WHAT IS WITH THIS AWKWARD SILENCE?!

The trio were sitting in the carriage with nothing to talk about, resulting in the carriage being silent with a few noises of the wheel of the carriage stumbling on the rock. It has been a few minutes after the departure from the Hondira household. Yet none of them has talked to each other for the entire ride.

"So..." Alta started. The younger sister looked at Ei. "What were you doing in the forest back then? As far as I know, that forest is highly dangerous and anyone that want to go there should be accompanied with a group of 3 or more."

"It is? Nobody told me about that.. As for why I'm there, I was killing some monsters to level up. I have to get stronger to fight the waves." Ei said. She looked at the front of the carriage to see that the city gate is still far.

"The waves? Wait, are you one of the cardinal heroes?"

"Not exactly. I was an 'accidental summon' as they call it.

'Accidental summon? Wait a minute... The guild receptionist said something about someone being summoned accidentally when the cardinal heroes are being summoned.. Could she be...' Alta thought.

She already had suspicion on her due to her strange clothing. And then, there was the purple lightning she saw in the forest where she found Ei unconscious.

"You two. We've arrived to the city." The eldest brother, Zora said.

Both Ei and Alta looked to the front and sure enough, the gate of the city was visible.

Near the gate, a guard recognized the carriage and redirected them to a special doorway for the Hondira's to use to get to the city unnoticed. That gate is also where the Hondira's change their outfit and blend in with the crowd.

The receptionist? She already knew the true identity of the siblings. To the siblings relief, she agreed to keep it a secret from others and even changed their last name on the guild data.

Back to the story

After the Hondira sibling finished changing their outfits, the three of them started to enter the city and walked as normal as they could.

Interestingly, many people of the city looked at Ei in disgust.

"Ei, why are they looking at you like that?" Alta asked in a hushed tone.

"I don't know.. Did I do something wrong?"

Alta shook her head and responded that so far, Ei didn't do anything wrong.

Slight time skip

The three of them entered a expensive looking restaurant. It had a huge pendant light on the center of the restaurant with several waiter and waitress taking orders from the customers.

Zora pointed to a seat in the corner of the restaurant gesturing for them to sit there.

Once everyone have sat, a waiter came and took their order.

Zora ordered a small meat with vegetables.

Alta also ordered the same food.

For Ei..

"Ei... You do know you aren't allowed to bring your own food into the restaurant, right?" Alta asked in a hushed tone.

"Eh? We can't?"

To the siblings surprise, Ei pulled a lunch box out of nowhere. The siblings didn't question it as they are more focused on Ei bringing her own lunch.

"Yes. It's an unwritten rule in this restaurant to not bring your own food. The employees will think their foods aren't good enough. Because this restaurant is a expensive restaurant, the foods are expected to be good."

"I see... Then I'll order the same food as them."

The waiter nodded with a small sigh of relief and power walked to the kitchen.

Timeskip

After some minutes of waiting, the waiter came with a tray of the food Ei and the Hondira siblings ordered.

"Let's eat! Itadakimasu!" Alta shouted as she immediately ate the meat. She looked like she's in her own world while she savored the taste of the meat.

"Don't mind her. She's always like this." Zora said with a smile before eating his own food. He nodded with satisfaction and continued eating it elegantly.

Ei looked at her own food and decided to eat it copying the way Zora ate the meat.

Once the meat entered her mouth, her eyes widened in shock.

"This.. This is so good!" She shouted in surprise which made the entire restaurant looked at her. She didn't mind it and continued to savor the meat.

Zora sighed due to him finding out that Ei is a food lover like Alta, while the said sister was happy to find out that there's another food lover beside her.

"Anyway. Do you want to go to the guild after this, Ei? We're planning to go there after we're done eating." Zora asked Ei who was about to eat another slice.

"Sure. I don't have anything to do." She said with a nod.

Timeskip

(damn, there's a lot of timeskip here)

"Zora! Alta! Nice to... Meet.. Eh?!"

The receptionist girl was shocked to see Ei just behind them. For some unknown reason, she suddenly got a lot of stares in the city, and most of it were a bad one."

"What is she doing here?" The receptionist asked in a hushed tone to the two Hondira siblings.

"Hm? What's wrong with her being here?" Zora asked the receptionist. He too was confused on why Ei was being stared a lot by others. He can even see a stare of disgust aimed at Ei in the guild.

"Come on. Let's go inside. Clara! Please take over my side for a moment!"

"Haaaaii!!!" A shout can be heard deep inside the staff room.

Timeskip

(I will shortened Receptionist Girl to "RG")

This is so tense..

Is what Ei thought to herself.

All four people in the room did not talked to each other at all after the RG told them to sit down. Zora in the middle, Alta in his left, and Ei in his right. The RG was in front of them both with a small table separating them.

The RG finally broke the silence... By shaking Zora collar causing his head to swing up and down.

"WHAT ARE YOU THINKING BRINGING HER HERE?!" she shouted at him.

