Chapter 14 / No Longer Heroes


Motoyasu kept fighting them back.

His mind was consumed entirely by that thought while his body was moving before he could get a chance to think.

One of the knights backed off from the impenetrable reprisal. "What's the Spear Hero doing, protecting the Shield Demon!?"

"Even if he's the Spear Hero, he's vastly outnumbered!" another knight shouted. "He'll fall eventually, then we'll be able to extract him from the Shield Demon's side!"

Two knights closed in to their target, but Motoyasu struck one of them backwards, leaving his back exposed. He managed to pivot on the spot, blocking the next attack and bounced the second knight off from him.

A blindsided thrust aimed for his head by a third knight, but he stepped out of the way to narrowly dodge it. A fourth knight's blade followed up and as he avoided that one, it ended up disconnecting the ponytail. With his hair flailing in the rough movements, Motoyasu moved in to thrust his spear into the knights, pushing them away.

There were too many reinforcements for him to handle with only a limited amount of stamina left, but his body kept pushing itself. It was only a matter of time before his body would crash under the stress, facing off against the multitude of knights launching their attacks, one after the other.

"This is for your own good, Spear Hero!"

One of the knights raised his sword as Motoyasu was preoccupied in holding another back. He slid his spear to jab the knight backwards, but the other knight was given a wide opening. Motoyasu tried to jump away, but he still managed to connect a cut against the backside of the shoulder blade. Two knights managed to land a few more attacks on Motoyasu before he could back off.

Motoyasu gasped for air and staggered backwards, but he found the bare minimum to raise his spear once again when a tag team of knights approached.

One unleashed a downward slash while the second followed through with chasing strikes. Motoyasu dodged out of the way from the first few, but was stuck blocking on the last swing. The second knight leapt up from the side of the Spear Hero, about to strike him down with a heavy cut.

Before the weapon could fall down on him, a transparent shield appeared in between them. It bounced the knight backwards, giving Motoyasu the chance to free himself by knocking the other knight away.

Motoyasu looked over his shoulder to see that Naofumi was slowly getting back on his feet. "You're not the only one here. There's no reason to be fighting by yourself, Motoyasu."

Motoyasu grimaced, instinctively turning his eyes away. "I-I'm sorry about—"

"We can leave all of that for later."

As the knights saw the heroes teaming up like this, they were taking a few steps back. Naofumi trudged onwards, walking up next to his friend once again. He managed to straighten himself up as he placed his hand against Motoyasu's shoulder.

"Thanks for helping me out."

Motoyasu casted a gaze downwards. "No matter what I did, it felt like there will always be chains that are dragging me down. I would have ended up regretting everything, but learn nothing from it. Will I end up regretting this decision as well?"

"Stay with me and perhaps you'll find your answer." Naofumi brought before him his shield once more. "For now, we need to think of a way out of this mess together.

"Nao… fumi…?"

"If you can follow my movements, I'm going to try and break their formation. Our chance to escape this damned place is through brute force, unfortunately."

"Even with what I did to you, you're still going to act like nothing happened?"

"I thought we were going to have a talk after all of this is over. At that point, we'll see if the decision you've made was right or wrong, but if you're following your heart, doesn't that mean this is something you can't ever regret?"

His hands still shook, but for the briefest moment, he felt calm talking to Naofumi once again, like it was merely another trivial problem back in their world.

The knights had enough anticipation in the air and decided to close the distance between them, small groups at a time. Naofumi dashed forwards to intercept them, as Motoyasu unleashed his attacks for a full defense-offense combination.

"What's going on!? Why is the Spear Hero preventing the ritual from happening!?"

Meanwhile, the king slammed his fist against the armrest.

He knew that the Shield Hero would be a problem if left alone, so when the pope said to immediately get this event ready, for it was something concocted to prevent him from doing any more evil deeds, the king did what he could on short notice. The only reason he let the Shield Hero go the first time was because of the circumstances; it would have proved to be better if he did go ahead and lock up the Shield Hero from pulling any more ridiculous stunts of chaos.

"What's the meaning of this!?"

"I'm unsure as to what might be happening as well, Your Majesty."

The pope pushed up his tinted glasses, walking up to the balcony to see the sights for himself.

Even up against upwards to ten to fifteen of their knights, the Spear Hero and the Shield Hero were turning the tides, effectively pushing them onwards to the nearby exit. The heroes looked tired and injured, but their spirits would not allow them to surrender so easily, making this a difficult situation.

"Would it be wise to simply observe, Your Majesty? Someone of your strength may be able to deal with this effectively. Would I not be correct?"

"I'm still… observing the situation," the king grunted, leaning forwards on his seat. "The heroes should not be very strong as of yet. And besides, I would rather have the Spear Hero interrogated for what happened here."

"Do you favor the Spear Hero?"

"That hero has been taking care of my precious daughter since the day of the trial and I've heard nothing except good things come from her words when concerning his character. I'll be willing to investigate his wrongdoings here, but for now, his capture and subdual is important."

"And what about the Shield Hero?"

The king scoffed. "At this point, I see no reason to care what happens to him." He looked over his shoulder to see the knights standing on duty to safeguard the king and the pope. "However, send out the command to evacuate the audience, just in case."

The two knights saluted, taking the orders and departing immediately.

He tried looking for his daughter, briefly touching upon the topic of it, Myne stepped into the balcony area and gave him a slight bow.

"Malty, my dear! Are you hurt anywhere?"

"No, it doesn't appear to be so." Her eyes looked down. "At least, in the physical sense."

"To think that the Spear Hero would cast you away like that. I'll make sure that I'll find out the answer as to why he would do such a thing!"

"Papa, I don't believe he's doing it out of his own intentions."

"What's that? Is there something you know, Malty?"

"The Shield Demon seemed to have been talking more than he was fighting during the engagement against the Spear Hero. And then afterwards, the Spear Hero irrationally pushed me away to protect the Shield Demon in the purification ritual." Myne's hands trembled, but steadied themselves as she brought them closer to her chest. "I believe the Spear Hero has been brainwashed."

"Brainwashed!?" the king grunted, clenching his hand. "I should have figured that he had something else up his sleeve! To think that that is what happened here!"

"It would make sense," the pope nodded. "Of course, we already know that the Sword Hero is being retained for what he did against the Church of Three Heroes. I always found it quite odd that he would go ahead and siege our perimeter in secrecy by himself."

"Indeed," the king pondered. "It must be possible that the Sword Hero has been brainwashed by the Shield Demon at some point. Is it far too much of an assumption that he has reached the grasp of the Bow Hero as well?"

"Was there not a report sent by Lord Rabier regarding the Bow Hero?"

"That's right." Cold sweat dripped from the king's head. "Idol did alarm us about the incident he crossed with against the Bow Hero. Idol does have a tendency to be overdramatic when things didn't go his way, so I merely brushed it aside."

"Then it is possible that Lord Rabier was not exaggerating. After all, he is one of the people of our Church. He shares our beliefs and thus lives with our teachings. If the Shield Demon brainwashed the Bow Hero, it would be fair to assume that the Bow Hero attacked him for mere beliefs."

"The Shield Hero has gone too far. We'll stop him here."

"But Papa, please don't hurt the Spear Hero too much. After all, he's only been brainwashed, but if we could stop the Shield Demon, perhaps that will return the other heroes back to normal."

"Of course, especially if it's a request from my precious daughter." The king turned back to the balcony, approaching the railing as he looked down. "If he is merely an innocent bystander in these circumstances, it's only just for us to do our best to save him."

He held on against the railing, turning his back to the pope and his daughter to watch the ensuing fight continue below.

"Motoyasu! I need help!"

"Yeah, I got them in my sights!"

Naofumi bounced an assaulting knight off his shield and while that wasn't enough, Motoyasu followed up with a skill to blast the opponent away. It cracked a huge dent in the armor, intending for him to crash into their allies, but some of them were able to dodge out of the way.

It felt like every step was met with a countering force that caused them to back off a bit. The knights were persistent at their jobs, but they also had the training to back it up. Naofumi believed that the only thing keeping him in this fight had been his stats.

"Naofumi! There's more reinforcements!"

"Seriously!? We're not even done with these guys yet!"

Naofumi blocked a few attacks from other knights, propping up [Air Strike Shield] whenever he could. Motoyasu chained that skill with assaults of his own, interrupting the knights' formation every so often. He even used [Air Strike Shield] as a cover to smash through with one of his skills. If the knights can't get through it, but he can, more power was leveraged to his friend. Motoyasu transitioned his skill into a wide sweep, striking the handful of staggering knights off their feet and onto their heads.

