Chapter 9 / Haunting Past


Motoyasu let his body speed up in the blur of battle. His spear, as if dancing along his fingers, twirled and slammed the bandit's sword out of his hand and landed a final blow that dropped him off his feet. The other bandits were already dealt with, either barely conscious or knocked out. His party members were helping in tying them up, so they couldn't run away.

"T-this strength… and that spear…!"

"You don't think we accidentally came across the Spear Hero!?"

"I don't give my name out to scum like you," Motoyasu said. "If anything, you should be worrying about what awaits you."

"Oh, wow!"

"You were amazing, Sir Motoyasu!"

"S-so cool…!"

Myne, Lesty and Rino ran up to him to congratulate him on a job well done. He tried not to let his satisfaction show too much, but it still emerged as a wryly smile.

As long as it helped in distracting him from his own thoughts, he didn't mind it.

Elena both called out to the group, causing them to begin their way over to a nearby village to drop off the captured bandits. There was a bounty for their heads, so they were given some additional funds for the road.

It took two or three days to get over to their targeted location, a site of a terrible famine.

It was off to work immediately once they arrived, helping in unloading the cargo. Specifically, the cargo were rations, aiming to help alleviate the famine for a few days. The people crowded around them , wanting to get their share of rations as the village chief helped make sure everything was in an orderly fashion. They all looked malnourished and hungry, the men especially, as Motoyasu could assume that most of them have been giving up their portion to the women and children.

It didn't take a genius for someone to realize that this was merely a temporary and short-sighted solution. This village needed something more sustainable if they wanted to live through this dilemma. Seeing their suffering and unhappiness, Motoyasu felt like he needed to do something more than simple transportation and distribution. It hurted to simply look, but he still noticed a skinny child off to the side.

It looked like he was having trouble getting through.

"Hey, Myne? Could you help handle things here with Lesty and Elena?"

Myne nodded as he supplied himself with a few rations and headed over to the child, kneeling down with a warm smile to not scare him off.

"Hey, there. Are you trying to get yourselves some of these?"

The child nodded silently before Motoyasu handed him two portions, one for an adult and another for himself. Motoyasu figured that if a child went out by themselves like this, a parent might be down from the famine while the other might not be around anymore. His guess was correct as the child's eyes lit up and carefully took the rations, thanking him before heading off without asking for more.

"Was there something wrong?"

Motoyasu noticed Rino approached him, making him stand back up. "No, it was nothing. Only a child that was spooked by the crowd. I shudder to imagine how weak his parents might be if they couldn't be the one to come for him."

"He's a strong kid," Rino nodded. "Seeing your parents in a weak state really makes kids think about their family more. You never know how much time you have until they're gone…"

Motoyasu noticed how Rino pushed down her hat, as if she was trying to hide her face. Motoyasu could tell that this might have been pulling up uncomfortable memories for her, so he decided to move away from that. With a soft tap on the back, he pushed Rino out of her thoughts.

He gave her a warm smile, trying to cheer her up. "Let's get back to work. We can't leave Myne and the others to distribute the rations themselves."

"Yeah," Rino nodded with her face a little red. "You're right."

Before long, the afternoon had already settled into evening.

It would have been best for them to stay for the night, but the place didn't have an inn. For their work though, there were given rooms at the village chief's building. No one particularly minded it since they had their own supply of food for the road, but as Motoyasu made dinner, it only made him feel worse about the ongoing famine.

There had to be something else that could have been done.

Otherwise, he couldn't eat here in peace. If there was any chance, he had to refer to Emerald Online, remembering that there was a quest in the game rather similar to these conditions.

When the girls were starting to go to their rooms, Motoyasu stopped one of the workers.

"Hey, there. Got a minute?"

"Of course. What can I do for the Spear Hero?"

"I'm wondering if there were any dungeons near the village."

The man raised his eyebrows, but he was certainly too tired to ask any further questions. "If you're looking for dungeons, there should be one to the north of the village, but I don't think you'll be able to get in."

"Is there a reason?"

"It's been basically locked off for as long as I've heard for whatever reason. We really don't think about it too much and adventurers don't come out here too often. If you want more information, it would be best that you asked the village chief. He'd know more about that place than anyone else."

"Alright, I appreciate the help. Thanks."

The man gave his regards and promptly left, but Motoyasu didn't plan on bothering the village chief. If it was located in the north, there was a decent chance that his assumption was right. Besides, he thought it would have been a nice surprise for the village chief.

When the morning came around, Motoyasu saw all the girls, except for Myne, waiting on the main floor. He decided to head over to her room, finding that she was still asleep. It was a bit amusing, hearing her sleep talk, but when he saw a marker on the side, he couldn't stop his childish prank.

-/IV/-

"So... Uhm, want to explain how you got that red mark on your face?"

"He got what he deserved, Lesty. Don't mind him."

"R-right…"

"I won't do it again. Sorry, Myne."

After the morning's incident, the group headed off to the ruins as Motoyasu debriefed them on their task at hand. Emerald Online would add on various conditions that would have to be taken into consideration, but for them, he simply dropped all of the fancy terminology. He didn't go into too much detail when talking about his plan, just saying that he had an idea to end the famine.

It took an hour to arrive at the dungeon. Although it hadn't been the usual perspective from the game, it didn't take much effort to recognize the familiar sight. From the weathered cliff of red earth and the appearance of the stone door, it was like it was ripped straight out from the game.

And if his memory served him correctly—

"Jackpot." He knelt down to a nearby boulder and noticed a strange marking on it to double check. He took a few steps back, pulling out his spear.

"Girls, stand back a bit. This is going to be a bit messy."

