Chapter 11: You'll Be In My Heart

"You did an excellent job, Heroes! Thanks to you, we suffered far less damage from this Wave than last time!"

The Heroes, as well as their companions, were now standing in the great hall of the royal palace. An extravagance feast was being held there to celebrate their victory against the Wave of Calamity.

EMIYA's three disciples were busy stuffing their faces with food. Well, after such a battle, who didn't want a big meal to recover their stamina? Even though the food couldn't compare to what their sensei usually made, it was still pretty delicious.

But the Sword Hero didn't care about the food. At the moment, he was worried about how the Bow and Spear Heroes had acted during the Wave battle. Before, he had hoped that they were just naïve, but turned out they were actually incompetent. Not only did they seem to never be in a battle before, there was also something else that EMIYA dreaded seeing how they fought: they didn't seem to be afraid of dying. And not in the way of "martyrs who were ready to sacrifice their lives for the greater good"; it's more like "idiots who thought they could not be killed permanently and would respawn at a save point if they happened to be killed." This is not a game; this is the real world, where people die if they are killed.

EMIYA facepalmed. He had never expected that he could even think of such a stupid and embarrassing line. He grabbed a small pastry that looked like a choux on a plate nearby and popped it into his mouth to hide his embarrassment, and immediately winced from how sweet it was.

He looked around the room. The chamber was full of people, a lot of whom he had never seen before. All of them were very well-dressed; obviously they were governors of the countries and their families, and maybe nobles who had a close relationship with the royal family, too. And he wouldn't put it beyond his suspicion that a lot of them were here today to try to get the Heroes into their families.

"Lord Sword Hero," a lady dressed in an extravagant red ballgown strutted toward him. "We've heard a lot about your heroic actions these days. Why don't you join us at our table? We really want to hear stories about your journey."

"Thanks, but no thanks," EMIYA rolled his eyes. He knew that kind of pickup line, and he's not going to let himself be caught up in it. He stood up and walked away, after giving the woman a courteous smile. He could still hear the voice of the woman behind him.

"He's so dreamy…"

Seeing Naofumi and Raphtalia at a corner of the room, he decided to go say hi. After all, he still had something he needed to deliver to them.

Realizing EMIYA was walking toward them, Raphtalia's face brightened. "Shirou-sama!" she said cheerfully, waving a hand at him.

"You two did a good job," the ex-Guardian said, sitting down on a chair next to them. "Had it not been for you, the casualty might have been much greater."

"It's nothing," Naofumi said, but it seemed his mind wasn't in the conversation. "Shirou-san, do you know that we can arrange for other people to be transported along with us when we go to a Wave battle?"

EMIYA was surprised. "No," he admitted. "This is the first time I heard about this. Where did you hear that?"

"From one of the knights who helped me protecting Ryute Village," answered Naofumi. "Why didn't those two arrange for the knights to go with them? They obviously know more about this than us. They should have prepared for this in advance!"

"We would have to pay more attention in the next Wave, then," EMIYA shook his head. "If we can't put our hope on them, we need to do it ourselves. Oh, by the way, I have something for you."

He pulled out the chimera tail he was keeping in a backpack so that the Legendary Sword didn't accidentally absorb it. "Here, take it. I think you deserve your own part of the loot, too."

Naofumi took the tail from EMIYA's hand. He glanced at the Sword Hero. "Don't you need it?"

"I already got my own part," the ex-Guardian shook his head. "You were the only person who didn't get anything from the boss, but you did quite a lot in this Wave, so naturally you should receive your own reward."

Naofumi chuckled. "Thank you, then."

He let the Legendary Shield absorb the tail. A new shield was unlocked.

[Chimera Viper Shield: unlocking conditions fulfilled]

[Name: Chimera Viper Shield – Base Defense: 70]

[Abilities locked. Equip bonus: skill: Change Shield, Antidote Compounding up, Poison Resistance (medium)]

[Special effects: Snake Venom Fang (medium), Hook]

[Unlocked at level 30 – UNLOCKED]

Naofumi's eyes widened. This shield was definitely the most powerful one he had unlocked until now. Not only did it have absurd base defense comparing to other shields in his arsenal, it also had a variety of useful skills that he could utilize, especially the counter skill which allowed him to poison his enemies when they hit the shield. With this, he could finally do some damage!

He turned to EMIYA. "Shirou-san, tha…"

The words stopped in his throat. He could see his mortal enemy, Motoyasu, walking toward him from behind the Sword Hero. In his face, a glare of contempt was visible. He pulled his gauntlet off his hand and threw it at him.

"Naofumi! I challenge you to a duel!"

"What the hell are you talking about?"

The crowd erupted in surprise and shock. Naofumi's eyes narrowed. Did he finally lose his mind?

"For what reason?"

"For her!" the Spear Hero pointed at Raphtalia. "Myne already told me! That girl, Raphtalia, she's a slave!"

Oh, I see, EMIYA thought. He could understand somewhat what Motoyasu was planning to do here. He glanced at the First Princess; the bitch didn't even try to hide her smug and self-satisfied expression.

Naofumi snorted. "And then?"

"And then?!" Motoyasu screamed in rage. "How dare you?! You are a hero! You can't force people into slavery!"

