Chapter 3: Do-Gooder
The Castle of Melromarc, Throne Room, The next day.
It was a fine morning in the lands of Melromarc, the sky a calming light blue, and the streets and markets below the castle were bustling with people from so many places. And like yesterday, the Throne Room of the castle held the same people from yesterday, including the summoned heroes. Except… one of the heroes wasn't there. That being the shield hero, who called himself the Doctor. A very strange man, and was already on shaky terms with the spear hero when they were in their quarters. The nobles in the castle had expected him to be in the throne room with the other heroes, and see which companions they will have on their journey. They were a bit shocked to find that he was seemingly not there, and they started to whisper to each other.
One of the nobles would whisper "Did he decide to try and abandon his duties?", while another would whisper "What if someone kidnapped him?" And meaningless rumors would begin to fill the castle.
The three heroes at the moment would be talking with each other, the first one to speak would be Itsuki, The Bow Hero.
"I thought the Doctor would have been here by now, that's strange…" Itsuki would say, sounding a bit troubled.
"I had thought so too, though it could just be that he's busy with something." Ren, the sword hero, would say. still sounding a bit cold and distant, though a little bit less so than yesterday.
Motoyasu, the spear hero, seemed to grin at the situation, finding some sort of satisfaction at this moment. "Probably just being a coward. He talks big, but I'll bet you he's an absolute weakling." He said with a smug sense of confidence.
Ren would seem unamused by Motoyasu's comments, finding them to be really immature. But when he looked at Motoyasu, he would see something beside the spear hero that surprised him a bit, though it seemed to be a good thing that surprised him. He would smirk a bit, and he would proceed to ask Motoyasu "Are you sure you're confident in what you're saying?"
Motoyasu would seem to laugh at Ren's comment, like it was such a ridiculous question. "C'mon Ren, what's up with you? Of course I'm confident. Like I mean think about it, did you see what he was wearing? It was some weird ass suit, a guy has to get better taste than that. Shouldn't a hero, since he saves people, look more heroic than… that?"
Itsuki would look at Motoyasu's direction, just listening to the conversation. Though in turn of looking in Motoyasu's direction, he would immediately see something that made him have a realization. A realization that would soon turn into giggles and amusement for him.
Ren, who was still smirking, would then say to Motoyasu "You should probably say this to the Doctor himself, he might find your critique's… enlightening, to say the least."
Motoyasu would seem to think of it as a good idea, responding to Ren with "Ha! Good idea. If I do so, it'll show that goofy sonuva-"
"Show me what exactly?" A familiar man would ask, in a curious manner.
"AHHH!" Motoyasu would yelp out, jumping in fright, not expecting this. It would also immediately silence the entire room, with the other people here noticing "he" has finally arrived. Motoyasu would soon turn to where he heard the voice, which was right beside him. And right beside him was the man himself, the Doctor, who had been listening to the entire conversation.
The Doctor seemed to have a neutral face as he looked at Motoyasu, not mad or insulted, just a bit disappointed that the spear hero would really say stuff like this.
Motoyasu himself would quickly gather his composure, trying to not embarrass himself any further. "Jeez man, you scared the crap outta me."
"Well that's all well and good, but you should try to get better insults than that… a 5th grader would have done better, honestly." The Doctor would reply, which led to Motoyasu gritting his teeth in annoyance.
Itsuki would stop giggling now, saying to the Doctor "Glad to see you're here, we were afraid you wouldn't show up."
"What were you doing before you got here by the way?" Ren would ask simply.
"Well that's an easy question to answer, I was in the library! Learned everything in it." The Doctor would say. Which led to both itsuki and ren widening their eyes, probably in disbelief.
Ren would be the first to say to the Doctor "So you read all the books… in the entire library, I… You know what, I'm just gonna leave that be. But even if you did, wouldn't you be really tired by now?"
"Nah, not really. It's sort of different for me, in some sense." The Doctor would answer Ren, with a sense of genuine pride
"...Right." Ren would simply say, continuing with "Well anyways, we're gonna have to listen to what the king says, this is when we get our companions."
The group of heroes would then look towards the king, King Melromarc the 32nd, on his throne, where in front of him were what seemed to be the warriors that could become their companions. From the looks of it, the King seemed to be surprised that the shield hero would actually arrive. Though for the Doctor, he thought it was better to be late than never arrive at all.
After this awkward moment, the king would say "Ahem… it seems now that everyone is here, we can start. Brave warriors in front of me, choose which hero you wish to fight with in battle. You are the best, and the brightest we've picked… I wish you good luck." And the warriors would soon walk towards the 4 heroes, picking the ones that will lead them through trials and hardships.
It would only be a short while, as finally the warriors would stand behind their respective hero. 5 of the warriors would be standing behind Ren, 3 would be standing behind Itsuki and 4 would be with Motoyasu… with all of Motoyasu's party members being women. No warriors were behind the Doctor, not one, none, zero. It was a bit strange to the Doctor to say the least, and he also thought that it was worrying that Motoyasu's party was all women. It's not that he didn't think the party wasn't capable, he was just worried about their safety when they're around the spear hero, to say the least. What, with the outburst he had the other night, why wouldn't he be worried.
Even with the strange case of him having no companions, this didn't even bother him. Actually, he considered it perfect. Since no one wants to be his companion, then they won't be hurt when they travel with him.
"Huh, so I don't have any companions…? Neat, I'm used to going it alone anyways." The Doctor would say, sounding unbothered.
The reactions of everyone in the room were a bit predictable to the Doctor, to say the least. Ren was pretty surprised by the Doctor's response, along with Itsuki. Motoyasu would just seem outright shocked, not expecting a "Loser Shield" (his thoughts) to wanna go it alone. The audience of nobles would start even more whispering and rumors, to the point where it almost annoyed the Doctor. The king himself would have his mouth agape for a moment, until a servant of his would come to his side and whisper something in his ear. After the servant would finish giving whatever news he had to the king, the king himself would seem disappointed. Though from the Doctor's perspective… This looked like an act.
Flashback: The night before, the castle library.
The Doctor would be in the library, reading a book about the history of the summoned heroes, Though this wasn't the first book he started with. On his sides were piles of books that he had finished, memorized and put in stacks to sort out later. The big stacks of books on his sides were numerous too, at the very least he had read 3/4 of the entire library at this point… which is a lot. In front of him were stacks of books he's read before, ranging from "Monsters: Ghosts, succubi and other monstrosities" to "Basics of potions and alchemy for an ignoramus". So many books with so much new and amazing information, though with one of the books he read called "The History of Melromarc: Culture, Architecture and Glory", they talked about demi-humans and how they were inferior to humans… Already anyone with more than 5 brain cells and brain wrinkles would realize this sounds utterly false. After that, they would even talk about how the slave trading business boomed with using demi-humans, and how it was all they were good for.
Though it wasn't visible on the Doctor's face, he was seething after reading those words. There were many types of behavior that the Doctor couldn't stand… Enslaving people was one of them. This added to the many problems he had to fix in this world, though he would get to it soon, that's for sure. After reading that book, he had to remind himself to take the information he read with a grain of salt. He reminded this to himself especially after reading the history of summoned heroes.