"CA..LM... D..OW..N.. R..I..K..AA!!" Zora shouted in reply but his voice is always interrupted due to him being shaken by the RG now known as Rika.

"Didn't you heard the rumour about... Her?!" Rika shouted at him. Now calming down

"Rumours?" Alta asked her. She talked in place of her brother because he was still dizzy after Rika's action.

"You haven't?"

The trio shook their head. Rika sighed as she started to explain.

"First off.. There's a rumour about the accidental summon. They said that she caused a ruckus in the castle. Second, she attacked the nobles on the first day of the summoning. Although I can't confirm it because there's lack of information" Rika said with her leaning forward with her hands supporting her chin.

"Wait wait.. Where did you hear that from..." Ei asked her, finally speaking up about it.

"Fro-"

BANG!

Suddenly, three or four knight entered the staff room. The four people inside it got surprised due to no signs of them entering the room.

"You! Raiden Shogun! You will come with us!" One of the knight shouted at her. Before she could even react, one of the knight restrained her by slamming his entire body into her.

"What's happening?!" Ei shouted.

"You are summoned by the king 3 hours ago yet you didn't came! This is very important!" The knight replied.

The king? Musi.. You don't think...

"Yes.. That rumour must be made by the royals... For now, I suggest we play along.. If things turned out worst..."

Ei slightly nodded at Musi respond.

"You two. I will go.. I will come back later."

Zora and Alta who was undercover had complicated thoughts but they refused and demanded the knight to let Ei go.

The knight refused and instead, told the other knight to restrain Zora and Alta, thinking both were Ei's party member.

"What the?!" Alta shouted as a knight grabbed her right hand.

Should I...

"No... Not yet Ei.."

"You will come to the castle with us. Refusing isn't an option. As for you two, you will be detained here until further notice." The knight said.


Ei finally arrived at the large door. Instead of entering it normally, the three of them got pushed into the room.

"Ouch!?!"

Ei shouted in pain from the fall

"Eh? Raiden san?! You're here too?!" A voice shouted.

Ei looked up and saw Naofumi in the same state as her.

"Naofumi..san?"

Ei was about to speak again, but the king suddenly spoke in a loud voice saying that now that Raiden Shogun is here, the trial will begin.

"Adventurer Myne. Please present your testimony."

And so, the red haired girl presented her testimony.

She claimed that Naofumi barged into her room and tried to rape her. She then went into Motoyasu room asking for help.

Naofumi declined all of it, saying he slept immediately after eating.

Naofumi then realized that Motoyasu was wearing the chain mail he bought yesterday with Myne and called him the burglar. Motoyasu declined saying it was a gift Myne gave to him

"To think that the Shield Hero would commit one of the most heinous of crimes in this country..." The king said, finally standing up.

"Crime?"

"In Melromarc, sexual assault againts woman, even if only attempted, is capital punishment. If you weren't a hero, you would be executed here and now!" He shouted.

EXECUTED?!

Was what both Ei and Naofumi thought

"I'm telling you that there's something wrong with this story! I didn't do it! If you say that I did it, present evidence to the fact!" Naofumi shouted, getting desperate.

One of the guards indeed showed the fact, presenting a broken robe that belongs to a female possibly Myne.

Myne shrieked when the evidence was shown.

"You animal!" Motoyasu shouted at Naofumi.

"This evidence is irrefutable" The king said

"What the hell?! That wasn't in my room when I woke up!" Naofumi shouted.

"Musi.. I have a feeling something's wrong.. A actual criminal is probably also desperate to get free, but look at his eyes.. He clearly didn't do it"

"Yes.. I feel something's wrong here.. Just try to listen. Maybe you'll... Nevermind.."

Just as Musi said that, Ei looked to the front to see what's wrong and saw Myne smirking.

SHE.. SHE DIDN'T JUST...

"Yeah.. She did.."

Naofumi saw this too and shouted to her that she tricked him, and that she was going to frame him from the start, to which Myne replied with "save me Motoyasu sama!"

"You dare to accuse anyone you criminal?!" Motoyasu shouted.

OK! I HAD ENOUGH OF THIS!

Just when Ren was about to speak, a huge thunderstorm suddenly appeared even though the sky was clear before.

"You said that Naofumi tried to rape Myne.. Am I not wrong?" Ei said with a dark tone.

Everyone in the throne room got chill when Ei spoke that. Naofumi looked at Ei in shock but she just gave him a nod instead. Naofumi looked a bit happy for a second because there's a chance Ei would be his defender.

"That's what I said, yes." The king said.

"... Nonsense.." Right after Ei said that, a thunder struck again, but this time, literally near the window of the castle, causing a loud sound that made everyone covered their ears (except Naofumi cus he was beknh restrained and Ei).

"What do you mean nonsense?! The evidence is here!" Motoyasu shouted at her.

"Shut up.. Spear..." Ei glanced at him not even bothering to say his name. Motoyasu looked at her in shock.

'S-spear?! Not my name?!'

Ei, to intimidate everyone in this room, summoned her Musou Isshin instead of her normal naginata

"Oi?! Isn't that a katana?! How did.."

