Chapter 5 Party Time!

''Wow, this place is amazing'' smiled Malty, she was currently strolling through Lurolona village in the Seaetto Territory with Eclair, during one of their reading sessions with tea and sweets Malty had expressed wanting to see the Demi-human village in the Seaetto Territory, after hearing that Eclair told her she would arrange for her to visit one day and now the day had come.

''It's nothing that special but thank you for the compliment Malty'' said Eclair ''but I'm honestly surprised you wanted to see the village, I mean its not that different from a human village''

''I know, but someday I hope both humans and demi-humans can live together and I like to think that this village is our first step towards that'' stated Malty.

''I like to think that too'' smiled Eclair, as the two found a bench to sit, they had been walking around the village for half an hour and were quite tired ''by the way I heard your father has a new advisor, whats he like?''

Malty tilted her head thinking back to when she first met her fathers new advisor.

-Flash Back-

Malty had been walking through the halls of the castle, she had just finished a lesson with her tutor, she didn't have sword training or magic training today and Eclair was back in her families territory, so Malty was planning to go see Melty and afterwards go to the library, she had finished her classes early which meant she got to see Melty early which had put her in a good mood, that was until she heard a faint chuckling coming from behind her, Malty gave an inward sigh she knew who that chuckle belonged to and sure enough turning her head she could see her father approaching her alongside him was the man from the Three Heroes Church he had been having regular meetings with.

Now Malty was annoyed that she was going to see her trashy father before her cute baby sister, but it as also a good opportunity to learn who this guy was and figure out what he was up to, she already suspected what he was up to but she had no idea who he was, if she was remembering the story right, from when she read the manga and watched the anime Aultcray did have a right hand man but he wasn't connected to the Three Heroes Church as far as she could tell and he was way older than this guy.

She slowed down so they could catch up and hopefully notice her, it obviously worked because she soon heard her father calling out to her, she turned around as they approached to see her father and the man he had been speaking with for months now, this was actually the first time she got a full look at the man up close, most of the time Malty had only viewed this man at a distance this was her first time seeing him up close.

Surprisingly he was rather young, she had expected a man to be in his early thirties at the youngest but instead he looked like he was in his early twenties, he had dark grey eyes and sleeked back hair, his face was rather handsome with a beauty mark on the corner of his left cheek, he was dressed in the typical noble attire with a Three Heroes Church Sigil pinned to his shirt.

''How are you doing today my adorable little Malty'' said Trash, he had been talking this way for a while in a desperate attempt to win back Malty's affection, but it wasn't working if anything it made Malty want to get further away from him.

''It's been rather good father thank you for asking, I just finished my lessons for the day'' said Malty.

''Already, you really do take after me and your mother don't you my sweet little princess'' Trash cooed.

''Thank you father'' said Malty, before turning her attention to the man beside him which he was really interested in ''who's this?''

''Ah of course, I can't believe I haven't introduced you yet, Malty I'd like you to meet my new advisor, this is Dominic Thresher'' stated Trash.

''A pleasure to meet you princess'' said the man making a small curtsey.

''Likewise'' said Malty, retiring the curtsey before feigning interest in his sigil ''is that a Three Heroes Church sigil?''

''Ah a very good eye you have princess, not many notice the sigil'' said Dominic.

''Are you a part of the Church?'' Malty questioned.

''No, I am just a devote follower of the Church and its teachings'' stated Dominic.

''I see, so how did you become my fathers advisor?'' Malty questioned ''you seem rather young, you must have made quite the accomplishment to have earned such a position at your age''

''You flatter me Princess, I don't have that great an accomplishment'' said Dominic with a light chuckle.

''Your being far too modest Dominic, you graduated early and top of your class from Faubrey Elite Academy'' Trash explained.

''Wow, that sounds very impressive'' said Malty 'but that doesn't explain why he would have a position like this, even if he did do really well at school he would be expected to have at least a few years worth of work experience before being given a job at this level' but Malty kept this to herself it would be odd for a child her age to question this so instead she settled for another question ''so how did you two meet?''

''Oh I met Dominic at one of our annual banquets, we talked and I thought he seemed to be a rather capable man and the two of us think rather similarly, so I decided I would take him on as my advisor'' said Trash.

''I see'' said Malty, she then told the two men she was going to see her sister and quickly left, walking towards her sister nursery as fast as she could.

