Chapter 13: Second Princess Melty

Sometime ago, Arthur and his party defeated a zombie dragon and some zombie wyverns. While facing them, Arthur has discovered a new system that allows him to create new companions thanks to Nephalem. When things got desperate, Arthur's imaginary dead sister appeared and saved the day. This was a shock to Arthur and is happy to see her. The four stay in the village and continue to heal the sick while Gwen tries to answer Raphtalia and Filo's questions the best she can. Not only that, Arthur healed up Raphtalia's curse. Once that is finished, they pack-up the wagon and get ready.

The doctor approach, "Are you really leaving, Sir Shield Hero?" The nurse is beside him.

Arthur shoves a box in before speaking to the doctor, "Fraid so. My party and I still have other places to visit, people that still need help and- You know, hero stuff."

The doctor and the nurse giggle a little.

The nurse then says, "Make sure you have a pleasant journey."

The three of them got on the wagon as Filo, in her Filolial form, pulls the wagon. Everyone waves goodbye as our four heroes head back to the capital.

"How are you feeling?" Gwen asks Raphtalia. "Do your arms still hurt?"

Raphtalia smiles, "I'm doing fine." Raphtalia was hit by a curse form the zombie dragon. However, there are no bandages on her arms and the curse is gone. "The holy water that Arthur made healed me instantly. My arms look like they haven't been afflicted by the curse at all like it never happened."

Filo turned her head, "That's good, Raphtalia!"

The three girls laugh with Arthur just smiling.

After traveling such a long way, they take a break close to the forest and have a picnic.

"So why are we heading at the capital?" Raphtalia asks as she sits on the blanket.

Arthur is busy making the sandwiches, "Let's just say that there are things we need to get ready for."

Gwen appears next to Raphtalia's right, "Like the Waves."

Raphtalia looks at Gwen, "Oh, I get it now." Yet she looks around and noticed Filo is missing. "Where's Filo?"

"Over here." Filo whispers from the bushes.

The three head over where Filo is at and see what Filo found. They see a small flock of Filolials that are around a girl with blue hair in curly twintails tied by blue ribbons, and wears fancy frilly clothes that merit her royal status which are also blue with various areas in white.

"Hey, Arthur?" Gwen says to her brother, "Is that who I think it is?"

"Yep." Arthur says with a nod. "That's her." 'Wait. Something feels backwards here. Shouldn't we met her before we left?'

Raphtalia looks at Gwen and Arthur, "Do you two know that girl?"

"To some extent." Arthur says.

Yet someone accidentally steps on a twig which spooked the Filolials and cause them to flee, leaving the girl in blue a little sad. But she turn to face the four.

Filo licks her beak, "Those birds look yummy." Arthur and Gwen look at Filo as she continues, "If we start now, we can still hunt them down."

Raphtalia looks at Filo, "Huh? What do you mean yummy?"

Filo tilted her head a little because she doesn't get it.

Arthur chuckles a little, "Those are Filolials like you, Filo."

"Hmm? Like me?"

"So big." the girl says with a blush on her cheeks. "Are you wholly and truly a Filolial?"

Filo points at herself with her feathers, "Do you mean me?"

"And you can actually talk as well?!"

Filo nodded.

The blue girl says with joy, "I always dream about talking to a Filolial and here I am doing it."

"HUUUH?" Filo is a little shocked and confuse.

"Oh!" the girl then pulls something from her pocket. She shows it to Filo, "This is for you. It's dried meat."

Filo is very happy as she accepts the offer, "Thanks!"

The girl gently place her hands on the feathers of the bird.

Raphtalia looks at Gwen and Arthur, "Could she be from the village?"

"Nope." Gwen says. "That is the second princess, Melty Q. Melromarc."

Arthur just nodded.

"You know me?!" Melty is caught completely off guard that a stranger knows who she is.

"You're kidding!" Rpahtalia is just as surprised when she learn that Melty is a princess.

"Hi!" Filo says. "I'm Filo! I'm gonna call you, Mel!" Then she transforms.

Melty gives a huge excited gasp, "You can transform, too!"