"And what's the problem with that?" Naofumi raised an eyebrow. He had also understood what Motoyasu was planning to do here. "In Melromarc, slavery is completely legal as long as the slave isn't a pure human. It is written in Article XVI, Section 4 about the ownership of properties of Melromarc's Civil Law. I have a copy here if you want to read… or if you can read it at all," he pulled out a copy of the book he got from Beloukas the other day. He had expected that something like this might happen, so he had prepared in advance.

He couldn't read that book fully, either, but he had asked Erhard to point out the sections of the law that contained that information for him just in case.

It seemed that Motoyasu really didn't know about this. He glanced at the First Princess, who seemed to be taken aback that the Shield Hero actually knew something that she didn't even bother learning.

Naofumi stood up. "You can say anything about me if you want. But if you want to blame someone… blame that trash king. After all, the Civil Law of a country can only be enforced if the highest authority of the country approves of it… isn't it?"

Motoyasu's face, which had been sporting an unhealthy red color, was now turning purple.

"Duel me!" he yelled. "If I win, you have to set Raphtalia free!"

Raphtalia set her plate down. She said nervously. "Sir Spear Hero, there's no need for that. Naofumi-sama has always been good to me-"

She flinched when Motoyasu turned toward her with a creepy, perverted smile on his face. "Don't worry, my dear; Myne already told me that the slave crest forces you not to say anything that will go against what your master want you to say. But after I finish with him, you won't have to do that anymore."

"That doesn't make any sense!" Farrie's voice came from behind EMIYA. The three disciples had stopped eating upon hearing the commotion, and upon hearing the unfair accusation, they couldn't stand it anymore. "We've met Sir Shield Hero before; we knew how well he treated Raphtalia-san! He thought of her as family! How dare you accuse him of something like that if you don't even know anything about them?"

"Shut up, little girl!" Motoyasu snarled. "You don't know what kind of bastard that Naofumi is…"

"Oh, and you know?" Tersia said hotly, glaring at the Spear Hero. After the Wave, her approval of the Shield Hero had risen considerably. "After that trial, have you ever met him again? Do you even know what he has been doing in the previous month? No? Well, we do, and we even fought side-by-side with him during the Wave! We definitely know more about him than you do! He even protected all of us from a fire rain the royal knights dropped on us back then, at Ryute Village! Had he not been there, we would have been killed together with the village being burned to the ground!"

Whispers exploded among the crowd. Everyone looked shocked hearing that accusation coming from the Sword Hero's disciple. Even Itsuki looked horrified; if the royal knights really did something like that…

"Listen up," Naofumi snarled. He looked straight into Motoyasu's eyes; now he was furious. "You're in no position to force me to do anything, Motoyasu. If you want to do anything about this, then you should go force the King over there to abolish the law about slavery first. Though, I guess he won't do that…" he smiled darkly at the King, who was glaring down at them from the second-floor balcony, "…as the noble families in this country definitely wouldn't let him stay on that throne much longer if he did, would it?"

Goddamnit, Naofumi, EMIYA cursed in his head. You shouldn't have said that! You've just dug a hole for yourself!

The King stood up from his throne on the balcony. He glared at Naofumi, and said in a voice full of anger and contempt.

"I've thought of letting you get away with this, since it's true that slavery is legal in this country, but your insolence has gone overboard, Shield Hero! You dared stand in this place and insult my authority, then so be it! I hereby declare a Sacred Duel between the Spear Hero and the Shield Hero! If you don't duel, none of you will leave this palace!"

Those words were a bucket of cold water dumping straight on top of Naofumi's burning head. His eyes widened when he realized what he had done. Being overtaken by rage, he had given the enemy the golden opportunity to force him into the duel he didn't want to take part in.

The knights had blocked the entrance of the hall, and were now pointing their weapons at him. Naofumi gritted his teeth; there's no backing away for him now…

"Very well then," finally, he said. "But before that, there is something I want to confirm. Is there any limit or restriction in this duel?"

The king snorted. "There is no limit. You're free to use any skill or tool you want to. The duel is going to continue until one of the fighters falls!"

Everyone was shocked by the declaration. This was already outrageous enough, but a duel to the death?!

"Ah! Naofumi-sama!"

Everyone snapped their heads back. Raphtalia had been confined by the soldiers, and was now reaching her hand out desperately to no avail.

"There is a chance she's under a spell so that she must support her master, so she must be silenced for the time being!" the king declared haughtily. On his face, there was a nasty satisfying smirk.

Rage exploded inside Naofumi. So that bastard wanted to push him into a corner like that?

"Prepare the arena in the court garden!"

"Before we begin, I want to ask you something first, Motoyasu. Why are you doing this?"

The two Heroes were now facing each other in a makeshift arena formed in the palace garden. At the two sides, there were stands for the nobles who joined the party to sit and watch the battle. Itsuki's and EMIYA's parties were also on a stand, although the ex-Guardian chose to sit at a far corner. He didn't want to attract any attention.

Upon Naofumi's sudden question, Motoyasu snapped. "Isn't it obvious? Of course it's to save her from your hand!"

"I see," the Shield Hero answered calmly. "Then have you ever wondered whether the girl you're trying to save wants your help or not?"

Those words took Motoyasu aback. "Wha…?! Of course she wants help!" he snapped back angrily. "There's no way she could be happy under your hand! Myne already told me that!"