Naofumi held back some of the approaching knights with [Shield Prison], allowing Motoyasu to ignore them and focus on the close ones. After sending them flying, Motoyasu backed off once [Shield Prison] deactivated, but they still weren't gaining any meaningful ground against the knights.

Some of the knights they previously knocked down were getting back up again, ignoring whatever pain they were undergoing to keep up the pressure.

Naofumi gasped for air. "There's… There's too many of them."

"I'm… getting tired out," Motoyasu panted heavily, feeling his wounds catching up to him. "Do you have anything that could be used to avoid fighting these guys?"

Naofumi noticed that some of the knights were casting magic, unleashing a giant barrage of magic their way. "Motoyasu, stay close to me! [Shield Prison]!"

Naofumi summoned the cage to protect them from the incoming magic attacks. He could feel the vibrations as they slammed against the surface, but Naofumi started to hear metal clanking against the walls. The other knights were just outside, trying to break his defenses down. They needed to think of something to do immediately once [Shield Prison] couldn't protect them anymore.

"Motoyasu! I need you to attack me!"

His friend turned around in the confined area, being a bit horrified that something like that would be suggested, but when Naofumi changed his weapon to his [Light Metal Shield], Motoyasu started to understand what the plan had been.

"Just make sure you close your eyes when you do."

With a blind strike onto Naofumi's shield, he timed the attack at the same time [Shield Prison] went down and as it did so, Naofumi caught a glimpse of the knights that surrounded them. They were about to lunge forwards, but Motoyasu was quicker.

"[Light Counter]!"

A blinding light blasted outwards, causing the afflicted knights to back up in confusion. Magic was still being flung at them, but Naofumi's [Air Strike Shield] was able to cover one of the sides.

They pushed their way through the crowd, using the moment to make a furious dash towards one of the exits, but more knights just kept on coming.

"There was no end to them!"

"Damn it…!"

Naofumi and Motoyasu had to stop in their tracks, keeping back the knights with their weapons, but none of that scared their opponents. They merely rushed down the heroes without any hesitation. Naofumi must have had his hands full with four knights at a single given moment, giving himself a headache, but the corner of his eyes caused him to lose his breath.

A stray fireball slammed into Motoyasu's back in the chaos, causing him to fall over.

"Grah!"

"Motoyasu!"

Naofumi pushed the knights on his side away and dashed over to block another attack that was meant for Motoyasu, but he was already being stopped. All he could do was watch as Motoyasu struggled to stand up while Naofumi's SP was running very low. There wasn't enough to activate a skill for him.

As the knight swung down his blade—

—the sound of metal rang through the air. One of their own members stepped in to block the attack, even going so far as to knock the opponent back with a flick of the blade and a kick of their boot.

Naofumi was surprised, but a stray arrow flew and hit the knight he was defending against. The knight staggered, giving him a chance to push him away with a shoulder slam. He looked over to see that from an opposing balcony to the king, its sender was another knight.

"What are they doing!?" Naofumi heard the king's frustrations coming into the arena"Your orders were not to defend the heroes! It was to capture them! Stand down!"

"Sorry, but we're not on your side."

Both Naofumi and Motoyasu flinched as the "knight" spoke up, removing his helmet in the process. He looked back to them, giving them a familiar smirk.

"Mind if we crash the party?"

"Ren…!"

The knights stammered as it was the heroes' turn to receive reinforcements.

"It's the Sword Hero!"

"No way! He managed to escape!?"

"This must be the work of the Shield Demon!"

Two more people, dressed up in a knight's attire, snuck through the crowd and found their way over. One of them possessed a combat ability that broke through all of their guards and defense, being nothing less than being experienced in the craft, but for the other person, Naofumi could tell who it was from the way she moved with her sword.

That person quickly ran up to him. As she tossed her helmet away, letting her tanuki ears wiggle out from their cover, Naofumi instinctively extended his arms to catch her in between.

"Master Naofumi…! You're safe…!"

"Yeah," he nodded. "I'm happy to see you too, Raphtalia. I made a promise, right?"

"You did…"

The bow knight leapt down from his perch, catching up with the others as he landed right next to the group. He tore off his helmet as well, casting it to the side, revealing another familiar face.

"Itsuki?" Naofumi's jaw dropped. "How are you guys—?"

"It's a long story. Well, I guess it's not that long, but we definitely don't have the liberty to be telling you right now." Itsuki pulled back his bowstring and aimed it at the knights, firing off to make sure they weren't getting any funny ideas. "I don't know what the hell happened here with this supposed ritual, but if you guys are fighting back against the knights, it's only natural we help out."

"Motoyasu. Naofumi." Ren swung his blade, changing to a stronger-looking blade and got ready to fight. "You two are pretty beaten up. Use the opportunity to heal yourselves up. We'll cover for you."

"Just leave it to us, Master Naofumi." Raphtalia separated herself from her master, picking up her sword once again to stand guard for him. "Please take your time to recover properly."

"You guys…" Motoyasu couldn't exactly look them straight in the eyes, especially considering their last encounter didn't end so nicely. He thought that they were here, mainly to help out Naofumi, rather than the guy who turned his back against them when they needed the support.

"If you have time to mope around like that," Ren suddenly spoke up to him, "you have time to help out as well. We're getting out of the situation, all of us, and then we'll have a little talk later about what's happening."

"We have a lot to talk about," Itsuki growled, "but everyone's safety comes first."

"I… I understand…"

There was still the mysterious fourth person that Naofumi didn't know about. Furthermore, it seemed like her attention hadn't been on the heroes, but with the king himself.

Whatever her reasons were, she decided to follow suit with the others and remove her helmet as well. This revelation, compared to the others, seemed to be bigger. The knights around them all stepped backwards as the king leaned forwards in his place in sheer surprise.

"Y-you!?" the king spat, pointing his finger at her in disbelief. "What are you doing here!?"

"I didn't think to see circumstances like this, Your Majesty."

Whispers started to erupt among the knights, some of them held disdain for the former knight, but there were others that were confused, truthfully surprised to know where Eclair had landed after seemingly going missing after the after events of the first wave.

"Don't tell me that you were the one to release the Sword Hero from his cell? Were you intending on working with the Shield Demon from the very beginning?"

"It's the other way around, actually. I come looking for the truth, Your Majesty." Her hand gave way over to the heroes. "What exactly is the meaning of all of this?"

"Why would I answer to a criminal like yourself?"

"Even if I'm a former knight, I can still see this as wrongdoings. What are you attempting to do against the Cardinal Heroes!? They're the ones that are supposed to be fighting off the waves of destruction, but here you are! Having the knights fight against the Shield Hero and the Spear Hero, while the Sword Hero was imprisoned in the dungeons below!?"

She took a dramatic step forward. The knights raised their weapons, trying to distance Eclair away from the king's position, but their stances didn't scare her.

"The queen would never approve of these actions, Your Majesty!"

"You know nothing of what my wife's intentions are! You claim your words, as if you are righteous, but you forget that you are missing context. The heroes that you decided to stand by like this, have you not the slightest idea of the truth of the matter?" The king pointed down to the four heroes, causing Naofumi to glance back up after finishing in potion consumption. "The Shield Hero has brainwashed the other Cardinal Heroes to do his evil bidding!"

The knights murmured to themselves, hearing the announcement.

"Brainwashed?" Naofumi stammered.

"Was that what the ritual was for?" Ren whispered to himself. "In order to purify a supposed evil spirit from Naofumi?" Ren glanced over to the shakened-up Motoyasu. It seemed like this whole brainwashing excuse was news for him to hear as well.

"You've got to be kidding me! Brainwashed!?" Itsuki stepped up defiantly and pointed back to the king. He noticed Myne and the pope, standing behind him. "If anything, you're the one who got brainwashed! Being controlled by the people that are telling you lies and injustices! Or maybe yet, you're a part of that whole scheme!"

"Meager words of no substance; a howling of a brainwashed fool that doesn't know any better," the king spat. "We must save the heroes from the Shield Demon!"

"I do not believe in this farce."

Everything about their actions felt genuine, whether it was what had been said or what had been done before her eyes. Judging off of Ren alone, he didn't want to help the Shield Hero from obedience. Ren helped out because the Shield Hero was his friend.

"I do not believe that the Shield Hero has brainwashed anybody. That's why I'm searching for the truth here. I wanted a real explanation as to the circumstances that surround us."

"You should be considering yourself lucky that I've answered you in the first place, but now, you dare to cast doubt on the very words I provided! How ungrateful! You dare speak to me like that!?"

"I see now…"

Eclair's shoulders were dejected, having a heavy sigh.

