Chapter 14

These Guys Are Idiots

Homura steadily climbed up the shallow hill towards where she sensed the other heroes and their parties gathering towards, which if she had to guess was where the boss monster had been killed. Wiping the sweat from her brow, she paused as everyone started to come into view, giving the exhausted Rishia a chance to catch up.

"Momma!"

"Mistress!"

Turning towards the dual calls, she tiredly smiled as the other two members of her party ran towards her from an angle near where Ren and his party had also exited the forest. While she had been able to keep a vague sense of their position, it was nice to actually see them safe and sound after several hours of pitched combat.

With a puff of smoke, Sakura transformed from her filolial form, letting Raphtalia drop to the ground surprisingly gracefully. Suddenly the young girl was jumping towards her with her arms outstretched.

Panicking slightly, she caught the girl as she was hugged tightly around the neck. Spinning once to bleed off the excess momentum without falling down the hill, Sakura just laughed happily.

"That was so much fun momma! There were so many monsters for Sakura to play with!" The bright, pink haired little girl giggled.

Setting her down, Homura let some of that brightness wash away some of the darkness she felt after her failure in Riyute. Giving her a tired smile, Homura ruffled her hair slightly.

"You did a great job playing Sakura. I will see about rewarding you with some food later."

Getting a sparkly eyed look in return, Homura couldn't help but let out a small laugh. Her 'daughter's' exuberance was definitely contagious if nothing else. Looking up when she heard the last set of footsteps approach, she was greeted with a panting Raphtalia.

"Sakura, that was mean, running off like that!" She panted out.

Sakura's response was a bright, innocent smile.

Raphtalia could only sigh and deflate at that smile. Sakura truly was the little sister that it was hard to stay mad at. Letting out a huff, she turned her attention back to Homura.

"How did everything go, Raphtalia?" she asked the raccoon girl, curious about her experience working with her fellow heroes. Homura quirked an eyebrow as she watched her first companion's face darken and scrunch up in a jumbled mix of several different emotions.

"They're...strong, there's no doubting that Mistress. But if I had to guess, they're not as strong as you are comparatively speaking. They also...how do I word this...I feel like there's no technique or skill in their movements. They use the strength of their weapons and [Skills] to do the bulk of the work."

"I am not surprised honestly," Homura answered. "In our worlds, there is very little reason or chance for actual combat. My situation is very much outside the norm as far as us Heroes are concerned."

Raphtalia nodded in understanding, her face turning into a hesitant one.

"There's something else Mistress. After killing the monster in charge of the Wave, I was confused when none of them seemed worried about cleaning up all the monsters that came from the sky. When I called them out on it, they were all under the opinion that those monsters would just...I think the word they used was 'despawn'?"

Homura closed her eyes and took a deep breath, feeling the urge to throttle the other three boys bloom inside her. She had been picking up that her fellow heroes were all under the impression this was a game or a dream, not that she could necessarily blame them. She had been doing her best to be respectful; after all they had also been summoned with her and the next closest in age was three years older than her. She had originally hoped that they were experienced combatants like her, though those thoughts had been mostly dashed the first night, she had held out hope.

Now it felt like it was being thrown back in her face.

"Then what happened?" she felt herself ask.

"Well I wasn't sure if what they were expecting was just the norm in their worlds or not, so I informed them that monsters didn't just vanish when the one in charge is killed here in our World." Homura felt a small knife in her back labeled 'hypocrite' at that description. She had forgotten for a moment how her experiences in [Labyrinths] had made her make the same mistake at first, but the attack by the Tonfa wielder and Fitoria following had made her forget about it in everything else.

"Then after a bit of taunting between each of their parties, the Heroes decided to turn it into a bit of a game. They all split up making a bet on how much they would have to pay based on how many each party had killed." Raphtalia finished.

Once again, the urge to throttle bloomed just a bit larger.