"Then how is she going to be happy?" Naofumi asked sharply. "Have you ever thought of what she's going to do after you 'release' her from my hand?"

"Well, she can go with me!" the Spear Hero answered with a perverted smile. "I'm obviously better for her than you! Why should someone as pretty as her be in a party with someone like you?"

Motoyasu obviously hadn't even thought about what he had just said, because right after the words left his mouth, whispers started rising on the stands. A few of the women sitting among the spectators, the ones with more dignity, glared at him in disgust. When he realized his mistake, it was too late. Naofumi shook his head.

"So that's the reason, isn't it? You don't even care about how she's treated under my hand; the only thing you care about is how you can take her away from me to woo her into your harem! Wake up, Motoyasu; this world is not going to be saved if you continue thinking with your penis rather than your head!"

Motoyasu's face turned purple with fury. "Shut up! I'm not going to listen to you anymore!" he roared and leaped toward Naofumi; his spear shot forward, aiming at the Shield Hero's head.

But something that simple couldn't hurt Naofumi. He had planned for this before the duel began. The Legendary Shield switched into the form of the shield he had just received, the Chimera Viper Shield, and he took the attack head-on. The tip of the spear ground itself against the surface of the shield, but it couldn't penetrate; the defense stat of this shield was just too high.

"What…?!"

That weak attack was more than enough for the counter skill of the Chimera Viper Shield to activate. The two snake heads engraved on the shield suddenly turned alive and lashed out, biting on the exposed parts of Motoyasu's arms.

"Hey!? What the hell!?"

Then his eyes widened in horror when "Poisoned" appeared next to his name on his status screen. That counter skill would inflict poison on the Shield's enemy whenever a close-ranged attack hit it. This poison was just as strong as the chimera's viper venom; in just a second, it had spread through all of his biceps and was crawling upward into his shoulders.

Swinging his spear wildly, Motoyasu slashed the snake heads on his arms away and backed up hastily. Pulling out an antidote from his inventory, he popped the cork button open and was planning to drink it…

…before Naofumi dashed in and slammed his glowing shield at his face. The Spear Hero flew backward in a beautiful arc before hitting the ground headfirst. Sparks exploded in his eyes; he couldn't see anything in front of him anymore. The bottle of antidote fell from his hand to the ground, spilling the content inside all over.

"Shield Prison!"

The cage made of shields appeared and locked Motoyasu inside it, leaving only his hands and the spear outside. No matter how many antidotes and potions he had, they would be useless if he couldn't drink them. Motoyasu fell on the ground, his arms flailed around wildly to no avail.

"Hey, isn't the Shield Hero winning down there?"

"No, it can't be…?"

"Hey, he's pretty good!"

The crowd was going crazy. Some people were shocked and terrified at the idea of the Shield Hero overwhelming the Spear Hero in battle, but a few of them showed interested, albeit not to the point of outright cheering for him.

[Alert! Sneak attack coming from behind!]

The sudden attack came too quick Naofumi couldn't turn back in time. The bullet of wind shot at him from behind hit the back of his head and exploded…

…for absolutely no effect at all. It couldn't even make him lose a strand of hair. The magic resistance the Barbarian's Armor provided him was too great something of this level was nothing to him.

But that didn't mean Naofumi didn't know he had just been attacked from behind by someone. He glared back at the direction of the sneak attack, and sure enough, the Bitch was standing there with her hand raised in front of her, looking completely shocked from seeing her attack not doing anything to the Shield Hero.

"Hey, that's cheating!" He yelled at the king. "This is a 1-on-1 duel!"

The king deliberately ignored him. Naofumi gritted his teeth. So that's how they wanted to play?

On the far side of the arena, Motoyasu had managed to break out of the Shield Prison. He didn't look like the handsome knight in shining armor he had been at the beginning of the duel anymore; now his pretty blond hair looked tattered, and the poison had managed to spread to his neck. It seemed his life had been drained quite a lot thanks to the venom. He quickly popped another antidote and swallowed it whole, and the poison subsided.

"You… you coward…" he choked out, glaring at Naofumi with a look full of hatred.

"Coward?" Naofumi stared at him in disbelief. "That whore Princess has just attacked me behind my back! If I'm a coward, then what will you call her?"

"She didn't do that! And stop calling her that!" Motoyasu howled, and jumped at Naofumi again. "Spiral Thrust!" he yelled, and the tip of the Legendary Spear started spinning like a drill. This time, Naofumi knew he wouldn't be able to stop this with just a normal shield.

"Air Strike Shield! Zweite Shield! Dritte Shield!" he yelled, and not one, but three energy shields appeared from thin air. The attack drilled into the first shield and broke it quite easily, but struggled at the second one and was completely stopped after breaking the third one. And he had made the biggest mistake of getting too close to Naofumi without delivering a proper attack. The spear clashed with the Chimera Viper Shield without doing any damage, and he was poisoned once again by the viper heads of the shield. And before he could know it, Naofumi had delivered another Shield Bash at his face. He was thrown backward again; stars exploded in his eyes once more.

"Give up, Motoyasu! You cannot defeat me!" Naofumi glared at him. "I can do this all night, but how long will you be able to heal yourself up? Do you have enough antidote to keep up with my poison?"

