Chapter 7 of Spear and Shield

As always I don't anything and all rights go to their rightful owners.

I hope you all had a good Christmas and New Year's Eve, hopefully 2021 is actually better and not just 2020 v2.

Talking: "I know that you'll love me, love me."

Thinking: 'Even when I lose my head. Guillotine.'

"Both of them are absolute assholes"-Kane Stone on the King and First Princess.

The hall is full of dining tables with plates of food, some rather exotic. Music can be heard throughout the hall, the King stands from his throne, raising a goblet of wine. "Heroes! We received little damage compared to last time, all thanks to you, our brave Heroes! Tonight we celebrate!"

Everyone in the hall raises their glasses except for a select few. Kane, Rifana, Keel, Leo, Raphtalia, and Naofumi surround a table off to the sides. Kane picks up a goblet of wine before downing it completely Naofumi is the only one to notice as the others are all picking out which foods to try and talking amongst themselves, Naofumi stares at him. "You do know you're not supposed to down them like shots right?"

Kane picks up another one, he turns to Naofumi with a smirk. "Would you rather I take small sips then talk about the taste and texture of it?" Naofumi shakes her head to which Kane goes back to downing another glass of wine. "...You think anyone here knows how to make a good cocktail?."

"I really doubt it, they probably don't even know what a cocktail is."

Kane sighs and looks to the table and picks up a grape and pops it in his mouth. "Food looks pretty tasty at least." Kane looks at the others, the demi-humans all dig into the food clearly enjoying themselves on the exotic cuisines.

Naofumi looks at him with curiosity. "I thought you were some crazy party animal and yet you seem like you don't want to be here."

Kane looks around speaking as he does. "I do enjoy parties but this one just sucks, everyone is smelling each other's asses or trying to suck up to the Heroes either for clout or for favours. The only good part is the food, well, that and the cute company I got." Kane looks right at Naofumi with a smirk on his face who suddenly becomes interested in the food.

Naofumi picks up a fork and tries a piece of the cake, slowly chewing it, feeling the amazing taste hit her taste buds. Although Naofumi is displeased that she has to see the King again she is able to at least enjoy the food and the company surrounding her, making the banquet just fine.

"Iwatani."

Everyone at the table turns to see Itsuki with Myne standing a few feet behind him. "Duel me."

Kane interrupts Naofumi as she tries to respond to Itsuki. "I think you had too much to drink, Oompa Loompa, 'cause it sounds like you just trying to have some fight for no reason."

"Iwatani has a slave, did you not know about this?"

Kane groans, while pinching the bridge of his nose. "So you're trying to have a duel with Naofumi 'cause she has a slave right?"

"Yes! Slavery is wrong."

Naofumi butts into the argument between the two. "Slavery is legal in this country."

"That doesn't make it okay for you to own a slave."

Naofumi scoffs. Kane motions to all the nobles watching the squabble. "But it's okay for probably all the nobles here to have one? I don't see you duelling anyone else over this just Naofumi, and Raphtalia is being treated well, so go on fuck off back to your spot." Kane waves him away with both hands.

Itsuki grits his teeth. "She's a Hero! She needs to set an example like the rest of us."

"The rest of us? Motherfucker the example you set was abandon innocent people to die just for monster drops, at least she defended the village, unlike you and Ren."

"I didn't abandon the village! I wanted to kill the boss to end the Wave as quickly as possible."

"Bullshit, you only cared about monster materials and it was so obvious. You didn't even bother helping with the injured villagers, and you didn't even bother with clearing out the remaining monsters, nah you just took the drops and fucked off."

"Enough. I heard all about it. A Hero who would use a slave how despicable. I order you to accept the challenge Shield Hero!" The King's voice booms as he looks down upon the others with a look of disdain.

A knight grabs Raphtalia from behind but before he could take her away, Keel gets involved, grabbing the knight and throwing him into a nearby table, the knights draw their weapons aiming at the group who all bear their weapons at the knights.

Naofumi scowls at this upon seeing the attempt at taking Raphtalia and trying to force the fight between her and Itsuki. "Why are you getting involved?" Naofumi turns to Kane who's looking straight at the King.

"Kane! Knock it off, you could get into some serious shit." Naofumi grabs him by the arm, but he completely ignores her.