With one precise thrust, he shattered the boulder. The stone door then lit up, allowing symbols to be drawn upon it now. There would typically be a small sidequest that would provide hints to the solution, but Motoyasu remembered how it was drawn. With his hand, he drew a disjointed pentagram which caused the door to open up for them.

"Oh, wow! How did you even figure that one out!?" Rino asked.

Lesty tilted her head. "Yeah, how did you figure that out?"

"Eh," Motoyasu shrugged. "Just learned it from a friend."

"Oh, you just know everything," Myne complimented.

"It's nothing really. Now, shall we head along?"

Checking the party list and levels, he assumed it would be fine. After all, this was one of the earlier quests to the game and players could start going solo into the dungeon at a decent level. Even so, they still had to be careful, lighting the wall-torches as they went deeper.

The layout was designed to be similar to a maze and despite the familiarity, he supposed that this part of the dungeon had been completely different. The path that he remembered wasn't working, so he went with the old-fashioned method of figuring it out firsthand.

He found himself grumbling after hitting the sixth dead run in a row. He forgot how annoying this dungeon was when doing it blind for the first time.

"Hey, don't you think it's weird that we haven't run into any monsters yet?"

"Yeah, I hope they don't jump out from a corner or anything…"

"Actually, I don't think there are that many here," Motoyasu announced. "That's not to say that there aren't any at all. Stay on guard, but we really should be fine."

"Spoken with such confidence," Elena chimed.

After searching their way through, battling a few of those mentioned monsters along the way, Motoyasu and the girls finally came to an open room. Besides from the beautiful blue walls, glistening in a nearly transparent glow, it felt a bit odd to see this location in such a new perspective.

"There should be some type of chest here," Motoyasu said, looking around. "Though, it's a bit of a mess with all the rubble, but it should be somewhere…"

"If you're looking for a chest, there's one over there at the back."

Glancing over to where Elena was pointing, the container certainly looked exactly like Emerald Online's treasure chests, right down to the color configurations.

"Why were you looking for one anyways? Will there be something to stop the famine inside?"

"There should be something called a Miracle Seed inside the chest," Motoyasu said, answering Rino. "As I mentioned before, it should be the solution to the famine problem."

"What are we waiting for? Let's go grab it!"

"You shouldn't rashly get close to it." He held Rino back, keeping her movements away. "A golem fight triggers if we get too close, we'll have to defeat the monster if we want to claim the seed."

Motoyasu gripped onto his spear, walking up in front of the group carefully.

"Don't worry. It shouldn't be strong, as long as you all support me with magic."

"Amazing, Mister Motoyasu! You really do know everything here!"

Motoyasu wryly chuckled. "Just keep focus on the fight ahead, alright?"

Upon walking closer to the treasure chest, the room started to rumble. Motoyasu almost lost his footing from the sudden shaking, but as he recovered, a louder slam caused the room to crack beneath their feet. A large golem came down as expected, acting as the chest's guardian.

It was bigger than what he originally expected, but the battle plan should have remained the same. Its attacks could hit hard, but it was slow in starting them up. He twirled his spear into a battle posture, preparing to be on his fleet footwork against the boss.

The moment he saw the golem raise its arm in order to strike, Motoyasu was already moving. As it crashed down, he retaliated with a heavy swing. Barely making a dent, the golem's attention stayed on Motoyasu and launched its attacks, one after the other. Motoyasu bounced back and forth, countering every one of its strikes, but always found himself coming up short in damage.

"That defense is pretty strong," Motoyasu mumbled, losing himself in the monotonous pattern. "I wonder if I got anything that could pierce through…"

"Sir Motoyasu! Watch out!"

"Huh?"

The golem opened up its chest to reveal a crystal and from it, energy gathered up. In one brief moment, it finished charging up before it fired outwards. Both Rino and Lesty were already casting magic to counter its approaching blast.

"[Wing Blow]!"

"[Faust Aqua Shot]!"

The two spells crashed into the beam, canceling all of the projectiles from advancing.

"Thanks!"

Giving him the space he needed with those spells, Motoyasu tried again and struck in a better spot this time around. The source of the power obviously belonged to the golem's core in the chest, so if he could crack that wide open with targeted and well-timed attacks, it was an easy victory.

After a few minutes of dashing around the golem with the support of the girls, he finally struck gold, crushing the stone bricks that surrounded the core. Without it, the body collapsed on itself, revealing the core, floating in the air. It attempted to regenerate its shell, but Motoyasu acted quickly, burning the tip of his spear in its skill.

"Not on my watch! [Flaming Spear]!"

The core was hit, cracking with an audible sizzle, as if it was trying to grasp the last of its life before shattering into pieces. They all fell to the ground alongside the rubbled corpse, allowing Motoyasu to lower his guard. If he had to be honest, he thought the battle was easier than he assumed.

The girls cheered him on for another job well done, but he gave credit to where it was due. He definitely would have taken a good hit if the girls didn't do anything about it.

"With that out of the way, let's get this Miracle Seed."

Motoyasu walked through the golem's bricks, taking a slight detour to absorb some of the materials dropped. Before picking up any of the stones, he noticed that there were still some light being emitted from the fragments. Frowning, the light started… growing brighter?

Immediately, Motoyasu realized something was wrong.

"Everyone, get back!"

In a sudden turn, the corpse exploded right in front of Motoyasu's face. He grunted from the shock of the pain, though it wasn't enough to kill him. He was more confused on why it did such a thing, but it took a few moments to realize that the ground crumpled underneath his feet.

"Damn it!"

There was a self-destruction protocol on the golem's core upon its defeat to trap people to the lower floors if the explosion didn't kill them already. The girls were far enough away that he was confident that the range didn't hit them, so he shouted out before his voice was lost to the fall.