"Who… who's going to lose to you!" Motoyasu roared. The tip of his spear started glowing, and he pointed the weapon at Naofumi. "Lightning Spear!" A bolt of lightning shot out from the spear toward Naofumi; immediately, he changed to the Light Metal Shield to block the attack. He had underestimated it, though; even with the protection of the shield and the Barbarian's Armor, the magic attack of a Cardinal Hero was definitely at a different level from normal magic. The jolt of electricity went through his body, bringing him to one knee.

"Who's laughing now?" the Spear Hero yelled, and jumped forward, brandishing his spear. "Chaos Thrust!" A rain of thrusts exploded from the tip of the Legendary Spear and hit the surface of Naofumi's shield, but just like before, they failed to do any good damage.

And it seemed Motoyasu still hadn't learned anything. The Legendary Shield once again morphed into the Chimera Viper Shield, and his eyes widened when he realized what was going to happen.

"Aauuuugh!" The viper heads bit into his arms again, and once more, poison spread into his body, making his condition even worse.

"You said that you wanted to liberate Raphtalia from me because she's a slave, didn't you?" Naofumi said in a cold voice; he had managed to stand up again. "Then do you know who else is also a slave, is also desperately in need of help, but is deliberately ignored by this world because they need him to do their work for them? You!"

Motoyasu was briefly confused by those strange words the Shield Hero had just said. "What… are you…?"

"Think about it!" Naofumi barked. "Not only you, but I am too! And Itsuki! And Shirou-san, too! All of us Heroes are basically the slaves of this world! We were kidnapped from our homeworlds, were stuck with these so-called 'Legendary Weapons' that we couldn't get rid of unless we die, which would shock us to death if we try to do something against their will. They also force us to fight with our lives on the line until the people who put us into this situation get what they want! Isn't that the same thing as a slave crest?"

Motoyasu's eyes widened in horror. He had never thought of everything that way!

"I-it's just because you are a scumbag!" he weakly defended himself, but even he wasn't sure of what he was saying anymore. "Only the kind of you would think of being a hero as slavery!"

He tried to drink a potion, but again and again, the bottles would be knocked off his hand by Air Strike Shields, or his upper body would be locked up so he couldn't even get the potion to his mouth.

This is not going to end, Motoyasu realized in horror. At this level, he's not going to defeat Naofumi, no matter how hard he tried.

Naofumi held the Chimera Viper Shield in front of him. Both of his eyes focused on Motoyasu, who looked more exhausted than ever. His strategy, while simple, still proved to be very effective. If he kept this up, he's going to win for sure!

[Alert! Sneak attack coming from behind!]

Again?! Does that bitch never know when to give up?

He wasn't afraid, though. He believed with the protection from the Barbarian's Armor, he could take anything she threw at him. He glanced back…

…and his eyes widened.

Coming toward him was the biggest fireball he had ever seen. The bitch didn't even attempt to hide her cheating anymore; she was throwing the largest attack she had in her arsenal at him without holding back anything. On her face, a clear expression of hatred was visible.

It's not a distraction anymore; the bitch was clearly trying to kill him.

He heard the gasps and whispers from the crowd, but there's no time to think about that. He turned around and put the Chimera Viper Shield in front of him. The Light Metal Shield was strong against magic, but he doubted that it could protect him fully against something at this level. But even with the strongest shield he had in possession, he wasn't sure that he could hold his own against this kind of attack unscathed. He braced himself, ready to feel the impact…

Suddenly something flew in between Naofumi and the fireball. It was so fast he couldn't see clearly what it was, but from the speed and how it flew, Naofumi could only deduce that it was an arrow. The fireball hit the arrow in midair and exploded violently; even with the Chimera Viper Shield shielding him, Naofumi could still feel the heat of the fire, and the impact pushed him back a few feet. But thanks to the arrow, he had avoided being blown to smithereens by the raging fireball.

Naofumi glanced at the direction the arrow had flown from. It was the stand where the two other Heroes were sitting; could it be…?

[Alert! Sneak attack fr-]

SPLURT!

The tip of the Legendary Spear pierced through his body from the back and stuck out of his torso.

From behind him, Motoyasu was gripping the shaft of the spear tightly with both hands. His eyes were bloodshot, and a crazy slasher smile could be seen on his face.

"Heheheheheh… I won."

"NOOOOOOOO! NAOFUMI-SAMAAAAAAAA!"

For a minute, the heart-wrenching scream of Raphtalia was the only sound in the arena.

Everyone was so shocked by what had just happened to even open their mouth. Not because the Shield Hero had fought so brilliantly and tenaciously against an opponent who he knew would completely outmatch him in a battle, to the point that he almost won. It was because no one could ever expect that a prestigious person like the Spear Hero, who everyone considered the most powerful and chivalrous among the Cardinal Heroes, the knight in shining armor who had the favor of both the King and the Princess, could ever act so cowardly and pathetically in a battle that he declared a Sacred Duel himself.

Not only did the First Princess actually interfere with the match from outside with not only one, but two times firing magic at the Shield Hero, one of which could have killed both of the fighters in the arena, the Spear Hero himself also did an unforgivable thing, which was backstabbing his opponent when he was defending both of them from that very same attack that would have taken both of their lives.