"They are like children," she scoffed softly to herself. Shaking her head with a sigh, she turned her attention back to the other Heroes, and was able to see Motoyasu waving his spear at them in the distance.

"I think we should hurry over to them, Dame." Rishia cut off any thoughts she might have had with her calm, if exhausted, voice. Giving her a solid once over, Homura turned towards the bubbly pink haired girl that seemed still full of energy.

"Sakura, do you mind giving Rishia and Raphtalia a ride over to the others?" Getting an excited cheer about her sisters riding her, Sakura was quick to transform and literally tossed the two girls on to her back.

Shaking her head affectionately, she followed after them towards her fellow heroes, getting a rundown from Raphtalia about what happened after they split up. A month ago, she wouldn't have imagined this would be her life. But if she were being honest, while it was mentally draining keeping up with all of them after being mostly alone for so long, she wouldn't trade it for the world.

"Hey little Homura, glad you could finally make it!" Motoyasu greeted enthusiastically as she got within range.

"How'd it go evacuating that village?"

Homura's face tightened as flashes of her failures filled her mind. She saw Rishia deflate and huddle into Raphtalia's back out of the corner of her eye, her shoulders shaking.

"Sixteen people died before I could make it through the village." The cold words cut through the tired but joyous air that had previously surrounded everyone. Almost everyone's party members looked down at the ground, suddenly realizing the weight of their actions. While they felt that they weren't wrong in prioritizing the monster in charge, most of them felt that they should've lent some assistance to the Shield Hero.

"Ha! Of course the Shield De-Hero wouldn't be able to do her job!" The large man in armor that stood behind Itsuki laughed mockingly. Mald, if she remembered correctly, the Princess' extra mouthpiece in his party.

"I do not recall seeing you there assisting, and from what my friends told me they did more to help than anyone else besides the Heroes." Homura retorted sharply.

"Hey guys, no need to get so uppity with each other." Motoyasu cut any more comments off, gesturing for everyone to calm down. Getting a scowl from Mald, he seemed to realize it wouldn't be good for him to argue with one of the other Heroes. Homura herself turned to frown deeply at the Spear Hero.

"While it's disappointing that we didn't get a perfect victory on this Raid, I don't think there's any reason to be so upset." Ren said while crossing his arms across his chest. He looked even more confused when the majority of those present turned to look at him in shock.

"This. Is not. A Game. Amaki." Homura ground out past her scowl. She could feel something dark brewing under the surface. Feelings oh so similar to when she had to deal with Sakura or Mami the last several timelines. But something about it felt off, almost like it was…deeper, darker, than it usually should be.

It made her want to physically attack him.

Taking a deep breath, she did her best to shove those feelings down before she followed through with her feelings. No matter how satisfying it would be to throw him around by that armor of his to maybe knock some common sense into him.

"Hey momma, can I eat this?" Sakura asked, drawing her attention to the dead chimera that was being nudged by the bird's foot.

"What?! No way you can eat the boss!" Motoyasu exclaimed, running over while waving his spear. "We worked hard to kill it! The drops from it are gonna be insane!"

"Yeah! At least let us grab the heads first!" Itsuki yelled as he also ran over.

"The heads?" Homura asked as she made her own way over, Ren following alongside her.

"Each head unlocks a new weapon, if it's the same as our games at least." Ren answered for her. "But based off of what you told us at the tavern, instead of each of us getting to reuse all the heads, each head can only be used once."

Homura nodded. She had tried to share some of the unique items from the Unseelie Knight and Fitoria's feather, but the Shield had not allowed her to. Apparently unique items used to unlock forms were actively consumed. Frustrating but workable.

"I see three heads on this chimera…" Homura muttered. That would cause some issues…

"Actually Mistress, there was a forth head on it's tail that I cut off." Raphtalia informed her helpfully.

Homura turned to look at her in confusion.

"That's right! It was some kinda weird snake thing!" Sakura confirmed, bouncing slightly. "It was like 'hiss' and spitting poison!"