"As Sir Itsuki said a Hero is supposed to set an example, despite the Shield Hero being a criminal who preys upon others, she still must follow that standard."

As soon as he calls her a criminal, whispers could be heard all the hall, all about Naofumi and all of them are insults in some shape or form, she looks around the hall to find them all staring at her with scorn and disdain.

"Scum like her are nothing more than a joke."

"Our country doesn't even need her."

"She's nothing more than a devil wearing human skin."

"The Shield Hero should be executed."

The whispers continue, getting more and more toxic and vile. Every word uttered by them stokes the rage inside of Naofumi. 'Dammit, why? WHY do they hate me so much?'

"Set a example eh? how about this, I offer a challenge! To both the Sword Hero and the Bow Hero."

The rage building in Naofumi stalls for a moment, she turns back to Kane finding him pointing directly at the King. The hall is so dead silent, you could hear a pin drop.

The King looks back with suspicion. "...And is there an actual reason for this or are you trying to cover for the Shield Hero."

"Well it's like the Bow Hero said the Heroes need to set an example, and these two failed in that regard abandoning people to die."

"But-" The King to his extreme annoyance is interrupted by Kane.

"I mean Naofumi defended innocent people AND killed the Wave boss, the other two didn't do either. I mean Heroes are supposed to protect people right? And yet they left everyone to die, how can we trust these two not to do that if the next Wave arrives here."

The King looks conflicted, unsure of what to do. Kane looks right at Itsuki. "So Itsuki, you willing to fight me? Or are you too much of a bitch to fight someone who can actually hit back?"

Kane talking down to Itsuki got the results he desired. "I accept the duel!"

Ren walks up, pushing past the nobles and guards surrounding them. A blank look on his face. "Why should I accept it?"

Kane shrugs, smirking as he does. "I mean you could deny it if you want but that's not really a good look for a Hero don't you think, I mean if you're afraid to fight me, how can we trust you when the going gets tough."

Ren scowls, although he rather not fight for no good reason, he's been placed in a rock and hard place. Deny the fight and be called a coward or fight him. "...Fine, I'll accept your challenge."

The King grips the railing as if he's trying to crush it with his bare hands. This was not how this was suppose to go, it seemed to be a talent for the Spear Hero to ruin plans. "Fine. The Spear Hero will go against The Sword and Bow Hero."

All the nobles speak amongst themselves, some quickly leave the room, wanting to get the best spot of the fight. Ren and Itsuki glare at Kane for a few more moments before walking off.

Kane watches them walk off, a smirk on his face. "You are such a fucking dumbass." He turns to Naofumi who's extremely unhappy, all that taunting and talking down to her has made her furious and all that fury is now focused on Kane. "Arguing with the King and now to top it all of, challenging two Heroes at once, what the hell are you thinking?!"

Kane's smirk doesn't falter if anything it grows even stronger, with his mouth parting and letting out a chuckle, he pats Naofumi's head. "I was thinking that win or lose, the plan already worked, everyone's more focused on the fight rather than dog-piling the Shield Hero." He stops patting Naofumi's head and walks off, completely nonchalant as if the upcoming fight didn't worry him.

Naofumi watches him leave, her anger stifling at what he said, after a few moments she huffs and begins following the other nobles. "...Let's go find a spot." The others don't say anything, instead, they just follow directly behind her.

Kane is sitting in a dark room with weapons around him. "Gungnir I've got some questions."

{Ask, I will answer to the best of my abilities.}

"Can I use a skill even if I have my Spear in the bracelet form?"

{You could, I just don't understand why you would.}

"Rather not impale these two morons when I use that Spear Ram skill, rather not impale or cut them at all to be honest. I got another question; do I have to shout out my skill to activate them, seems really dumb telling people you're fighting what your moves are."

{...You can think of the skill name in your head if that is what you truly wish.}

Kane sits for a few moments waiting for the duel to actually take place.

{Might as well remind you that I said work on your impulsiveness and yet you decide to fight two Heroes by yourself.}

Kane groans. "Look it'll be fine, somehow I really doubt these two have a granite chin."

