Disclaimer: Don't own The Rising of the Shield Hero franchise or any of the characters.

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In the end, it was just a coincidence. A string of bad decisions from all involved. For better or for worse, those decisions reshaped the course of events and set the whole world on a very different path.

It all started some time after the first (in a long time) Wave of Calamity to hit Melromarc. As the Church of Three Heroes began hatching their plans (or rather, updating them to accommodate the new developments), their unwitting pawn, First Princess Malty S Melromarc could be seen carelessly walking around the capital in her brand new adventurer disguise.

So sure of herself, despite being a measly level 3, she long ago dismissed her guards, and while a Church agent was shadowing her from afar (which she was not aware of), their duty was only to observe. The Queen's own Shadows had more important duties than watching over the disgraced princess who, being a lost cause, wouldn't have been up to anything important anyway.

Her aimless wandering (although Malty would have claimed to be perfecting her disguise and getting familiar with different parts of the city) brought her a little too close to the slums. All sorts of bandits, vagabonds, illegal slavers and even murderers frequented those narrow streets, city guard on the other hand, did not. The slums could have been considered a different city, even a different country, with its own ever changing rulers and laws. But both official Melromarc and its darker counterpart needed each other all the same. Assassinations, stolen goods and especially illegal slaves - all of those were in high demand by the most upstanding members of nobility and even wealthy merchants. While slavery itself was permitted by law (especially enslavement of demi-humans), some aspects of it were not, and the sort of people who bought slaves were seldom a decent, law-abiding kind. For what other purpose could a slave serve other than being worked to death in some underground mines or satisfying the cruel and perverted whims of rich and powerful?

But Malty obviously didn't care about that. In fact, she saw nothing wrong with demi scum getting what they deserved, be it hard work, torture or even death. Such had been the way she was brought up (due to her bigoted, but loving father and distant, politically-minded mother), and such was the deep-hidden influence of a certain fake goddess (but this is a story for a much later date). To be fair, Malty barely cared for most humans either. Helping the people? That wasn't something she ever considered, and definitely not her reason for wanting the throne.

The princess felt revulsion, but not for any of the reasons mentioned above. Rather, the smell was getting to her. Despite her expensive perfume (not consistent with Myne, the poor adventurer, but who cares), Malty could barely breath through the stink of urine, feces and something like rotting meat which filled the air of the dark, winding alley she was currently traveling through. Which is why, despite her confidence, the princess quickly turned around and tried to find the way back to the better part of the city. Unfortunately, she was so affected by the smells, not to mention tired from all the walking in cheap, uncomfortable adventurer outfit, that she forgot completely about being in disguise.

That's why, when she bumped into someone, a rather portly man, who wasn't smelling like roses either, Malty acted like she usually would.

"Watch where you're going, you bloody bastard!" she screamed and slapped the man with all her strength. Which barely phased him as Idol Rabier, and that was him, had at least twenty levels on the sheltered princess. The backhanded strike he delivered in response, on the other hand, threw Malty violently on her back, her head meeting the harsh ground with a painful thud. Groaning and blinking through the dark spots in her eyes, Malty finally got a good look on her assailant. He was a short, stocky man, with blonde hair. She recognized Rabier, one of her father's allies among the nobility, and not a pleasant man. It wasn't a stretch to assume he was in the slums for some nefarious purpose, but Malty didn't care about that. What she cared about was her own pain and humiliation at the hands of someone she considered barely more than her family's servant.

Idol Rabier was by many accounts a madman, but not a fool. Not only was he carrying a sword (which he definitely knew how to use), he was also surrounded by guard, at least five or six of them. His men were loyal and privy to most of his 'eccentricities', which is why it made complete sense for them to accompany the nobleman to whatever dealings he wanted to conduct on his routine visit to the capital.

Yet Malty was unaware of the danger to herself and still continued to act like she was in the royal palace. Getting up, she brushed off her clothes and glared at the men before her.

"You will pay for that, Rabier. Do you even know who I am?!"

The noble appeared to think for a moment, then looked her in the eye and answered, "Girl, I do not know who you are, but you got what you deserved. I feel rather merciful today, so move along now and don't try my patience further." His men chuckled behind him.

Matly bristled. It was obvious that Rabier recognized her, but chose to act as if he didn't. Well, it was his head on the line. She chuckled herself, trying to ignore her throbbing head.

"You'll pay for this, you fat moron. After my father is done with you, you'll be begging for death! Do you have any idea what he'll do to someone who hit me and drawn my blood?!"