Homura got a sinking feeling when the excitable bird girl let out a loud gasp as a thought passed through her usually empty head.

"Momma, do you think Sakura could learn how to spit poison too? That would be so cool!"

That…was a slightly terrifying thought if the magical girl was to be honest with herself.

"I don't think that's possible Sakura, poisonous filolial are exceedingly rare." Rishia answered for Homura. "Your best chance most likely would've been at your Class Up, but Lady Fitoria chose for you."

Sakura let out a small whine, but Homura was glad for Fitoria's intervention for once. She knew better than to mention that out loud after so long around Sayaka however.

"Sakura, can you go see if you can find this snake head for me while I prepare the body? I will take that head since it was severed by my party." Looking at the other heroes, she got a round of shrugs and nods from them.

"Works for me, I didn't even know the snake head was an option." Motoyasu said while he shrugged. "I'm personally interested in the ram's head."

"The dragon's head." Ren said aloofly, crossing his arms to give the impression that there wouldn't be any negotiating.

"Well then that leaves the lion's head for me," Itsuki let out a small laugh. "I guess that worked out perfectly then."

Homura nodded in agreement as she pulled out her gathering knife and knelt down next to the boss' corpse. Ren approached and knelt down next to her even as his sword turned into a near perfect copy of her knife, albeit with a jewel inset in the pommel.

"Would you mind teaching me?" He said after a moment, his voice hesitant as he glanced to the side.

Turning to look at him, she tilted her head slightly to the side as she thought about it. A part of her found his slight nervous squirming amusing, but she didn't think about it for long.

"Sure. First, we roll it onto its back. Then because it's a male we start by removing the testicles."

P-*-*-*-H

"Heroes!" A loud shout from the tree line came not long after the heroes finished splitting up the materials from the chimera.

Homura and Rishia couldn't stop their frowns when they saw that it was the knight from the village that had attacked them. Behind them they saw several carriages drawn by what looked like small dinosaurs.

"Whoah, are those Tyrella?" Motoyasu exclaimed in shock. "Does that mean that those guys are Dragon Knights?"

"No Sir Spear Hero," the princess said haughtily. "Those Tyrella are the rejected runts from the Dragon Knights. They're used by the regular knights when papa wants to move a large amount of regular knights quickly. Papa has more important places to send his Dragon Knights than a place like the Wave when the Heroes are already on the scene."

Homura mentally noted several things from that conversation to ask Rishia about later. She merely watched, moving to stand protectively in front of her party, as several knights a piece began to exit from the carriages as they came to a stop at the bottom of the hill they were on.

"Alright men! Spread out and clear out every last Wave monster you find! The Heroes made your job easy by handling most of them, so you better not humiliate yourself farther!" The man that had attacked at the village, apparently the Captain or at least the man currently in charge, ordered them.

A resounding cry of "Yes sir!" rang through the air as they quickly grouped into tight and well organized formations before splitting off equally throughout the forest. Watching his men for a few moments, he gave one resolute nod and began to make his way up to everyone.

"Sir Heroes, congratulations and thanks are in order for handling the Wave so quickly. We apologize for arriving after you all handled everything." Rishia frowned at the overly nice face he gave to the other heroes while completely ignoring the Shield Hero.

Before she could do anything, Homura clamped her hand on her shoulder. Giving the verdette a head shake he gestured to the obviously disgruntled pinkette and the fretting brunette in their party.

"Go help Raphtalia calm Sakura down. From what I understand she is upset with all the dragon-kin down there pulling the carts. I will handle this…knight. I doubt he will try anything with the other heroes present."

Rishia glanced back and forth between the knight and Sakura before giving one more small frown.

"Very well Dame. Sakura! Come here, I want some hugs!" With that cry she ran off to help Raphtalia in calming down the young filolial.

"Everything ok Homura?" Itsuki asked as he watched the green haired girl run off.

"Yes. I apologize, but apparently the filolial in my party is upset with all the dragons surrounding us."