{Why does their chin matter in this fight?}

"It's… for like boxing and that, normally the better your chin the more hits you could take to the head… Wait are you telling me you went through my entire life ignoring me learning how to fight, you know getting put in choke-holds, spars, and all that but you focus on me fucking and getting drunk?"

{I know you could fight in unarmed combat but I didn't care about that considering you're the SPEAR Hero, not the Fist Hero.}

Kane snickers at Fist Hero. "I'm so immature for laughing at that, hey, by the way, why don't I have a perk for I dunno kicks or something? I mean I got one for cooking." A few moments pass. "Gungnir?"

{New Perk unlocked! Do it yourself.}

"Very funny, but where's my perk."

{I already give you tons of perks and now you want more?}

"...Yes."

{Well too bad, what would I even give you? Kicks do double damage?}

"Oh come on, you can't tease me like that and not give me anything."

{Look giving you perks out of nowhere takes up power out of me, I just recently made Divine Partnership, you know that perk just so you can reward the Shield Hero, something I'm not very pleased with since she's a rival.}

"Rival?"

{The Legendary Weapons are in a way competing with each other it's why normally you don't get XP in other Heroes presence's}

"...So you guys are so bored you turned the whole thing into a competition?"

{It's a little more complicated than that, look just focus on the fight.}

"Fine, but I still want a perk for kicking or something, when you're ready of course."

{...If it will get you to shut up about it, then fine but later.}

Kane nods at this, going back to waiting for the duel to start. The doors slowly open, making the light from the burning torches bleed into the darkroom he's in, he whistles as leaves. He walks past the knights who all have their blades bare, pointing it upwards. He enters a giant hall, with balconies everywhere giving everyone a clear view of the hall, torches are placed around the sides of the room so as to not get in the way.

"This duel will take place in the presence of King Melromarc and the Pope, and it is thus legitimate and official." Kane walks to the centre of the ring finding Itsuki and Ren doing the same.

Itsuki stands slightly behind Ren. "I don't know what you were thinking, Stone. A 2v1? You're gonna lose this, so I think it would be in your best interest to give up."

Ren nods, a rather smug look on his face. "The odds don't look good for you."

Kane scoffs as he looks at the two, he kicks out his legs stretching them. "Yeah, I can just tell this is gonna be so anti-climatic."

The three take their battle stance.

"Ready… Begin!"

Itsuki fires off an arrow to which Kane sidesteps, while Ren charges straight at him. 'Slippery Agility'

Kane feels a boost of speed and charges at Ren as he reaches a few feet to Ren who keeps rushing towards him. Kane starts to spin with his upper body almost in range for Ren to slash him with his sword before suddenly Kane gets low, planting the hand holding the Spear on the ground, twisting his entire body to smack Ren directly in the side of his jaw with his leg.

Ren falls to the ground, the force from the kick making him tumble headfirst to the ground, his eyes rolling into the back of his head. The hall is completely silent.

Kane scratches his cheek and pokes Ren with the blunt end of his Spear. To his surprise he knocked out Ren, he turns to Itsuki who's gawking at Ren's unconscious form, his confidence swelling at how easily he took out Ren. "Itsuki, do you think you can handle a hit better than Ren, or are you gonna surrender?"

Itsuki looks right at Kane, seemingly unsure of himself before eventually breathing in and aiming his Bow at Kane.

"Don't do it."

Itsuki pulls back the string.

"It's really not gonna end well for you."

Itsuki fully pulls back the string, letting the arrow rip through the air with a shout. "Wind Arrow!"

Kane ducks, the arrow passing over his head, Itsuki pulls back the string again letting go of a barrage of arrows aimed right for Kane. He runs around dodging the arrows. "Gotta respect the tenacity at least." He moves the arm holding the Spear behind his back before he charges up a skill in his mind 'Spear Ram.' Kane suddenly moves with such speed that he looks like a blur to the audience while to Itsuki, Kane seemed like he just teleported right in front of him. He slams his elbow straight into Itsuki's chest, making the air in his lungs rush out. Itsuki begins to wheeze as he drops to the ground with Kane standing over him, transforming his Spear back into it's normal form, stabbing his Spear right next to Itsuki's head, who's eyes widen at the Spear

The King clears his throat just as shocked as pretty much everyone else at how quickly it was over. "T-The Spear Hero has won in his... duel against the Sword Hero and the Bow Hero." The audience slowly starts clapping, then begin to cheer, all of them talking about how the Waves are no threat with the Spear Hero around and how safe they will be.