"I-I'll regroup with everyone! You girls grab the—!"

However, he heard the other girls screaming along with him. The crumpled floor must have been bigger than he expected as there was a slide that took him to another part of the dungeon underneath the floor. He caught a glimpse of Elena, Lesty and Rino on the other side, being sent into a different direction before he lost track of everyone.

The slide ended abruptly, causing him to land on his stomach. It wasn't comfortable by any means, but he wasn't dead and the damage was easily recoverable by the potions he stored up. For now, that wasn't the part he should have been worried about.

"Ugh, where am—?"

Before Motoyasu could shake off his confusion, he heard a scream come closer and closer until—

"Gragh!"

A weight slammed into his back, causing another scream. This time, it was from him.

"Huh? Something broke my fall?"

Motoyasu's face was smacked down against the ground, raising his hand up rather weakly. "That something… was me, Myne…"

She promptly jumped up from her seat. "I'm so sorry, Mister Motoyasu! Are you okay!?"

"Yeah," he grunted, "I should… be fine…"

Motoyasu definitely wasn't, but he didn't want her to be worrying much more about him. If he was given a few minutes, he'd probably be up and about. It was more fortunate that Myne wasn't hurt at all by the fall, but that only made him concerned about the other girls. If he had to guess, there weren't any hero-sized pillows to break their own descents.

"It looks like we got separated from the others," Myne said.

"We'll have to work on finding them again," he responded, groaning as he stood back up. "You didn't get yourself hurt, did you?"

"No, I'm perfectly fine. Thank you for your concern."

"If that's the case, we'll head off immediately. The sooner we can find the others, the better."

Motoyasu tried to study his surroundings to remember the way out.

In Emerald Online, there was a time limit to the main dungeon, giving it more difficulty. If a party exceeded the time limit before they could clear the dungeon, the floors would collapse and essentially force them to go through another dungeon to get another chance. He didn't think there would have been another way to forcefully enter the penalty dungeon, other than the alternate entrance.

"The paths should converge if we move on ahead. The exit is on the left, but the others should be coming from the right. We'll head down that path first."

"Do you mind if I stay closer to you? I'm a bit scared of the darkness here."

Without waiting for the invitation, Myne brought herself closer to Motoyasu, hugging his arm. If this helped her calm down a bit, Motoyasu didn't mind lending her himself.

"Sure, but just be careful," Motoyasu smiled softly. "I'll need to move quickly if we do encounter any monsters along the way."

"Thank you. I feel safe next to you like this."

That was the trust that Myne was giving to him. As long as she was there, he needed to make sure that he wouldn't betray that trust of her, but he suddenly thought about Naofumi and how he might have betrayed his trust as well.

"Do you not like this?"

"Huh? Why wouldn't I? Any man would be pleased to have a lovely lady like you by their side."

"You were grimacing."

Motoyasu instinctively turned his face away, not realizing the shifting expression.

"I-I'm not sure… what you're…"

"I've been noticing it recently, but perhaps there's something on your mind that's causing you to be like that? Don't worry, you can tell me if there's anything on your shoulders. It's not healthy to keep everything to yourself."

"Look, I… I don't think this is the place to talk about it, even if I was inclined to tell you. It doesn't really matter in the first place, so you don't need to concern yourself about it." Motoyasu tried to stay focused on the path ahead of them. "H-hey, maybe we should keep an eye out for monsters a bit. I think, uh, I hear something…?"

"It doesn't sound like it's nothing." Myne's fingers slipped in between his own, as a snake slithered through the crevices. "Mister Motoyasu, I'm worried for you. We don't have to talk about it when you're not ready, but the sooner you can get it off your chest, the better, right?"

If Myne knew that Motoyasu still wanted to meet up with the other heroes, especially as to how she must have perceived them, would it cause her to be hurt?

"I'm putting my trust in you, but aren't you putting your trust in me?" Myne slightly recoiled from him. "Do you not believe in me as well? You saved me, after all."

A chill ran down his spine. His memories flashed before his eyes.

"Don't think that!" Motoyasu spun to face Myne directly, almost desperately as his hand caught Myne's fingers again. "I do trust you, Myne!" His hands were shaking, but Myne acted like she didn't notice, despite holding them. "You just don't need to worry about that. I didn't help you out because I wanted you to repay me by listening to my insignificant problems."

"I want to help." She took their hands up and pulled them closer to her chest. "Hearing your woes is the least I can do, especially if it's about the trial. You still have doubts, don't you?"

Motoyasu flinched, hearing how Myne was already able to deduce his troubles. "N-no, that's not it! I-I mean, I do have doubts, but not in the way that you're thinking—!"

Myne peacefully smiled. "I understand your place because you were the one to tell me that you knew the Shield Hero before your summoning. Maybe you're a little scared because I was his victim, but I'm not holding anything against you. It's simply not healthy to be like this, Mister Motoyasu. If you need help, you can trust me that I'll always be there for you."

Motoyasu was silent for a bit, as if his stirring thoughts were being laid to some type of temporary rest. Myne really knew how to talk to him. It was like she already had him all figured out and told him the things that were needed to be said.

"For now, you're right." Myne released her grip on Motoyasu, letting the hand fall downwards like a puppet without their strings. "We need to look for the others first and foremost."

"Yeah…"

Myne became less clingy after their little talk. He thought Myne said that she was afraid of the dark, so that's why she needed to hold onto his arm, but she probably had her reasons. She still tried to hold herself together as they walked through the dark corridors, but she was lighting the torches to show the way. Motoyasu genuinely forgot about the torches for the moment.