"Uh-huh." Filo nodded.

"I'm Arthur van Buren." Arthur introduces himself.

"I'm Gwen van Buren." Gwen introduces herself.

"It is a pleasure to meet you." Melty looks at Gwen. "Although, since when did you get a wife?"

"EWW!" Arthur and Gwen are disgusted.

"Arthur and I are siblings!" Gwen corrected Melty.

"Oh, I see."

They all had a nice chat until Filo wants to play with Melty for a bit. Arthur agrees and let Filo play with Melty until sundown. The next day, the five went out to get to the capital with Raphtalia suffering from motion sickness. On the way, they hunted a few monsters, Melty and Filo play for a bit, Gwen takes care of Raphtalia, and they all went fishing near a river where Filo caught a huge fish with her barehands. At night, they enjoy a nice dinner with Filo looking at the last skewer on Melty's plate. Melty notices and tries to give it to her, but Arthur took it away. Raphtalia explains why which causes Filo to get all pouty and Melty laughs.

Arthur keeps the campfire going while reading a book and Gwen is keeping watch. However, Raphtalia starts to wake-up.

"Sorry, did I wake you?" Arthur asks.

Raphtalia shakes her head, "No, not really." Yet she gets up and sits next to Arthur, "They got all quiet now."

"Yep." Arthur puts away the stick. "When someone uses all their energy, they get tired and go to sleep. Same with kids."

"Aren't you cold?" Raphtalia asks.

"Nope." Arthur answers.

"What about Gwen?"

"Hard to tell."

Raphtalia is wagging her tail as she gets to enjoy some alone time with Arthur until she notices something. "Huh? Where is Mel?"

"She's somewhere inside of Filo's feathers." Arthur sounds nonchalant as he keeps on reading.

Filo looks at Arthur, "What does that mean?"

Arthur puts the book down and approach Filo. He place his right hand inside of Filo's feathers and pulls out Melty by pulling on her hair like a magician pulling out a rabbit.

"What the-!?" Raphtalia is surprise.

"And she appears to be naked." But only her head is showing as Arthur looks at her clothes. Arthur then lets go.

Melty, still feeling sleepy, wakes up a little with one eye open and asks, "What's the matter?"

"Raphtalia was a little worried that Filo ate you or something."

Raphtalia yells, "I DIDN'T SAY THAT!?"

"Filo's feathers are all soft and comfortable that I couldn't resist going to sleep." Melty explains.

"Plus Filo may look really fat on the outside, its actually her feathers." Arthur explains.

Raphtalia places her right hand inside of Filo to see for herself. Her arm gets sucked in as she says, "Unbelievable." Then she sinks in while about to fall asleep, "It's so nice and warm."

"Goodnight." Arthur says as he gets to bed.

After some time, they finally made it to the capital. However, he had Filo place the wagon somewhere safe.

"Okay, Filo." Arthur says to Filo as Filo turned into her human-form. "Make sure that Melty heads home safely, alright?"

"Okay!" Filo takes Melty's left hand and takes her home to the castle.

"Fare thee well!" Melty says and waves goodbye, "Hope to see you soon, Sir Arthur!"

Arthur looks at Gwen and Raphtalia, "You two head over to the item shop real quick while I check the Dragon Hourglass."

Gwen knows exactly what is gonna happen as she gives a wink, "Okay." She then holds onto Raphtalia's right hand, "Come on, Raphtalia. Let's see what we can get."

Arthur makes his way towards the church to double check the hourglass for the next wave. He did and seems to be right as he looks at the timer in the upper middle of his HUD. "Seems alright." he says. 'Let's see.' he thinks to himself as he exits the church, 'Usually in the anime, Naofumi should've gotten holy water from this church and met with the accursed pope. Yet I'll I did was check the hourglass. Raphtalia is already free from her curse. What happens next is...'

"SIR SHIELD HERO!" a young man was shouting from the street.

Arthur looked at the direction of the shout and sees Ake running towards him. 'Right on cue...I think?'

