Ben won't touch a demi-human child even with a barge pole so that's not going to happen, never ever. And only ones he might consider putting slave crest on would be monsters and creatures. So chances of him putting a slave crest on someone is relatively nonexistent.
...xxxxxx...xxxxxxxx...
Jumping from one rooftop to another, Alexia made her way towards the inn where her master rested, in order to return to her spying duties. She only left for a while to make a report for her majesty about her success in joining the bow hero's party. Surprisingly Princess Malty didn't do much and returned back to her room after drinking a while with her personal favorite, the spear hero.
She hid in her usual spot , concealing her presence from the church's shadows surrounding Malty, though she doubted apart from a select few serving directly under the Pope could match her in terms of stealth. And Balmus constantly required their assistance to prevent her majesty from keeping an eye on his inner circle and real plans in regards of three heroes.
"Do you think Motoyasu-sama will pay more attention to me if I did my hair like this?" One of the female mages, apparently a noblewoman asked her fellow team mate.
"He seems to try and treat all ladies fairly but he obviously has some preferences. I heard him talking about angel wings A LOT." Another woman frowned
"Eh really! I am glad that princess is out of the way, she is anything but..."
"Don't say things like that aloud!" One of them warned, "I still agree though."
"She joined the one with the shield but she may have ulterior motives. Perhaps she wants to form a power couple with Tennyson-sama and get the throne from her little sister."
"I would have joined Tennyson-sama's party in a heartbeat if he didn't insist on working with that useless shielder."
"Ah, I really feel sorry for the poor shielder. He doesn't even know she is only using him to get closer to Tennyson-sama! "
"I hardly doubt it, the bitch never goes after those she can't control. Still all the heroes have something cool and endearing about them. Even the one stuck with shield."
"Er, the shield is not that good looking, smart or even capable. I bet he will just drag the others along."
"Agreed." All three of them said in unison before heading out towards their own rooms.
Alexia shook her head with a sigh. If only her majesty was present during the summoning, she would have picked better companions for the chosen hero who would have helped the hero steer in the right direction, unlike these self serving harlots. The way things were right now, her nation was doomed. She could only hope Sir Ben would be able to pick up the slack and make up for his fellow peers shortcomings.
Finally she found her mark, running towards the room which clearly belonged to Motoyasu Kitamura, the one known as the spear hero.
"Motoyasu-sama, please save me from that fiend." Malty spoke out in a panic stricken voice, causing Alexia to blink in confusion. It seemed completely out of character for princess to act like that.
"Wait, Myne. What do you mean by that?" Motoyasu was completely caught off guard as the undercover princess sobbed into his chest.
"That scoundrel Naofumi..." She wailed, speaking in between her sobs, "I...c-can't believe it...A-after d-drinking ...some wine , he f-forced me into o-our room. " Then she started crying even more, further glueing herself to his front, trembling like a leaf and letting out tiny sobs.
"Shield hero attacked her...?" Alexia's eyes widened in disbelief as she paused for a moment, even though that seemed less likely given the physical state princess was in, she was still a member of royal family so she needed to check at least once to make sure before dismissing the whole thing as a lie.
Concealing her presence once more, she made a dash for the room where Naofumi was staying in. She was surprised to hear a low soft snoring when she placed her ear on the door.
"Is he...asleep?"
She looked through the keyhole, a bit surprised at her findings, the shield hero was sound asleep, blissfully unaware of the chaos happening outside his room.
Towards her utmost horror, she saw a presence similar to her own but much more agile entering the room. The presence swiftly got closer to his backpack and examined the snoring youth, hoping to find something of value. When it found no coins and no wallet close by, the presence huffed , visibly annoyed.
The presence did a last round over the room, only picking up the close chainmail , leaving soon after.
She tried to open the door and intercept the presence before it was too late, only to be interrupted by the spear hero walking towards her direction
"I will get that bastard!" The blonde gritted his teeth in outrage, spear in tow.
