes to the worst, don't kill the bow hero," She summarized before she left.

PLING!

(Looks like it is time to teleport another batch, but I think I will teleport the scum by itself) Kazuma thought as he rose from his chair and went down to Idol Rabier's cell.

"I am sorry if I am intruding on anything, but it is your turn to be transported," Kazuma coldly noted as he walked over to the fat man bound in the bed.

"Mpfh, MPFH!" Idol tried to get in an insult at the masked man in front of him, but the rope in his mouth made it difficult.

"Oh yeah, I heard one of the maids got tired of you screaming obscenities all the time so she shut you up," Kazuma recalled as he grinned at the pathetic man in front of him.

"Disgusting, but I can't get you with me unless I touch you, {Teleport}" He chanted and they were transported to the throne room with 5 POWs with notebooks and chairs, next to a stack of books that said, "Rules and rights as a POW in Belzberg"

"Oh, this must be the noble," Robin said as she waved for the POWs to leave, which they quickly did.

"Yeah, give him the test, {Teleport}" Kazuma said before he vanished again, leaving the bound pig on the floor.

"Hmm, they gagged you, I am going to let that stay on, until Sena is here with her equipment, try to make yourself comfortable on the floor in the meantime," Robin said before she left the throne room.

(What is this place? Where did that man bring me, never mind that, am I going to be tortured, I got to get out of here while I still can) Idol thought to himself as he trashed against the bindings until his pants ripped open, exposing his underwear to the world.

"Cover him up and put him in a chair, QUICKLY!" Sena ordered her soldiers the moment she entered the throne room.

They quickly did so, one of them fighting the urge to throw up as they saw the unsightly sight of the man's underwear. A table was placed in front of Idol with a bell on top of it, and Sena sat down on her own chair across from Idol, with a little notebook.

"Ok, this bell will ring every time you lie, but it will stay silent for when you are telling the truth, DO YOU UNDERSTAND?" Sena sternly asked, which Idol responded with by nodding hesitantly.

"Good, men you can now remove his gag," Sena ordered as one of the soldier cut the gag off with a knife.

"Where the fuck have you brought me!" Idol demanded as soon as he could talk again.

"You are in the kingdom of Belzberg," Sena quickly responded, and the bell didn't ring which made him a little worried.

"I have never heard of such a kingdom before, you have to be lying," Idol challenged, but Sena didn't react.

"Of course you haven't, you are from another world, now first question: What is your name and status?" Sena quickly brought things back

"I am Idol Rabier, a noble in the kingdom of Melromarc, and trust me when I say that god is on my side and I will have everyone that mistreated me hanged," He declared, and the bell didn't ring.

"Have you ever tortured someone for purely for your own pleasure?" Sena asked, totally unfaced by his comment, she knew the bell wouldn't ring if the person saying something truly believed what he/she was saying.

"NO!" PLING.

"Ok, have you ever tortured children?" She asked.

"I have never tortured children," PLING.

"Ok, I am now offering you three different prison cells you can stay in, when I am done presenting them to you, I want to know which one you feel you deserve," Sena calmly stated.

"We have a stone prison which only serves bread and water, with no bread and a worn out mattress and two blankets, the 2nd cell has a bed with both pillows and blankets and we serve three different warm meals a day, and lastly we have an open prison cell with maids that serve you whatever food you would want, which one do you believe you deserve to stay in?" Sena asked as she looked at the fat man in front of her with cold eyes.

"I believe I deserve to stay in the 2nd cell," PLING.

"Do you believe you deserve to stay in the first cell I mentioned?" Sena asked as she noted his answer.

"Y-yes, that is what I truly believe," PLING.

"Ok, you will be staying in the 1st cell I mentioned, since you are a POW we can't sentence you, but this testimony will be sent back with you when/if your country sends a request for your return, consider yourself lucky Idol Rabier, because torture is illegal in Belzberg," Sena said as she rose and the soldiers started to drag Idol with them to his new life in prison.

The moment Sena had gotten out of the room she punched a hole through the wall. "That monster deserves to die a thousand deaths," she angrily muttered to herself.

"You won't have to pay for that, since I heard everything and I already did the same thing to another wall, just please don't make a habit of it," Masaharu said as he walked up to Sena.

"Thank you for your kindness and understanding my king, I will make sure to avoid taking my anger out on the castle," Sena said as she bowed.