"Let's see, our next turn should be—"

Suddenly, he heard a noise come around the corner. Motoyasu got ready for a quick skirmish with monsters. He was silently hoping that it was the other girls, being prepared to lower his spear if needed.

"Stay back, Myne. I heard footsteps."

"... Footsteps? I didn't hear anything like that."

He walked down the dark hall, calling out for the other girls one by one, but when he didn't get any response, Motoyasu became more confident in lifting his spear.

"Keep watch for our backs."

"Mister Motoyasu, I'm not sure what you're—"

He couldn't remember the monsters of the penalty dungeon off the top of his head, but when a figure started emerging from the shadows, Motoyasu's eyes widened.

Instead of a monster, there was a young girl.

She looked slightly younger than Ren, a highschooler in her youth. She was out of place, but Motoyasu's breaths became restless and his heart pounded through his ears. Her back was turned to him, but Motoyasu still couldn't believe what he was seeing here.

Because it was impossible.

He couldn't think about any other thought than that.

Should he have offered help to the girl?

No. That wasn't even within the realm of consideration.

Because it was truly impossible.

—The girl turned around and finally noticed him. No, it was as if the girl already knew Motoyasu was behind her and she was simply waiting for him.

"I-Ikuyo...?" Motoyasu instinctively reached out for her, shaking. If he could drop his spear, it would already be rattling on the ground. "That can't be…"

In the sweet voice as he remembered all those years ago, she responded to him as naturally as the light fell to the ground. "It's really nice to see you once again, Motoyasu." Her eyes, hidden underneath the shadows of her hair. Her smile, as graceful as an angel. Her words, as soft as he remembered it. "Oh, how much more handsome you've become over the years."

It didn't make any sense. Why was she even here? His body was trembling far greater than he could ever remember; he simply couldn't think straight.

"I thought that you…"

She opened her arms, but stood still.

"My love for you transcends all, dearest Motoyasu. Didn't you love me too? Didn't you wish for my happiness? It was only a matter of time that we met again. Not even fate could separate us apart."

"I-I… I don't…"

A sharp pain struck his head, causing him to wince and falter from his sight. A monochrome flash flickered before his eyes. When he looked back at her, she had already closed the distance, standing right in front of him. Motoyasu took a step back, feeling his chest being pushed down.

Sweat dripped from his forehead to hit an empty and peerless black void. The change of surroundings went unnoticed, causing Motoyasu to panic in his mind, but his body couldn't move the same way, watching as the young girl reached out with her cold hands towards Motoyasu's cheeks.

"What's wrong, dearest Motoyasu? Did you already forget about me?"

Motoyasu couldn't answer.

"Of course you wouldn't, my dear. Of course, you wouldn't."

He didn't know what to say. He didn't know what to do.

What should he have said? What was the correct thing to do?

"Oh? What are you doing to my Motoyasu?"

Even if the words came from behind him, that wasn't Myne's voice. It was too young for it to be hers to begin with, but from that tone, he already knew who it had been.

"Tch. Why don't you stay quiet like you usually do, Momiji?"

"All to protect my beloved prince from a demon like you, Ikuyo."

Their names were akin to a terrible screech of nails on a chalkboard. It pulsated him with pain everytime it was said, forcing him to grab onto himself to shake off his heavy agony. Looking at them would hurt even more, but as he tried to ignore them, they started becoming more hostile in their atmosphere. A headache was being induced, impossible to shake off so easily.

"Nothing you say could be good. All you're doing is poisoning my dearest love."

"Your love isn't enough for him. Isn't that why he's been chasing other girls? If he was with me, we could have been happy together with our happiest ending."

"That isn't for you to decide, you witch."

"It's better that he has a witch as a lover than a failure."

He didn't want to hear them arguing again. It kept frightening him even more with every round cycle they went between each other. It was like he was suffocating, but that wasn't the problem.

Before he realized, the girls were standing next to each other, beckoning for Motoyasu's attention. Without hesitation, he glanced up, seeing them standing with expressions he didn't want to see. It was those that reeked of desperation and loving hatred.

"Dearest Motoyasu, please tell Momiji that we're happily dating and in love! That you don't need a thing like her in your life when you already have me to satisfy your heart and your body!"

"Oh, my beloved prince Motoyasu! Tell Ikuyo that she's sorely mistaken! That we're both madly in love, leaving no room for a fiend like her to be involved in your life anymore!"

What did he do that betrayed their trust in him?

Or did they never trust him to begin with?

Was that the reason that they—

Static images covered his sights.

They flickered back and forth, scarring his vision with his deep memories. A sight that replayed hundreds of times in his nightmares. A sight he wanted to bury underneath his new life, paying no more attention to it. It already controlled him for so long and he didn't want the others to know about the demons resting next to his heart.

But it was impossible to forget.

"Not again…! Why? WHY!?"

Suddenly, two highschoolers were on the floor. They weren't moving anymore. A weak voice called out for them to get no response.

"Stop it…! Stop it…!"

Underneath their bodies, that red color kept emerging from underneath them as he collapsed against a wall. The wall started to be stained with that same color, as he looked down at his stomach, seeing that same red coming out from him.

It wouldn't stop coming out. It wouldn't stop spilling.

It was on him.

It hurts.

How did it ever come to this?

And why was he the one that survived?

He didn't deserve to live. He was the one to betray their trust.

And their echoes served to remind him that.

"We're waiting, Motoyasu."

"We'll always be waiting for you, Motoyasu."

When he opened his eyes back up, they were gone.