From what it turns out, there aren't just 4 cardinal heroes, there were heroes who held "vassal weapons". The vassal weapons were almost like the legendary weapons, though they seemed to be less powerful than the legendary weapons. There were many heroes who held these weapons, the Gauntlet hero, the Hammer hero and the Axe hero to name a few. Though one stuck out to him, that being the Staff hero. The Staff hero was an incredibly intelligent man, who was a great strategist, and helped in times of need. This man, to his surprise… was King Aultcray.
He also seemed to have a bad history with a country called stiltvelt, which only had a population of demi humans who worshiped the Shield Hero. Years ago, stiltvelt had tried to dominate the world (off to a great start), and the staff hero along with Melromarc resisted them. Because of that, a war had raged between Melromarc and Stiltvelt, which resulted in the death of one of Aultcray's sisters. And in the end, Aultcray had killed the leader of Stiltvelt at the time, Tai Ran Ga Feon and won the war.
This made the Doctor understand to a small extent why there was slavery of demi-humans in Melromarc and how the King could have a biased view of the shield hero, he didn't agree with it at all, but there was a method to the madness. But in the words of a wise man, "evil begets evil''. If someone had done something evil against you, you'd be no better than them if you did something evil to them in turn.
Though again, what he read could have been exaggerated, he'd have to check a reliable source to know if it was correct or not. Right now, the Doctor wanted to move on from reading this, it made him a bit sick in some sense. Moving on from the book, he would pick out another from a shelf nearby, with the book titled "History of the Melromarc family".
Flashback ended.
The Present:
Back in the present moment with the Doctor, the king would soon speak to the heroes.
"Hmmm, it seems that rumors have spread across the land that the Shield Hero is ignorant of this world." the King said in a disappointed, yet ingenuine tone.
Again, to the Doctor, there seemed to be a level of deception from the king when he said those words. Not only that, but corroborated by the information by the books he read, there had to be something more to this. But hold on, how can a rumor like that spread so fast? It seems related to the conversation that the heroes had last night, and the only way for anyone to know that conversation is if one of the heroes talked about it, or someone was… spying on them.
Someone had been sent to spy on the heroes, and with the information that was gathered, whoever used it had spread negative rumors about the Shield Hero. It couldn't have been one of the heroes talking about it, they all went to bed as soon as the conversation ended except for the Doctor, and he was in the library. And even if Motoyasu wasn't pleasant, it's doubtful that he would spill the beans on a conversation he had with the heroes.
But even then to the Doctor, this rumor was just an inconvenience.
The Doctor would respond to the king's comment with "Rumors are rumors, right? It doesn't bother me. Anyways, we should probably start on our quest. We don't want to dilly dally any longer, we should try to help the folks out there right?"
The king would again, look really baffled by the Doctor's attitude to this situation. "I-I know, but don't you want at least one companion or-" he sputtered out, but was soon interrupted by another voice.
"I'll join the Shield hero's party." Said the voice. From the sounds of it, it came from one of the Spear hero's party members.
A woman would then emerge from the Spear hero's group, this was the one who had spoken. She would walk up to the Doctor, which let him have a good look of what she looked like. She had beautiful red hair, flowing down to her shoulders. Her face was a sight to behold, a beauty that most men would have fallen for, with green eyes like that of emeralds.
Her nose was small and sharp, which seemed to be befitting of a noble such as herself. And her outfit was that of light adventuring gear, with a sword by her side as well. The crowds seemed to be curious on why she would join the shield hero's party. Pity? Curiosity? Whatever the reason though, it was a bit odd to say the least.
When the Doctor looked her in the eyes, he had that sort of neutral expression again. No one could tell what he was thinking, it was sort of unnerving. Though in turn, the red haired woman would also look neutral, waiting for a response.
"Are you sure you want to do this? This type of thing can and will be dangerous." The Doctor asked, his eyebrows raised in skepticism.
"I'm certain of it, Sir Shield hero. And I hope to be of great assistance. Will you trust me?" The red haired woman said, sounding confident in her answer with a trustful smile on her face.
As a response to her answer, the Doctor would grin. "If that is your answer, then who am I to deny someone of adventure such as yourself." The Doctor said. It was at that moment, when the woman had joined his party, saying so in his hud too. He would then turn to the king, watching the king as he awaited for whatever else he had to say.
King Aultcray would be silent for a moment, seeing if anyone else wanted to speak before saying
"If that matter's settled now, then we should move onto more important business. Because you brave heroes are going out into the world, you will need to be prepared for your journey and the waves. For this, you will be given funds. The Spear, Bow and Sword hero will be given 600 silver. While the Shield hero, since he has only one companion, will receive 800 silver."
Soon, some of the king's servants would come forward with bags of the money, one bag for each hero. Once the heroes had collected their funds, they would put it into their inventories, preparing for later.
"Now, go forth heroes. Your journey begins now!" King Aultcray announced, with a sense of pride in his voice.
And so, the 4 heroes and their companions left the king's room, heading out of the castle and into the city below.
35 minutes later.
The heroes went their separate ways, and now the red haired woman and the Doctor were exploring the market of the city. There were food courts, gem sellers, and merchants in general with a wide variety of stock in their stores. The Doctor and the red haired woman had talked a while, getting to know each other while the Doctor got to know the layout of where they were at.
At this point though, he started to worry about some things that were left behind when he was transported to this world. What would happen to his TARDIS? Did it come with him? Or was it stuck somewhere dangerous? He really was one to worry about things like this, but he was hoping that she was ok, since they'd been through so much together. But he had to pay attention to the moment, and it was here when he remembered to ask something of his adventurer partner.
"What's your name by the way Ms. Adventurer?" The Doctor would ask his new companion.
"Hm? Oh of course, my name is Myne Sophia. It's a pleasure to finally meet a brave hero such as yourself." Myne would respond with. Though to be honest, he didn't find it to be a very good name, to him it sounded quite stupid.
The Doctor would chuckle a bit as they stopped beside a nearby store, with him saying to her "I'm not brave, not really. Nor do I consider myself a hero. I just try to help whenever I can."
Myne would smile a bit, proceeding to say "And humble too. Good qualities for a man such as yourself."
The Doctor laughed a bit. "You're too kind… But, what about you? Why did you start adventuring?" The Doctor responded with.
It would take a small moment for her to say something back, but her answer would be "I feel like it's exciting, thrilling! And it's sort of a home away from home sort of thing, does that make any sense?"
"I guess so. I think I've actually had a feeling like that a long time ago." The Doctor said, with a tone equal to that of reminiscing.
"Well, I'm glad someone somewhat understands. But enough of that, we have to get some gear. Though I don't really- well actually here's a place for it!" She said, directing the Doctors attention to a store they were outside of.
It seemed to be a blacksmith's store, and the Doctor wondered what kind of wares he had. He wasn't interested in the weapons of the shop, but the armor that it might have. The two of them would go inside, seeing the variety of equipment that seemed to be sold at the store.
In front of them was a counter, where behind it was a tall and strong looking man, with a shaven head and a nice looking chin beard. He wore that of an off-white undershirt with short sleeves, and over the undershirt he wore a forger apron that hung from his left shoulder. He had a brown pouch that he wore on his waistline, probably holding some smaller tools of his trade. He wore black gloves, dark brown pants and beige upturned boots. Really, it was just the type of outfit that really made the man look the part of a blacksmith.