While she had no proof and the conversation didn't confirm anything for certain Malty was now 95% sure that Dominic was sent by the Three Heroes Church to manipulate her father, in the story the Three Heroes Church had used and manipulated Malty to frame Naofumi the Shield Hero and trigger certain events in the early part of the story, no doubt they had noticed her from an early age and honed in on her then and decided they would eventually use her for their own plans, but now that she regained her memories and changed they couldn't do that anymore, so instead they decided to get someone close to the king, so they could manipulate him that way, not as strong as using his daughter, who he would do anything for, but still a strong method none the less.

-Flash Back Over-

''He's an advocate for the Three Heroes Church, I think that says it all really'' said Malty her even tone perfectly expressing how she felt about this.

''Oh, he's one of them'' Eclair said cooly.

''You don't like the Church either Eclair?'' Malty asked.

''No, not only do my father and I disagree with many of the Church's views but I have heard them talking badly about my father behind his back'' explained Eclair with the same even tone.

Malty just nodded she could defiantly see why the Three Heroes Church would hate Duke Seaetto due to his belief's and she could also see them talking badly about him behind his back to anyone who would listen to them to try and slander the man, but that didn't stop her blood from boiling, the Duke was a very nice man, he'd been so good to the county and her family so she didn't like hearing he was being slandered and she could see how upset it made Eclair so to take her mind off it she decided to say ''I think the advisor was sent by the Church to manipulate my father''

This caused Eclair to turn to Malty with an alarmed expression ''wha- what makes you say that?'' she questioned alarmed.

''Well, he has no work experience yet managed to get a very high position due to his good marks in an elite school and due to the fact he and my father have very similar ideals'' stated Malty ''add the fact he is an advocate for the Church and I don't think its a leap to say I think he's trying to manipulate him''

''Hmm, I guess you've got a point'' Eclair mused ''I can see the Church doing that, honestly I'm amazed the king doesn't endorse the Church, from what you've told me and what I've heard he seems to share a lot of views with the Church, like hating Demi-Humans''

''Yeah'' Malty sadly agreed ''honestly if it wasn't for them I think we'd have a much better relationship with the Demi-humans by now'' Eclair nodded and Malty continued ''but it's not just them, so many of Melromarc's nobles are just so useless, they're a prime reason why slavery in this country still isn't abolished, then again its not just us who practices slavery''

Eclair gave a sad nod and said ''I just wish there was something we could about it''

''Then why don't we do something about it?'' Malty questioned, causing Eclair to give her a look ''I mean progress isn't made by doing nothing, we want to promote Demi-human equality so lets do it''

''Alright then what do you think we should do?'' Eclair asked.

''Well, I do have one idea'' Malty mused.

Malty and Eclair most of the free time they had that month planning out the equality event they would hold and at the end of the month the plan was ready to be executed, so five days into the next month a 11pm Malty snuck out of the castle and met up with a carriage which would take her to the place they were holding the event.

The event was being held in an old abandoned castle called Corway Castle, it was the perfect location to set up the event as it was the perfect distance for all the noble kids they invited to make it, looking out of her carriages window Malty could see other carriages she and Eclair sent out approaching the same location, the event was exclusive to the noble kids only and was kept secret from parents.

They knew they couldn't change the minds of the parents they were already set in their ways, but the children weren't they were still susceptible to learning the truth, that Demi-Humans and Humans could live equally like they believed, which was why they needed secrecy if the parents learned what they were going to try and teach their children they would not allow it, so what was this event, it was a large party.

When Malty entered the castles main hall where the party was being held, Malty and Eclair chose the main hall because it was very similar to the room where party's were held in the royal castle, everything was ready, the food, the drinks, the music, the fun activities, the only problem was the guests weren't mingling, the noble kids were on one side of the room and the Demi-Humans were on the other side.

''Not a good start'' Eclair said worried.

''Better than I was expecting'' Malty said a little hopeful.

That hope was quickly dashed when one of the noble kids cried out ''why are those dirty Demi-Humans, I was told this party was exclusively for higher nobility what's the meaning of this!'' which caused most of the other noble kids to start crying out the similar things.