He was somehow back in the castle's throne room, the day of Naofumi's trial. Myne was crying on his shoulder while Naofumi was pleading his innocence, but the sounds of their hope and despair weren't heard. They fell on deaf ears as he stood, idle like a statue waiting for its corrosion.

What choice would have made everyone happy?

Why couldn't he get an easy answer?

Something was building up in his chest.

It wanted to rip itself out, tearing him bone by flesh.

And he couldn't stop it.

The only thing he heard was the sound of his own fleeting hope and his own drowning despair, as if the darkness around him was grabbing onto him, drowning him deeper and deeper.

"Mister Motoyasu!"

Suddenly, Motoyasu found himself waking up against a wall, desperately gasping for air with a heavy interval. His face was filled with sweat. He had to recall everything from the very beginning, from when he was first summoned as the Spear Hero until now, trying to get his head back into shape.

When he looked around, he was surprised to see the other girls while Myne had been holding onto him very tightly.

"Everyone? When did you get here? Didn't we get separated?"

"We did," Lesty answered, "so we were trying to find our way over to you two."

"Yeah, and while we were going through the dungeon," Rino continued, "that's when we heard your shouting. We followed your voice as quickly as possible, thinking you were in trouble!"

It was a dream. It was—

all just a nightmare.

"Mister Motoyasu? What happened?" Myne asked, refusing to let go of Motoyasu and her worries for him. "You just suddenly collapsed after making such a noise!"

Not being too sure himself, his eyes glanced over to some monster corpses that were lifeless on the ground. In seeing their shapes, he slowly started to remember what the enemy of this penalty dungeon was supposed to be.

"Voice gengars?"

"It appears to be the case," Elena answered, glancing over her shoulder to them. "Myne was handling them off when we got here while you were out cold on the ground."

From Emerald Online, those monsters were pretty annoying to deal with and in this penalty dungeon specifically, they had a thirty percent chance of spawning. It attacked by sending out supersonic waves to confuse the players' character and without any party members, it proved to be a difficult task to shake them off. He supposed this served to be a reminder that he shouldn't carelessly act like his strength could rush through everything, after all.

If Myne hadn't been there to fend them off until the others arrived, he would have been seriously injured. His hand reached out to Myne's, which loosened up her own grip.

"I really appreciate it, Myne."

"It was nothing much."

"You sounded so distressed," Rino pointed out, stepping a bit in between them. "I don't think voice gengars have the ability to make someone fall unconscious like that with their special ability. It normally tries to use familiar voices to throw your guard off for them to attack."

"Maybe we should leave it as it is. Mister Motoyasu doesn't look well, so we might need to escape this dungeon as soon as possible."

"What about the Miracle Seed?" Elena asked.

Motoyasu almost forgot about the item. With Myne's help, he stood up from his collapsed posture. "If we continue down the hall over there, we should be able to escape this dungeon and backtrack our way to the Miracle Seed again. There will probably be no traps left to be sprung on us."

They decided to follow through with Motoyasu's orders.

As they went back, Myne's hand still interlocked with his own. It was as if she was trying to pull him closer. A gaze to watch over him, so that nothing happened to him outside of her sight. To make sure nothing unexpected would arise, but the way that she slid her fingers by his, there was no sign of trembling. She wasn't scared while she was like this, not feeling anything at all.

Motoyasu couldn't shake out that strange feeling on his shoulder.

And yet, he ignored it. He had to focus on what was important in the moment.

He needed to distract himself again from the truth.

-/IV/-

After returning to grab the Miracle Seed, the group was able to leave the dungeon without any further complications and made their way back to the village. They arrived at the chief's building and requested to meet him, but he was already outdoors, checking up on the villagers to make sure everyone managed to get their rations for the day.

They managed to cross paths on his route and Motoyasu called out to him. He gave a small prelude about what they were doing before handing over the Miracle Seed.

"What is this?"

"It's a special seed that will produce an abundant amount of fruit when you plant it. I'm sure it'll fix the famine problem, so I went ahead and found it for the village. It was hidden inside of the ruins to the north of the village."

"Did you say the ruins to the north?" The chief looked at the seed. "I thought those ruins were supposedly created and sealed off a long time ago by a powerful and evil alchemist."

Motoyasu raised his eyebrow.

"If it's what the Spear Hero says, it wouldn't hurt to try." The chief stroked his beard while looking gratefully at the Miracle Seed. "All we need to do is to plant this?"

"Yeah, and it should grow by itself, even without much water."

The chief went over to their field, covered in wilted crops. They didn't even have the energy to remove their failures. Motoyasu and the girls followed, watching the chief bury the seed. Once he backed up, it instantly sprouted into a giant plant, towering their homes. From the branches, fruit was produced.

A crowd of villagers came over to see what happened, only to start cheering in celebration that they were finally saved. Motoyasu walked over to one of the branches, taking off one of the various fruits to bite into it.

"It's a bit sweet."

The important part was that it was edible. Seeing the Spear Hero take one for himself, the villagers came over to try it for themselves. It seemed like they were enjoying it with smiles covering their faces and hopefully, it'll take down two birds with one stone with just how much there.

There would be enough to feed the people and even more to distribute to the markets of different cities in order to get their economy running again. The problem appeared to be solved.

"How could we ever thank you, Spear Hero?"

"Make sure no one in this village suffers from going hungry again," he smiled at the chief. "That's how you can thank me."

"That goes without saying," the chief chuckled.

However, he looked over at the plant, looking a bit worried about what the chief briefly mentioned about the cavern. Motoyasu figured his concerns were merely excessive.

For now, he should worry about returning back to the capital.

-/IV/-

It would take a few days for them to arrive back at the capital. Of course, they had a few stops along the way to make sure no one was getting uneasy about the trip. There was no real harm to taking a break once in a while.