Ake catch-up with Arthur as he catches his breath. A bit winded but he quickly recovers. "Sir Shield Hero! It's the Spear Hero! He-"

"He is scouring through the city to find me. Right?"

"Huh?!" Ake is surprise to hear that. "How did you know?"

Arthur looks away and says, "Call it a hunch."

"Anyway, you need to get out of here! Fast!"

Arthur looks back at Ake and salutes, "Roger that!" Then he dashes away.

Arthur runs back to the wagon until he comes across the market and he hears a voice going, "ARTHUR!" yelling right at him.

A lighting bolt is strikes right at Arthur as Arthur raises his shield and deflected it into the air. Yet the commotion cause a panic among the populace.

"ARTHUR!" Motoyasu approaches and tries to lunge at him with his spear full of rage.

Arthur moved out of the way as Motoyasu left a huge crack in the street. Arthur sprung into action and paralyze Motoyasu by chopping on his arms which causes him to drop his weapon.

"What the hell?!" Arthur yells at Motoyasu. "Are you trying to get everyone on the street killed!?"

Motoyasu looks at his arms and realizes that he cannot move them.

"Hello!?"

Motoyasu snaps out of it and continues to argue. "You know why I'm here!"

"You're talking about my shapeshifting bird that can take on human form, right?"

"Yeah! And- Wait, what?" Well, Motoyasu is listening now.

"Listen very closely: If a hero raises a Filolial very well, it can become a Filolial Monarch. Which you already saw when we raced. However, they can transform into a human-like form with wings and can talk."

Motoyasu did some rapid blinking before he goes, "I didn't know that. Wait, you mean that fat bird and that little blonde-haired angel are one in the same!? I can have someone like Freon from Hellworld!?"

Arthur nod, "Yep."

Motoyasu starts to get excited with his arms working again as he raises them high. He shouts, "I LOVE OTHER WORLDS! AND I CAN'T WAIT TO HAVE MY OWN LITTLE ANGEL!"

"Why not make it a harem?"

Motoyasu looks at Arthur, "That's even better!" Then he realizes his arms are working, "Oh hey. My arms are working."

"That's good news." Malty enters the scene with some guards. Her guards form a circle around the two heroes as Malty says, "Since both of your arms are working again, we can start the duel."

"Nah." Motoyasu replies when he picks-up his spear. He looks at Malty, "Arthur explain a few things to me so there won't be any duel."

Malty starts to get frustrated with her gritting teeth being shown. She pulls up a scroll about the approval on the duel between Motoyasu and Arthur while throwing a tantrum, "My father has already approve of the duel between you and the Devil of the Shield! Are you going to deny the word of the king!?"

"Wait, what did you call Arthur?"

Malty realizes her mistake that she called Arthur a 'devil' rather than 'Shield Hero'. Her face is flustered, "I mean, Shield Hero!"

Arthur interrupts the conversation as he asks Motoyasu, "By the way, are you wearing armor on your crotch?"

Motoyasu place his hands on the armor on his crotch as he says in embarrassment, "How did you know about that?!"

"DON'T IGNORE ME!" Malty shouts in anger. She really wants Arthur dead.

"That's enough!" Melty enters the picture along with Filo and a few guards. "That isn't the appropriate behavior of a princess and you know that."

Malty angrily grips the scroll in her hand, "Melty. What are you doing here?"

"It's been far too long, sister." Melty approaches Motoyasu. "As for you Spear Hero, glad to see that you haven't fallen under my sister's wiles. Although you shouldn't just fight someone out in the street in front of innocent people."

Motoyasu feels guilty and shifted his eyes to the left.

"A hero should never risk the lives of those around him over a petty squabble. Would you call yourself a hero otherwise?"

Motoyasu feels real bad and just looks down.

Melty stops and looks at her sister, "Sister, your fun and games have gone too far."

Malty starts to act smuged, "I'm simply doing my job as the hero's aid."

"Is making him fight in a public place your idea of aid?" Melty seems more clear headed and reasonable than Malty.

Malty then gives a blank expression with some anger behind it, "You dare defy me, your big sister?"

"If need be, I will have to tell mother about this."