Disappointment? Bitterness? She wasn't sure what she should have been feeling, seeing that her king was acting in such a foolish manner, but in doing so, her resolve was made clearer. She originally didn't think that this answer would come about when she enlisted herself as a knight before in following her father's ideal and certainly, she never expected for this to happen like this.

"I see your intentions clearly, Your Majesty." Her hand raised up her sword into position, raising it against her former comrades. Her blade had been brimming with resolution. "I will make sure that the Cardinal Heroes will remain safe until the queen returns to see what you have done. In contrast to yours, that shall be my intention in order for the truth to arise."

"Do you dare to defy my orders to keep Melromarc peaceful!?"

"I'm defying the orders that will lead to peace's downfall."

"My intentions are the same as my wife's! You will stand down!"

"And for the sake of my principles, that is something I cannot do. If that is truly the will of the queen being carried through your actions, then when she returns, I will accept full punishment for what I'm choosing to do on this day. Until then, my conviction shall be what leads me."

"I've had enough of this! Capture all of them! Immediately!"

The knights ran forwards on the king's hasty command. Naofumi braced himself, but he glanced over to Raphtalia who simply gave him a nod. His other friends were ready to take on their own subset of knights, including the new party member, so he was thinking of leaving them to themselves.

"Raphtalia. We're up against skilled knights, but our strategy will stay relatively the same. You focus on attacking, while I keep you covered and try to draw their attacks to me."

"Of course, Master Naofumi."

Everyone dashed outwards, splitting up the incoming knights between themselves.

Naofumi smashed his shield against the knight's blade, knocking him backwards for Raphtalia to cut down quickly. When a second knight rushed over, Naofumi swapped to the [Two-Headed Dog Shield] and received the attack to send out the [Dog Bite Counter]. The knight was stuck, only being released when Raphtalia followed with a heavy swing to send him flying into the distance.

Another came over with a wide sweep, but she deftly dodged it with relative ease, passing the baton for Naofumi to slam his shield to push them off their guard. He tagged her back in to launch the knight away. Naofumi noticed one knight trailing behind and used [Air Strike Shield] to block their pathing. Raphtalia repositioned for another successful retaliation.

They kept up their pattern of weaving through one another and although it was a simple tactic, it was good enough to hold onto themselves. He did notice that Raphtalia's movements have grown sharper, but perhaps there was more confidence in every attack. She had something she wanted to do, knowing what she had to do in order to achieve it. She was growing faster than expected.

Motoyasu had kept the knights at bay while Itsuki provided him with support. Although they weren't talking much with each other, their teamwork had been impressive, covering for each other's weakness with little faults, not that they had room to spare much.

The woman, the one to openly defy the king, had been moving through the knight's attacks with absolute ease. Her movements were smooth and fluid, controlling the pace of the battle against everyone who went up against her. They couldn't land a single hit on her, only suffering their own defeat as she made quick work out of them. She only had a sword to her name, but her guard was impenetrable.

"[Shield Prison]!"

Naofumi trapped one of the knights in the cage before they could reach his partner, letting her be able to strike another one to the ground before reversing back to the trapped one. She swung her sword, as Naofumi timed a deactivation for the sword to cleanly knock the knight away.

Another one of the knights went for Naofumi in his blindspot. An arrow shot him down though, causing Naofumi to only notice a grunt. He was surprised to see that a knight was sprawling on the ground nearby him with an arrow sticking out from him. He glanced over to Itsuki and gave him a thankful nod.

The knights kept backing off, unable to slip by Motoyasu's guard to reach Itsuki and stop his long-range support. Not even the spellcasters could do anything, since Itsuki was targeting them as they were in the middle of chanting. An arrow was much quicker to use than magic, after all.

For all this mayhem in the arena, Naofumi couldn't find Ren.

It was like he disappeared from the fight.

"Call off the knights right now."

Up on the balcony, Ren was suddenly standing right behind the king and the pope.

They both turned around in surprise, but he wasn't pointing his sword towards them. Instead, he held Myne in his grip, brandishing the sword's edge against her throat. The knights stopped, looking up to the balcony in horror, to see that the Sword Hero had been able to somehow slip through their detection and reach that protected location.

"How did Sir Ren get up there!?" Eclair gasped.

"He must have snuck up during all the distraction here," Raphtalia guessed.

Naofumi noticed knocked-out knights near the balcony, being those that Ren easily dispatched.

"What are you—?"

"I'm going to say it once more." His sword brought itself closer to Myne's neck, as she had a horrified look to her face. "Call off the knights and give us a proper exit or else..."

"You wouldn't…!"

"Didn't you say I was brainwashed? What makes you so sure that I wouldn't?"

"Leave her alone! She has nothing to do with this!"

"Stop buying yourself time. I'm not arguing with you here. I'm threatening you."

The king lowered his head. His pride as a king was set aside for the sake of a father. "Please don't hurt my precious daughter…"

That was one thing Ren was able to confirm here. Any type of confirmation out from this meeting was good news on his part, but his grip on the incognito princess only tightened.

"Then you know what to do. Call the knights off."

The king looked conflicted, but the pope remained ever-so vigilant. In fact, it was the pope that Ren was focusing on the most here. He looked much too calm for what was happening on the balcony, even as the king turned around and extended the changed command to the knights.

"All knights." His tone was weak and hesitant, nowhere close to the prideful king he was a few moments ago. "S-stand down."

They weren't sure what to make of the situation, but they did as told, but when the pope had taken his eyes off Ren, he made his move. With the pummel of his sword, he struck Myne to knock her out and threw her onto his shoulder. A human hostage was difficult to carry, but as the king turned back around the sound of his daughter grunted in pain, Ren had already jumped off the side of the balcony.

He kidnapped the princess.

And Eclair left nothing except shock within her.

Ren tossed Myne over to Motoyasu who had the build to properly carry a person like her.

"What did you do to Myne!?"

"I was securing our ticket out of here, so she's only unconscious. Did you have any better ideas?"

"No, but…"

The king leaned over the balcony with his face becoming furiously red.

"You! Why aren't I letting my daughter go!? I told the knights to stand down, as you wanted!"

"Oh? Did I ever say that I would let her go once you do?" As Ren leered over to Motoyasu, his friend quickly placed her on his back, as if he was giving her a ride.

"Damn you! Knights!"

"Did you just forget that we still have your daughter in our possession?"

"Damn it…!"

The knights weren't sure what to do, so Ren pointed his sword over to one of the doors with his demands to be met loud and clear for them.

"Get out of our way."

From Ren's imposing command, they nervously did what was said.

"C'mon! Quickly!"

Ren took the first chance to make the escape, prompting the others to follow behind him. The king slammed his fist on the railing, growling at how the heroes were able to violently shift the odds into their favor.

"Chase after them!"

"Your Majesty!? But they—!"

"Get my daughter back!"

They immediately dispatched themselves, giving chase after the heroes.

-/IV/-

Itsuki snickered as they ran through the halls. "Leave it to Ren to pull off a stunt like that!"

"I don't think we're out of the woods yet," Ren replied.

"Well, I'd like for you to not do things like that again, Sir Ren," Eclair groaned, leading the way out to the exit. "Considering that the king believes you're brainwashed, do you realize how difficult you just made it to have His Majesty believe otherwise now?"

"Let him. He wasn't going to believe us anyways."

Eclair grumbled while looking back at their hostage. "That doesn't mean that you should be kidnapping the princess like that!"

"Wait, hold on! Slow down!" Motoyasu stammered, doing his best to keep up. "What's all this talk about? Myne is a princess!?"

"Not surprising that she never told you." Ren scoffed. "It was a guess on my plan."

"So the princess this entire time was…!?" Itsuki clicked his tongue.

Motoyasu's mind stumbled a bit. Myne said that she trusted Motoyasu, but she never once told him about her identity. What exactly did that mean?

"Whatever her reasons," Ren said, as if he was reading Motoyasu's mind, "it doesn't matter right now. We have to worry about getting out of here first."

They made a few turns, navigating through the castle with expert timing, but Motoyasu started to feel that Myne was coming back around. He himself didn't exactly register the movements in his mind correctly, not thinking too much about it at first.

Whatever strength Ren put into knocking her out, it wasn't enough to keep her down for long. When she realized that she was being carried along by Motoyasu, she immediately screamed and instinctively pushed Motoyasu forwards. The force caused him to accidentally let go of Myne, making him stumble forwards into a roll as Myne collapsed on the ground away from him.

Everyone else stopped, hearing the incident happen behind them.

Naofumi ran over to pull Motoyasu up while Ren tried to close the gap and knock Myne out again, but she casted a quick fireball spell that caught him off guard. He was able to react quick enough to block it, but it pushed him back long enough for Myne to get on her feet and start running off to the crowd of knights that were chasing them.