"Wait, Motoyasu-sama!" Malty called out from behind, pressing on to his back once again, "Let's return to castle and report everything to your highness. You are a hero, you shouldn't...take justice in your hands like that. Especially for a scoundrel like him. " She sobbed once again as several knights came over, surrounding the whole hallway and if her guess was right, most of them served under nobles faithful to the church of three heroes.
"Fine, in morning he will pay for his crimes." Motoyasu clenched his fists as he locked the door before leaving
Alexia ground her teeth, letting out a frustrated sigh. Even if she recorded everything with her crystal ball, Aultcray would never believe her over his daughter so she had no way of exposing the princess' lies before her majesty returned. And escaping the inn with the shield hero wasn't something she was confident of pulling off. Shaking her head, she spared one last glance at the sleeping hero, mumbling a silent apology as she disappeared in the background.
...xxxxx...xxxxx...xxxxxx...
"So, that's how everything transpired, Sir Ben." Alexia explained with a voice filled with regret as she put the crystalline orb on the table showcasing all the events recorded by her in a high definition.
Ben narrowed his eyes and felt his hands shake with complete outrage, but stopped himself before he could do anything rash. He growled lowly and shook his head before turning towards the masked woman once again.
"But why, what is she really getting from all these?"
"I suspect this is a move made by church to suppress the shield hero." Alexia replied as a matter of fact, "Someone with the status of hero can't be killed or imprisoned that easily. His majesty might be making some questionable decisions as of late but even he won't risk taking drastic measures like that out of fear of retaliation from demi human nations. Instead he'd spread the news of what happened throughout the nation, ruining Sir Naofumi's reputation. At the same time not allowing any demi human nations from contacting him and taking him away." She concluded in a forlorn tone.
"It means Naofumi won't have anyone to support him except the worst scum who would rather stab him the back than work for him. He won't be able to level up due to his low attack stat and when the wave comes, he will be so weak he won't have any chance of survival." Ben frowned, cursing under his breath. The cold feeling in his gut finally settled, as if it's purpose had been accomplished.
The omnitrix bearer's eyes widened in stark realization at just how fucked Naofumi truly was upon the very moment he arrived. It all started to make sense now. Aultcray already seemed to have burning hatred for demi humans and the shield hero due to some past incident involving his sister. Other adventurers and even the palace staff held him in contempt due to teachings of a fanatic cult. Malty joined him for the very purpose of framing him for the crime he never committed and he wouldn't really have any other way to defend himself from these baseless accusations
His mind started working over time as he stood silently, his face twisted and contorted through myriad of emotions, while Alexia stood watching with anxiety and concern. She didn't speak mainly because she felt that if she did, the bow hero would turn his ire on her, and that wasn't something she was looking forward to in the slightest.
Ben grunted as he refocused back on his masked teammate , a small grin evident on his face, " Interesting, This is good and bad for many reasons. As annoyed as I might be with this nation, there is corruption and bigotry in every civilization, the same as in the world where I came from." Ben stated in a casual tone, "A lot of things about this nation disgusts me but that's not exactly fair to a few actually decent people who want things to change." He then gave a pointed look to Alexia causing her to smile at him in amusement
"I see what you mean, my dear hero-sama. I can assure you I will try my best to help you in changing the nation for better. So what exactly are you planning to do next?"
Ben took a few deep calming breaths before nodding in response, " Attend this sham of a trial , mount some sort of defense for Naofumi and try not to blow up Princess Bitch or her trashy father from where they stand, no matter how tempting that sounds. Too much work if I might add." Ben concluded in a carefree tone as if he was talking about the admittedly nice weather as he quickly left the inn and started making way towards the castle to try and set things right for Naofumi.
...xxxxxxxxx...xxxxxxxxx...
At the throne room three heroes along with the terrified undercover princess waited for the shield hero to be brought over to get him to finally talk about his "crimes".
The throne door finally opened, revealing Naofumi who was completely covered in steel chains just got kicked by the knight captain who dragged him there. Various knights and nobles inside looked at him as if he had committed the dirtiest crime in the history of mankind.