Malty knew she had do something and quickly so she quickly ran up the stair case so she could look out on everyone before firing off a fireball to get everyones attention, with that she started speaking ''yes we did lure you here under false promises, I will admit that, but we do have our reason and that is that this rivalry between our races has to stop, we're the next generation we have the opportunity to learn for the mistakes from the older generations so why are we repeating those mistakes, so even if its just for tonight lets break bred so to speak and try to get along''

Silence permeated through the hall, for a moment Malty was scared that she had said something wrong and that was about to drive them away, that was until a green haired girl stepped forwards and said ''well, we did come all this way, it would be a shame if we did nothing after coming here''

That was when the party started, people seemed to agree with the green haired girl at the least and started to enjoy the food, drink and some of the activities, a few even danced to the music playing and to Malty's pleasant surprise some of them actually started interacting with the Demi-Humans which meant some of her words must have gotten through, half an hour later and the ball was starting to role, now many of the noble kids were interacting with the Demi-Humans, they were sharing food, playing games and even dancing together.

That said not everyone was on board, some of the noble kids just hung around the food and drink table and growled whenever a Demi-human approached, but still 90% of the noble kids were enjoying the party and many of them were apologising to the Demi-Humans for calling them 'dirty', so overall the party had done very well and Malty felt like she owed one person a thank you for it.

'Thank you for helping me green haired girl… wait green haired? Could that be who I think it is' Malty thought to herself, she tried looking through the crowd but she couldn't find the green haired girl, Malty decided that she would get other opportunities, she would eventually go to school if she was remembering the story right, so she'd try to find out then.

''This went better than I expected'' said Eclair ''I'll admit I didn't think this would work and thought we just wasted our pocket money''

''I don't blame you, I didn't think this would work myself, but I thought it was worth a try'' said Malty.

''Well the party is going to end soon, but lets enjoy it a little more'' said Eclair.

And they did, until the carriages to return both the noble and Demi-human children home arrived, Malty got back up to where she had made her first speech and fired off another fireball to get everyones attention, when she had gotten the attention of all the party occupants she spoke.

''Sorry to interrupt but unfortunately our party is over now'' said she, many of the children let out an audible moan with others asking if it could go on longer ''I know, I know, I'm sorry, but after tonight I want you all to remember what happened here and to remember that we can get along and tonight is proof of that, so when we grow up and take our parents places lets work together to make our kingdom that, lets make our kingdom one that all the others can envy because we all accept each other as one people!''

The crowd cheered and Malty felt like she and Eclair had really made a change.

Two months after the Party Malty and Eclair found themselves in the Queens office in front of the Queen sat at her desk with Duke Seaetto stood at her side, they both had a feeling why they were there especially since their parents were staring at them with disapproving looks.

''So I've been told that two months ago you two threw a party at Corway Castle am I correct?'' Mirellia questioned.

''Yes mother, your correct'' said Malty.

''And I've also been told you were trying to indoctrinate noble children into-''

''That's not true!'' Malty suddenly cried out ''we weren't trying to indoctrinate anyone mother, we were hosting the party so noble kids could see that Demi-Humans aren't so different from us, we wanted to try and promote equality between our two races''

After a moment of silence Mirellia got up from her desk and approached the two, Malty closed her eyes ready for a leacture but instead, she felt a pat on the head ''that's what I thought happened and from what I've heard its worked, a lot more Noble children are more accepting of Demi-Humans, good job Malty I'm very proud of your right now''

''As am I Eclair'' said Duke Seaetto patting Eclair's head.

''Thank you Mother/Father'' said Malty and Eclair.

''But we will still have to punish you for taking Castle funds-''

''Actually mother, we didn't you can check, we paid out of pocket for the party, I had been saving my allowance for two years so I had more than enough to fund the Party'' explained Malty.

''Well then now we just need to punish you to quiet those Nobles who are unhappy'' said Mirellia ''we were going to suspend your allowance for a while, but since you didn't take any funds I see no reason to do that''

''Nor do I your majesty'' said Duke Seaetto.

''Well then its decided your too young now, but in two years time as punishment you'll both be sent to a boarding school in Faubrey'' stated Mirellia.

So that's the chapter sorry this one took a while some stuff was happening IRL, so I hope this was worth the wait probably wasn't, I just wanted Malty to do something to promote Demi-Human equality and that was the best thing I could think of, probably doesn't fit in the Shield Hero universe and if you think this is the worst chapter so far I can agree with that, I rushed this one because you guy's have been waiting a while and I didn't want you to wait too long, this chapter is basically just set up to send Malty to where the story needs her to go next, next chapter's hopefully gonna be better.

Oh I got a lot of comments saying Motoyasu has a green Filolial, I'm sorry I genuinely didn't know that, lets just say green Filolials are so extremely rare people don't believe they exist.

And if anyones curious yes the Green Haired girl is Rishia.