Ren tried to follow back on her, but some of the knights were firing off their bows to stop his advances. Not before long, the knights were able to protect Myne between their armaments, causing the group to take a few steps back a bit. However—

"Master Naofumi. I think there are more knights coming from the other side!"

"You're kidding me…"

Naofumi looked over and down the hall, another squadron of knights had turned the corner. Once Motoyasu was back up on his feet, Naofumi glanced around, seeing no way out.

"I think we're trapped."

"Yeah, I got eyes too," Ren sarcastically responded.

"Is there any other way out of here?" Itsuki asked.

"I'm afraid that we'll have to fight our way out of here," Eclair answered.

"There's too many of them," Raphtalia said, "and there's not enough space like the arena we were just at. It's not going to be any easier than before."

"..."

Motoyasu could only look over to Myne. He knew that he pushed her aside back when she was trying to calm him down at the duel, so he was looking back on a bridge that was in the middle of burning down into the abyss. Nevertheless, he took a step forward.

Nothing good would come out of misunderstandings; he understood that now. Motoyasu was never able to make clear decisions and that's why people misunderstood him in the past, making assumptions about the situation and getting too far into it that it was too late to be told otherwise.

"Myne, listen to me! This isn't what it looks—!"

"Don't worry! We'll have you saved from that despicable brainwashing of the Shield Demon!"

She already showed signs of not listening to what he had to say.

Before Motoyasu could even make a case, the knights stepped in and fired their magic to prevent Motoyasu from contacting Myne any further than a mere pretense. He wasn't ready to take the attacks, but Naofumi jumped in and blocked the attacks with his shield, leaving himself unharmed.

There truly was a difference between Naofumi and Myne. While Myne was telling herself what she had convinced herself to be the truth, Naofumi had resigned to let Motoyasu do what was needed.

"Myne doesn't seem like she's going to listen to you."

"Unsurprisingly. I did push her aside, after all."

"No, that's wrong. If she ever did trust you to begin with, she would have at least spared a few minutes for you. If she did trust you, it would have been surprising that she didn't."

"It was… my fault. I can't blame her for that."

As Motoyasu grimaced, Naofumi raised his shield to Myne to stand in the way between them.

"I'm taking Motoyasu back with us. If you think you can be the wedge that splits our friends apart, you couldn't be even more wrong. Our bonds aren't that weak for them to shatter so easily."

Myne raised her arm, clicking her tongue. "Enough out of you, Shield Demon! Return to me Mister Motoyasu! Release the other heroes from your brainwashing spell!" A fireball spelled out from her fingers, soaring over with intense power, but Naofumi took on the magic without flinching.

After all the troubles Motoyasu brought to Naofumi on the table, why was he acting like that? He thought there wouldn't be a scenario where Naofumi would accept him back as a friend again.

Myne walked up past the knights and held out her hand, seeing the troubled look on his face. She was trying to pull him back over to her side. "Mister Motoyasu! I know you're still trying to fight back the brainwashing! Hear my voice and be brought back to my side already! The Shield Demon, that evil spirit, is just tricking you again!"

"Tricking…?"

This was just like back at the trial again, where he had to choose between Naofumi and Myne. There had not been any third answer, convenient for him to believe in. He could feel his throat choking on the words in painful details, but two footsteps came up right by his side.

"Motoyasu wasn't yours to begin with!" Itsuki shouted. "Don't get complacent!"

"He may be an idiot," Ren scoffed, "but he's our idiot. Nothing about that is changing."

"You two… as well?"

He thought they were angry at him. He thought they didn't want to do anything with him anymore. He thought they wanted to tell him off about the stupid things he was doing from their perspective, but they were still able to say things like that without even hesitating?

"Mister Motoyasu!" Myne exclaimed. "Come over here, so we can help you—!"

"I'm… sorry, Myne."

Once Motoyasu took a deep breath, everything felt clear again.

His thoughts tried to swarm him once again, distracting him from what he really wanted to see happen before his eyes. Even now, he still didn't understand all of what he was doing, gazing down at his spear and letting everything in the past day, maybe even the past month, sink onto his mind.

"I've…"

Motoyasu gulped, clenching his fist.

"I've finally made my own decision. I'm not letting go of it ever again."

"Don't be tricked by them!"

Myne pointed dramatically at Motoyasu, shouting to the knights. "Hurry up and rescue the Spear Hero before it's too late!"

The knights were readying to close in, but Eclair glanced out the nearby window to see that they were next to the castle's moat. It was a long drop downwards, but it might have been the best way out of this. She suddenly broke the window causing the group to glance over.

"Come! We can escape through here!"

Once the knights realized what was going on, their ranged support attempted to stop them, but Naofumi summoned an [Air Strike Shield] to block them.

Raphtalia, being the closest one, merely glanced down to the water. Her heart started trembling, holding herself by the frame until Naofumi came over to help her.

"Don't worry, Raphtalia. We're right behind you."

She took a deep breath and nodded. "Right. Thank you."

Holding onto Raphtalia, they took the first jump out the window.

Motoyasu quickly followed them, but he gave a solemn glance over to Myne. This wasn't how he wanted to depart from her, but he thought there might be another day where all of this could be settled.

"Goodbye, Myne," he whispered. "Thank you for everything."

Motoyasu jumped after Naofumi and Raphtalia into the water.

The other three moved in to jump out as well, but Ren flinched when he saw what was on the other side of the window. Within the second that he hesitated, the knights were closer.

For some reason, Ren's face went pale to the sight of the water and his confidence faded away.

"Maybe I'll choose to fight my way through—"

Itsuki immediately kicked him out the window. It took a moment before screams erupted from Ren's throat, losing its volume as his distance exponentially grew over the fall.

"ITSUKIIIIII—!"

"Don't worry," he sighed. "I'll make sure to drag you back onto shore."

After his lackluster remark, Itsuki jumped out after his friend.

It left Eclair to wonder what that was all about, but she quickly followed the heroes. The knights tried to stop her, but she managed to slip out before they had any real chance to do so. All they could do now was watch as they hit the water, but not resurfacing anytime soon.

They stood in silence.

Myne merely stepped in to watch the outside world from the window, blanklessly staring out to the waters. As the knights tried to escort her back to safety, they didn't notice the smile on her face.

Although this wasn't what was originally intended from the start, this still might be able to give her the leverage she needed. Letting the heroes become criminals in the eyes of her father, while the political tensions between the countries over the problems presented here, then having the Cardinal Heroes themselves having a reason to avoid any of that political front to snowball the situation even further down to chaos...

The summoning of the Cardinal Heroes provided the perfect opportunity if played correctly.

And for her, it didn't matter how much she had to step over others.

Although, she'll have to have the Church do something about the unforeseeable circumstances that just transpired here. She had her fun, but perhaps it went a little too far. Her guard was let down a bit from the Sword Hero's movements. She touched her neck, feeling where the sword had been staying against. She knew that if she had made any movements, even any noise, she would have been dead right there or at the very least, gravely injured. That much was something she'll still have to keep in mind, but the notions pushed inside of the Spear Hero's mind should be able to give her enough time.

Nevertheless, everything could proceed as it would. She originally thought to use the Spear Hero, manipulating him against the Shield Hero, but when that idea was banished by the mere pre-conditions she encountered, this was one of the changes that she had to adapt to. Even now, the Spear Hero, to some extent, was still being controlled by the actions he took over the last month.

A detour as it may, it was still taking her closer to her true plans.

All she needed to do was to take care of a few more roadblocks in the way…

-/IV/-

"Gurgh… Gurgh… Cough..."

"Oh? You're finally awake? You were trying to cross the border, right? Walked right into the capital's ambush, same as us, and that former knight over there."

"Urgh… Goddammit, Itsuki…"

With the joke uttered from his friend, Ren's vision was slowly coming back to him, undistorting itself from the swirling darkness he succumbed to. After hitting the water, his memories blanked out from there, but considering how he was back on the shore again, Itsuki had to have been the one to fulfill his end and pulled him out from the river.

"I was hoping that we would wake back up in our world, leaving this all to some bad dream," Ren sighed, slowly pulling himself back up. His clothes still felt slightly damp, but the campfire helped in warming himself up. It seemed like he was unconscious until nightfall. "If only that would have been the case, things would have been much simpler."

"Oh, Ren. You're alright!"

Naofumi's voice called out to him, as the shadowy figures started to have more details to him. Ren got a whiff with a delicious aroma in the air, turning to Naofumi without any problems. As he was working on the meal, Raphtalia was helping him out as an assistant, while Eclair stood around as a lookout for any pursuits.