As the man behind the counter saw the two enter, he would say to the newcomers of his store "Welcome Travelers. like what you see? I have plenty of wares, ranging from shields and swords, to spears and maces and everything in between. I've also got some good armor for you to wear as well!"
Though gruff sounding, the blacksmith seemed to be a friendly man, who was glad to see some fresh faces for his shop.
The Doctor would respond to the blacksmith saying "It's nice to meet you too! This is a nice store you have here. I'm the Doctor by the way, and to my side is my new companion Myne Sophia. We're going to be doing some questing and adventuring and all the likes of that."
After this, Myne would bow to the shopkeeper in respect. The shopkeeper would seem surprised, not expecting someone to be this respectful. He would be silent for a small moment, before saying
"Well, it's nice to meet you too, Doctor. I'm Erhard, If you're adventuring, I think I have just the… hmm?"
Erhard would notice the Shield strapped to the Doctor's right hand, which would definitely remind him of something.
"Wait a minute, are you the shield hero? There's no other shield like the one you got, I can tell just by looking at it." Erhard asked very curiously.
"Hmm? Oh, yes that's me." The Doctor said casually, wondering where this was going.
Erhard seemed to smile at this, with him saying aloud. "How lucky am I, right? I have the shield hero in my store!"
The Doctor waved it off, responding to Erhard with "Please, I haven't done anything here yet. But enough about me, is there anything you recommend? I'm new to this world, so I've got to prepare the correct way, right?"
Erhard nodded in affirmation. "I agree, it can be dangerous out there. May I suggest this? It's made of good metal, and can slice through a good amount of things!" After saying so, he would bring out a very sharp looking sword nearby by the handle, a sword looking very similar to that of Myne's. Though when met with the sight of the sword, The Doctor would seem to have a face of slight discomfort.
"That's not necessary, I'm not a fan of weapons." The Doctor would simply say, to which Erhard would slightly raise his eyebrow, but would soon shrug afterwards.
"I don't mind, sometimes it's not even a weapon you need. Maybe I could get you some armor to sort yourself out?" Erhard would say.
The Doctor would beam a little bit more this time, proceeding to respond with "That would be perfect. I'll do fine with simple breastplate armor, is that good with you?"
Erhard would laugh a bit, saying to the Doctor "Of course! No problem at all, I think I've got the perfect one for you too." Soon, Erhard would then look behind to an armor stand nearby which had metal breastplate armor. It seemed to be hung by the right shoulder, where it had a little bit of shoulder armor, and covered the top right part of the torso only. He would pick it off of the stand, turning around and putting it on the counter for the Doctor to view.
"I recommend this one for some of the new adventurers, it's durable, somewhat light, and it goes for a decent price. If you want it, I can give it to you for 30 silver." Erhard said with an air of confidence, one that could assure anyone of its quality.
The Doctor would take a look at the armor piece for a moment, seeing no imperfections in the metal nor scratches or anything that could complicate his safety. It amazed the Doctor. "This is fine craftsmanship! I've never seen armor made so well, it rivals some of the best armor makers I know!"
Erhard would simply say "Well, I trained to be the best, so that's gotta count for something. And I'm glad you like it, even if it is just a simple armor piece."
"Well Erhard, even the simplest of armors are perfect for me." The Doctor responded with. He would then pull out his small sack of money, giving Erhard the amount of silver needed to purchase the armor.
"Thank you for your purchase sir. Good luck on your journey!" Erhard had said. And with that the Doctor would put on the armor, which seemed to fit him perfectly, and both him and Myne would leave the shop saying their goodbyes to Erhard.
As they walked through the streets, the Doctor would note to Myne "He seemed nice, and he's right talented too! Probably wouldn't mind seeing him more."
"I'd like that too!" Myne responded, agreeing with the Doctor. "But I think there are more important things we should focus on. Such as leveling ourselves up."
The Doctor nodded in half hearted agreement, with his head turning to Myne and asking her "But where should we level up?"
"I think I've got just the place for that. Follow me!" Myne said with a bit more energy. And so the Doctor would follow along with her, hoping to know what she was up to.
15 minutes later, the fields of Melromarc.
The Doctor could only describe what he was seeing as a beautiful piece of land. He had a better view of these luscious grasslands than from the castle windows, as he could feel the calming chill of the wind blowing past him. It was peaceful at this moment, almost nothing could disturb this. Though this made the Doctor turn to Myne in curiosity.
"So… how are we gonna level up here?" The Doctor asked. Though myne raised her brow in confusion when he asked this, it was seemingly obvious what they were going to do next.
"Well, we've gotta destroy some monsters of course! There are easy ones right here." Myne simply said, drawing her sword.
Now that the Doctor had realized what they were going to be doing, his eyes widened. Soon in the field, he would see red indicators on three things that were moving in on both the Doctor and Myne. If he had to guess, that would have to be hostile enemies.
They would jump out of the grass after they got close enough, revealing themselves to be balloon-like creatures of some kind. Myne would have already cut through one of them, which made the balloon explode into balloon pieces. The Doctor started to get more worried by the minute, quickly disarming Myne of her sword.
"What was that for?!" The Doctor asked in an almost horrified voice. Which surprised Myne a good length.
"W-what? But we have to kill them to level up! It's one of the only ways to get stronger." Myne answered the Doctor simply. Like this sort of thing was normal in this world.
"Well don't kill! Probably should have told you earlier, but I don't kill! No good ever comes out of it, and I steer clear from it every turn I get." The Doctor said, quickly dodging a balloon monster that was about to bite him.
Myne quickly took the sword back from the Doctor, trying to deal with the balloon creature problem. She would soon quickly destroy the other two balloons, their remains being tathers of rubber and latex.
The Doctor could only look on in deep disappointment and even a bit of sorrow for the now deceased balloons, he knew they were hostile, but there had to have been another answer instead of violence. Myne would look somewhat empathetic to the Doctor, seemingly understanding his position.
"I know this might not feel right. But how you did things in your world might not work here, you have to fight to stay alive." She said simply, with the Doctor shrugging in understanding. She would sigh, and would proceed to say "Can you pick up the balloon scraps? They sell for one copper piece per scrap."
Even though she was supposedly trying to be empathetic with the Doctor, she quickly dismissed it for the value those scraps would be. It was very strange to the Doctor, to say the least. For what seemed to be a kind person, to think this sort of thing should be normal.
The Doctor simply frowned, proceeding to pick up the scraps reluctantly. Myne would continue to fight against balloon creatures, earning 1 exp per kill. And of course, he would pick up whatever was left of them. Though a curious thing that the Doctor found out about while she continued to gain exp, was a cool feature of his shield.
As he started to look at his shield more, he had a feeling strike him that compelled him to put in a scrap of one of the balloon monsters in the gem of the shield. When he did so, the scraps would be integrated into the shield, and it would start to glow this mystical green color. On his hudscreen, a notification appeared.
"Alert: New shield has been discovered, new skills and perks unlocked." the notification said. It surprised the Doctor a bit, the complexity of the shield taking and integrating items for it to use with its own abilities. It fascinated him, and it made him think about trying to replicate this type of technology back in his world. As he was studying this new part of the shield, Myne saw a bit of it too.
"That's so amazing! Your shield must be a great tool." Myne had said, with a hint of excitement.
The Doctor couldn't help but agree, it was definitely going to be useful on his journey.