Later that night, they stopped by a town, having everyone break off each other to do what they wanted. The girls were apparently heading off to a spa together, a good reward for an excellent job, but it left him alone for the time being. He went off to bed early for the night.

Usually, he would end up having too much energy to sleep, so he would typically hang out at a bar until he started feeling tired. That wasn't the case this time around.

He was feeling tired ever since they left that dungeon. Although his body was still in peak condition, he couldn't do anything except sprawl over the bed with his arms outwards and his legs hanging off the side.

Those memories were the last thing he wanted to see again.

He was scared of falling asleep because those memories may return to him as a nightmare.

When he was younger, he was involved in a serious incident. It made local newspapers because of how terrible it was, but every outlet listed him as an innocent bystander that was caught up in the middle. To everyone, they gave him pity and sympathy, but they had the wrong idea. It was because of him that something like that happened, because the other two girls involved didn't trust him enough.

To everyone, he was a victim, but to Motoyasu, he was the person that caused that to happen. There was blood on his hands and no matter how much he washed them, he couldn't have them to be cleaned. That's why he just wanted to run away, but—

—it happened again.

Myne's cries echoed.

"M-Mister Motoyasu… You don't believe me…?"

Naofumi's anguish echoed.

"MOTOYASU! DAMN IT, LISTEN TO ME! PLEASE!"

Once again, he was forced to choose, but he couldn't do anything during the trial. All he did was be swept along in the currents and deal with its results. He told himself that there must have been another explanation for all of this, in that there could have been a third answer to their problems instead of picking a side, but that guilt was still eating away at him.

If the people in question had just trusted him more, none of this would be happening, but they didn't. Motoyasu believed that he never gave them a good reason to believe more than what was on the surface at the time.

"Why… is this so hard?" Motoyasu covered his eyes, scared that he might start crying from feeling this familiar pain. "I thought this was… supposed to be fun…" His hands collapsed onto his face. "I wanted this to be a fun adventure in a fantasy world where I could save the world with my friends! Why does it have to be so difficult!?"

Motoyasu flailed his arms like a child before rolling onto his stomach.

Night was already clocked in and by now, the girls must have returned from their time at the spa. He would have liked to check up on them if they needed anything else, but he didn't have the energy to get out of his bed. If he had to be honest, he would have loved to pass out here and wake back up in his apartment to pretend that trial never happened.

He wouldn't have to face the dilemma between Naofumi and Myne.

He wouldn't need to reconcile with Ren and Itsuki from their anger.

He wouldn't need to reassure Myne that everything would be alright.

If that other side had been peaceful and quiet, he would sleep without hesitation.

"Mister Motoyasu? Are you in there?"

Myne's voice caused him to sit upright immediately.

"Y-yeah, I'm in here. Come in!"

When Myne entered his room, he was a bit surprised by what she was wearing. It was quite provocative underwear, even having some semi-transparent silk to cover over her smooth skin. He never actually saw what she wore to sleep before; it has only been less than two weeks since she joined.

His face turned a little red, but he wasn't turning his head away. She was willingly entering his room like that. Most guys wouldn't refuse eye-candy like that when offered in a subtle way.

She came over silently and sat down on the bed next to Motoyasu.

"Is there something you need?"

"Didn't I tell you before? I'm here if you need me to be here."

"What are you—"

"You're still thinking about the Shield Hero, right?"

He flinched, seeing how Myne read him like a book.

"You told me before that the Shield Hero was once your friend, right?"

"Once my friend…"

Motoyasu winced at her words. Although he wasn't sure how true that had been, he couldn't entirely disconfirm it. When he really thought about it, what was Naofumi thinking about all of this? It's not difficult to imagine that Naofumi turned his back to him already.

"I won't be like the Sword Hero and Bow Hero, who had dismissed you without even hearing you out. I trust that you have your reasons for being conflicted."

"I… suppose there's no way that you could have been mistaken, right?"

" I saw the Shield Hero that night. I could not mistake him for anyone else, especially after spending the day with him. Do you still have doubts?"

"Please don't take this the wrong way, Myne. Even now, I'm having trouble coming to terms with it. If only there was some type of explanation to all this nonsense!"

"Perhaps, there is."

His eyes widened slowly over to Myne's direction.

"The entire day that I spent with the Shield Hero, he didn't show signs that he was planning such a nefarious act later at night. To how he treated me during the day, that was how I expected it to be like when you were talking briefly about him. I can't shake this odd feeling that something might be wrong."

Her hands felt warm as she came closer to him.

"Do you know about the Three Heroes Church?"

"Yeah, I… I guess? What do they have to do with Naofumi?"

"The Three Heroes Church," Myne continued, "is a religion that follows the Spear Hero, the Bow Hero, and the Sword Hero. However, the Shield Hero isn't included in that. Instead, they see the Shield Hero as a demon."

"A demon…?" Motoyasu gasped. "To just decide somebody is a demon without giving them a chance to prove themselves?"

"They did give him a chance. That's why they didn't do anything about the Shield Hero during the first day, watching him carefully." Myne answered him with such certainty. "And then, I suppose you might be able to infer what happened to that stance after the trial."

"How did something as ridiculous as that come to be!? Surely, there was a Shield Hero that proved them wrong, right!? How many times has the summonings gone on for!?"

"I don't know the answer to all your questions," Myne winced a bit, "but ever since the heroes came to be and as far as the country has remembered it, the Shield Hero has been depicted as one that was against humanity. The past Shield Heroes have acted in evil."

"Naofumi wouldn't be one of them!"

"That's what accounts of their allies have also said, but by the end of the Shield Hero's life, their true mask would be revealed as a demon to the people they were supposed to save."