Motoyasu withdrew the Legendary Spear from Naofumi's body with a "SQUELCH". He looked at the crowd, still with his crazy eyes, hoping to hear cheers, but to his surprise, nothing came up. He frowned.

"Hey, what's wrong? I defeated him! Why is no one cheering?"

Everyone on the stands glared at the blond Hero with eyes full of disgust. No one dared to raise their voices, however; they knew that if they opened their mouths, the King would behead them immediately, or even worse, their whole families might also be harmed.

From the balcony, the King raised his voice in a savagely satisfied tone. "Since the Shield Hero has fallen, I declare the Spear Hero to be…"

"No… not yet…"

Naofumi had stood up from the ground. Blood was pouring out of the stab wound on his torso, but somehow he still managed to stand firmly without even a hint of faltering.

"What can you do now with that body?" Motoyasu said haughtily. He trotted toward Naofumi. "Or do you need me to deliver the decisive blow? Too bad, it would not be that eas—"

"Shield Prison!"

The cage of shields once again appeared from thin air and locked Motoyasu inside. But this time, instead of just covering his body, it covered the Spear Hero from head to toe, not exposing anything.

"You fool!" Motoyasu's voice came from inside the cage. "I'm going to break out now! This won't hold me for long!"

"Compress! Shield Prison! SHIELD PRISON!"

The cage suddenly became smaller and tighter, and Motoyasu couldn't move his body anymore. At the same time, two more Shield Prisons appeared and locked the first one inside it, making a ball of shields no one could escape from.

"Hey, what the hell?! Release me!"

"I've never wanted to do this," Naofumi breathed out; he was obviously in deep agony, but his eyes were still gleaming with anger and vengeance, "but since you've pushed me to this point…"

He pulled out something from his inventory. It was a bottle with a golden liquid inside. "This is the oil in the gall of the Fire Bats I fought in the Ryute Mine the other day. I extracted it to see if it could do anything, but so far I haven't found any use for it. But maybe you already knew, Motoyasu, that it is highly flammable."

He tossed the whole thing at the shield cage. The bottle broke, and immediately, a fire broke out, covering the whole cage in a bright red flame.

"Ha! I don't even feel a thing!" Motoyasu's mouth was still loud inside the cage. "What is the meaning of this if you already gave me protection inside this cage?"

"Perhaps you won't be able to feel the heat, yes," Naofumi's voice suddenly became deathly cold. "But let's see if you would have enough oxygen to survive in that cage after two minutes under that fire or not. SHIELD PRISON!"

Another layer of shields appeared and covered the already thick shield cage, making it even thicker and blocking any way for air to get inside.

Deathly silence.

"NO! NO NO NO! RELEASE ME! SOMEONE HELP ME! I DON'T WANT TO DIE! HEEEEEEEEELP!"

It seemed Motoyasu had finally realized how bad his situation was. He panicked inside the shield cage; the ball of shields rattled in his futile attempt to break out, but every effort he spent was useless; the ball was just too strong, and being helplessly tied inside the cage, he couldn't do anything else…

"So? How is the feeling of death coming to take you?" From outside, Naofumi's voice echoed around the cage. "You were so eager to kill me, weren't you? You didn't even hesitate when you stabbed me in the gut with that spear of yours, did you? So how is the feeling when the person who's going to be killed is you instead?"

"Save the Spear Hero!" the King bellowed, and his knights started moving into the arena, but the death glare Naofumi shot at him made him flinch in fear. The Shield Hero's voice boomed around the garden.

"So that's your idea of a so-called 'sacred duel', isn't it? You already said the duel will only end when one of the combatants falls, before it started! So it's just a 'sacred', 1-on-1 duel when the winner is the one you want to be the winner, isn't it? Is that how the king of this country works?"

"Krgh…!"

"HELP ME! ANYONE!" Inside the cage, Motoyasu's scream was getting weaker and weaker. "Anyone! I don't… want to die…! I… don't…"

The fire covering the shield cage finally started dying down when the Spear Hero's voice stopped coming out from inside the cage. Naofumi sighed, and he snapped his finger. The shield cage disappeared into glittering dust, revealing a tattered, half-conscious Motoyasu inside, who immediately collapsed onto the ground after being released.

Naofumi closed his eyes. Then, he suddenly said something no one could ever expect.

"I surrender."

"Wha…?"

"Didn't I say it clear enough?" Naofumi glared at the King, who was now staring at him dumbfounded from the balcony above. "I give up. There's no point continuing this meaningless fight anymore."

"Naofumi-sama…"

He glanced at Raphtalia, who had just broken free of the knights' grip and was now walking into the arena. On her face, there was a depressed expression. Her master's going to abandon her… again…

"Raphtalia," he looked into her eyes; never had Raphtalia seen him so weak, so... miserable. "When I bought you, what I wanted was to find a partner that will never betray me. I only bought you at that time because you were the only one that I felt might be able to become a fighter. I didn't expect that you would grow up and become such a fine lady on your own. So now, you can be your own person. Let them break the slave crest, then you can do whatever you want; what you do is going to be your own choice from now on."

He stroke her head gently, the same gesture that he always did to her when they're alone. Then, he glanced at the King. "What are you waiting for? Send in the wizard and break her slave crest!"