The King waves his hand. "Now that the duel is over, ...we may go back to the banquet for the Heroes!"

Kane looks up at the King, chuckling to himself quietly. 'He wants to get the fuck out of this situation.' Kane walks back to the way he entered while court magicians enter to aid the two Heroes.

"What the hell did I just witness?" Naofumi and co all stare at the scene with absolute confusion and shock.

Well apart from Keel. "That was fucking awesome!"

"Kane! Kane! How did you do that?" Keel begins pulling on his arm, with bright, starry eyes.

"You gonna need to be more specific Keel." Kane looks down at her as she pulls.

"That kick you did against the Sword Hero, the one where you did that spin then got to the ground, and then BAM! Right in his head with your leg."

Naofumi stares at him with an inquisitive look, paying attention to everything he says, then again she isn't the only one, pretty much everyone at the table is curious about it. Kane rubs the side of his face. "Well the kick was a Capoeira kick, it's called meia lua, or half-moon kick."

"Where can I learn this 'Capoeira' I wanna do kicks like that!"

Kane looks off to the side. "Yeah, I don't think you gonna be able to learn that here, or any martial arts here to be honest."

"W-Well you can teach me then!"

"Yeah not happening, 'cause I don't even know Capoeira that well, I just kept bothering my mother to teach the half-moon kick to me because the kick is cool as fuck and can hit like a truck, I can teach you some other stuff though, if you're really interested."

Naofumi tilts her head at this. "Wait, your mother taught martial arts?"

"Yeah, she said it was important I knew how to fight considering how much trouble I get into, and it's a good way to relieve anger so." Kane finishes it off with a shrug.

"Relieve anger?"

Before Kane could answer, a maid comes up. "If you would come with us, we have a room prepared for you all." Kane looks around the banquet hall to see nobles slowly leaving, as it starts to get late.

He yawns. "I'm kinda tired to be honest, let's talk about this tomorrow or something."

Keel lets go of his arm, pouting. "Fine."

The maid shows Kane and Leo the room they'll be staying in before walking off to show the women in the group where they would be sleeping.

The sun shines through the windows of the hall, the four Heroes stand in a line. Ren and Itsuki stand side by side, standing away from Kane. The two Heroes look no worse for wear due to the court magicians but the duel is still fresh in their minds.

The King shuffles in his throne before speaking. "As a reward for your efforts during the Wave and for fulfilling my request," The King's eye twitches as if what he's about to say aggravates him. "Stone will receive... 4,000 silvers; Itsuki and Ren will both receive 3,800." The three takes their bags of silvers, although Kane looks at the bag with surprise at how much he got. "And as agreed upon, 500 silvers for the Shield Hero." Naofumi takes the silvers with an indifferent look on her face.

Kane looks up at this. "The fuck? How come these two get more then Naofumi despite being pretty much pointless?"

Myne who is for some reason standing rather close to the King puts her hands on her hips. "The two Heroes did their jobs in defeating the Wave boss." She smirks as she speak, staring at him with a look arrogance.

"Except they didn't, we killed the Wave boss, wait why are you even here?"

Myne's smile weakens, as annoyance fills her. "I am the First Princess Malty, it is my responsibility to help the Heroes achieve world peace."

"She's the Princess!?" Naofumi stares at her, the gears in Naofumi's head begin turning as the new information reveals more about her being framed.

"...I guess the apple doesn't fall far from the tree." Kane looks at the King and his newly revealed daughter.

The King grips the side of his throne. "What exactly are you implying Spear Hero?"

"That you're both assholes, one's a lying asshole the other is an incompetent one"

"Guards-!"

"I smacked the shit out of the two Heroes all by myself, so you might wanna rethink the guards, or is that too hard for you?"

The King grits his teeth, absolutely fuming at how disrespectful Kane is, he points his finger straight at him. "Begone from my sight! Do not return unless I summon you!"

Kane utters a mocking laugh. "You make it sound like a bad thing, I don't have to deal with an old retard on a throne and his bitchy daughter." He turns around and walks away, Naofumi and all the others quickly follow him out of there, unknowingly to anyone Naofumi walked away with an unwanted smile on her face.

