Chapter 2

"Talking"

'Thinking'

[Ability/Magic]

Gonna make this easier for now. Probably should have done this before.

Chapter 2: Betrayal

After his short adventure in the town. Naofumi puts away all his possessions and falls asleep in his bed. A couple of hours later, a mysterious figure shrouded in the darkness of the night makes its move. Silently entering the room as Naofumi is sound asleep, they move around with a large sack, grabbing everything \ everything they can hold. Making her final rounds across the room, she went over to the table next to the hero, and notice an egg sitting inside of an incubator.

'That idiot bought an egg? Why the hell did he waste my money on something stupid like a monster.' The thief thought.

As they try to take the incubator from its position, the sleeping hero moves a bit, causing them to pull their hand back and think for a minute.

'If I take the egg he'll most likely be notified of its location and wake up if I get too far, Destroying it here would make too much noise and also wake him up. \ combining both plans together won't change the outcome either, I can't even touch this thing without causing a hassle.' Damn it, what am I supposed to do.'

Knowing the egg is almost impossible to dispose of at the moment, the thief grabs what's left and quickly exits the room to move her plan to stage two of their master plan.

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After having a good night's rest, Naofumi is woken up by the sun shining through the window and into his face. Getting up and doing a quick stretch, Naofumi heads over to his wardrobe and openings it up, only to find his armor missing. Thinking he misplaced it last night while he was tired, he goes over to check the side of his bed only to figure out it's not there too. This built up more confusion in Naofumi as he frantically searches the room, finding out not only his clothes were missing, but several other important items as well.

"Shit, I've been robbed!"

Naofumi walks over to the coffee table and picks up the incubator holding the egg. "Why did they take everything but leave this, are filolial eggs not expensive here? Maybe the slave trader did rip... no, not important right now, I gotta get Myne." Naofumi rushes out of his room and heads down the hallway with the incubator in hand. As he reaches the door he starts to knock on it frantically in an attempt to reach his ally.

"Myne! Myne, wake up we've been robbed!"

Naofumi continues knocking until he realized no one is answering. Thinking the worse happened, he was prepared to kick the door down until several guards run up to him.

"Shield, the King has requested your presence."

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Naofumi ended up being arrested by the guards and dragged through the town. They purposefully were moving at a slow pace so that everyone can see and shun the shield hero, which wasn't helping Naofumi's situation one bit. Once they finally arrived at the throne room, he was thrown by the guards carrying him to the ground in front of all the nobles. They even tossed his incubator as well, but Naofumi caught it before it hit so no damage was truly done.

As I look around the room, I can hear several people throwing many insults, and everyone else giving me a glare of disappointment, as Myne cried in the corner.

"What the hell is goin-"

"Silence you fiend. The second you were summoned here, I saw that you'll bring nothing but trouble. And here you are, thinking you can waltz around my kingdom all nonchalant and do as you please without consequence. But I will not let you believe your crimes will go unnoticed, and especially not let them go unpunished."

"But what crimes, I was just robbed and now you claim that I'm the aggressor!?" Naofumi yelled back.

"You claim this but our testimony suggests otherwise, Myne dear, I'm sorry to ask this but please tell us what happened." The king asked.

"Oh, i-it was horrible, the shield hero burst into my room. last night, he seemed… drunk and kept t-telling me, "oh the night was young", he then grabbed me, and… f-f forced me down and-" she stops speaking and starts to cry.

"Are you seriously going to believe that? She is not even producing any tears to be crying at that level.?"

"That's because she spent half the night doing so you unforgivable bastard!" Motoyasu shouted

"I have no words." Itsuki started before noticing the egg on the ground.

Naofumi also looked over to Ren to see his reaction, but the sword hero stayed silent as his eyes were also fixated on the egg next to him. And that's when he remembered, he had a secret trump card he can use.

"I can assure you, nothing she says is true. Last night I was out on the town and bought this egg for a circus tent." Naofumi raised up the egg for everyone to see.

"If what was claimed was true, can you give the name this monster seller you speak of?"

"Of course, it's… I never got a name actually, but-"

"That just brings even more suspicion to your name, but assuming what you claim was true once more, explain to us why this egg was in your room despite stating how you have been robbed."

"B-but... I-." Naofumi couldn't speak at all, he never thought about why all his other possessions were stolen, but the egg stayed untouched.

"No words as I thought, a hastily made cover story with several holes easily brought down. But if you desire to spew any more lies to this court, then I shall show undeniable proof it was you. Bring in the evidence!"

As the king demanded, two knights walked in with torn women's lingerie, making Myne slightly embarrassed by the sight of it.

"According to the reports by several knights in the area, this was found in your room with several threads of its bottom half in Mynes's room as well, And looking at the testimony and your failed attempt at a cover story only proves that you're guilty."

"But that's impossible, my room was empty last night when I left. It's obviously planted evidence!" Naofumi shouted back as he stands up, only to be forced back down by the knights.

"You say this, but you lack the evidence and proof for yourself. So there is no need for this trial to go any further."

Naofumi looked at Myne once more, he couldn't bring to fathom why she would do this to him. And all he got in return was a mocking face from her.

"You idiots aren't even listening! I said I had a witness, and I get no investigation, You bastard are just biased!"

"We heard your lame testimony Naofumi, and Myne clearly had a lot more effort put into hers. So just admit you're guilty already before I thrust this spear into your heart you bastard!" Motoyasu tries to walk forward but he was held back by Myne and a couple of guards in the area.

"I don't have much input into this, but I say we should send him back just to be safe." Itsuki chimed in.

"That sounds like a good idea, we don't need people like you messing up the hero's reputation," Motoyasu replied.

The king strokes his beard before chiming in himself. "Even though I agree, it's impossible for any of the heroes to return home until the waves are done."

"So why can't we kill him right now and just summon another in his place?" Motoyasu asked.

"That is also undo-able, only new heroes are able to be summoned when all four have perished."

"So you're trapped here with me then." As Nafumi listened to the king and spear hero talk, the only emotion he could get through all his rage was just laughter at the inconvenience he gave Motoyasu.

"Why are you laughing!"

"So if you want me gone, all three of you have to be sacrificed with me. That seems like a fair trade doesn't it? Living your lives while also being trapped in a personal hell with me, versus dying and all!"

"You laugh this up now but do know, If you weren't a holy hero then you'll certainly be dead now, but since that can't happen rumors of your crime have already spread across the country, you shall no longer be able to live a normal life here ever again, as long as your fighting the waves no further punishment can be acted upon, but until then that shall be your punishment. Now release him and get him out of my sight."

A bunch of knights tries to force him up but they're all pushed back by Naofumi.

"Get your hands off me!, I'll leave myself."

Naofumi soon leaves with his egg in hand walking away from the bull Sh* he was just put through.

"Oh, and Myne, if you wanted some money take it!"

Naofumi then grabs a single silver coin out of his shield and throws them at Myne.

"I'll be keeping the rest," Naofumi muttered before turning around to leave.

Walking outside the castle, the gate closes behind him, and with that all of his money, armor, and equipment were gone. Also adding the fact that the entire country was against him now, Naofumi didn't really care for this place anymore.

All he had was a single egg. And if this egg was his only chance at survival, Naofumi was prepared to do all he can to survive.

Thanks for reading

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