The ritual was done in just a few minutes. Naofumi closed his eyes when the alert [Contract with Raphtalia terminated] appeared in his vision. And that's it; he's back to being alone, again.

But at least she's going to be happy…

"There, you're free now, girl. Be grateful for the Spear Hero and my kindness!" the King said with a haughty voice. He glanced at the Shield Hero, a savage satisfaction bubbled in his stomach. "From now on, you're free to forge your own path without the Shield Demon manipulating you!"

"If you don't know what you should do, you can come and join me," Motoyasu, who had just been healed by the royal wizards, sauntered toward Raphtalia and grabbed her hand. "I'll be sure to protect you from that rapist from now on."

Raphtalia didn't say anything for a few seconds. Then with a swift movement, she slapped his hand away.

"Wha…?!"

Then before Motoyasu could recognize what was going on, a fist had buried itself in the middle of his face. His body flew backward like a ragdoll; his head once again collided with the ground painfully. A chorused gasp rose from the crowd; no one could ever expect a pretty and weak-looking girl like Raphtalia could do something like that.

"You… you lowlife animal!" Malty shrieked. "How dare you do that to Motoyasu-sama?!"

But she immediately shut up when Raphtalia threw her a glare. That glare was so full of anger, hatred and viciousness that she felt the temperature around her suddenly dropped about forty degrees, as if she had just been plucked from the warm summer night and tossed into a cellar full of ice. Suddenly she felt something wet under her dress, and it was obviously not from arousal at all.

"B-bhy, Waphaphia-bhan?" he asked weakly, holding his bloody broken nose with his right hand. "Ah habe juxt zabe u fwom—"

"Does it look like I need you to save me?" she said, unable to hide the anger in her voice anymore. "Since the day he bought me from that shop, Naofumi-sama has never done anything to me that could make me lose even a strand of hair! He fed me, bathed me, healed me from my illness, bought new clothes for me; he treated me as if I were his daughter! He even tried to sacrifice his own life to protect me from that monster, without any hesitation! Can you even do that, Motoyasu?"

She didn't even bother using an honorific. Her voice rose higher and higher with each of her words. "Do you dare jump into the way of a monster forty levels stronger than you, without any armor, with a single shield on your hand, just to protect the life of a little girl who you have just met for a day? Can you do it?! ANSWER ME!"

"That's… that's impossible…!" Motoyasu retorted pathetically, but even he didn't seem to believe in his own voice anymore. At this moment, he was just desperately trying to find an excuse for everything happening in front of him. "There's no way someone like him could do something like that…! You must have been brainwashed by him!"

"Too bad for you, Motoyasu, everything about that was the truth."

The Spear Hero's head snapped toward the direction of the voice. EMIYA and Itsuki had arrived from their seats; it was the Sword Hero who had just said those words.

"How… how do you even know…?"

"How, you say?" EMIYA shook his head; he was staring down at him with a stern expression full of pity and disappointment. "It was because I was there when that happened. It was I who helped carry him back to the town's apothecary that night; I've never thought that someone like him could even get injured that badly. You just see what you want to see, Motoyasu; have you ever spent a minute wondering if there were anything else behind what a pretty girl told you?"

"That's just pathetic, Motoyasu!" Itsuki also added in. "Everyone here saw that your companion tried to interfere with the duel not once, but twice, and that was more than enough to declare you the loser already! Admit it; Naofumi beat you fair and square! Nothing can change that fact! And now you still have the gall to go to the prize and claim her to be yours?!"

Everything around Motoyasu seemed to collapse. His ideal world, where he was a hero loved by everyone, fighting evil people who harm the life of pretty women and children, was disintegrating piece by piece in front of his eyes.

"No… it… it can't be…"

Raphtalia walked past Motoyasu. She grabbed Naofumi's hand, who turned back with his eyes widening in surprise. She glanced at Motoyasu on the ground and said in an icy voice.

"You said that I was brainwashed by Naofumi-sama. Then yes, if rescuing me from the hellhole of slavery, treating me with kindness, protecting my life with his own are considered brainwashing, then I volunteer to be brainwashed by him."

Then she turned back to Naofumi. "Naofumi-sama, you don't have to worry anymore. You might be small and powerless in this country, but I will always be here to keep you safe. No one would be able to break our bond."

Naofumi suddenly felt his cheeks getting wet. He raised his hand to touch his right cheek, and realized that tears were running down from his eyes. And before he could know it, he had pulled Raphtalia into a hug and started weeping on her shoulder. Blood leaked out from his wound, dirtying her clothes, but he didn't care. And it seemed Raphtalia herself didn't, either, because she smiled and reached out her arms, hugging him back earnestly.

Then a loud cracking noise rose from behind them, at the stand. They tensed up and turned back, expecting another sneak attack… but…

It was the sound of applause. It started from a sharp-dressed man wearing glasses at the front line of the left stand, then people around him also started clapping. The wave of applause and cheers kept spreading and spreading, and soon enough, the whole arena was full of cheers for the Shield Hero and his partner.

"Good job, Shield Hero!"

"You're not half bad!"

"What a beautiful story!"

"Stay strong, Shield Hero!"

The King glanced around at them all, looking as though there was something incredibly big lodged in his throat, unable to say anything. Malty now looked like someone had just punched her in the face; her face was beet red with anger and humiliation.