Myne would continue to speak though, proceeding with "Well, I think I've killed enough of the balloons to level up. And the scraps should get us a decent amount at a shop. We should visit someone in the market who could buy these."
The Doctor would nod in agreement, and of course they would return to the market.
15 minutes later, Erhard's shop.
After selling the scraps, Myne wanted to buy some new gear to be better prepared. The Doctor couldn't say no really, knowing the dangers of the unknown here. And to get some of this new gear, they went back to Erhard, who seemed to be glad of their return.
"Gear for the lady, hmm? You'll certainly be much stronger decked out with some good equipment." Erhard responded.
"Yes, undoubtedly, I just hope she finds whatever's right for her. Say, do you recognize her from anywhere?" The Doctor asked Erhard.
Erhard would raise a brow to his question, wondering who he meant by for a moment until realizing who he was talking about. "You mean your companion? Actually, I do think I recognize her. She's come to my shop before, good customer. But I dunno, I think I've seen her before that-"
"I've found this gear! It seems right to me." Myne had said, interrupting their conversation. She had put what she wanted on the counter, which seemed to be a set of regal-like armor and sword.
The Doctor would raise a brow at the equipment she wanted, assuming this would be pretty expensive. But, he shrugged it off. He turned back to erhard.
"So how much for all of that?" The Doctor simply asked, hoping that it wouldn't cost too much.
Erhard would look at the equipment too for a moment, before coming up with a price and saying "I can give it to you for 560 silver, no higher or lower."
"Really? Deal!" The Doctor said a bit joyfully, handing over the amount and having Myne wear the new equipment.
The Doctor soon left the shop with a pleasant goodbye, standing out in the front of the shop with Myne wondering what to do next. It was night time at this point. He could go find an inn, get a good night's rest-
"So what are your plans? Maybe, for all the kindness you showed me today, we could have some fun together.~" Myne said, with an obviously flirtatious tone.
Or deal with this problem. The Doctor forgot at the moment, he still needed to deal with her. Though how to deal with her, he'd have to figure it out quickly.
Myne would try to seductively get his attention, becoming more intimately closer to him. "What do you say, shield hero?~" She would say.
But to her surprise, the Doctor's response was laughter. Almost as if he found this event amusing. She was confused at first by it, wondering what was going on.
"I-is something the matter, shield hero?" She asked, hoping to know what he was thinking at this moment.
The Doctor would look at her for a moment, seemingly more amused, and leaned into her ear.
"I know who you really are, Mrs. Malty Melromarc. It was a nice charade." He whispered into her ear. Which made "Myne" widened her eyes with shock, and backed away from the Doctor.
The Doctor had known who she truly was for a long while now it seemed.
Before she could even try denying what he said, he would continue with "Oh, but it wasn't really a great charade, was it? You kind of showed your true colors back on the field, not only with that little to no hesitation of yours, but also that bold faced lie you made. You don't have to fight to stay alive, there's always another option. And also the way you tried to flirt with me, it didn't even feel in the least bit genuine, cause I only met you just a short while ago and it was honestly kind of rude-"
It was then the Doctor realized he forgot something else, adding on "Oh and also, I've read about your family history, so I've seen what you look like too. Really I just hoped you weren't so bad… The jury's still out on that, but it doesn't look good. But what I'm really wondering is: Why lie? I'm not here for anything malicious, and I'm not completely stupid either as you can see. Is there something you-"
"I-I don't know what you're talking about!" Malty said nervously, trying to find a way out of this situation. "I-I'm just a simple girl looking for adventure, that's all!" She tried to convince the Doctor, laughing it off.
"It's not really a good thing, lying, isn't it? Because if you tell so many, you can't tell which is truth or fiction." the Doctor responded to her with, sounding like a bit of a warning. If she didn't stop lying, the consequences could be severe.
Malty looked very worried at the moment, until an idea had popped in her head. "How about we try to relax a bit in the inn nearby? You probably need it after today, right?"
The Doctor looked suspicious of her intentions. He knew he had trapped her, and she couldn't even admit she was lying. Probably one of the most compulsive liars he had met in a while, and he had met the president of the United States! Though he had to know what she was up to, he didn't know what it could lead up to if he just left this be as is, and he wasn't going to let anything bad happen. So a bit reluctantly, he would agree.
"...Yeah, I'm probably gonna need it." He said with a hint of caution. And the two would soon move on to this inn she had in mind. It was at this point where the Doctor was really wanting to be with his TARDIS again, really missing her.
The inn, a couple of minutes later.
The main floor of the inn seemed to be busy, with plenty of people drinking and partying and all that. Which for the Doctor he didn't mind partying at all, but with Malty it kind of made him a bit uncomfortable. Malty would then drag the Doctor to the counter of the bar, where they sat at the counter to await being served.
A man would arrive at the counter, he looked to be a bit of an intimidating man, wearing an eyepatch to cover his left eye. He wore something similar to that of a medieval barkeeper, with a bit of a medieval war veteran spin to it. He had pale skin, red eyes, and seemed to be rough around the edges. He also had spiky hair, which was brown from the looks of it. From this it was clear, he had seen plenty of battles, and he wasn't one to deal with anyone's stupidity.
"Alright you two, what would you like?" The barkeeper asked, with a more direct tone.
Malty asked politely, "I'll have a drink of wine, if that's ok with you."
The barkeeper furrowed his brows, like he had just found out something about her, and it wasn't good. "...Sure thing ma'am. Collin!" A waiter nearby would perk up, who looked somewhat similar to the barkeeper, but with much softer features.
This must have been his son, though the both of them had different looks. "Collin" looked much more elegant than his father and was skinnier, with a much more handsome hairstyle, with his hair being the same color as his dad's. He was a young adult who had ocean blue eyes, and seemed to be a bit of a kinder soul.
"Yes father?" Collin asked his father, with a softer tone in turn.
"Can you get in the back and fetch some wine for this dear customer lady of ours?" The barkeeper said, with a tone clear enough that said "Bring the wine here, and fast."
"O-of course! I'll be back soon." Collin answered, quickly going into the back of the inn to try and find the drink.
The barkeeper would then turn to the Doctor, and ask him "And what would you like sir?"
"Just water please, I'm feeling a bit parched." The Doctor answered. The shopkeeper seemed to smile a bit at the answer.
"Right away." He said politely, going nearby to a bucket full of actually really good water, with the label "drinking water" on it. He filled it with a glass nearby, and served it to the Doctor.
The Doctor took a good sip of it, appreciating the drink. Before anything else, he asked the barkeeper "How much for this and the wine?"
"5 silvers for the wine, the water's free." The Barkeeper simply said. And the Doctor would nod, liking the prices. He would take out 5 silver from his pockets, giving it to the barkeeper to pay for the drinks.
"Thank you for ordering." The barkeeper said, and would proceed to tend to other customers.
Soon, Malty would get her wine, given by seemingly Collin. But this time, he looked much grumpier, and his hair was a frazzled mess. "Thank you." Malty said to the waiter, and he would only grunt in response. It was sort of strange… What happened to Collin? She would take the bottle with her as she danced with the other drunk people in the inn, having what seemed to be the fun of her life.
As the Doctor looked back and saw her like that, the barkeeper would say to him in a tone of warning. "I wouldn't trust her if I were you, she seems like a bad time waiting to happen."