Ben frowned at seeing him in this state, "You have him in chains?"
"The shield hero refused to cooperate and had to be dragged here by force. " The knight commander replied causing Ben to shake his head with a sigh. They really had it out for the poor guy!
"YOU FIEND! The moment my eyes settled on you, I knew you'd be nothing but trouble for our country, you scum!" King Aultcray seemed more vicious than usual, and Ben could see why considering that the victim happened to be his beloved daughter.
"What is going on? I don't think you have the right person for this." Naofumi pleaded in his defense, not having a clue in the slightest about why he was dragged here as if he was some sort of nefarious criminal.
Naofumi would have paid more attention to what spear hero was talking about, if he wasn't busy wondering what in the high hell Motoyasu was doing with the chain mail he bought very recently.
"Hey, where did you get that chainmail?" Naofumi asked confusion clear in his voice.
"What this?" Motoyasu looked at his armor , "It was gift from Myne when we met back on the pub." He bragged.
Myne took her cue and with the short breaths she said words which made the shield hero's stomach sink,
"T-the s-shield hero came to my room and knocked me down. He d-drunkenly pinned me to the bed and told me how sexy I was and he always liked it rough, , tearing at my cloths." She stopped a moment to wipe a tear from her eyes and control her emotions.
"He...He then began to pull down his pants and said "You are all mine now bitch." But thankfully I managed to kick that bastard off me, summoning all of my strength. I -I a-am l-lucky that Motoyasu-sama was in the same tavern..." She almost fell down, were it not for the support of both sword and spear heroes.
"It's enough Miss Myne, don't talk anymore." Ren spoke to her before turning to Naofumi and staring him down with absolute disgust in his eyes, "I knew you were different from us, but I never imagined it would be in this way. If she didn't insist to wait till dawn to call the guards, I would have cut you down myself."
"You bitch! You set me up! I didn't rape her! She stole that gem from me and stole my belongings! Ben, I bought this armor from the blacksmith. You have to believe me, I would never rape a woman." Naofumi shouted in anger and protest as he could feel his anger growing for the woman who put him in this situation. Ren and Motoyasu were already taken in by their words, the cold and angry looks they gave him clearly indicated that. Bow hero was only hope who seemed to be calmly assessing the situation and paying close attention to his story
"WHY THE HELL HAVE YOU BEEN SUMMONED AS A HERO?" Motoyasu once more shouted at Naofumi.
"As I have suspected, " The king said with fake regretfulness, "he is nothing but a wild beast, I'd say that's as good a confession you can get. If you weren't a cardinal hero you would be executed at once."
"I beg to differ your majesty." Ben spoke out in a calm and collected manner, "Justice can only be served if we take both sides into consideration. Besides I find it quite hard to believe that Naofumi with his shit attack power can force himself on Miss Myne, someone who is at least five times stronger than him according to my status magic just like that. Apart from that, there isn't a single scratch on her in the slightest. Even her armor doesn't seem scuffed in anyway. I can not see any bruises or marks as well . I can say the same thing about Naofumi. He wouldn't have been able to overpower someone like her without any visible signs of struggle on his own body. And I'm assured that all of you know that the Shield Hero has an attack stat of one, correct?"
"SHUT UP!" The spear hero yelled out indignantly, He hugged Malty as if to protect her from some horrible monster, "Don't waste your breath coming up with pathetic excuses for a RAPIST, you damned SICKO." While Ben didn't pay much attention to what the dumb skirt chaser had to say , those words seemed to sink into Naofumi's mind, ripping at his core and soul as he felt something dark stirring inside his gut.
Why was this happening? Was it because he was the shield? Because he couldn't fight on his own.
Spear hero, do you have any indisputable evidence to show?" The Omnitrix bearer spoke in a casual manner , his eyes glaring straight into the blonde's eyes making him wince in silence, "Unless you have something meaningful to add to this trial , stay there and let the responsible adults sort this matter out."