"Ah, I do remember being told that filolial and dragons hate each other instinctively when I asked after the Class Up ceremony." Motoyasu used, not mentioning why he was asking about filolials. "It would make sense for her to be upset at all of the tyrella."

"Uh-hum, well, yes. I apologize Shield De-Hero. I had no idea that you had a filolial in your party." The knight coughed, trying to look innocent. Homura narrowed her eyes at him, seeing the lie for what it was. It just happened to serve in his favor that from what Princess Myne said that standard procedures worked in his favor.

"It is fine, Sir Knight. Sakura will calm down soon enough. Though may I ask if there is something else you need?"

"Yes." Standing up a bit straighter and taller, the knight took on a more official sounding tone, "The King informed me that if the Heroes were successful in repelling the Wave, that there would be a big feast in celebration at the castle. He also requested I send the Heroes and their parties back in the knights' carriages so they can be greeted with the proper welcome to Castle Town."

"Sweet a party! All for us!"

"That does sound like a good time."

"It's only an appropriate reward I suppose."

"Very well. I was hoping to talk to His Majesty anyways." Homura responded to the apparent summons calmly, while her fellow heroes were working themselves up into a hype.

"Kitamura, Kawasumi, Amaki, would you mind if we rode alone in our own carriage? I would like to have a conversation between us on our way."

P-*-*-*-H

"What's up Homura?" Kitamura asked as they got settled into the carriage.

"I was wanting to get with you all so we could have a chance to talk about anything major we have done since we were summoned, upcoming plans for the future, things like that." Homura started as she too made herself comfortable, knowing just how long the ride was going to be.

"I already let you guys know about the Wave I fought in the Western Dragon Territory, and Kawasumi was there when we found out about the early stages of a coup that he worked with the king on handling. I was going to take your advice from when we were first summoned and go to Zeltoble. After that I was going to follow along the border of Melromark, gathering materials and hopefully linking with some other Hourglasses that I was informed about."

"Wait! You and Itsuki stopped a coup?!" Kitamura exclaimed in surprise. Homura and Kawasumi both tilted their heads slightly in confusion.

"Did we not mention it?" Kawasumi asked as he very lightly twanged on the string of his bow idly.

"The green haired girl-"

"Rishia Ivyred." Homura supplied

"The Ivyred family had their town crops attacked by some mercenaries hired by a noble farther north near the border. Homura helped handle that while I arrived the day after. My party and I stayed and helped around the town while Homura went to inform the king of the noble's actions. The king sent his personal envoy up and they came through the town, he had apparently suggested that they see if I as the Bow Hero was interested in helping in properly and legally handling the coup. I actually learned a lot about how the government handles things." Kawasumi mused.

"There's a lot less murder than some stories from the middle ages would lead you believe. Though apparently assassination was on the list of options had he tried to fight us back. It just makes stabilizing the region more difficult in the shorter term, so they try to save that option."

The other heroes looked at him for a moment, processing everything he said.

"Hey Homura, you said you were heading down to Zeltoble?" Motoyasu asked in an attempt to change the topic.

She simply nodded in response.

"Awesome, well you should pass through a small village that I helped out and I was just wondering if you wouldn't mind checking on them for me?" He asked while rubbing the back of his neck

"What did you save them from?"

"Oh, starvation! I remembered this quest from my game where you had to get this super seed from an ancient alchemist's lair. But some things were definitely different from the quest. One of my party members, Elena, who's super smart and talented, was able to translate the ancient texts we found in the lab. Turns out that the seed would grow too fast and turn into a giant plant monster." He explained excitedly, gesturing as widely as he could in the kind of cramped carriage.

"Well I decided to absorb the super seed, planning to look into fixing it later, when it said I unlocked the [BioPlant Spear]! It gave me the ability to change a bunch of different settings with the seed, which had a maxed out mutation parameter! I made sure to nuke that setting quickly. I ended up staying awake all night experimenting before I finally got the settings right!"