"Nah, don't say that to me, you are much older than me, just consider me a co-worker, feels wrong that the woman that once babysat me is now calling me king, if you are going to call me anything call me head chef," Masaharu quickly said.

"Very well, if that is what you wish," Sena said as she bowed another time before she promptly left.

Meanwhile with the spear hero

"No, I don't want to buy your wheat," Motoyasu complained as he tried to push past the demi-human farmer.

"But this is top-quality wheat, if prepared properly it might even grant you extra stamina," The demi-human lied, which seemed to pique Motoyasu's interest.

"Don't listen to him Sir Motoyasu, that filthy demi-human is just lying so you will buy his wheat," Bitch… I mean Malty declared as her green eyes stared daggers at the poor demi-human.

"How dare you try to scam me, THE SPEAR HERO HIMSELF," Motoyasu instantly believed her and went up in the face of the poor farmer, which made the poor farmer take hurried steps backwards in fear, which also made him fall and lose a bunch of his wheat on the ground.

"I am sorry please forgive me," He pleaded as he tried to collect his wheat.

"{Zweite hellfire}" Malty chanted and a burst of fire shot out from her hand which instantly scorched the wheat of the farmer, but he was luckily quick enough to get out the way.

"A filthy demi-human like yourself was probably going to try and sell that overpriced wheat to some other poor fool, but now you have to go and do honest work for once," Myne mocked as she looked at the now burning wheat.

"I hope the heavens fall on your head, you heartless monster!" The farmer yelled at Malty, angering her immensely.

"How dare-" She didn't get to say anymore because a potted plant hit her in the stomach, knocking the air out of her lungs, and the red wig off her head.

"EEK!" Motoyasu gave out an involuntary scream as he jumped away from his now bald companion.

(Poor farmer Somerson, I am sorry my demand lead this to happen) Reichnott thought as he put a little bit of gold in mister Somerson's pockets, as he sneakily passed him.

"WHO THREW THAT!?" Motoyasu screamed a little bit too high-pitched and desperate to sound manly/heroic, while moving frantically around.

Suddenly Motoyasu could feel something shatter on his back, in response he turned around and chanted "{Lightning spear}" which sent out a lighting attack, which connected with a proud oak tree that had been planted 50 years ago.

"Did I get him!?" Motoyasu asked worried as he looked at the burning tree, he was answered by a money shot to groin, and if it hadn't been for Motoyasu's newly acquired groin protectors he would have been in immeasurable pain. Instead he just fired of another attack, that almost hit poor farmer Somerson.

(Ok, I am terrible at throwing these things, well I might as well just do this) Reichnott thought as he ran with the wind direction and smacked the potted plant in Motoyasu's face, sending him to the ground on his ass. To a spectator it looked like the thing appeared from thin air just before it struck Motoyasu.

"{ZWEITE FIRE ARROW}!" Myne screamed as she shot a fire arrow blindly, which unfortunately hit poor mister Somerson's home.

"MY HOUSE!" Somerson uttered in both disbelief and panic as he rushed to the house and tried to helplessly put it out with a bucket of water, after 5 minutes of this he gave up and watched on in despair as his house quickly burnt down.

(Ok I don't care if you are the princess, no one makes happy mister Somerson sad and gets away with it scot-free) Reichnott thought as he again rushed with the wind and smacked a potted plant in the back of Malty's head, knocking her out.

"MYNE! Ok, I am getting us out of here, finding Naofumi can wait this place is too dangerous," Motoyasu said to himself as he picked up the piece-of-shit-woman and ran the way he just came.

(That was surprisingly effective, note to self: Repay Mr. Somerson back tenfold) Reichnott thought as he went back to his mansion.

He met on his other two party members that were lagging behind, because they had to drag all their supplies. But when they saw Motoyasu with a panicked looked on his face and a knocked out Myne in his arms, as he ran towards them, they knew that they had to start walking the other way. Which they honestly thought was worth it, because they didn't like Myne that much since she always undermined them, so seeing her bald and knocked out was a wonderful sight for sore eyes.

Meanwhile in the south with the bow hero

"Get away from master Itsuki you filthy DEMI!" Flashy armor guy yelled as he punched a young cat-boy in the stomach.

"I-isn't that a bit much?" Rishia timidly challenged as she did her best to carry three bags worth of proviant.