"Guess Naofumi caught up with Eclair? Makes things easier for me if so."

"Yeah," Raphtalia nodded. "Miss Eclair introduced herself to Master Naofumi already while you were unconscious. It helped with coming to terms with everything that happened so far."

"Even though it's only been a day, it was probably standing on a whole month's worth of a domino effect," Naofumi said. "I suppose all of it hasn't really sunk in that we're in such a deep situation. Not just for me, but probably for everyone here."

Itsuki crossed his arms, sitting next to Ren. "So now, what do we do? I'm not too sure that we can meet back up with the king and let bygones be bygones, not that I'd want to do that in the first place."

"I thought it would be better if everyone had been conscious to listen in." Naofumi flipped over the grilled fish, seasoned to perfection while kebabed with some vegetables they managed to scavenge around.

"Then where's Motoyasu?" Ren asked.

"He said that…" Naofumi sighed, hesitating slightly before nodding his head over to the left. "Motoyasu wanted some time by himself."

They glanced over, seeing how Motoyasu was simply sitting at a distance against a tree. His spear was leaning on his shoulder, as if it was a heavy weight, while his body was limp like a puppet without its strings. His eyes were nowhere near the campfire, as if he thought he didn't have the right to look.

"Mister Motoyasu has been like that ever since he came up from the water," Raphtalia said. "He followed us to a better place to set a campfire, but he's been quiet the entire time."

Ren sighed. "Motoyasu isn't the type of person to keep spirits down for too long. In fact, he's the guy who tries his best to keep those around him happy and all."

"He's probably thinking about the things he was doing," Itsuki followed. "If he needs time to reflect, we should let him do that. He probably has a lot on his mind."

"No amount of attempted contact seemed to have done anything," Eclair said. "Considering how much he was fighting beforehand, it appears that everything crashed onto his shoulders. A break from all that chaos might have been the one thing he didn't need."

"You're going to just let him keep having that unhealthy break?"

Ren scoffed, standing up from his seat. He wasn't exactly back in shape yet, grunting from the abrupt movement onto his feet, but he turned over to Motoyasu's direction and took a step forwards.

"You're going to try and talk with him?" Naofumi asked.

"It's obvious that an extrovert like him isn't meant to be alone like that."

"Yeah, that's more meant to be Ren's job," Itsuki lightly jested.

"And if we're going to talk about what's happening," Ren said, trying his best to ignore the comment, "it's something we have to wait on everyone to be here, right?"

Naofumi nodded, leaving it to Ren, but he leered over to Itsuki briefly.

"Do you really have to make jabs at Ren like that?"

"I'd say it's a necessity." Naofumi rolled over the kebabs again, trying to get the colors just right, but Itsuki simply looked over to the side to see Ren approaching Motoyasu. "Having a bit of familiarity to how it once was back in our world, I think something like that feels needed and wholefully welcome."

"Familiarity, huh?"

Ren soon came over to their ill-spirited friend and while Motoyasu didn't look over in acknowledgement of his presence, he noticed that his hands closed in on itself, as if it was trying to dig deep into his own skin as some type of self-imposed punishment. All Ren did was stand there until Motoyasu was forced to say something about it, being tucked underneath his shadow.

"There's a lot that you might want to tell me, right? About how I messed up? About how I was the one to land us in a situation like this?" Motoyasu dug his face further into his legs. "Just say what you want to say. I deserve all of it."

However, he didn't hear a response. As Motoyasu glanced up, a hand struck outwards to grab his cheek. His despair quickly turned into perplexity, immediately shifting over a sharp pain when it was pulled out.

"OW OW OW! HEY, STOP IT PLEASE! IT REALLY IS HURTING ME! OUCHHHH!"

"Didn't you just say you deserve all of it?"

"I-I WASN'T HAVING THIS IN MIND!"

Naofumi ended up passing the cooking duty over to Raphtalia and Itsuki in order to make sure Ren wasn't going too far, but Ren had already released his irongripped pinch. Motoyasu fell over, being a bit stunned. He was teary-eyed from the numbing gesture, groaning while he rubbed the red spot to ease it. Naofumi merely stopped in his place and watched them, as Ren heavily sighed.

"Are you going to stop acting like that or what?"

"Acting like…? What do you mean?"

"You're over here brooding about stuff that already happened. You're doing nothing more than feeling sorry for yourself, thinking like you've committed some unrepentable sin."

"You don't get it!" Motoyasu spat, glaring up at Ren as he slammed the earth with a clenched fist. "I betrayed you guys! I betrayed the trust that you had in me! How could I not feel guilty!? How could I even show myself to the ones called my friends when I turned my back away from them!?"

"You're the reason why Naofumi is able to get out. Even if you're the reason why he was in there in the first place, you bought him enough time for the rest of us to get over there."

"If I didn't do all of those things in the first place, none of that would have—"

"Now that you're putting yourself down, it's even more aggravating." Ren grumbled, scratching the back of his head. "I don't know why I even tried. I'm not good with these types of things, but at least you're out of that shell of yours. Come over here with me."

Ren reached out for Motoyasu roughly and pulled him over closer to the campsite and threw him down there. Motoyasu stumbled and fell over, but when he looked up, he noticed how Naofumi was now standing right in front of him. He felt ashamed to even look up to his face, instinctively looking downwards.

Itsuki was staring over and suddenly stood up from his seat.

"Raphtalia, look over the food for a bit."

"W-wait, but how do I know when—"

He left the campfire site without really listening to the rest of Raphtalia's concerns, while she frantically tried to figure out how to have this properly cooked.

"Even if we have something to say about it," Naofumi continued, "it's not as if it's going to change anything. Whatever happened has already happened."

"It shouldn't be like this…"

"But what's done is done already," Itsuki responded. "Even now, I'm still baffled as to what you did back there on that day."

"I-I know… At the time, I couldn't… I know I have no excuse, but…"

Itsuki sighed. "You couldn't help it. You must have had a reason for doing that, right?"

Motoyasu paused, hearing the melancholic tone of Itsuki's voice. It was frustrating for Itsuki to admit, primarily because he still despised Motoyasu for what he did on that day.

"I can't hold a grudge over your head."

"How could you just look the other way like that?"

"Who said I was?" Itsuki raised an eyebrow. "Don't think otherwise, but there's no point in letting it get to us now. We need each other's backs more than ever, given our current circumstances."

"Besides," Ren said, "you're here with us now, right? Where else would you head off to?"

Motoyasu's fingers trembled. "I… I-I can't just… That's…"

Naofumi stood a step up to Motoyasu, sitting down right before him. This was the only way he could really speak to him, as Motoyasu still tried to keep his eyes away.

"We promised to talk after everything that happened there. You don't have to say it all now, but my ears are yours if you need someone to listen to you for a bit. Even if I'm the one you want to apologize the most—no, especially because of that, I'll always be here to hear you out."

What did Motoyasu want to talk to Naofumi about?

There were so many things he felt like he needed to say about this past month, everything just started collapsing into an indistinguishable mess in his head. He tried his best to start any thought, but nothing could get past a stammer. At this point, he was just wasting time, not getting anything done here, but when he finally looked up to Naofumi, all he was doing was waiting patiently.

Naofumi's eyes didn't hold any type of ambiguity. In fact, they were warm, unknowing of anger and frustrations. They were happy to have Motoyasu being in arm's reach once again with a soft smile attending the expression. He was scared that Naofumi would hate him for what he had done, so why—?

"Why are you guys like this…?" Tears started falling to the ground. "I don't get it…"

"Huh?" Itsuki frowned. "Isn't it obvious?"

"Apparently not, if Motoyasu can't see it," Ren shrugged. "Kinda surprised that Motoyasu hasn't acknowledged yet, since he's that type of guy and all."

"I… I don't understand what you guys are getting at here…"

"It's very simple, Motoyasu."

Naofumi chuckled.

"We're friends. We're all friends."

"What does that have to do with—!?"

"It means that you're not alone. You don't have to go off by yourself in order to face those challenges and roadblocks by yourself." Naofumi briefly leered over Ren and Itsuki. "Even when it feels like it's the only thing you could do."

When he gave them no reason to trust in him, they were still giving their trust to him. Whatever beliefs they held at the beginning of this new chapter of their lives, it remained even when those bridges were on fire. To Motoyasu, he thought it would have been natural for them to let those bridges burn down, but they kept holding on, waiting for the rain to extinguish the flames.

He didn't deserve such people as his friends, but he was lucky for them to be here for him. They believed in him because they were friends and with only that, nothing else really mattered. A notion that sounded ridiculous as he thought about it, but maybe it didn't need to make sense. After all, the heart is a complicated matter.