Naofumi's eyes were damp with tears, but on his face, a smile of gratitude and happiness could be seen clearly. "Thank you… Raphtalia…"

Then everything around him fell into darkness.

"Father! Why did you let them get away with it that easily?! You should have gotten them killed immediately there for insolence, or thrown them into the dungeon for life! Why didn't you-"

King Aultcray Melromarc XXXII didn't usually raise his voice at his eldest daughter. She was one of the people he loved the most in this world. After the great war with Siltvelt, she was the only person left who was close to him, besides his wife. Outside of when he was with her, he could never be happy. Because of that, he had spoilt her rotten. He let her do anything she wanted, and would use everything he had in possession to cover for her when something bad happened.

But this time, even he couldn't keep silent at the lethally idiotic action she had done anymore.

"Shut up!" he roared. "Do you know what you have just done? What in the world possessed you that made you do something as stupid as that?!"

"What?" Malty scowled in annoyance. "What did I do? That demon was going to win, so I—"

"YOU THREW A FREAKING INFERNO AT BOTH OF THEM!" the King didn't let her finish. "I CAN COVER THINGS UP FOR YOU IF YOU DO IT DISCREETLY, BUT HOW IN THE WORLD CAN I DO ANYTHING WITH SOMETHING THAT BIG AND BLATANT?! NOW EVEN THE NOBLES OF THE KINGDOM HAVE BEEN SWAYED TO THE DEMON'S SIDE, FROM YOUR STUPID ACTION ALONE!"

"Big deal," the princess snorted. "You're the king, right? Just kill them, or throw them into the dungeon, like you did with that Seatto bitch; that would solve everyth—"

SLAP!

Malty touched the place where a red handprint was lying now in shock.

"If you can't do anything right, then don't ruin things up even more than it already is!"

The King stomped out of the room, slamming the door close behind his back. The room shook under the tremor, and a china vase on a shelf at the corner fell out of its place and shattered on the ground.

For a few seconds, the First Princess couldn't even move her hand. She couldn't believe that there would be a day when someone dared to slap her. Even worse, that person was her own father, the one whom she thought she could hold in the palm of her hand.

It was all the fault of the Shield Devil. It was because of him that everything turned out like this.

"Shield Devil… you're going to pay for this!"

King Aultcray punched the table he was sitting at in anger.

The truth is, he didn't have any personal vendetta against the person named Iwatani Naofumi at all. They hadn't even known each other before he was summoned.

No, what he hated was the very idea of the Shield Hero existing in this world.

To him, demi-humans were the blights of this world. They lived for nothing but to bring pain and despair to humankind. In the past, the war against Siltvelt, the country of those demi-human bastards, molded him into the mighty Hero of the Staff, but it was also the same thing that took away his dear little sister. In an attempt to conquer the world, those bastards sent a delegation to Melromarc in the name of a peace treaty, but one night, the very same delegation murdered everyone in Melromarc who wanted to come up with a peaceful resolution for everything.

Everyone, including his sister.

They murdered her, just because she was the family of the person who was fighting and overwhelming them on the battlefield.

Starting from that moment, demi-humans had become his archenemies. And by proxy, the god of demi-humans and the founder of Siltvelt, the Shield Hero, too. He had sworn to murder every single one of those monsters just like what they did to his sister.

And that's why he was thrilled when the Church declared their intention to summon the Cardinal Heroes to fight back the Waves of Calamity. Completely ignoring the warning of his wife, he declared the summoning of all the four Heroes to Melromarc, just so he had the chance to give the god of those half-breeds what he deserved for creating that country of monsters. He would make him as weak as possible so that the bastard would be killed like the dog he was supposed to be on the battlefield. He had entrusted this duty to his first daughter, the one he loved the most, believing that with her experience in charming men, she would be able to help him ruin the demon's life.

However, he had immediately realized he had made a gigantic mistake.

Malty had proven to be a complete imbecile when it comes to planning, not to mention a really, really bad actress. He had told her to do something to sabotage the growth of the Shield Devil, but he just hadn't expected her to frame him for raping her. That little trick of her might work on the nameless boys of the kingdom, who she could play with until she was bored then get them beheaded to cover things up, but this was different; they're talking about Cardinal Heroes here. Who in the right mind would even believe in something like that with how bad she was acting? And sure enough, the Sword Hero had seen through her with just a single glance, forcing him to resort to blatantly threatening him to back her up so that everything wouldn't collapse before it could even begin.

But until now, he had managed to push things in the right way, mostly…

...until that idiotic daughter of him, as well as the incompetent fool called the Hero of the Spear, went and outright tried to murder the Shield Devil in a fit of rage. In front of a whole audience full of nobles with economics and military capabilities, some of whom were even governors. In the middle of the duel he staged to take away the bastard's only way to fight.

Now even the nobles of the country had turned against him. The Shield Devil would take over the whole country soon at this rate.

He grabbed a china flower pot on his table and threw it in rage. The poor pot shattered against the wall with a loud crashing noise.

"You seem to be angry, Your Highness."

He didn't need to turn around to know who had just said those words. After all, the only people who would dare to call him like that were the Shadows of the Queen. To them, Aultcray was just the King in title; they only acknowledged his wife as the true ruler of the country.

"What do you want?" he asked with a scowl, not even turning his head. The Shadow answered him, still in his monotonous voice.