Gears started turning in Motoyasu's head. It sounded ridiculous that every Shield Hero, through history, had always been evil. They would have stopped summoning the Shield Hero if that was the case, but something else must be going on there.

"The Shield Hero didn't seem like himself that night. I wanted to believe that he was a good person, but it was not the case. I wonder what caused him to think that he had simply… changed…"

"I think I know what it is."

Motoyasu's answer was firm. With Myne's help in seeing a bigger picture, he was able to make his conclusions towards that third possibility he had been looking for this entire time. It came late, but it was better late than never.

"Is that right? What are you thinking?"

Motoyasu turned towards Myne. "It should be the same weapons that get summoned every single time. As in, this is the same spear that gets latched onto every Spear Hero that comes to this land. In that case, Naofumi has the same shield as the other Shield Heroes." Motoyasu tightened his grip on the spear, looking into the gem. "What if something malicious is inside of that shield? That might be the thing that's controlling Naofumi's actions!"

He felt like a genius for figuring it out!

If that was supposed to be the case though, he had to find a way to separate Naofumi from that shield of his. Considering how the weapons were stuck to them, it sounded like an impossible task, but the hope sparking in Motoyasu's eyes was met with Myne's.

"That… could certainly explain it! If we can take whatever malicious spirit is controlling the Shield Hero, we may be able to save him and return him back to normal!"

"I knew there was an answer to this! I just knew it!" He grabbed onto Myne's bare shoulders softly and smiled joyfully. "Thank you, Myne! I'm glad I was able to talk to you about this! Now, we know what's really going on here!"

"I'm glad to be of help, Mister Motoyasu."

Myne gave a similar smile, but as she was close by, she suddenly leaned forwards and rested her head on Motoyasu's chest. "I didn't want you to be fretting over something like this. You looked like you were torturing yourself, so I knew I had to do something. I was even prepared to give my body to you, if that could have cheered you up."

"Your body? Myne, you didn't need to go that far if you're not comfortable with—"

"No, I wanted to. After all, I'm smitten with you. It wouldn't be too much of an issue for me to be with you for tonight. Considering how you're already cheered up, dressing up like this was wasted…"

As Myne slowly pulled herself out, Motoyasu pulled her with a warm embrace. "No, of course I'm happy you've thought of me like this. How about I take you up on that offer?"

Motoyasu winked.

"Spend the night here with me."

Myne chuckled.

"Of course. I'm already a few steps ahead of you, Mister Motoyasu."

-/IV/-

The next morning, Motoyasu and Myne came down at the same time to meet the other girls, but when he saw who was waiting, he was somewhat confused. There were only two people waiting there and no matter where he looked, the third one was nowhere to be found.

"Lesty? Elena?" he called out, grabbing their attention. "Where did Rino go?"

"There was an emergency with her parents," Lesty answered immediately. "She had to head off to be by their side and as much as she wanted to send her final regards to you, there wasn't any time for that. She wanted to express her apologies for this abrupt departure, but she's hoping that she might be able to meet you again someday."

"Is that right?" Motoyasu felt slightly saddened by Rino's departure from the party, but if the circumstances were like that, he would be a terrible person to have been bitter about her circumstances. "I suppose that can't be helped. Anyways, let's get back on track to the capital."

Even so, he had to move on.

"In any case, I don't think we'll be taking up any other requests soon."

"Huh? Really? I think there should be enough time for another request, unless…" Lesty tilted her head. "Did you need to do something back at the capital before the wave of destruction comes?"

"I do. I think I've discovered the reason for the Shield Hero's actions, or rather, forced actions." Motoyasu felt so excited, telling others about it. "And I said that we won't be taking up any other requests, because we're heading on mine."

"You… have a request?" Elena asked, a bit surprised.

"Yeah," Motoyasu nodded. "I need your help in saving the Shield Hero. To do that, we're going to have to talk with the king and the church to organize something. The plan is still a bit murky, but I need to do this." Motoyasu tightened his fist, holding it before him. "I have to save Naofumi, no matter what."

Elena frowned, glancing over to Lesty who was shrugging.

"You say that, but what do you mean? Wasn't he convicted of trying to rape Myne?"

"He was, but he wasn't consciously trying to do it."

Motoyasu pulled out his spear and tapped his hand against it.

"He's being controlled by the evil spirit inside the holy shield. If that hypothesis is correct, then it only means we have to split the shield away from him or better yet, purge the evil spirit!"

Elena raised an eyebrow, but she decided not to say anything about it.

Motoyasu held onto his spear tightly with conviction, all while he never noticed the devious smile coming from behind him. Like a puppet master, moving along a puppet's strings, it was far too easy.

"Even if I have to fight Naofumi, I'm going to save him from that fate." His voice crumbled to a whisper to himself. It was directed to the person he wanted to save. "Just you wait, Naofumi. Ren and Itsuki might not have realized it yet, but I'm going to save you."

As well as a motivation driven—

—unknowingly in the wrong direction.


[SKIT 048 : All About Spirit]

[Rino] : "I feel like we're helping you less and less lately..."
[Elena] : "Hey, I'm not complaining."
[Motoyasu] : "Well, it's all because of my spirit! With my valiant spirit, nothing is unstoppable for me! I've gotten a lot of power, just by feeling your cheering spirits as well, so keep cheering me on! I'll get stronger by the second!"
[Motoyasu] : "... Of course, that's just a joke. I've only been working on my strengthening methods diligently and that's been—"
[Rino] : "A-amazing... Our cheers actually do have positive effects...?"
[Elena] : "She's long gone, Mister Motoyasu."
[Motoyasu] : "... I'll correct her another time."
[Elena] : "Don't do it. I'm not looking to have this conversation again with her."
[Motoyasu] : "Ahaha... Right..."