Holding his spear head over his hand a quick light deposited three small fruits and three equally sized spikey seeds into his open hand.

"Here you go! One to unlock the Bio Plant weapon and another to try!"

Homura looked between his face and the fruit for a moment. He looked so earnest, like an excited golden retriever, so while the other two were looking at him bewildered, she reached out and took the two being offered to her. Dropping the seed into her shield, she was met with the pop up for the shield.

[ BioPlant Shield conditions met! ]

[ BioPlant Shield

-Abilities Locked- Equip Bonus: Plant Reform

Equip Effect: Hook ]

'[Plant Reform] must be the ability that he used to change it. I wonder if that skill will become useful in the future.' Homura thought to herself. Looking down to the fruit still in her hand, the other two boys having also grabbed theirs after seeing her do so. Shrugging, she brought it up to her mouth.

"Oh yeah, be careful they're-" Motoyasu began to try and warn them.

Homura let out a small sound of surprise when she bit into it right as he tried to warn them, a large deluge of bright red juice coming from the fruit, covering her chin and the front of her armor. Thankfully the other two weren't any better.

"-very juicy." he finished lamely.

Glaring at him slightly, Homura finished the bite she had taken, pleasantly surprised at it tasting like a sweet tomato. She then summoned a small towel from her shield to wipe herself clean before handing it to Ren.

"A little faster on the warning next time would be nice, Kitamura." She ground out before finishing her fruit, not wanting to waste food after spending so long with Kyoko.

Ren let out an annoyed sigh himself as he wiped himself clean and passed the towel to Itsuki.

"Motoyasu's idiocy aside, if you're going to Zeltoble, keep an eye out for a [Siderite Shield] to copy. The [Meteor] Skills are unilaterally usefully and available at a fairly low level if you can find the weapon, most easily in Zoltoble." he informed, transforming his sword in a fairly wide and bulky blade made out of a mostly dull toned metal with veins of shiny metal in between.

"I honestly have no idea what exactly the shield will look like, nor what the [Meteor Shield] will do, but it'll be made from this kind of material." Kicking back and letting his sword turn back into a standard looking fantasy sword.

"But now that my party is all at a reasonable level and I have the [Transport Sword] skill, I plan to have us go face a dragon in the eastern mountains that has reportedly recently started going on a rampage."

Homura looked at the boy for a moment, information given to her by Rishia as she asked about this world and what she's read back so long ago in her own world.

"I would recommend you try to talk to it first." she finally said, getting weird looks from her fellow heroes.

"...It's a lizard, Homura. On top of that, aren't heroes supposed to kill the dragon?" Itsuki asked in response.

Homura frowned slightly.

"Sometimes in some stories, yes," she finally submitted.

"However, not being human doesn't mean not being intelligent. Sakura is a bird. In many stories, dragons are often far more intelligent than humans, it's often more a matter of are they capable of speech. Even when the answer is no, they have ways to communicate. What I'm more concerned about is why would a dragon that apparently went from coexisting near humans start going on a 'rampage'? The lore on dragons in this world says they are mostly seclusive and only interact with other dragons and species when they are seeking mates or food. When they go on a 'rampage' it is because something or someone is trying to take something that belongs to them. Something important."

The others looked contemplative at that all. It seemed like they were so used to the mindset of 'Heroes must kill Dragons' from their games. She decided on one more small push that she just thought of.

"And in the stories from my world, the dragon would give them rewards equal or far greater than they would get from hunting them. Likely this dragon would be willing to part with a paltry tooth and claw for a [Hero] if that is merely all you were looking to get from the quest."

Ren blinked and let out a small sigh.

"Very well Homura. I will seek out a conversation with this dragon first. Hopefully you're correct and I can get a bunch of easy weapons and loot."

Homura did her best to keep the small scowl off her face at how indifferent he sounded. She decided instead of risking starting an argument, she decided to ask about something else that caught her attention.

"Now, what's this [Transport Sword] skill you mentioned?"