Motoyasu wanted things to go back the way they were before; his friends wanted that as well, so while there might have been some problems in the middle, it was something that could be achieved in a way much easier than he could ever expect.

"That's… right…"

His heart stopped trembling, as he wiped away his tears.

"Yeah, that's right, isn't it…?"

And while he had much more he wanted to say, everything really boiled down to a deep breath following a few words. He really meant this time, not saying them out of his guilt, but because it felt like the right thing to say when he was able to be firm with those words.

With a simple bow of his head, a bitter smile escaped Motoyasu.

"Sorry, I messed up. I'll do my best to make it up to everyone."

Ren chuckled. "Now that sounds like something Motoyasu would say."

"You better make it up to us, but take your time," Itsuki grinned. "We still have a few problems to take care of beforehand, so maybe we can postpone those favors when all of this is settled."

Naofumi started standing up, extending his hand outwards.

"Apology accepted."

Motoyasu grabbed Naofumi's hand, pulling himself back onto his feet.

"Thank you."

He told Myne upfront that he made a decision, but it was only now that he was able to put it into proper words. His entire life, he said he was trying his best to have people get along with no troubles, but in reality, he was merely being pulled along life's current. Now that he realized this, it might have been time for him to stand on his own two feet again with his friends by his side. They chose to wait for him, so he had to do everything he could to make sure that they wouldn't regret that decision.

"Welcome back, Motoyasu."

"It's… It's nice to be back."

It was the very least that he could do for them.

"I think the food is ready," Raphtalia said, passing over one of the kebabs over to Naofumi to check. "It's a bit burnt because I was so engrossed in seeing how things would play out between you guys, but hopefully, it's not too bad."

"It's not everyday that the Cardinal Heroes are together like this," Eclair added, already having a kebab in her hand. "I think something as small as that can be forgiven."

"Thanks, Raphtalia." Naofumi turned around and handed him a kebab. "After all of that, it'll be good to have something in your stomach. Hope you still have an appetite."

Motoyasu stared at the food before slowly holding it in his hand.

Ever since the trial happened, he couldn't muster up a genuine smile from the bottom of his heart, but he found himself grinning naturally as he bit down on the meat and vegetables on the stick. It tasted exactly how he would imagine it to be, feeling like he was returning home for the first time in ages.

"It's… really good…!"

"Hey!" Itsuki spat, pointing dramatically at Motoyasu. "You didn't give thanks for the food yet!"

"Naofumi's cooking deserves proper manners, no matter where we are," Ren mentioned offhandedly, yet sternly. "You could at least show some respect to his incredible talent."

"Right, right!" Motoyasu laughed at their banters. "Thanks for the food!"

-/IV/-

Once the fire was put out, it left everyone to be sitting in a circle around the ashened remnants. Naofumi's food received high praises from Eclair, while everyone else enjoyed it just the same.

However, there was still something that was left to be discussed.

What were they going to do now?

"It's completely possible that the Cardinal Heroes will be warranted for an arrest-on-sight," Eclair announced. "Given the circumstances of what happened in the castle, I'd say it's the most likely outcome to assume. We'll have to gather more information once we reach the next town."

"If the situation is dire, then what do we do?" Raphtalia asked. "If the king wants Master Naofumi and the other heroes captured, that'll make their lives difficult in fighting back against the wave of destruction. Not only do they need to perform their roles, but they'll have to evade the very people that they were meant to protect."

"Some terrible irony right there," Ren grunted.

"If there's a way to convince the king otherwise, we might be in the clear," Motoyasu pondered. "If Myne really is the princess, we could be able to convince the king through her…"

"Something tells me that it's going to be difficult…" Itsuki briefly glanced over to Ren, debating on whether to tell Motoyasu of what he came across on the first night.

"This person, Myne, you call her…" Eclair crossed her arms. "Her real name is Malty Melromarc, a princess of the country. Whatever the reasons as to why she would hide her identity and enlist herself with the Cardinal Heroes, I can't say for sure, but it can't be for anything too good."

"She was trying to help me as best as she could." Motoyasu flinched, instinctively coming to her defense. "I mean, I'm sure that she's just confused right now. Maybe if I could talk to her again, I'll be able to convince her that all of this is a misunderstanding."

Ren glanced back at Itsuki, silently communicating between each other. As Itsuki was prepared to tell him about the princess' schemes prior to the party distribution, Naofumi responded beforehand.

"If that's what you want to do, then we'll leave that to you."

"Seriously?" Ren raised his eyebrow. "Don't you have more resentment towards Myne for what she's done to you? We should be shooting on sight against her."

"Wait a minute, we don't need to do that!" Motoyasu spat.

"I'm… with Motoyasu. There's still so much we don't know, but I want to keep ourselves focused on what's worth more of our efforts. That would be finding ourselves out of this hole."

"She's working with the Three Heroes Church though!" Itsuki revealed. "The night of our summoning, I saw her talking with one of the nuns about the party distribution."

"Even though I'm choosing to stick with you guys until the end," Motoyasu responded, "I still want to believe in Myne as well. If she is doing things against us, I want to believe that she has a reason for doing all of this, something that's out of her control."

Given how spirited Motoyasu was about this, Itsuki decided to drop it where it was. He wasn't going to be able to convince Motoyasu at any rate, so it was far better for him to see it for himself.

"Do what you want, but don't get snagged up by her antics again." Ren was thinking the same thing as Itsuki. "This time, we managed to escape with our lives. I'd consider ourselves lucky, but the next time it happens, we might not be in the same boat."

"I know and I understand," Motoyasu nodded. "I'm just asking for one chance."

"We won't receive many chances," Eclair intervened. "Being a princess, I don't expect her to be returning to the frontlines anytime soon. We'll be lucky to even see her again, much less have a chance for Sir Motoyasu to speak with her again."

"If Motoyasu could get through to her," Ren shrugged, "and I'm not saying it's a feasible idea, then it's something to keep in mind. It definitely won't be something we can actively chase after though, unless we want to have another confrontation with the knights so soon."

"That does beg the question as to what we'll be doing until then," Raphtalia worryingly said.

"I think it's obvious we'll have to stick together, right?" Naofumi suggested.

"Did you forget about the entire problem with the experience point restriction?" Itsuki asked.

"Man, if only something like that didn't exist," Motoyasu sulked. "I feel like none of this would have happened if that rule wasn't present. We could set off on an adventure together from the beginning."

"That's why I'm initially against it," Ren grunted. "If we're close to each other, we can't grow our levels. And if we can't grow our levels, the waves of destruction will become difficult."

"It's extremely dangerous to be off by yourself, even if you are a Cardinal Hero," Raphtalia responded. "If the people hear news about a dangerous hero, slated as a criminal, you would have to hide your identity for quite some time. Not only that, allies would be difficult to gather."

"That's why I was initially against it, but it's not as if we have any other options if we want to secure some safety for ourselves. We can still work on our strengthening methods for our weapons. Furthermore, it's not as if we need to stick by each other for every single moment."

Motoyasu mentally processed the method with the help of his fingers. "So not only do we have to make sure we're far enough to get experience points properly, but we're also going to have to split the materials between ourselves for those strengthening methods."

"It's certainly going to be a difficult task, no matter what we pick…"

Naofumi's gaze came over both Eclair and Raphtalia, both of whom he felt like they were of no relevance to the situation until they were pulled in like this. "Hey, you two…?"

"Yes, Master Naofumi?"

"Is there something you need?"

"I was just wondering if you two are really fine with this."

Raphtalia tilted her head, confused. "Sorry, I… I don't exactly understand what you mean."

"This problem concerns the Cardinal Heroes, so I'm worried if you two feel like you're not supposed to be here. You're in dangerous territory, keeping yourselves to your party like this. If anything happens to us, you'll be more involved than you could ever imagine."

"Master Naofumi…?" Raphtalia widened her eyes in disbelief.

"I thank you for your concerns, Sir Naofumi," Eclair chuckled, "but this is already too deep for any sort of retreat for myself. I do not think there's a place for me to go even if I choose to depart here. However, that is not the reason why I choose to stay."

She pressed her hand on her chest, speaking on with a stern tone.

"Even if the king does not see the truth, I'll follow where my beliefs lead me. If the Cardinal Heroes are innocent, it is my job as a knight to make sure that they are protected. Even if my title has been stripped from me, they cannot strip away my resolution and ideals."

"Sounds like a typical answer for a role model knight," Ren scoffed. "If you're coming along, you'll have to worry about pulling your own weight."