Kane whistles as goes through his inventory, slowing picking out 2000 silvers. Everyone surrounding him looks displeased.

"Kane, what were you thinking when you insulted both the King and his daughter?" Naofumi looks right at him, crossing her arms although her displeasure at him is a little forced.

"I was thinking one was an asshole who instead of punishing the other two for their fuck ups he rewards them, and the other is a lying bitch." Kane doesn't look up from his inventory screen, he pulls a bag out of nowhere and hands it to her. "Here Iwi, if that senile asshole won't reward you, I will."

She takes a step back. "I-"

Kane interrupts her. "I'm not taking no for answer on this, you did a good job and should be properly rewarded."

Naofumi frowns at this and takes the bag of coins. "...Thanks."

"So, what's the plan, go back to Erhard?"

"I-ugh, you're just gonna keep changing the subject aren't you?"

"Yep." Kane grins, smug with himself to Naofumi and the other's chagrin.

Naofumi sighs. "Fine, it's too late now anyway."

As the group walk to Erhard's shop, they pass the alchemists making Naofumi stop and ponder.

"Naofumi?" Raphtalia looks at her with concern and curiosity.

"I'm gonna go sell my excess medicine." Naofumi enters the store, not even the others follow shortly after.

The store is filled with shelves, with various ingredients, all neatly placed in order

Naofumi stands at the counter looking right at the older alchemist, who pauses smoking his pipe in recognition. "Would you buy this medicine from me?"

The man nods casually. "Sure, let me take a look at the quality and we'll go from there."

"Hi, Silas." Kane calls out to the man from behind Naofumi, making her raise an eyebrow. Keel grabs Kane by the arm and points at something.

"Kane." The man doesn't look up from the items he's analysing, he counts out some coins and hands it to Naofumi. "So, I'm guessing that if the Spear Hero is with you, then you're the Shield Hero right?" Naofumi takes a few moments before nodding to which Silas lowers down, grabbing something from behind the counter.

Naofumi's squints in suspicion before the man places a book on the table. She stares at the book then back at the man who smokes his pipe before answering the unasked question. "It's a recipe book for medium-level medicines."

Confusion hits Naofumi. "Why are you giving it to me."

Silas puffs out smoke. "Well… You've saved a relative of mine in Ryute village, consider this my thanks." The words shock the groups, apart from Kane and Keel as the two were more focused on messing around with the ingredients on display. "I was asked to help you if you happened to come by here. It's second-hand so you can have it for free."

Raphtalia claps her hands together. "Wow! Thank you so much!" She turns to Naofumi with a smile on her face. "Isn't that great Naofumi."

Naofumi opens the book to find ineligible text, that she can't read. "Ye-Yeah."

The man smiles. "Well? It should be helpful to you now, right?"

Naofumi sweats drop at this, not wanting to seem ungrateful she forces a smile. "Y...Yeah."

"The magic shop owner wanted to talk to you and Kane, speaking of him, Kane I got wh-." The man looks right at him finding him and Keel poking and prodding things. "Hey! Knock that off, those ingredients are volatile and can explode!"

Kane and Keel turn right at him upon hearing the words 'volatile' and 'explode', they find the whole group looking right at them with slight annoyance at their childish antics. Kane pokes it one more time while staring right at Silas, who groans in return. "I need to hide all the dangerous stuff when you enter my shop." The man shakes his head before speaking again. "I got what you wanted Kane too."

Kane immediately stops and quickly moves to the counter. Silas pulls out alchemy equipment. "This wasn't cheap but you saved my family so I'll give you half off."

Kane nods at this. "Fair enough, how much for it then?"

"400 silvers."

Kane counts out the coins and gives them to him, he takes the equipment and absorbs the items, looking over all the Spears he unlocked, focusing on one key one.

High-Quality Alchemy Kit Spear unlocked! +20% reduction in potions ingredients requirements, +15% potion efficiency.

'Nice, If I keep boosting the potion's strength I'll be able to completely fuck with the stats with some OP potion.' Kane tries to read more of the other Spears before being interrupted by Naofumi.

"Well… thanks for this." Silas nods to which Naofumi starts to walk off. "Come on guys, I want to check out the magic shop too." Kane looks up to see Naofumi leaving.