P-*-*-*-H

Homura stepped out of the carriage with a practiced grace after it came to a stop in the castle courtyard. The boys stumbling slightly behind her, their legs kind of numb after sitting in a very bumpy ride for several hours.

Rolling her eyes slightly as they started complaining about their discomfort and missing the nice trains from Japan, she turned towards the other carriages as they arrived behind the Heroes'. Heading towards the one she sensed her party in, she made sure to greet them with a small smile as they stepped out.

"Momma!" Sakura cheered as she jumped at the brunette with a huge smile.

Homura's smile grew a bit as she caught the young pink haired girl.

"How was your ride?" she asked, letting out a soft chuckle at the big pout with puffed out cheeks Sakura gave in response.

"Those stupid dragons don't know how to pull a cart at all! Sakura was bouncing all over the place and it felt like they were trying to break the cart!"

"The ride was…a little rougher than Sakura's carriage. I had to take a heavy dose of that medicine and sleep through what I could Mistress." Raphtalia answered with a grimace, her face definitely pale and a little green still even as it steadily regained its normal peachy tone even now.

Homura could only sigh as she set Sakura back down, glancing at the dragons. Considering that they were provided by a knight squadron led by someone who was obviously a bigoted member of the Church, she couldn't say she was surprised.

"How was your ride Mistress?"

Turning to look over at the others interacting with their parties, she took a moment to answer.

"They mean well, but they're idiots." She finally answered, getting a round of giggles out of all the girls.

"Madam Akemi," a somewhat familiar voice called out from behind her.

Turning around she saw a maid approaching her, her blue eyes glittering happily even as it took Homura a moment to remember the maid's name.

"Amelia," she greeted warmly with a small bow, which was returned with a deeper one.

"The King sent me to gather you and your party to assist with getting ready for the reward celebration." Amelia explained as she stood back straight.

It made sense, Homura supposed. It would not do for the Heroes to arrive in sweaty and gore covered clothes, even if some of the various enchantments made that less of an issue than it would be normally. If she had to deal with a bunch of nobles and prejudice, she would much rather take a hot shower beforehand.

"Thank you Amelia. Let me introduce you to my party."

P-*-*-*-H

Homura spun around slowly as she looked herself over in the mirror.

"You look so beautiful Dame!" Rishia gushed while lightly clapping her hands. Her usual twin braids had been swapped for a single thicker braid similar to Amelia's, and she was dressed in a modest but still formal looking dark green dress that had a subtle flower petal pattern embroidered into it

"Indeed." Raphtalia nodded in agreement. She had managed to convince Amelia that a simple wash and brushing was enough for her hair, the natural bounce and curl fitting her more than any other style the maid could think of. She was wearing a dress similar to Rishia's but was a bit looser and instead of being a dark green, her's was a vibrant red that matched the racoon girl's tea colored eyes.

"Momma's the prettiest!" The excited rosette child exclaimed, spinning around happily on the bed as she threw her hands up. Using her magical child powers and the fact that she was really a giant transforming bird had managed her to get away with just a bath but even that made her hair shine at being properly washed for a change.

Looking back into the mirror, Homura struggled to believe that the gorgeous young woman in the mirror was the same sickly toothpick of a child from the hospital that she still thought of herself as.

Her haid had been pulled back and tied expertly in a tight, low lying bun. Madoka's ribbon that she usually kept tied as a headband hand instead was tied around her neck as if it was a choker, the slightly faded red color accenting her slender neck line even as the bow and tails draped over her shoulder. She wore a dark steel colored dress with white accents. A flower pattern similar to the other two dressed up girls was also embroidered around the bottom of the dress. But while on Raphtalia and Rishia's it was only a slightly different color to keep it subtle, on Homura's it was a vibrant shimmering purple. It made it look like she was kicking up purple flowers around her feet as she walked. Finishing the ensemble off was her shield, which while she couldn't take off she could move, so Amelia had her turn it into the [Dark Fae Wing Shield] and set it on her upper back.