[SKIT 049 : Lerno]

[Rino] : "It's terrible to see all these people like this..."
[Elena] : "You would think someone would try to capitalize on this famine."
[Motoyasu] : "What do you mean by that?"
[Elena]: "Another territory coming in to help them out, but for a price to be paid in the future. If no one is coming to help them, they probably don't have anything worthwhile to offer in the eyes of the nearby territories. They'll left to fend for themselves once they have nothing to scratch other peoples' backs with."
[Lesty] : "That's, uh... a pretty grim way of seeing it, Elena."
[Elena] : "Hmm? No, that's just how my mother would probably see it."
[Rino] : "And does... the fruit fall far from the tree?"
[Elena] : "Who knows...? I sure don't care enough to find out."
[Myne] : "I don't think Elena is wrong. People are used to other people's benefits everyday. Sometimes, motives are simply more selfish than others. Aren't we transporting the cargo because we were being paid for the job?"
[Motoyasu] : "I wanted to take the job to help Lerno. The money was secondary."
[Myne] : "Of course. I suppose that was a joke in bad taste."
[Motoyasu] : "Haha! You can't win them all!"
[Rino] : (... I'm getting shivers, just being around her. That didn't sound like a joke.)

[SKIT 050 : Children]

[Rino] : "Do you like children?"
[Motoyasu] : "Hmm? What's with the sudden question?"
[Rino] : "You were acting very gently with that kid. I was wondering if you were good with them."
[Motoyasu] : "I wouldn't say I'm good at dealing with children. I never really thought about it, but I don't think it's difficult to consider that children should be spending their childhoods smiling, rather than suffering. I never had my parents around, so I didn't want him to experience that trouble."
[Rino] : "O-oh, I'm... sorry..."
[Motoyasu] : "For what? They aren't dead. My parents were constantly on business trips."
[Rino] : "Oh, thank goodness. For a second, I thought I accidentally opened up an old wound."
[Motoyasu] : "Haha. It doesn't change the fact that they weren't around frequently for me, so I pretty much had to raise myself. I could definitely relate to that child's worries on some sort of smaller echelon."
[Rino] : "Maybe that's why you're so dependable!"
[Motoyasu] : "Y-yeah... I guess.
[Motoyasu] : (A little white lie.)
[Motoyasu] : (I wasn't by myself during my childhood, but maybe I would have been better if I was left alone at home...)

[SKIT 051 : Motoyasu's Cooking]

[Lesty] : "O-oh my! This is delicious!"
[Elena] : "This taste is... amazing...!"
[Rino] : "Why were we going to expensive restaurants when Mister Motoyasu can simply make food better than that for a fraction of the price!?"
[Myne] : "Perhaps it's unwise to constantly depend on Mister Motoyasu to make food for us."
[Motoyasu] : "No, it's totally fine. I can get some practice out of this as well."
[Rino] : "Where did you learn how to cook like this!?"
[Elena] : "I have to ask that as well. I'm rather curious."
[Lesty] : "Tell us! Tell us!"
[Motoyasu] : "... A friend. It was a friend who taught me how to cook like this. Before meeting him, my homemade things were actually pretty terrible, but because of his help, I was able to make my meals better. Sometimes, I even cook alongside him to help out in the kitchen."
[Myne] : "Who was this friend?"
[Motoyasu] : "... That part doesn't really matter."
[Elena] : "... Could I request something though? Hold back on the spices a bit."
[Motoyasu] : "Right. My friend... also told me to keep that in mind..."

[SKIT 052 : Alchemist's Cavern]

[Myne] : "You really know your way around this dungeon, Mister Motoyasu."
[Motoyasu] : "If you really must know, there was something like this back from where I'm from."
[Lesty] : "Really? That's surprising."
[Elena] : "Considering he knows his way around, I wouldn't doubt it."
[Motoyasu] : "The first time around, I was actually stuck on it for a while. I didn't know how to get access to the dungeon first, but this was during the time when a friend of mine was partying with him. Despite being relatively new, he ended up solving the riddle of the dungeon entrance for me. Of course, I carried him through the dungeon itself, but it still took some time to navigate through it. With that experience, something like this was a piece of cake."
[Rino] : "Lucky to have your friend, aren't you?"
[Motoyasu] : "... Yeah. I... I guess I am."
[Rino] : "...?"

[SKIT 053 : Traumatized Memories]

[Motoyasu] : "Damn it..."
[Motoyasu] : "Out of all places to remember that..."
[Motoyasu] : "I can still taste the iron taste on my mouth every single time I see those images..."
[Motoyasu] : "Why can't I forget about it?"
[Motoyasu] : "Why won't you let me leave and bury it in my past?"
[Motoyasu] : "Ikuyo... Momiji..."
[Motoyasu] : "I'm sorry! I'm... sorry...!"
[Motoyasu] : "It was my fault. It was... all my fault!"
[Motoyasu] : "Is that why... you two refuse to part from my memories...?"

[SKIT 054 : Rino's Departure]

[Motoyasu] : "It's weird that Rino suddenly left like that."
[Motoyasu] : "For a family emergency concerning her parents, right?"
[Motoyasu] : "Wasn't she talking about parents when that skinny kid left? She looked slightly distant for that moment."
[Myne] : "Mister Motoyasu! We'll all ready to head out!"
[Motoyasu] : "Alright, I got it! I'll be with you in a second!"
[Motoyasu] : "... Yeah, I guess nothing will come out of it if I ponder too much."