"Isn't she supposed to be a spear wielder?!"

"Look at him. No criminals would be like this. Can't you see his eyes? They were literally screaming he was innocent." Ei said to the king.

The knights who got over their fear started to charge into Ei direction to restrain her. One of the knights tried to disarm her, but he got disarmed instead as Ei slashed her Musou Isshin to the knight spear, causing it to split in half and at the same time, breaking the throne room ceiling. The said knight stopped and fell to his back in horror as he just escaped death in front of his eyed.

"What the?!"

"Listen here. If you dare to lay hand on me..."

Her Musou Isshin glowed even brighter as she spoke that.

"Then I won't hesitate to cut you like I did to that spear.."

"She's a monster!"

"Kill her!"

"Help!"

"SILENCE!" The king shouted. The throne room suddenly went silent, except for the sound of crackling lightning caused by Musou Isshin.

"Nevertheless, evidence is still found and thus, he was guilty. He have no way to defend himself." The king continued.

"What about the witnesses?"

"The witnesses also stated that they heard a loud rustling in that room and a loud running sound."

"Tch..." Ei didn't know what to say and unsummoned her Musou Isshin. She replaced it with her naginata as it was her best weapon.

"Now that Shield Hero trial has ended, it's time for Raiden Shogun trial" The king spoke

"What did I do?" Ei spoke. The king gulped before speaking about Ei noble assault in the first day of the summoning.

I knew it...

"Listen here king. You ignored me and Naofumi. Everyone would get angry. Second, I didn't attack the nobles"

"Then, what is this?" One of the noble in the room walked forward hesitating before he rolled up his sleeves, showing a cut in both of his arms.

"That's a knife cut. It's too small." Ei replied.

Indeed. Both cuts were too small for the size of Ei's naginata. The noble gritted his teeth in anger at Ei's response and reluctantly showed his stomach that shows a big wound.

"That wound is from several years ago. Wound that large need several weeks or months to fully heal."

"Listen here king.. I'd prefer if you return us to our respective world if all we get in this world is being framed for things we didn't even do." Ei said to the king.

"E-er.. U...um... That might be a problem" The king nervously said as he failed to frame Ei due to her objecting everything.

"And the problem?"

"Th-the records state that new Heroes can be summoned only when all Four.. Or in this case.. Five Cardinal Heroes have perished"

"Huh?"

"What?"

"No way..."

"So we can't go home?"

Was what the cardinal heroes thought.

"Alternatively, once the coming Waves have been repelled, you may return to your world" The king continued

"You mean we have to fight alongside them?! I'll do something about the waves myself then!" Naofumi shouted as he broke free of the guards hold.

"Freeze!"

"Not so fast!" Ei shouted as she disarmed a knight with her naginata.

"So, what's it gonna be? Are you going to throw us into the prison until the waves come?" Naofumi asked the king, referring to himself and Ei.

"You will not be out in prison. We have not time until the next Wave. Be you a knave, you two are one of the Heroes. The only ones who can stand against the Waves." The king replied to the question.

He then continued "Your deeds are already known to all citizens of our country. That is your punishment. Do not think you can live a decent life in our country."

So that's why there's so many rumours.. Musi, what's your thought about this?

"This will certainly be a problem. Aside from the Hondira siblings, not many people will want to get close to you."

Ei nodded at Musi response. Before she knew it, Naofumi already left the room. Leaving her in the throne room. She then decided to leave, but not before leaving a message.

"Just a reminder. Do not make me use the Musou No Hitotachi on you.."

Timeskip. Back to the guild.

Along the way to the guild, Ei got a lot of hate stares. Some even threw a tomato at her, but she catched it and stored it in her dimension (where she store her weapon).

After she arrived to the guild, she found Zora and Alta rushing to her direction with worry on their eyes.

"Ei! Are you alright?! Are you hurt?!"

"Raiden Shogun! Did they do anything?!"

Both sounded genuinely concerned about her which made Ei smile as she still have someone to care about her. But then she remembered that Naofumi don't have anyone to support him which made her sad.

But that thought quickly came out of her head and she told the Hondira siblings on what happened in the castle.

"T... That goddamned king!" Zora hissed in anger.

"The Shield Hero being framed?!" Alta covered her mouth in shock

"I don't know where he is right now. But if I do find him. I'll try to support him." Ei said, looking outside the window.

"Ei... Let's go back to the house... I'm suddenly not in the mood to be in the same city as the king.." Zora said.

"I agree with brother" Alta nodded. Her eyes looking in disgust to the direction of the castle.

Cut! Chapter end!

After so long, I finally decided to update this.

I'm sorry everyone! I don't have any excuse except writer block

A/N SPECIAL FOR FANFICTION NET: Reviews are greatly appreciated! Although I may not reply to it like in the previous chapter, I will look at it and try to fix the error!

(w*ttpad readers are too lazy to do the review, even though they can click at a paragraph to comment on that exact paragraph so that author can look at it carefully)