One of the biggest differences she noticed though was that even though it's only been a month, she had filled out noticeably from her summoning. Before she had looked sickly thin, someone who's entire body screamed 'unhealthy', even if several of the girls she went to school with thought she 'looked like a model'. Now however, she had a noticeable amount of muscle mass and a small, healthy amount of fat.

Very similar to how Raphtalia and Rishia looked now that she thought about it.

"All four of you young women look beautiful." Amelia commented proudly, her hands clasped in front of her.

'But I guess having the advantage of working with top tier girls makes it much easier.' Amelia thought to herself. She could appreciate their beauty, even if Rishia was the only one close to her age but still a few years younger.

"Now we should make our way to the party. It wouldn't do for any of the Heroes to be late."

P-*-*-*-H

"And the Shield Hero, Akemi Homura, with her party members: Ivyred Rishia, Raphtalia and Sakura!" the court crier announced. Receiving a nod from Amelia, she led her party into the party room which her head held high. Doing her best to ignore the people around her, her magical enhanced hearing caught some derogatory whispers about her and her party. But also a significant amount of compliments.

She did let herself smirk slightly at the near gobsmacked expressions on Kitamura and Kawasumi's face, and the blushing completely shocked face on Amaki. Homura would never admit that she felt a moment of feminine pride.

'How would Madoka react if she saw me like this, then?' A traitorous part of her brain thought, making her blush slightly before she dismissed the thought. It was all Sakura's fault, calling Madoka 'Mommy' and implying that the two of them were together.

Looking over her fellow heroes, it merely looked as if their helpers merely removed the metal portions of their armor and provided slightly nicer versions of the remaining clothing. It admittedly worked well enough, as it still provided a knightly or heroic look while adding a high society feel.

Or maybe Amelia was an over achiever who enjoyed playing dress up with them?

Dismissing that thought, Homura and her party approached the King and bowed to him respectfully.

"Greetings your Majesty."

"Rise young Shield Hero." He instructed with a nod.

Homura raised from her bow before meeting the King's gaze, the girls behind her doing the same a moment later.

"I hear that I have you to thank for saving Riyute Village. Not just from the Wave, but also for clearing out the mine that had become infested with monsters, allowing our country to once again continue mining Light Metal. Even the members of your party distinguished themselves in your name by assisting the other Heroes in slaying the monster in charge of the Wave along with killing the numerous others that came through with it." He spoke clearly, his voice echoing throughout the now silent hall.

"That is correct." She answered.

The King continued to stare her in the eyes, his gaze judging and evaluating. Then after a few moments he stood from his throne and gave her a small bow.

"I thank you for doing your best to protect my kingdom's citizens. While it is important to stop the Waves as quickly as possible, we must not forget that if we do not protect the citizens then there is no point in combating the Waves in the first place. Continue to do your best and you may redeem the Shield from the actions of your predecessor."

Blinking slightly at those words, it took her a second to figure out what he was talking about.

'Is all this prejudice against the Shield Hero the results of the previous one? What did they do?'

"Understood your Majesty." she replied with a matching bow.

"Also, would it be possible to have an audience with you after the party?"

The King simply nodded in response before turning and addressing the gathered audience.

"Everyone please enjoy the food and drink provided. Do not forget to thank and get to know our Heroes. It is the least the great Kingdom of Melromark can do for these brave souls that help prevent the end of our World!"

A year later, and a few days past the 2 year anniversary, I have finally updated!

This chapter fought me tooth and nail on top of just my life going to hell the last year. But things are finally looking better and the muse is alive and I'm hype to write the next arc! Though hard to believe I was wanting to write through the entirety of season 1 stuff before season 2 aired of Shield Hero, but oh well.

I recommend you go check the fic out on AO3, I have added a few arts to it and would love to add more!

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE, if you make fanart, send it to me! I'd love to share or even include it into the fic itself!