Motoyasu's face was aghast, feeling as if he had been staring in the eyes of an apex predator. He raised his voice before cutting himself as he looked down to think about it, before grinding his teeth in silence at his inability to retort. He felt shivers running throughout his spine. His legs began shaking and his bowel movements became irregular , the urge to grow himself growing stronger and stronger with each passing second of him being in close proximity with the "Plumber". It didn't feel like he was standing with a hero right now, but a bloodthirsty beast who was just a few inches away from taking his life.
Ren for his part narrowed his eyes and gears were turning in his head now as he attempted to look at things from a new perspective, "He isn't entirely wrong. Naofumi was the first one to leave the bar, that much I can attest to. I will admit that she is quite strong compared to the useless shielder class and wouldn't be taken out by him that easily. There are no visible marks on her body as well, at least from the parts we can see. "
"That doesn't matter. It's purely semantics. " Motoyasu protested once again, trying his best to defend the scheming princess.
"Those are not completely irrelevant points. They do bring up inconsistencies in Miss Myne's testimony" Ren quickly reacted before turning to Ben in an inquisitive tone, " But how do you explain Naofumi showing up into her room drunk?"
Ben let out sigh, rolling his eyes in irritation, pointing a thumb back at Naofumi "Look at him for a moment. He is alert and wide awake even this early in the morning. If he was actually drunk, he would reek of alcohol and look hungover, like our dear friend Sir Spear hero, who is still having a bit of trouble standing on his own feet. He really didn't drink much last night and he was first one to retire in his own room. You may call innkeeper to confirm this if you want to . I won't talk about the chainmail since I am sure the blacksmith would be easily able to tell who bought it from him and who didn't, but that's besides the point. The real issue here is, I have seen my cousin tend to many rape victims as a part of her job as a cop , both alive and dead , as well as during and after the fact. She isn't showing any signs of behavioral patterns involved with a mentally and physically traumatized victim. And last but not the least, why the hell would the first princess of this country, Malty Melromarc would wait until morning to turn in the guy who attempted to molest her, cardinal hero or not?"
"Huh, my accuser is a princess as well?" Naofumi shouted out in disbelief. The bitch was some spoiled princess appealing to her daddy, now all that started making sense to him.
"Not just any princess. The disgraced one. She was supposed to be the one to inherit the throne, but due to pulling many malicious stunts in past and carelessly wasting coin from royal treasury on selfish luxuries her mother, the true ruler of Melromarc , has set her aside for her younger sister."
The species shifter concluded with finality as he was getting more and more annoyed with the whole ordeal. He was sick to his stomach with the spoiled princess but he couldn't wage a war on Melromarc for petty reasons like that.
The princess in question looked humiliated, with everyone giving her new looks of ire and outrage. Even Motoyasu felt a bit betrayed, but thankfully he kept his mouth shut. While Ren was poleaxed to the point his brain was broken.
"W-What? H-how did you find all that out?" Aultcray yelled out loudly confirming Ben's words while the undercover princess broke into cold sweat, in absolute shock at this turn of events. Certainly she wasn't expecting the trial to turn out to be like that. Both awed and terrified at how perceptive the bow hero truly was.
"Ah, give me some credit your highness. My family do this for a living where I come from." He responded with a smug grin, enjoying the expressions of those surrounding him. The audience gasped out as well at having this revelation revealed to the other heroes.
The nobles had the information sink in, before gasping.
Malty's eyes glanced all over the room, if she pushed the story any harder it would shatter like glass under a hellstorm. The nobilities amassed on the balconies overlooking the throne room have gone deadly silent. The royal guards were all standing tense , sweat on their faces visible through the open visors of their helmets. The Shield was one thing, but with the waves coming the religious fanaticism directed towards the three legendary heroes had increased up to a certain point whether some of the royal knights , guards and land owners might actually side with an otherworlder rather than their own king.
"I-Inconceivable!"
"To think... the first princess would do that!"