Eclair smirked. "I'll see to it that you'll have nothing to worry about."

Raphtalia, on the other hand, appeared to be pouting.

"Master Naofumi, do you… think I don't want to be here?"

"No, that's not it at all." Naofumi shook his head. "I was just thinking that if there was a safer place to let you be, then—"

"You said that you would protect me, right? Then the safest place for me to be would be right by your side, Master Naofumi!"

Her hand held onto itself, gazing up to Naofumi.

"There's no way I could ever imagine leaving your side over something so trivial like this. You're the person that gave me hope when I didn't have my will to live. I had nothing left, so I thought it was easier to die wherever I ended up."

There was too much Raphtalia could recall, knowing the gentle and kind spirit that her master had been. She remembered how Naofumi helped her overcome her illness, making sure that she was healthy above all else. She remembered how she would have nightmares, but Naofumi would stay by her side to make sure that she wasn't suffering by herself. Even when the times were rough, he would always stand in the way to make sure that she wasn't hurt by monsters, even going so far to try and sacrifice himself.

"There's no way I will leave your side, Master Naofumi. Even if the entire world is against you, I'll keep being your sword as long as you need me. You gave me a purpose for my life and I'll strive to make sure it's fulfilled, no matter how long it will take. I know there will be a time where everyone will see you as a proper hero and I'll look forward to seeing it happen."

"I… I see."

She gave him a soft smile, causing Naofumi to sheepishly return with a soft laughter. There was a bit of a silence between them, as both of their faces were a bit flushed.

"Uhm, we're here too, you know?" Ren said, disrupting the moment with a half-hearted raised hand. "Did you forget about us?"

"Yes, of course! I-I mean, no, uhm…" Raphtalia turned over, blushing a bit harder. "Of course, I'll happily fight alongside any friend of Master Naofumi! I'll look to help the other heroes out as much as I can!" She quickly and briefly bowed her head to the other heroes, mostly trying to hide her embarrassment. "I-I'll be in your care!"

Ren leered over to Itsuki, silently communicating again with expressions. Motoyasu was certainly smirking in the background, prompting some assumptions from him as well. Eclair, on the other hand, might have not realized anything as there was no real reaction out of her. Itsuki sighed amusingly, trying to turn the subject for the sake of a young maiden's heart.

"She's still a slave, so she'll have to stick by you if she'll have any chance of staying in Melromarc or anything. There's no real place to leave her, even if she didn't want to be here."

"She's a what now?" Motoyasu gasped. "Hey, Ren? What does Itsuki mean by that?"

"Why are you asking me…?" Ren sighed dismissively. "I wasn't there for it. Nor do I care enough to know. If Raphtalia is on our side, then I couldn't care less who she is."

"If Sir Naofumi is worried about us, perhaps we should try to resolve this problem as soon as possible," Eclair continued. "I propose a plan."

"Go right ahead," Itsuki said. "What do you have for us, Eclair?"

"We set out to find Her Majesty, the Queen."

"The queen?" Motoyasu rubbed his chin. "Now that you mentioned it, we never actually met the queen yet. Honestly, I just thought she wasn't… You know, I don't actually know what I thought, since I never actually gave it any real thinking before."

"Why should we find the queen?" Raphtalia asked.

"The queen is actually the person in charge of the country. However, as it may be seen, she is not currently available at the moment. Immediately after the capital had received news that the waves of destruction have fallen on our world, the queen went off to a conference to meet with the high-standing representatives of the other countries about the impending waves."

"Would that be where the conversations of the Cardinal Heroes take place?" Naofumi asked.

"Correct. In fact, it wouldn't be too difficult to say for certain that they would divide up the summonings for each hero to be summoned to the different countries that were being represented there. I'm also confident that the queen wasn't the one who authorized the summoning of the four heroes within Melromarc."

"So the Three Heroes Church and the king are the ones playing off the books," Itsuki said.

"If we can meet the queen, it's possible that she may perhaps help us out if we explain ourselves?" Raphtalia tilted her head slightly. "Having the most power in the country, she should be able to overturn the warrants and the situation against the heroes with her word."

"That is, if she even believes us in the first place," Ren scoffed.

"Do not be like that," Eclair sighed. "I believe Her Majesty will see that this situation is an irregularity. At the very least, she's going to hear us out before making a proper decision on the matter."

"If that's what you want to believe, then it's whatever," Ren groaned, ruffling his own hair with disinterest. "It's not as if we've got anything else to try here, so we might as well take our chances with acting rather than waiting for fate to decide what's in store for us."

"Where was the conference taking place?" Itsuki asked.

"A country called Faulbrey. It will take time to travel over there since we will need to cross a few other nations, but if we can cross paths with Her Majesty, I truly believe we can sort something out. My only concern is that we don't actually know where she is, as an exact location."

"Oh, that's helpful," Ren sarcastically groaned. "Let's just blindly cross a few borders in order to reach a place we aren't sure of."

"If the conference was still happening, I'd say I would be confident in heading over to Faulbrey's capital, but considering what happened, the other countries must have caught wind that Melromarc had gone ahead to summon the four heroes, something that wasn't agreed upon."

"So she has her hands full right now, trying to ease the anger of the other countries," Motoyasu nodded softly. "If something crazy like that happens, it's not difficult to see that the queen might have to go around the place, attending to some peacekeeping problems."

"If it weren't for her skilled abilities as a negotiator, I'd say it would be easy to see Melromarc be consumed with war by now. Her Majesty looks for peace above all else and she'll do what it takes for it to happen. That's why I believe she'll listen to our end of the story."

"Then starting tomorrow, we'll head to the queen," Naofumi announced, glancing at his friends. "Are there any objections?"

With a brief silence, Naofumi took that as a no.

"Well, why don't we get used to our circumstances while we're still in it?" Ren said, standing up from his seat. "I'll take the first watch on night duty. We'll need someone to keep an eye out for monsters or knights, just in case we need to scram out of here."

Itsuki slumped his body forwards. "It's still difficult to come to terms with this. Honestly, I don't think the fact that we're being antagonized has hit me fully yet. To think we were supposed to be heroes to save this world…"

"Get used to it." Ren declared, crossing his arms. "From today onwards until this whole thing gets sorted out, we're no longer heroes. We'll be up against some high odds, but we're going to have to make it through it if we want to survive."

"We may not be heroes right now," Naofumi smirked, "but we're still friends. And friends stick together. No matter what happens, that's not going to change. As long as we have each other, I think we can manage."

Ren, Itsuki, and Motoyasu all nodded, while Raphtalia and Eclair found themselves smiling alongside the heroes. The night kept on going and the stars flickered in the skies, the six of them knew that they were going to be in this for the long run. Whatever troubles and tribulations had been ahead of them, Naofumi believed that they would be able to get through it all.

This hadn't been a story about a single person, trying to reclaim their role as a hero through the opposing forces that tried to kick them down. This was a story about a group of friends, striving to make it through this world that they had to save.

As their future remained unknown to all except the heavens, one thing was for certain.

As long as they had each other, they weren't giving up.

This is the story of the rising of the four heroes.


[SKIT 068 : Left Behind]

[Motoyasu] : "..."
[Naofumi] : "Motoyasu? You seem to be deep in thought. Are you still thinking about what happened in the castle?"
[Motoyasu] : "No, it's not that. I don't think it's unexpected that Myne was in my party after the trial, but I was wondering what was going to happen to the other girls. I wonder if Elena and Lesty are going to be alright, after they heard about what happened."
[Ren] : "Are you egotistical enough to think they won't survive without you?"
[Motoyasu] : "Huh? No, that wasn't what I meant! I was thinking if they were going to be arrested for simply being my party members!"
[Eclair] : "I don't believe that will be a problem."
[Eclair] : "If His Majesty believes the Spear Hero is brainwashed, then it would stand to reason that the people in his party had nothing to do with his actions. Although I doubt his intentions towards the Cardinal Heroes as we speak, you can be certain that your previous party members will be free from any suppression or restraints. They might have some knights look after them for a short duration, just to be sure, but nothing further than that."
[Motoyasu] : "I... I still never even said my goodbyes to them. It's quite the bitter way to sudden depart in such a fashion..."
[Ren] : "I don't think you have the liberty to be thinking about those other girls when we're the ones obviously in danger."
[Naofumi] : "Ren's right. We should prioritize ourselves first, but one day, I think you'll meet them again if it's fated to be so."
[Motoyasu] : "... That would be nice."