"Are you defending the demi-human that tried to touch master Itsuki!?" Another female archer demanded an answer as she put an arrow on her bowstring, clearly trying to intimidate Rishia

"Ehm… I just… I just don't think punching him was necessary," Rishia hurriedly tried to explain.

"I have unfinished business with you bow hero," Iris said in a threating tone as she confidently walked up to block their path.

"Oh, look it's that stupid merchant's fiancé," A party member pointed out, which made them all chuckle a little, except for Rishia since she was focusing more on breathing at the moment.

"What unfinished business do you have with me?" Itsuki asked.

"You stole from my beloved, and such an act cannot be just forgiven," Iris accused as she started to put on a show.

"I didn't steal anything, I simply outsmarted him with my skills, and I didn't take his bow from him," Itsuki proudly proclaimed, which made Iris grit her teeth to choke back a laughter.

"T-that might so be, but you still made a fool out of him, so I challenge you to a duel, if I win you will pay me 300 gold pieces," Iris was able to say, while looking and sounding completely serious.

"And when I win, what do I get?" Itsuki asked, already believing the battle to be won, since he could see that Iris was shaking slightly, which he mistook as fear.

"IF and I mean IF you were to win, you will get my armor and 100 gold pieces, do you accept, bow hero?" Iris questioned with real contempt in her voice.

(Easy winnings, a woman that is scared of me should be simple enough to knock out) "I do accept, prepare to-" Itsuki had to dodge out of the way of Iris' foot.

"Hey that is cheating!" The bow hero complained, but before he was able to get a track of where Iris were, he felt a stinging sensation to his stomach as all the air in his lungs were knocked out of him, and then he found himself on the ground with Iris' sword up to his neck.

"I win," Iris stated rather matter of factly.

"YOU DID NOT, YOU CHEATED!" Itsuki angrily yelled at her with his companions stunned silent by the speed this woman had just shown.

"Very well, what is a fair fight in your opinion then, bow "hero"?" Iris challenged as she pulled her sword back from his neck and took a few steps away from him.

"We will be 50 meters apart, the first one to knock the other one down is the winner, does that sound fair to you?" Itsuki asked still a little shaken by this woman's power display.

"It does," Iris said as she left a dust cloud behind before she stood 60 meters away from him.

"Heh, now I will use her fiancé's bow against her with {Eagle Piercing shot}!" Itsuki chanted as his bow changed into a perfect replica of Kazuma's bow, and fired a shot.

(So fucking obvious, but can't have him knowing we scammed him so might as well deflect it) Iris thought as the arrow came straight towards her and at the last second she hit it with her sword and made the shot hit a pile of pumpkins instead of her.

"{Arrow shower}" Itsuki chanted making a bunch of arrows leave his bow at once. "Let me see you deflect all of those,"

"{Projectile counter}" Iris chanted making all of Itsuki's arrows go straight back at him.

"{First Wind Blow}" Rishia chanted making all of the arrows go off course, making sure no arrows hit her party members.

"How dare you interfere with my duel, you IDIOT!" Itsuki angrily roared at Rishia, making her cower in fear

"That girl just saved herself and your party members from getting hit by a volley of arrows, and you don't even have the common decency to thank her," Iris scolded as she slowly stepped forward.

"Shut-up that doesn't count, I wasn't going to be hit by that volley anyway," Itsuki stated with confidence, with no regard for his party members well-being.

"You didn't listen, well I better stop you before you create more collateral damage," Iris noted to herself, before she ran straight at Itsuki, catching him totally off guard as she deflected every single shot to the ground in front of Itsuki, that kicked up a lot of dust making it harder for him to aim.

Iris finally ended the battle by throwing a rope around his feet as she crashed into him with her momentum and in one smooth motion put her sword to his neck again. "I win, AGAIN!" Iris said now a bit of anger showing as she spoke.

"That is… not possible," Itsuki said to himself in stunned silence.

"It is possible, but instead of gold, I would like for the green haired girl to be my price, oh and leave this area, I don't want my fiancé to see your ugly face around when he is doing LEGIT business,"

"Fine! Take her, she is useless anyway," Itsuki and his party quickly agreed to Iris' demands as they started to walk back the way they came.

"NO MASTER ITSUKI, PLEASE RECONSIDER, I BEG OF YOU TO PLEASE RECONSIDER YOUR DECISION! PLEASE, SOMEONE! HELP ME!" Rishia cried as she went down on her knees and begged, but as her former party members approached her they only picked up all their things and ignored all her cries of help to avoid this.