"Her royal status really has gone to her head."
"D-Does that mean... that the Shield scoundrel is innocent?"
The gallery's words began to weigh heavily on the knights, making them step back. Knowing that they were screwed over no matter which side they took, they pointed their ire towards the shield demon, object of their hatred. Everybody at the Malty's side were shocked that bow hero was able to sway favour to him and the shield demon, and they absolutely hated it.
Fortunately for her, her father wasn't that smart
"Sir Tennyson, I will admit that this girl here is my own daughter and she is not at best terms with my wife since quite some time , but she would never lie about such things. " His royal lawlessness corrected harshly, his own glare sending sparks in between himself and the young plumber, the bow hero had been in control of his court for far too long. He actually walked up to Ben and grabbed his collar with surprising strength for someone around his age "Are you really going to commit yourself to defend the shield scum? Because if you do, you shall be counted as an accomplice to the crime and you will suffer the same consequences of the convicted. And let me remind you if you haven't figured out already. The crime of rape is quite severe in this country, even attempting the deed is punishable by death. "
This got people going into distress. Many nobles began chatting among themselves, worried about the results if the conflict between bow hero and Aultcray didn't end soon enough.
"How disgusting!" Naofumi spoke loudly, gathering attention to himself, " You are all going to gang up on my friend who is trying to help me out and kick him down to make yourselves look better? Does that seem like justice to you? What kind of brain-dead legal system you are running here? You are even more an incompetent piece of trash then I previously thought." He snarled, the guards tried knocking him down with their spears, but they couldn't make him even budge from his place.
"Your majesty! That's too extreme. He was just looking at this incident from other prospective." Ren yelled in protest.
"SILENCE!" The king yelled in an attempt to show his "domineering stature" over the bow hero as he stomped back to his throne after throwing him over the ground, a couple feet away, which immediately stopped everyone from talking.
So the stories are true, he really used to be a soldier long time ago
"If you continue to support a rapist scum like him..." He said quietly but with an undercurrent of quiet rage, " you might be treated as such as well, despite of your title as the chosen hero . So I will ask you once again , are you still going to be on the defense of the accused?"
Ben's mind was a bit conflicted , he was nothing but completely infuriated at how unfair this trial had been and how the princess planned Naofumi's downfall from the very first moment he arrived in this palace. The king was being completely biased and too much consumed by his hatred to see the reason. Motoyasu was completely uncooperative and Ren, despite appearing somewhat neutral, didn't help him much in that regard as well. He wanted to genuinely help but he knew what Aultcray's endgame was and Naofumi was ultimately getting out of here alive. Sure he could take on each and every person present in the castle, including the King himself but beating the crap out of the whole court, as much as he wanted to, wouldn't be beneficial for either him or Naofumi. None of that would be able to change the outcome of this trial and since Lady Mirelia was busy stopping a world war from breaking out, she won't be able to do much to help them either.
Besides in an all out battle like that, concealing his transformation through an ID mask was next to impossible and revealing his biomnitrix wasn't something he was looking forward to, at least for the time being. Any goodwill he possibly earned by nearly exposing Malty would be completely destroyed in case he lashed out with violence. Making them see him as nothing more than a villain and his testimony would be considered null and void.
And the people of church would have easier time making everyone believe that he was no different than the monsters who appeared in the waves. They might even channel that anger towards Naofumi by telling everyone that shield devil was responsible for corrupting one of their gods.
While he really didn't care about having his name be dragged into the mud alongside Naofumi's , he couldn't simply deny that having the position of a hero might prove to be quite useful while dismantling the cult and help out Naofumi in the future.
Unfortunately, his pride as someone who saved the entire universe at least ten times in a year wouldn't allow him to let the king just steamroll him.
After a moment of silence and thinking concisely, the omnitrix bearer made up his mind. He could either do it the smart way or the original Ben 10 way. And knowing him, the choice was pretty much obvious.
He didn't change much throughout these years after all.