[SKIT 069 : Swimming Problem]

[Raphtalia] : "Mister Ren? Could I ask you a question?"
[Ren] : "Make it quick."
[Raphtalia] : "Can you not swim?"
[Ren] : "WHAT DID ITSUKI SAY!?"
[Raphtalia] : "H-huh? Nothing, but I noticed that you were having trouble surfacing up as everyone was being carried out by the river. Actually, now that I think about it, you didn't surface a single time. It was almost as if you were like a rock, being dragged along the bottom of the river."
[Raphtalia] : "If you have trouble swimming, I could help teach you. I used to live in a fishing village, so that skill was taught to almost every child there."
[Ren] : "I... I can so swim! I'm really good at it!"
[Raphtalia] : "Is... Is that right?"
[Ren] : "My body was just really tired and sore from all the fighting we did at the castle! That's all! When I hit the water, my body refused to listen to me anymore and shut down before I could take a single swing!"
[Raphtalia] : "Stroke."
[Ren] : "A single stroke! Anyways, I don't need any help! I'm fine, thank you very much!"
[Raphtalia] : (Mister Ren... surely is a strange one...)

[SKIT 070 : Impenetrable Knight]

[Naofumi] : "Even without a shield, your defensive stances were strong, Eclair."
[Raphtalia] : "And you defeated so many knights by yourself. You're so strong!"
[Eclair] : "Thank you for the compliments. I have confidence in my swordplay abilities, so it would be bad for me to misrepresent myself back there. It's all about control of your surroundings and knowledge of everyone's movements. Once you master how to keep those two in mind, your skill as a fighter will increase significantly, even if your skills are subpar. That was what I was taught when I first came into Melromarc's knighthood."
[Naofumi] : "How long have you've been training?"
[Eclair] : "Almost my entire life. I was swinging a sword as far as I can remember, whether it would be through exercises or combat training."
[Eclair] : "The movement that you saw back in the castle was the fruits of my training."
[Raphtalia] : "I wonder if I could ever fight like that..."
[Eclair] : "Anyone can. You simply need the dedication and desire to grow stronger."
[Eclair] : "You can start with a thousand sword swings a day, for starters."
[Raphtalia] : "A-a... a thousand...?"
[Naofumi] : "... That's a little... Uhm..."

[SKIT 071 : Could It Be...?]

[Itsuki] : "You guys noticed that too, right?"
[Motoyasu] : "Oh, when Raphtalia was talking about Naofumi so passionately like that? Ah, it was so cute!"
[Ren] : "And something we shouldn't be sticking our noses into."
[Motoyasu] : "Come on, Ren! Our boy, Naofumi, has someone that's totally crushing on him right now! How could you not be excited!?"
[Ren] : "I... I mean, it's just that I'm not interested in whatever affairs they got. That's all. Let them run their our course by themselves."
[Itsuki] : "We won't interfere, don't worry."
[Motoyasu] : "Wait, we won't? Ah, that sucks, but I guess I can see your reasoning. Naofumi's never been in a romantic relationship before, so first beginnings like this have to be taken slowly. For now, we'll let Raphtalia's emotions shimmer into something conveyable, while Naofumi stand to see Raphtalia's charms naturally for himself. Oh man, I can feel my heart beating for them already! My guy has such a beautiful lady lined up for him once he notices!"
[Ren] : "He just keeps going on and on..."
[Itsuki] : "Motoyasu's more passionate about this than I thought."
[Motoyasu] : "Of course I would!"
[Motoyasu] : "I could never talk about girls with you guys in literally any other scenario without being ignored or attacked..."
[Ren] : "How do we respond to that?"
[Itsuki] : "Well, I... suddenly feel really bad."

[SKIT 072 : Naofumi's Cooking III]

[Eclair] : "This food is incredible! I've never tasted anything like this in the capital before!"
[Itsuki] : "Yep, that's Naofumi's cooking alright. It's bound to capture to taste buds of everyone of tries it out."
[Motoyasu] : "I think I'm falling in love with his food all over again!"
[Raphtalia] : "The heroes must be so lucky that they were able to eat Master Naofumi's food if everything he makes is like this. I've only had the occasion to enjoy his food a handful of times so far, but I've cherished it every single moment."
[Ren] : "It brings back some fond memories, I suppose..."
[Naofumi] : "I'll be frank. I have no idea why you guys praise my cooking so much. I don't find it to be that difficult to make food. You simply have to constantly taste things as you go along to build your palette and eventually, you can make whatever you feel like you can make."
[Ren] : "If that's the case, maybe I should try cooking agai—"
[Naofumi] : "Except for you, Ren. Didn't I say you were banned from the kitchen?"
[Itsuki] : "He clearly wasn't talking to you, Ren."
[Motoyasu] : "Yeah, I don't think having you cook would be a good idea, Ren."
[Ren] : "... Fine, I didn't want to cook anyways."
[Raphtalia] : (What happened with Mister Ren in the kitchen?)
[Eclair] : (Something tells me I don't want to know about that...)

[SKIT 073 : Broken Armor]

[Raphtalia] : "Your armor's broken, Master Naofumi. Should we try and get it repaired...?"
[Naofumi] : "I don't think it can be repaired. It looks pretty damaged from my fight with Motoyasu."
[Naofumi] : "I'll have to find something else when we arrive to another town."
[Itsuki] : "..."
[Ren] : "..."
[Motoyasu] : "... Why are you guys looking at me?"
[Itsuki] : "Did you know that we bought that armor for Naofumi?"
[Ren] : "The very same armor that you tore apart during your supposed duel with him?"
[Motoyasu] : "... S-sorry."

[SKIT 074 : All Together Again]

[Motoyasu] : "It feels like so much has happened since we were last together like this."
[Ren] : "Yeah, well, one of us got ran out from a governor's manor, one of us got framed at a trial, one of us got arrested, and one of us got swindled by a princess. Needless to say, there's been a lot that has happened this past month."
[Naofumi] : "That doesn't change the fact that we've made it out."
[Ren] : "As much as you can call it that..."
[Itsuki] : "At times like these, all we can do is be optimistic. Let's hope that Eclair's plan works out."
[Motoyasu] : "I don't think we've got too much of a problem here!"
[Motoyasu] : "I mean, look at us. We finally have the adventure that we were thinking about on our first day. Journeying out together in order to save the world. Although, I don't think it's to the the manner that we were all expecting, but it's what we've resulted with."
[Naofumi] : "Motoyasu's right. We'll all together again, so we know we have each other's back through wind or rain, added with the fact that we have Raphtalia and Eclair helping us out as well. As long as we be careful, this might be what we've been waiting for. In some twisted way, we... have Myne to thank for this."
[Ren] : "Oh, wow. That is kinda messed up, if you think about it."
[Itsuki] : "There's no way I'm going to thank Myne after what she's done. Are you crazy!?"
[Motoyasu] : "Now, now. Our opinions on Myne might differ, but you can't change the fact that we're only journeying together because of what she was involved with."
[Naofumi] : "Even so, I think we're up for the challenge, no matter what comes our way."
[Naofumi] : "Let's do this, guys. Let's rise back up to the top."
[Ren] / [Itsuki] / [Motoyasu] : "Yeah."


[A/N] Was this rewrite needed?

Yeah, I think so. No matter how much people want to scream at me for wanting to rewrite again.

The problem with proceeding the previous version is that there was barely anything to build up upon, although it ended similarly to how it did here. The fundamentals to keep the plot going naturally hadn't been there because I artificially progressed the plot using an original character antagonist. Everything wouldn't have snapped together anywhere close to decently, making things feel hapzardly put together without rhyme or rhythm. With this, I was able to set-up some story threads that will be eventually explored, specifically pertaining to Motoyasu and how he felt about all the things he had done so far. back in the previous version, Motoyasu's decision was... very scuffed. It wasn't some big deal like it had been here.

By focusing on Naofumi and Motoyasu during the climax helped emphasized these fundaments to the point where it can be further explored, and will be.

And while Ren and Itsuki didn't get their own spotlights in the climax, as much as Naofumi and Motoyasu did, I think it's better like this for the sole reason that it feels more cleaner this way; that things feel more organized. And besides, that just means that Ren and Itsuki might get the next climax to shine down on them.

So then, why did I keep rewriting?

Because I never felt like I had this foundation to spring out. Every single time I'd get to a certain point, the ground would feel shakey and progression demonstrated itself to be nearly impossible if I kept going at that rate. But now? I can safely say for sure that this is the final rewrite because I've finally found those fundamentals that I've been missing. I've created the foundation that I could spring off from and begin to make those changes I've desperately wanted to go through. No need for the bullshit that I thought was cool to add in when I haven't had an actual story to tell yet. No need for complications when I haven't even gotten a understandable narrative to hand up on the surface.

A story of friendship should remain as a story of friendship for now.