The Doctor would look to the barkeeper, intrigued by his assessment. "I kind've guessed that, though I wonder how you made that assessment." He said.
The barkeeper shrugged, answering the Doctor with "It's sort of a skill you learn. You can accurately guess what type of people you're dealing with, and that's only with what they order or drink. Though to be fair, it's not always accurate, it's just most of the time it's right. From what I can understand of her, she's the snobby, entitled, daddy's girl. It sounds too specific I know, but it just kinda comes with my job, or maybe from my past experience."
The two waiters, Collin and the grumpier one who looked a lot like Collin sat with the Doctor, with the Doctor in the middle and the twins on either side of him.
"He's right, you know. He's made very few mistakes with his assessments." Collin said, proud of his father.
"I vote in agreement too. Oh, the name's Derek by the way, I'm Collins' brother." Derek said, which when Derek said the final part explained a bit on why he looked so different from Collin.
The Doctor smirked, and said "Well, I don't intend to have her stay as my adventuring companion any longer so, thanks for the warning."
He would then proceed to take another drink of his water, and later on, he would see something that surprised him. It was the other three heroes, looking to relax after their first day in this world. Motoyasu still looked as arrogant as before, and seemed to be fully enjoying his harem full of women. Itsuki just seemed happy to be there, looking to relax more than anything. And Ren would seem to be neutral, not really seeming interested in drinking or anything like that.
Though Ren would see the Doctor at the counter, and would garner a bit of a smirk when he saw him. To him, it was sort of like seeing a friendly face in a sea of unknown variables. He would soon approach the Doctor as the other heroes joined the crowd of partiers in the inn. Collin and Derek would soon nudge to the Doctor about his new visitor, and then leave to give the two some space to talk, going about their duties for this night.
Ren would soon sit next to the Doctor, greeting him with "Well, if it isn't the Doctor himself. How've you been?"
"Eh, I've had worse days. Besides, I got to learn some cool stuff about my shield!" The Doctor said, with much more enthusiasm put in when he was talking about his shield.
Ren would chuckle a bit, saying in response to him "I've been learning about my sword too, how it works is absolutely fascinating."
The Doctor would smile happily, glad that Ren had found something interesting about his new tool, but the Doctor still wasn't a fan of it because… well, it's a weapon.
"Well, what about your companions Ren? How've they been?" The Doctor proceeded to ask next.
Ren would sigh for a moment, thinking a bit on what to say. "They're good, but they need training. Tomorrow morning, I'm thinking of creating a regimen for them to practice and hone their skills." He would proceed to answer with.
The Doctor chuckled a bit, saying to Ren "Now that, is a good idea!" He then continued. "Though, just a little suggestion from me, don't be too hard on them. You gotta have fun every once in a while, know what I mean? But, I'm probably not the person to give you advice on that." The Doctor finished, giggling on the last bit of what he was saying.
Ren would smile, genuinely, at the Doctor's advice. "I'll take that into account." He had said, with a certain tinge of gentleness in his words.
To the Doctor, he really found it nice talking with Ren. Cause at the very least, he could listen. And overall, he seemed to be a good person. For a long while in the bar, the two of them really just talked. Talking about the things they found out about in this world, and overall what plans they're gonna have tomorrow.
Though after they talked for a bit, Malty would come over to them, seemingly a bit drunk. To the Doctor though, he could tell she was faking it. Her eyes were neither constricted or dilated as a drunk person's would be, and she was totally overacting on her part being clumsy and tipsy. Her performance was too straight forward, anyone who wasn't drunk could tell.
"Hey Doctor~. How are you doin? Wanna little sip of this?~" Malty had said tipsily, showing the Doctor a half empty bottle of wine. Obviously, she wanted him to drink it. The Doctor would look a little reluctant to drink, while Ren just watched the situation that was about to happen.
Of course, the Doctor felt it rude to just reject the drink. And so, he would hold out his now empty glass, and Malty would pour him a shot of the wine. He would drink the shot, which would cause Malty to join in with the dancing nearby, taking the bottle with her.
Near the dancing crowd were the twins, Collin and Derek. They were watching the Doctor as he drank the wine, and they were discussing what would happen next.
"I don't know, I think he didn't like it. Wanna bet on it?" Collin said, sounding sure of his thinking.
Derek would scoff, seemingly thinking his brother was wrong. "What? C'mon, the guy looks like he drinks wine on a daily basis. Look at that suit he's wearing. What's the catch for the bet?"
Collin smiled smugly, simply answering Derek with "Alright. If I'm right and he doesn't like the wine, you have to clean up the mess, if I'm wrong I'll do your laundry for the month."
"You're on." Derek said, thinking the bet was going to be so easy to win.
Little did he know that shortly in the next moment, the Doctor would immediately spit the wine out onto the floor, not being able to handle the taste in his mouth.
"God I just can't stand it. Why can't I drink wine?!" He said, with a tone of slight disgust. Only the barkeeper, Ren, Collin and Derek would see the mess. Since the other patrons were too busy having fun, or were too drunk. Ren found it a bit funny, laughing at the mess that was made.
Funnily enough, the barkeeper laughed as well. Simply answering with "I've seen worse messes before. Besides, your reaction was priceless, hehe."
Collin giggled a bit, holding a mop out for Derek to use. And Derek himself looked a bit mad, just in general not liking having to clean someone else's mess.
"Need an extra bucket for the mess brother?" Collin snickered.
Derek just snatched the mop out of Collins hands, responding to him with "...Fuck off, pisspot." He would then go over to the wine mess, cleaning it up with the mop, grumbling to himself out of annoyance.
Doctor could only apologize to the bartender, with the barkeeper simply saying "It's fine, honestly. Wine's easy to clean off on these types of floors, and I'd rather you spit it out than have something you don't like."
The barkeeper really did seem chilled out, at least compared to people he's met like him before. It was at this point that the Doctor recognized that he forgot to ask for the man's name, and wanted to rectify that.
"I'm sorry I forgot to ask, but what's your name?" The Doctor asked.
"The name's Seamus, Seamus O'neil. A pleasure to make your acquaintance." Seamus simply answered with, not needing to say anything else.
Soon though Malty would come over, the bottle of wine gone from her hands. She would walk up to the Doctor, still acting drunk. And she would proceed to say to him in a slurred manner "Hey, how about you come to my room handsome?~ I'm feeling like having a good time.~"
Before the Doctor could even say anything, she put a finger on his lips, hushing him in the moment. "Shhhhh. I'll be waiting.~" She said, ending her talk there. She would proceed to get a room from the owner, going up the stairs until she was gone from his sight. Soon after, Ren would say farewell to the Doctor, taking up one of the rooms for the night. And along with him, Motoyasu and Itsuki would follow in suit. Before Itsuki had left for his room though, he had given the Doctor a wave of half greeting and half goodnight since he looked like he needed some rest.
It would be a moment of silence for the Doctor, sort of gobsmacked that she would try to do something like that, even after he knew her true identity.
Seamus would already be on the uptake of what he was seeing. "You don't have to go up there, and from the looks of it, I don't think you want to either." He had said, understanding the Doctor's point of view.
The Doctor nodded, glad that Seamus understood. And would say to him "Thank you. If you can, try to watch over her. I'm going to be gone for a while, sort of exploring at night for a bit."