Idol Rabier narrowed his eyes and looked the princess over. It was true, some blood escaped her mouth, as she likely bit her tongue after being hit. He was well aware of how much the king loved his elder daughter. Too much, in the noble's opinion, as the endless coddling apparently brought her to this sorry state. While loyal to Aultcray, he was under no obligation to endure unjust punishment on behalf of this spoiled child. The princess seemed to be completely useless to the country and her father's goals. Which was that made his decision so easy. He turned to his strongest retainer.

"Bring her alive, quickly and quietly." The tall, muscular man in dark armor nodded his head and ignoring the princess' alarm, approached her in the blink of an eye. In the next instant, she was knocked out, with a hood over her head, and a cloak covering her body, as two other guards carrier her to the waiting wagon. It was a good thing that the sturdy wooden transport with boarded windows wouldn't be completely empty on the return trip to Rabier's estate. Yes, very convenient.

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"You'll pay for this! You're all dead! You hear me?! Dead!" Malty was screaming nonstop as the guards dragged her down the steps into the dark, damp dungeon. She woke up days ago on the hard floor of a wagon, a painful bump on her head, her hands and feet tied up and her back positively killing her, probably due to all the shaking.

Her captors ignored her and after enduring her screams and curses for a few minutes, decided to simply gag her with a dirty rag. After several days on the road, Malty lost count of all the indignities she had to suffer, up to relieving herself under a tree while a guard stood three feet away and watched. In the quiet of the night she cried tears of hate and humiliation, but during the day she kept her composure, simply glaring at Rabier who, in turn, acted like she didn't exist at all.

After arrival, she was immediately taken somewhere far from the main entrance, which turned out to be a dungeon deep underground. Intended for prisoners or slaves, she didn't know, but was about to figure out. The guards took her gag away, as there was probably no need for it now. Screams weren't something uncommon around there. But still, Matly screamed. Her main hope was to alert some loyal guards or soldiers, loyal to the country above their lord. But it was futile. No matter how much she screamed, begged or threatened, nobody paid her any mind.

Her captors marched the princess down the stairs and past several cells, some empty, some filled. Malty didn't even glance at the occupants, too busy being frightened of her own fate. What was even the point of capturing her? If Rabier wanted her dead, he could have killed her in that alley. Why capture her? Was she a hostage now? But why? In her mind, Rabier's best bet would have been to bow his head and beg her forgiveness, as well as her father's later. But it would be too late now. The fat lord was a dead man walking. In a few days, she would be freed by the king and his loyal knights, while Rabier would have only torture and death to look forward to. That's what she believed anyway.

Why all the screaming then? Well, it wouldn't hurt to speed up her rescue, since she definitely didn't want to spend even a minute in this place. The dungeon smelled almost as bad as that alley, which brought her double the anguish now, with all the memories attached.

Finally, they reached the cell at the very end of the row, where the air was damp and cold, and the smell of blood overpowered other bodily fluids. In a cruel twist of fate it was the exact cell that was to be Malty's home for the next however many days. Despite her resistance, the princess was thrown inside and the door was locked behind her. Taking her final chance, she pressed herself to it and clutched the bars, desperately calling to the retreating men.

"What's going to happen to me? Why did you put me here?"

The guards exchanged glances. One of them shrugged and turned back.

"I guess there's no point in hiding it. The demi in this cell is sick with something. She probably has a few days to live if that. Her corpse will keep you company, your highness, until you get sick as well. Then you die and we throw you out somewhere, I think that's the plan. Have fun, you stupid bitch!" And ignoring her pleas, he walked away with his comrades.

Malty turned around. Her eyes adjusted to the darkness enough that she could see a small shape lying in the corner under some threadbare blanket. This was probably the demi prisoner in question, but it looked very small. After a couple of minutes she finally noticed the movement, barely there, but the creature seemed to be still alive and breathing.

Careful to keep as far away from the figure as she could, Malty lowered herself on the floor with her back to the bars and started thinking. In the hindsight, Rabier's plan made a twisted kind of sense. Now that she remembered, there were multiple way to find out how somebody died by studying their corpse. Some wizards or priests could tell the cause of death, the time and sometimes even the person responsible. That's why killing Malty in the capital was dangerous to him. But killing her here? Well, if she truly died of some disease, and was found in a forest far away, then that was it. A mystery death for sure, suspicious, but nothing would link her to Rabier.

For a long time, Malty just sat there, alone with her fears and smell of shit, and desperately tried to think of some way to save herself. Suddenly she was interrupted by violent coughing from the corner, accompanied by weak moans of pain. The princess narrowed her eyes. Whatever she decided, she didn't have a lot of time.

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A/N: I haven't read all the Light Novels, but in any case, I'm going to change some parts of the canon. I'll still be consulting Wiki on the important stuff, so the changes wouldn't be random.