"Tch." Malty went silently. She can't go against her mother, the real ruler of Melromarc.

Melty went to some of the people and apologize to them until Gwen and Raphtalia show up.

"Arthur!" Raphtalia speaks up. "What happened?"

Gwen says, "I'm guessing Motoyasu being stupid again."

Arthur look at his sisters and nod, "Yep."

Motoyasu approaches Filo as he grabbed her left and gets down on one knee. "Oh Filo." he says with a sorry look on his face, "I'm sorry for the awful things I said about you. I'm sorry for calling you fat. Will you please forgive me?"

Filo smiles and pet Motoyasu's head with her right hand as she says, "As long as you don't bother Big Bro, I'll forgive you."

Motoyasu starts to tear up and hugs Filo, "I love you!" But then he notices Gwen. "Oh hello." He lets go of Filo and holds Gwen's left hand with both of his, "Hello there beautiful. My name is Motoyasu, the Spear Hero. And what is your name, my dear?"

Gwen has her eyes close along with a smile as she removes her hand as she says, "Gwen. Gwen van Buren. I'm Arthur's older sister." Then she somehow manages to grab Arthur's shield and holds it high in the air.

Motoyasu has a stun expression on as he says, "Wait, your really his...big sister?"

SWOOSH! BONG! Gwen hits Motoyasu's face with Arthur's shield hard enough to send him flying right into Malty which sends them flying right into someone's window. Crashing onto a dining table.

Arthur looks at his arms and goes, "What the-?!" He realizes that his shield is gone. "How the hell?!" 'Gwen can take my shield and use it?! How the hell does that work!?'

"Catch!" Gwen tosses Arthur's shield back which he catches. "Hope Motoyasu learned his lesson by now."

"Wait!" Arthur says to Gwen, "How did you do that?! I mean, you being able to use my shield!"

Melty then says to Arthur's party, "Excuse me, Sir Shield Hero? May I have a word?"

Everyone headed over to Erhard's shop, much to Erhard's displeasure.

"Hey, can you please not use my shop as a clubhouse or meeting place?"

"Sorry, Erhard." Arthur apologizes to him. "But this is a special reason." He introduces Melty, "Say hello to...Melty Q. Melromarc! The second princess!"

Erhard gasps and is stunned when he realizes that royalty is in his shop. "For real!?" He bows down, "Sorry, your majesty! I didn't realize!"

"It's okay." Melty says and is embarrassed. "I mean I..." She clears her throat and continues to talk to Arthur. "I do apologize for my sister."

"Because she has some personality issues and that is why the crown is being passed on to you." Arthur speaks to Melty like he knows everything.

"So you know already."

"I kinda figured. Plus, you want me to make up with your father. However, that won't happen for a while."

"Why is that?"

"Because some one is manipulating your father like a puppet and plan to overthrow your family and create a new theocratic state."

Hearing that, Melty is shock to hear that.

"I already explain it in a note that I sent to your mother via her Shadows. Once the Wave is over, your own sister plans to kill you behind your father's back so she can take the throne. But the Church here has other plans which I already told you." Arthur leans against a wooden beam with his arms cross, "Not only that, they are also planning to kill the other heroes."

Melty gasps after hearing that. "But why would they do that?!"

Gwen explains to Melty, "The reason being is because they failed at certain things. In Motoyasu's case, he brought a legendary crop that has a curse on it and was locked-up. Your sister somehow manipulated him into using it on a famine stricken village. In Ren's case, he left a dragon's carcass to rot that caused a plague that struck a village to the east. As for Itsuki, he left before settling things and left a lot of people to live in poverty and starvation."

"There is also something else." Arthur adds. But that...is to be continued.

AN: Hey guys, I'm back! Good to write again. Hope you enjoy the new chapter after a long time of waiting.

Okay, just to give you guys the heads-up. Now I am working on 4 stories. Well, five because I got more and more story ideas that just won't stop. So I'm gonna upload two chapters to two stories at random every two weeks. Things are gonna be chaotic considering my work schedule.

Also, I hope you enjoy the Christmas gift I posted in my GATE story. Check it out if you miss it.