" Seeing as we have already decided Naofumi and mine so called guilt, what is going to be our "punishment" " He continued in a flippant manner making air quote signs as he spoke "punishment", At these words King gripped the arm of his throne even more tightly, visibly trembling with anger but he was interrupted by Ben before he could speak anything, The Omnitrix bearer just glared straight into Aultcray's eyes, with resolve and strength equivalent to the heat of the sun, forcing even the king to flinch for a moment, "What would the world say if they hear about you murdering a summoned hero? What would your big brother at Faubley say about you murdering a hero? What would your wife, the true ruler of this nation, say about you murdering a hero? " Ben's voice sounded more taunting than ever as he mercilessly pressed further. The silence seemed deafening and heavy. However the answer was as clear as crystal.
"Wait, what will happen? " Ren asked, clearly not kept up to speed like he was. He was also surprised at hearing him refer the absent queen as the true ruler of this nation, rather than Aultcray himself.
Ben finally uttered with a smile as he turned to him, mind still supercharged and running wild "War."
The knights felt on edge at the proclamation, and the heroes looked at each other, wondering why everyone was acting so worried about a war. However a loud bang on the armrest of the throne silenced everyone
"Indeed, killing any of the cardinal heroes would be detrimental to us all. However, should you serve your purpose and fight the waves, punishment will not be imposed on you. However all the people in this nation will know of your atrocious acts. ." Aultcray spoke out giving Ben a look of unbridled fury.
"But that's not going to stop Siltvelt, Shieldfreeden and even your own homeland...Faubley, Will it?" Ben chuckled, leveling a challenging glare on everyone.
"W-Wait, why can't we just kill him? I mean, we can always summon new Shield and Bow Heroes if we want to." Motoyasu inquired.
"Of course an idiot like you would think it like that..." Ben spoke offhandedly, a bit annoyed to see Motoyasu actually being okay with killing fellow heroes over some baseless accusations. Aultcray looked a little bristled about it as well. "You can't kill even one of the four cardinal heroes, unless you want to kill all four of them as well. That way, they would be able to get another batch of shield and bow heroes, given they are prepared to waste years to do another ritual, especially when the waves of calamity have already begun. Feel better about that, dumb-ass?"
"U-Urgh..." That got Motoyasu to grimace, and Ren gave him an odd look. Quite horrified to see how quickly Motoyasu started considering killing his fellow heroes just for the sake of appeasing a disgraced princess. Now that he started thinking about everything from the start, trial started seemed even more fishy then ever.
"It's clear that your sham of trial is going nowhere, Your Foolishness." Ben waved his hand dismissively, while shaking his head in mock disappointment. "No matter what bullshit sentence you give me or Naofumi, it's going to backfire on you hard. Think about your next move very very carefully unless you want to be considered as a true criminal against this very world."
"How can you act so flippant about this? Not even a hero is above the law!" Malty demanded, with Ben shaking his head.
"You are absolutely right, your bitchiness! But I wonder if the laws of Melromarc would truly matter if the nation itself as a whole doesn't exist anymore in the first place." Ben challenged, with Malty narrowing her eyes in response, almost as if she was willing to accept the challenge. Strangely, with how much violence he is getting the first thing in the morning, Ben couldn't help but feel nostalgic. It was as if he was already back home. The sound of metal grazing against air, the adrenaline rushing into his brain and the intensity of his heart thumping as if on fever ignited the flames in his eyes.
"Well well would you look at that. If you fuckers want us out, you'll have to bail out and die as well. If the king does it, his world won't be saved. It suits you just fine, fucking retards!" Naofumi spat out as his eyes shadowed, mocking everyone with a sadistic glee, enjoying the stunned expression on their face.
It was at this point that Aultcray would speak up again before things turned completely upside down. " I have enough of this shenanigan. I will no longer hear the words of criminal that has raped my own daughter! Nor will I listen to the ravings of a madman who supports him. Leave immediately and never return! You filty scoundrels! " the king stood up and ordered his men as his fist rose into the air. He slashed his hand forward, fingers clutching the figure of the Bow Hero which fit inside the palm of his hand.