Seamus nodded, simply responding with "Of course sir, just try to stay safe. You don't know what you can find at night."
The Doctor thanked Seamus, starting to leave the inn. Though the twins were nearby the both of them, and Collin would ask him "Hey, what's your name stranger? We know that other guy called you Doctor, but what's your real name?"
The Doctor stopped for a moment, looking at the two. He smiled a bit, saying to them "You can call me John. John Smith. Honestly, you can call me whatever you like, as long as it doesn't sound stupid. But, I prefer the Doctor, if it's all the same to you."
Derek smirked a bit. "You're a strange man, John." He had said.
The Doctor nodded in agreement, responding with "Of course. But I love being strange, it makes me see things in a different light." He would then finally leave, just trying to explore for a bit, trying to avoid Malty. The boys and Seamus were still a bit worried for him, thinking he seemed like a good guy. They had a bad feeling of something going off tonight.
Something else that was strange too was a feeling of someone else being here. As Seamus watched the Doctor leave, he couldn't help but think that he saw a shadow follow after the Doctor. Either way if it was real or in his mind, it was definitely something to note…
The nearby forests of Melromarc, 10 minutes later.
The Doctor had finally arrived at the forest to see some of the beautiful trees and wildlife of the land, hoping that nothing would distract him from this. It was sort of soothing for him to examine the environment like this, no one else around to meddle with things they shouldn't… just simple peace and quiet. He would watch on and look at the beautiful animals, some of them being the exact same from the world he's from.
He couldn't help but feel like was being watched, strangely enough. Almost like someone had followed him, but he had shrugged it off, since it didn't help being paranoid all the time. If anything, he'd have to be paranoid about his own shadow if that was the case, afraid of everything everywhere.
Though there definitely were a lot of animals that he wasn't familiar with, and so he would scan them with his sonic screwdriver in his right hand, taking information of the creatures. The night was so beautiful, with stars as bright as they could be. He'd definitely need to come back here again if he ever left, just to see this place again.
But he would stop that train of thought immediately when he had caught a noise nearby, which sounded like that of a struggle. He would adjust the settings on his sonic, having it on a brighter light mode to use as a substitute to a flashlight. As he looked through for what caused the noise, something would catch his eye.
It was a pool of red liquid, with some splatters of the liquid making a trail deep into the woods. The Doctor would get closer to the red liquid, kneeling down and examining it. It could have been a plethora of things, but there was one thing he specifically hoped it wasn't. To make sure, he would use his left hand to dip his first two fingers into the liquid. And after getting a sample of it on his fingers, he would put it on his tongue, tasting it to see what it was. He would quickly spit it out, not liking the results he had gotten.
It was blood… human blood. Someone had either gotten injured, or were killed. He would stand up, wiping the blood off his fingers, until he had caught a glimpse of something. He used his light to see what caught his eye, and it stopped his two hearts.
There was something big, it had brown fur all over its body, and its teeth were sharp and many. And it was holding something… or someone. It was holding a young woman, and she looked bloodied and bruised, clearly attacked by the creature. She was breathing, if shakily. The creature and the Doctor stared at each other for a time, and were about to face off. The Doctor himself wasn't afraid of this creature, and he was going to make sure that it wouldn't harm any innocent person again.
Though he was soon interrupted when a hand grabbed his shoulder. "Shield hero! By the order of the king-" The voice behind him said, sounding gruff and soldier-like. How did soldiers find him? He didn't even tell anyone where he was going specifically. It had distracted the Doctor to see the soldiers of melromarc behind him, and gave the creature enough time to start running away.
But as soon as the Doctor re-focused him on the creature, seeing him trying to escape. He immediately went in a flight-or-fight response, chasing after the monster.
"HEY! STOP WHERE YOU ARE!" He heard the soldier behind him, but he ignored it completely. He could hear the flow of the wind brush past his ears, as ran through bushes and pathways in the forest. The snapping of twigs and branches could be heard, making critters of the land run away in caution and the birds fly away from their nests. The chase had gone on for a while, but the Doctor was starting to lose his breath, and he was losing track of the creature. He pushed himself further and further, he needed to save that woman, no matter the cost.
Soon enough, he would have exited the forest, leading to one of the open plains of the land. The creature wasn't in sight, but he had found the bloodied woman on the ground in front of him. If he could figure out why, it was probably because the creature thought it wouldn't be worth it at this point after being chased so much. The Doctor would immediately check for the woman's pulse, breathing and everything else with his sonic screwdriver, switching it from flashlight mode to scanning.
From what he could understand, she was still alive. She needed medical attention immediately though, and he was about to pick her up. But he stopped when he heard a noise behind him. He would turn around, seeing that the guards had chased after him, catching their breath from the long running.
"Damn you… slow down for god's sake!" The soldier leader said. Recuperating himself, then standing upright.
"Now as I was saying. By order of the king, you must come with us at this moment!" The lead soldier would finish. Going over to the Doctor to drag him with the other soldiers. Though he would be soon met by the Doctor's protests.
"I can't leave right now! This woman here is severely injured, she needs to be healed!" The Doctor exclaimed. But of course, the lead soldier wasn't having any of it.
"Forget about the damn girl! You are under arrest!" The lead soldier said, leading to his men restraining the Doctor, making sure he wouldn't try to escape.
The Doctor looked dumbfounded, immediately asking "What did I do?! And as I said, I'm not leaving until that woman is taken care of."
The lead soldier looked furious, which made him strike the Doctor's face with the back of his hand, and made the Doctor recoil. "Watch your tone with me, criminal." He said in a cruel and monstrous tone.
A young soldier nearby would examine the woman, looking quite disturbed at her condition. At least with this soldier, he had the guts to take action. He would pick her up, bridal style, intending to leave with her somewhere safe.
"I'll take her to the nearby magic healers! No one needs to die today!" He said aloud to the group, making sure that the Doctor heard especially.
As the Doctor turned to the young soldier, it would be a few moments, until he would nod in approval. He was clearly thankful that this young man could see reason.
The young soldier smiled, and ran as fast as he could to the healers with the injured woman.
The Doctor watched on as the young soldier disappeared with the woman, and he would turn back to the rest of the soldiers. He would frown, nodding to himself, thinking quickly about what possibilities there were. When he had concluded his train of thought, he knew there was one way out of this.
"Okay… so for some reason I'm being arrested. I don't know what I've supposedly done, but I'll play along. Take me to the king." The Doctor said, with a tone filled with determination to understand what was going on in this moment. Little did he know now, that it was going to be much more enlightening than he'd thought it'd be.
The throne room of castle Melromarc, over half an hour later.
"Ow! At the very least, you could be a bit gentle, could you?" The Doctor complained after being shoved roughly to the floor of the room. The room itself had plenty of guards, and the king looked angry as he sat on his throne. On the king's right were more of his guards, ready to obey his orders. And on the king's left were the other three heroes and Malty, with Malty hugging Motoyasu tightly. Which in this case, the Doctor thought was really strange.
"It seems the shield demon is finally here, no more distractions, no more running. You are under arrest for the sexual assault of Princess Malty Melromarc, my daughter!" The King said with full blown disdain in his voice, not even hiding the fact that he hated the shield hero.
The Doctor just stared at the king, absolutely gobsmacked. "...I'm sorry. WHAT?! Not shocked at the daughter bit, but sexual assault?!" He said, clearly not understanding why he was being given these accusations.