"It's going to be ok, you don't need him," Iris said as she went down on her knees and started to comfort the young girl.

"But, but… I love him," Rishia managed to utter in-between her crying, as tears flowed down her cheeks.

"Oh, you poor thing, that boy doesn't deserve you," Iris said to comfort her as she let Rishia cry on her shoulder. After a few minutes she picked up the distraught girl and carried her back to the mansion.

Meanwhile with Darkness and the remaining soldiers

"Harry, what do you think that masked man is doing with everyone upstairs," Alberton quietly asked his longtime friend.

"Don't freak out right now Alby, I heard they were getting rid of us," Harold answered in a silent whisper.

"Fuck, ok, do you have a plan which allows us to escape?" Alberton asked while wiggling over to Harold.

"I do, but don't you dare tell my wife about this if it works, promise?" Harold inquired.

"Sure, how we escaped will be our little secret, Sarah won't hear a peep from me, just do whatever you need to," Alberton assured his friend.

"Ok, observe, Hey guard can you come over here, I need to ask a question," Harold caught Darkness' attention, and she quickly walked over.

"Yes, you have my attention, ask away," She said with a happy smile.

"What would we have to do for you, so we could be allowed to run away? We are willing to do ANYTHING!" Harold asked, which shocked Alberton.

"Hmm, well you would have to beat me mercilessly until I eventually pass out," Darkness answered honestly.

"We can't beat you mercilessly if we are bound like this though," Another soldier listening in joked, not believing that she would actually release them from their shackles.

"You make a good point, here use my sword to cut yourself free, and you can happily leave when I have passed out," Darkness said hiding her grin as she dropped the sword at the soldier's feet.

Without any form of hesitation the soldier tried to pick up the sword so he could cut himself free, but he wasn't strong enough to even budge it, so it just lay there on the floor. When the other soldiers saw this they also came over to help him lift it, but they had to settle for just lifting it onto its side and grinding their ropes on the blade.

(Ah, much more comfortable, I am just going to sit here that woman is far too strong if her sword takes 10 men to just place on its side) A soldier quickly deduced as he lay back into the hay, but the others were desperate so they attacked Darkness with all the power that they could muster.

"AHH!" Harold started screaming as he broke his fingers on her armor.

"FUCK!" Alberton swore loudly as his leg broke from kicking Darkness' leg at the same time as she moved it.

The other soldiers didn't get that serious damages, just a few bruises since the two first screaming participants had discouraged the rest from going all out. Some even rebound themselves because it was too embarrassing to say that they beat themselves up in an escape attempt.

"You know Alby, I think dying is probably the better option for us after this embarrassment," Harold deduced as he looked at his hand.

"I agree Harry, death will be a great mercy after this," Alberton agreed as he limped over to his friend.

"You guys aren't going to die, you are just being transferred to a POW camp, no need to worry boys," Darkness tried to comfort them as she casually picked up her sword and sheathed it.

At that sudden revelation they started to cry uncontrollably. The physical pain was nothing compared to having to live with this shame for the rest of their now very long lives.

(Look how happy they are to know they won't die) Darkness happily thought to herself as she went back to her post, with some guards silently chuckling, while the others were crying loudly.

Meanwhile with Keel and the other survivors

The wagon was speeding along at a blazing speed, the way in front of the filolials were clear to them. Their queen had put out the route they were supposed to run, they all knew how the carriage and the other filolials would react to their every step. Then all of the sudden they started to slow down until they came to a stop and started to sleep.

"Let me see," a shadowy figure spoke as they went inside the carriage.

Blue flashes started to go on in the carriage. The first three flashes lasted three seconds, but then 5 second long flashes started to go off repeatedly, each 5 second flash got more intense than the last. 100 flashes went off and the last was so bright that it lit up 5 kilometer area, making some animals think it was morning.

A figure retreated from the carriage before it went back into the forest, the moment the figure was gone the sleeping filolials awoke and restarted their journey towards Reichnott's mansion. The remains of Rifana gave off a glim glow of blue, but it quickly faded.

Good god this did take a long to make for me. Totally my fault for taking a bit of a vacation, and I might have been struck by the RE: Zero addiction. Don't worry I will get another chapter out, quicker than this one got out. I do hope you enjoyed this chapter though.