The audience was appalled, Was Aultcray out of his bloody damn mind? He was trying to banish not only the shield demon but the hero of the bow as well!
Ben stared at the ground in front of him, his eyes shadowed by his messy brown hair starting to glow with a magnificent pink aura. A gentle breeze flowed throughout the throne room, how it entered, nobody knew. All of a sudden bright cerulean energy began to flow through his body, rolling from his shoulders down and outwards. The breeze in room now escalated to a full blown wind, which could now be felt by everyone. He brought his palms together , muttering under his breath.
Twista Combititus.
Now increased to a deafening gale, the pillar of wind surrounded Ben, slowly twisting and morphing into a blue glowing snake with menacing yellow eyes. The majestic serpent smacked it's tail on the ground, pushing away all the guards who were surrounding Naofumi, freeing him from his chains.
"Your highness allow me to give you a little taste of the things to come." He spoke from his position, smashing both of his hands on the ground. And just like that the majestic snake , twice the size of an average house, flew upwards, followed by a thunderous boom, reducing one of the massive pillars into nothing but pile of dust.
"The only reason I am sparing your lives is because I possess something you and your daughter clearly lack, compassion." The young Tennyson replied in a cold and commanding tone as he leveled his glare towards Aultcray and his daughter. His sparkling emerald eyes gleaming with unspeakable anger as his body trembled out of nothing but righteous anger and fury.
"However if you dare try to obstruct mine or my friend's path in the future, your fates will be...LEGENDARY! " He warned for one last time eyeing the spear hero and his redhead companion staring at him with all of their hatred as he and Naofumi walked away from the castle. Their walk outside of the throne room being brief, uneventful and overall quite anticlimactic.
The nobles continued to gossip with one another over the trial , however the king, Motoyasu and the so called "Princess" were all satisfied that at last the justice prevailed over the evil rapist and psychopath duo.
Ren, alongside his companions stood watching the spectacle with his own eyes. One of his companions, A mage named Rino Takamiya decided to speak up, "What...kind of magic was that? I have never seen...anything so much...powerful."
The sword hero replied with a furrowed bow, his usual thinking face, " Indeed it was. To think the king would dismiss such a powerful ally just like that was rather unexpected. I guess we had better get back to business, if anything I learned from today's incident was the fact that, sometimes things aren't what they seem. Anyways, I am sure there is plenty of trouble around and what's the point of being a hero if you can't even stand up for those who need your help."
"Sir, Do you really think that the shield hero really is a criminal and bow hero made a huge mistake by supporting him." One of his other team mates, apparently a rogue asked, albeit rather hesitantly.
Ren looked at him in silence , which made him a bit uncomfortable, before staring back at him with genuine curiosity in his eyes.
"Do you?"
He asked before leaving the throne-room. Leaving his stunned party members behind.
The king's face twisted in a snarl of rage, "That damnable Shield fiend! How dare he poison mind of the naive and pure bow hero and turn him against us! He thinks he can get away with this , but I am going to make sure he lives in Hell for rest of eternity."
"I don't know why you turned out to be like this, Plumber, but if it's the last thing I do I will make sure that you are killed. I am the true hero of this world and it looks like I have finally found my arch nemesis." Motoyasu clenched his spear in determination as he looked over to his redhead companion standing besides him, now completely calm and no longer the terrified sobbing mess she once was before the trial began. She blushed as she looked at her "savior", rubbing her hand down the man's arm , talking to him in a rather amorous tone as she wrapped her arms around his shoulders.
"Motoyasu-sama, we should get going for now. Unless you want to miss out on all the fun today."
Smiling at her, Motoyasu put his arm around her waist , beginning to walk away.
...xxxxxxx...xxxxxxxxx...xxxxxxx...
Fine, Now you guys have the ending you all wanted to see. I hope that makes you happy for the time being.