"Don't lie man! You know what you did!" Motoyasu would accuse, pointing his spear at the Doctor. He clearly had a tone of anger, unjust, but it was clear how he was feeling.
The other two on the other hand were a different story.
Itsuki looked doubtful of this situation. From what he had seen of the Doctor, what he heard from him and the actions he took… this isn't the man that had done this crime against the princess. He was torn, since he didn't want to accuse someone of a crime they didn't commit, but didn't want to totally ignore a potential victim as well. Overall, he seemed to be on the fence about this.
Ren looked neutral, occasionally looking between the Doctor and the king to see their reactions. He was the most difficult one of the three heroes to understand exactly what he was thinking.
The king would then change from his angry expression when he looked at the Doctor, to one of sorrow when he looked at his daughter.
"Malty, please my daughter, recount your tale as you did with the rest of us." The king asked politely.
And Malty would speak. "The Doctor…" She said shakily. "The Doctor had drank the wine I had shared with him, and we partied for a while. But when we stopped partying and took rooms to rest, he forced himself onto me. He said that he was gonna have fun with me, one way or another. A-And, I can't go into detail after that! But after he was done with that, I escaped and begged Motoyasu to help me." She finished with, trying to sound distraught and terrified of how the situation had occurred.
The Doctor knew she was a liar, but to think she would go to these lengths. It really felt disappointing, he really couldn't find the words.
"Thank you, Malty. It must have been harrowing to retell the event." the King began, continuing with "For your crimes against the kingdom, I sentence you-"
"Sorry to interrupt, but that's just a bold face lie." The Doctor piped up, standing up from the ground and wiping the dust off his clothes. The guards immediately went to the Doctor's position, pointing their weapons at him and holding him up.
"Geez, a bit aggressive isn't it?" The Doctor asked, with a face that showed much discomfort.
"Are you calling my daughter a liar, demon?!" The king asked incredulously.
The Doctor would shrug. "Yeah, I'd say that's about right. Where's the evidence? And where are other witnesses to corroborate her testimony?"
Ren would close his eyes in thought, knowing his statement to be true. "He's right." He would proceed to say. "It's not a proper trial here if there isn't any evidence. Where's your proof he committed the crime?"
Not long after finishing what he said, a knight would come into the room, holding on to something. "My liege," the knight began. "We found… this, in the shield demon's room." He would then show what he was holding, which was a pair of undergarments.
Malty would gasp in fake shock, hiding behind Motoyasu, while the spear hero himself growled in anger.
The Doctor scoffed, chuckling a bit, showing he didn't take this piece of evidence seriously. "Come oooooon, you can do better than that. I didn't even rent a room." He said, with a hint of amusement in his tone.
The king would bang his hand on the arm of his throne, looking more furious by the minute. "What kind of evidence do you have, filth?!"
Motoyasu would smirk maliciously, joining in saying "Yeah, what do you have? A rapist like you shouldn't have any evidence of being innocent."
The Doctor couldn't stand their ignorance, could they really be this stupid? He was definitely gonna prove them wrong, and he knew just what to use.
"Well, I do have one thing. One thing that I know for sure you probably don't expect… witnesses." He said.
A couple of minutes later.
Seamus, Collin and Derek would finally arrive, they were the witnesses the Doctor called for. It surprised a lot of people, including the king. Nobody expected people to defend the Doctor, though this was perfect for him.
The sons were distracted by the throne room itself, engaged by the beauty that it holds.
"The things I could take from this place." Derek whispered to himself in a playful yet mischievous tone. Which Collin heard, and would jab him in the stomach as a warning, making Derek recoil a bit. Clearly, Collin wasn't going to have Derek mess things up during such a serious event.
Seamus was beside the Doctor, staring directly at the king, refusing to break eye contact. Clearly, Seamus was not a fan of the king.
"Your highness." Seamus greeted, albeit reluctantly.
"Barkeeper." The king started. "The shield demon here says that you people are his witnesses. That you are his proof he didn't commit this detested crime… is that true?"
Seamus scoffed, responding with "Aye, it's true. I always keep watch on my bar, and I can tell you right now: The Shield hero… Nae, the Doctor is innocent."
While some of the cardinal heroes had seemed shocked, all except Ren, Malty's right eye twitched a bit. The kind of twitch that shows how annoyed someone is.
Seamus would proceed to give his testimony to the trial.
"I was working at the bar, same day as usual. People were crowding about, and they had their fun. It wasn't until night when the Doctor and the princess came into the bar. He didn't seem to be comfortable there, but the princess was all the more excited to be there. They came up to the counter, and ordered their drinks. She had ordered wine, which was true for her story, but the Doctor didn't join her in drinking. Instead, he ordered a glass of water."
"It was at that point when Malty got her wine that she left the Doctor to party a bit with the other patrons, and I talked with him. As we talked a bit, it was then when the other heroes came, partying, drinking, the normal. Though the sword hero decided to talk with the Doctor a bit. Didn't pay much attention to their conversation, not really professional for me to listen in on my clients private lives."
"It was at that point when the princess came back to the Doctor, seemingly drunk, and tried to get him into a room. She had already bought one, and decided to go back to it tonight. But the Doctor didn't go. He wasn't comfortable with it, and told me to keep watch over her, as he wanted to go out for a bit. I told him I would, and he proceeded to leave."
He was about to let the information get processed until he remembered something.
"Oh, I almost forgot!" He began. "He did try to have some wine, since Malty was offering it. But as soon as she left, he spat it out onto the floor like it was a bad case of food poisoning. It was a good laugh though, I tell ya. He apologized plenty, but I told him he was fine. But from the looks of it, the lady didn't notice at all."
After finishing, he awaited for the response from his testimony. And it was pretty decent.
Motoyasu looked dumbfounded, probably because he didn't expect anyone to defend the Doctor. Ren was still a bit stone faced, but there was a small feeling of relief coming from him. And Itsuki was still unsure.
The best reactions were from Malty and the King, in which the latter seemed to be fuming. Malty just looked terrified, not expecting this turn.
"A-alright, but just because you gave a testimony, doesn't mean he's innocent!" The king shouted.
"I beg to differ, your majesty." Said Seamus, a smile forming.
It was at this point when the king was starting to think more, until he smiled maliciously, saying to Seamus "Well, you might have been paid to give a testimony. If someone could corroborate the evid-"
"I can attest to what the Barkeeper said." The sword hero answered. Which made the king look at him in shock.
"Me and the Doctor were just talking about what we'd do the next day, catching up with each other. It was after our conversation when the princess tried to make him drink the wine, which he spat out as so, and when she tried to seduce him. Before he could say anything, the princess shushed him and left for her room. I didn't know how to react to that, so I bought a room, and headed there to get some rest. I swear that I've told the truth, and will tell nothing but the truth."
Everyone in the room was absolutely surprised at the sword hero's response, and people started to talk amongst themselves. "Is it true? Is the shield hero innocent?" One soldier asked. "If the sword hero is telling the truth, then what does that mean?"
"If one must verify that I am speaking the truth, then I am willing to do so. But if no one is willing to do so, then-" Ren spoke coolly.
It was there when the king snapped his fingers, and the assistant knew what he had to do.