"I have a message from Her Majesty to you."

"Leave it on the table; I will read it later."

The Shadow didn't move away. "I was instructed to leave only after you open the message and read it," he insisted.

Scowling, he stood up and snatched the letter from the Shadow's hand. He tore the royal seal apart and flipped the sheet of paper open.

His face immediately went chalk white.

"Now you have read the letter, I will return to report to Her Majesty."

With those words, the Shadow disappeared from the room, leaving Aultcray alone on his chair, with the letter still hanging on his hand, with only four words in it.

AULTCRAY, REMEMBER MY WORDS.

…You'll be in my heart

No matter what they say

You'll be in my heart

Always…

What… who… is singing…? Where… am I…?

Maybe he was in hell. That's why everything around him was pitch black; after all, hell wasn't supposed to be pretty and bright.

But if he's really in hell, then where did that beautiful singing voice come from? Surely, there wouldn't be any angel waiting for him there to sing him that sweet lullaby.

For the first time, he realized that his eyes were closing.

But he didn't want to open his eyes. This dream was so blissful for him. If he opened his eyes, he would have to return to the dark reality which condemned him to hell.

Then a hand touched his forehead. This hand was so different from whatever he had felt before; it was so warm and gentle, just like a mother's hand.

Who…?

"Okay, okay, I'm up, geez."

His eyes cracked open, but immediately closed shut when the morning sunlight shone through the window next to his bed, temporarily blinding him. Only after a few seconds of blinking could he regained his eyesight.

He was lying on a bed in a familiar store full of bottles containing all types of medicine. The apothecary in the town. So someone brought him all the way from the palace here last night.

His gut throbbed in piercing pain, at the place where he received Motoyasu's stab. So it wasn't a dream. The horny bastard…

"Good morning, Naofumi-sama."

He turned around. Raphtalia was sitting on a chair next to his bed, greeting him with her usual angelic smile.

"Raphtalia…"

"Ah, you're awake."

The good doctor came from the back of the store. He placed a bottle of healing potion on a stool next to Naofumi's bed. "Here, drink this. I've treated your wound, but you'll still need more than just a few bottles of potion if you want to recover completely. Seriously…"

"I don't have money to pay you for this," Naofumi said cautiously while eyeing the bottle. The physician suddenly laughed heartily.

"You don't need to pay anything. I've heard from my relative in Ryute Village that the Shield Hero and his comrades risked their lives to protect the village. The villagers there are really grateful, and told us to help you as much as we could. So there, from now on, if you need something related to medicine, just come to me. I will try to provide you with the best I can, and of course with the most reasonable price possible. And of course, everything I do for you today is going to be free of charge."

Then he shook his head. "Seriously, can't believe that the Spear Hero could even stoop that low. Attacking someone in the back when someone else was trying to fry that person to crisp…"

Hearing that made the wound on Naofumi's gut ache again. But strangely, he didn't even feel any hatred for the pervert anymore. If anything, the Spear Hero was just pitiful in his eyes rather than someone he should hate.

He took the potion from the stool and drank it. The effect was immediate; the pain in his wound started fading away, although it still hurt when he touched it.

"That should take care of it," the physician nodded. "But it will still take some time for you to completely heal from such a wound. Pay attention not to force yourself too much in at least 2 days, or it's gonna get worse. Take care of him well, young lady," he slapped Raphtalia's shoulder. "Although I have to say, you look much better than you did a week ago. Keep yourself healthy, too."

Naofumi pushed himself up. He got out of the bed and grabbed the cape of the Barbarian's Armor hung on a cloak hanger nearby. "Thanks for your help, Doc."

"No problem," the good doctor nodded. "And I hope you never have to come back here for something like this again."

Naofumi smiled. Even though the words were a bit rough, he knew that the doctor meant well. "Raphtalia, let's go!"

Then he stopped. "Oh, sorry… I keep forgetting that you're not my slave anymore…"

The girl smiled, and took his hand. "No matter what happens, I will always be next to you, Naofumi-sama."

Then they opened the door, and stepped into the light.

A new day was starting…

Finally, the chapter I've been looking forward to writing since I began this story! Starting from this moment, nothing is going to be the same anymore!

I've always wondered how Aultcray, a military genius who could make plans to thwart the whole army of Siltvelt and won a war singlehandedly with his strategy alone, could even come up with such a sloppy "plan" full of holes like that to make Naofumi's life hell. Then I realized: it wasn't his plan that was bad; it was the performer, Malty, who ruined everything and made it that bad. She was a complete idiot with an ego as big as a planet, and was such a bad liar to the point that she couldn't even make a believable lie, and yet she couldn't even stop herself from lying whenever she opened her mouth. And the king had to run around like a headless chicken trying to cover up everything she did; that's why the plan had to be changed constantly, sometimes even improvised on the spot, until it became such a big, messy, idiotic pile of horseshit. Even the most competent chessmaster wouldn't be able to salvage anything from such a mess; it was impressive that Aultcray could even hold out that long. To be honest, if it hadn't been for Malty, his plan might actually have SUCCEEDED. And that would be terrible.

And, well, people die if they are killed. Sorry to anyone finding that annoying, but I really can't help putting that line in whenever someone related to Shirou appears in my stories.

Until next time.