"If it must be, then we will use our specially known device for this sort of thing." The king said.
Soon enough, the assistant would have a device out, which looked so strange and mythical. There was a glass box in the middle of it, with a hand indentation on top of the box for someone to put theirs in.
As Ren saw it, he thought that this was how they knew who was telling the truth. Ren would of course, put his hand in the indentation, and awaited for what was about to happen next.
"Sword hero," The assistant started. "Have you told the truth, from the very beginning, to now?" He asked simply.
As Ren stared at the man, with cold eyes, he answered "Yes."
To almost everyone's shock, the box glowed a bright green. And this was the moment the king knew he was losing this battle.
Ren would go back to the other two heroes and Malty, while everyone else was starting to think and talk more about this trial.
As this was happening, the Doctor could only be thankful for Ren's help in this unappealing event.
The Doctor would then notice as everyone was talking amongst themselves, one of the king's servants was holding a crystal ball. It hit him as familiar, until he saw what seemed to be the trial being played on the crystal ball. It seemed to be this world's equivalent of recording equipment.
But what was played next on the crystal ball was different, it changed from what actually happened in the trial, to the Doctor being some savage man yelling at Malty. It seemed the footage had become distorted, due to what the servant was doing.
This was probably a way they were going to try and make him out to be guilty, using false evidence again. The Doctor wasn't having any of it, he had to figure out a way of changing it back to what it should be. It was there when the servant was distracted when he was called out by the king, he would put the crystal ball down on a nearby cushion and went over to the king to do what he commanded.
The crystal ball would then have what was being played fade into nothingness, turning back into a regular crystal ball.
The Doctor took the opportunity to try something, subtly pulling out his sonic screwdriver while no one was looking. He read a bit about the magic of this place, including things about crystal balls. It seemed amazing yet so complex, and he had hoped that his sonic screwdriver would be able to influence the crystal ball to bring back the true footage of what actually happened.
He then pointed the sonic screwdriver at the ball, it made a high pitched frequency, and he waited for the ball to change. People were noticing the sound though, wondering where it came from. It seemed like the Doctor's cover was about to be blown, but in the nick of time, the crystal ball changed back to the true footage. And then, it quickly faded back into the crystal ball.
The Doctor quickly put his sonic screwdriver away, wiping his forehead from any sweat from the slightly tense situation. No one seemed to notice what the Doctor did, and he was relieved.
The king's servant would come back to the crystal ball, none the wiser of what happened to it, and took it with him to wherever he needed it to be.
The king could only look down, seemingly thinking on what to do next. His face was darkened by the shadows of the curtains… it was clear that things were not well for him.
"Your highness… Please, be reasonable." Said the Doctor's voice, with a bit of a softer tone than before. It grabbed the king's attention, making him listen to the Doctor.
He would then continue with "From what I've read about you, you were an intelligent and wise leader. You've led countless soldiers through battle, fought against oppression. You wanted to be the people's hopes… You were, in my opinion, the true definition of a hero. And since you're intelligent and wise, I think you know this is wrong."
The king looked to the Doctor, not looking like he wanted to hear this anymore now.
"You and I are on the same side, we don't want innocent lives to be taken away. But the things that I've seen through your history, slaying and enslaving another race of people after that war, it's not right! You are being exactly like those who wanted to be evil. And those who you kill and capture are innocents, they are not those who you fought before. I want to help, and this clearly false accusation is slowing me down. I really am sorry for your loss, but would your sister have wanted thi-"
"Don't you dare bring my family into this." The king interrupted, snarling at the Doctor. "You don't know what I've been through, what I've seen. Those monsters will pay, with their lives if they must. You have no right to talk like you know me. I will make sure my people are safe… I won't let my family down again." The king finished, his tone being intimidating and sounding official.
This was the point, where at the moment, no amount of talking would convince the king to do the right thing. His heart had beaten his mind into submission…
The Doctor looked at the king sadly for a moment, lowering his head and sighing.
"I see you've made your decision… It pains me, but I understand." The Doctor started. "I've seen things too, you know."
The king raised his brow in curiosity, wondering what the man would say next.
"I've seen monsters fall, and people rise. I found inspiration, to keep myself going, and to bring others on that same path. And I've lost friends and family too, and the pain never goes away- it never does. I've lived for a long long time, longer than you if you'll believe it, and I know what change can do. Right now, you're taking the wrong steps at the moment. But I'll know you'll do the right thing. Do you know why…? Because you're a human, and more importantly… a leader. You just need to understand that there's something wrong, and that you need to fix it. Only then you can move on from just a leader, into a true king who watches over his people and loves his family too. At the moment you may not understand, but in due time, I hope you do soon."
The king would grit his teeth, calling out "Guards! Proceed with the execution." And the guards would obey his command, moving towards the Doctor, their weapons at the ready.
The Doctor only closed his eyes, he wasn't afraid, nor did he want to be. He wanted to show that to others, to understand his point of view.
But something didn't feel right. He didn't feel like he was being stabbed, and the Doctor still had a perfectly clear train of thought for over 9 seconds, so no beheading. He wondered what was going on.
That was, until a very familiar sound was heard.
Vworp! Vwoorp! Vworp! Vwoorp! THUD!
It was at this point, when the Doctor opened his eyes, and was met with the sight of the interior of his favorite beautiful blue box.
"Finally here eh, sexy?" He said a bit flirtatiously to the TARDIS.
Outside the TARDIS, in the throne room.
Almost everyone in the room was terrified of the sight, a strange object that appeared to take the accused Doctor with it! And people didn't even know what to do.
Motoyasu, like the person he is, started to just stab at the blue box with his spear. Not knowing what else to do, and figuring out in his mind that this was the best solution. Nothing seemed to happen.
Ren and Itsuki could only watch in awe as this magnificently impossible object had appeared literally out of thin air. Obviously to the two of them, there was more than what was being seen at the moment.
"What in god's name just happened?!" Asked the panicked king, believing this was just a hallucination.
Malty just froze in fear, watching the events unfold. There was nothing she could think of, no lie to try and frame someone… She was frightened.
Motoyasu still didn't know his actions were pointless, shouting insults and obscenities at the box as he stabbed at it. "Open up you stupid… Gah! What's with this thing?! It's like it's invincible or something!"
It was then and there when the box started to disappear again, phasing in and out of place, making the same sound it did when it arrived. And it was fully gone, nowhere in sight, and neither was the Doctor.
Even more panicking began to happen. What was the Doctor capable of? What arsenal does he have?! What kind of threat is the Doctor? All sorts of garbage questions like those.
Seamus wouldn't care for that though, as he was looking around with Collin for Derek, who seemed to disappear.
"Derek! Where are you?" Seamus shouted. "God that boy's going to be the death of me."
It was unknown where he went until Collin noticed something. He saw his brother quickly escaping the crowd and into a staircase, going upstairs somewhere. Collin knew his brother, and if this was a sign… things were gonna get more complicated.
"Damn it Derek!" Collin whispered to himself, quietly chasing after Derek.
The kingdom was ultimately rife with treasures, as any logical person would assume. And Derek was very logical. What others might not know of him are his… nimble and mischievous habits. And Collin knew too well that this could end in complete disaster.
The Doctor has been confronted wrongly, escaped from kingdom melromarcs hands, and Derek is getting up to something. Tune in next time to find out what happens next!