"Well see you later Silas."

"Goodbye Kane."

Kane is the last to walk out of the shop, finding the others waiting for him. "Shit, forgot to ask where's the magic shop." Naofumi stops upon seeing Kane raise his hand.

"Nah, I know where it is, follow me." Kane walks off to which the others follow him.

"I'm surprised you're taking an interest in alchemy Kane." Naofumi looks at the back of his head.

He shrugs while walking. "I'm trying to make some super OP potions."

"OP?" Naofumi mutters to herself, unsure of what he means by that, she tries to ask to elaborate on how it's OP. "Wh-"

"Welp, there is it. The magic shop"

Naofumi looks at the building, she's passed by it a few times but has never actually been inside. "How do you know? Been here before?"

Kane nods. "Well, that and I can see the sign from here."

"Wait what, you can read the language here?"

"You can't?"

"Why, ugh whatever, we'll talk about this later." Naofumi shakes her head, entering the shop.

A gentle voice shouts out to them. "Ah Kane and the Shield Hero! I owe you two a great debt, now come, come take a seat, let me see what types of magic you have." Naofumi is pulled along by the small woman and put into a chair to which the lady sits directly opposite her. She places her hands around the crystal ball in-between the two "You have a natural talent for recovery and support magic, not very surprising considering, you're the Shield Hero." She waves Naofumi off and motions for Raphtalia to sit, to which she does "And for you, miss it's Light and Dark magic, I would recommend learning Illusion magic, next, the Spear Hero's companions!" Rifana sits down, "Wind, Water." than Leo, "Earth, Defensive." and eventually Keel. "Fire, Wind."

Naofumi notices she missed out on Kane. "You seem to have forgotten the Spear Hero, or does he already know his?"

The lady gives a soft smile. "Yes; I've already told him his magic types, he was… not very pleased about it."

"Not pleased? What did you get?" She looks at Kane who has a pout on his face at the reminders, both Keel and his own magic.

"I got Lighting and Support, but I wanted Fire, not fair that Keel gets it." He trails off at the end and begins moaning like a child, while Keel rubs the back of her head.

Naofumi scoffs. "You of all people shouldn't be allowed Fire magic, you would probably burn down a forest with you along with it."

"Hey! I would at least be away from the scene of the crime, what do you take me for?"

"An idiot with the survival instincts of a dodo." Naofumi deadpans, giving him a side-eye.

Kane gapes at Naofumi to which she turns away to look at the magic shop owner. "I heard you wanted to thank us."

"We just gonna ignore that roast? I want at least an apology!" Kane crosses his arms.

"Well you ain't getting one, so, too bad." Naofumi speaks over her shoulder, not even looking at Kane.

Kane grumbles, the lady with a smile pulls out two books. "Here, these magic grimoires can help you with your magic, it may seem daunting but if you put effort into you, you could learn as many starter spells as you want. Actually, I wanted to give you two crystal balls, but well I still have a business to run and due to the Royal court buying up a bunch of them, the cost of crystal balls has gone up."

Naofumi looks at the ball in question. "Why would they buy so many of these?"

"You don't know?"

"Know what?"

The lady points at the crystal ball. "If you use a crystal ball you can learn one of the spells hidden within."

Naofumi's head moves back in shock. "What? Kane, did you know this?"

Kane humphs and turns his head in another direction, Naofumi's eye twitches. "Seriously?"

A deep frown appears on Kane's face. "You hurt my feelings." Naofumi's eye twitches even more, before she feels any guilt, Kane's frown quickly turns into a smirk. "Nah, but in all seriousness, I didn't know anything about this."

"Really, why did they not give you any crystal balls?"

Kane places a hand under his chin. "If I had to guess… probably 'cause I told the King to get fucked, along with a few colourful words for his now revealed daughter after the Trial." He quotes trial with his fingers

Everyone looks at Kane with shock and disapproval. "...Dodo brain." Naofumi turns back to the books on the table. She picks one up. "...Thank you for this."

The group starts walking to Erhard's. Naofumi stops upon seeing the Slaver's tent, she looks up to find Kane with his companions and realises that she needs more allies. "Wait." The group turns around to meet Naofumi. "I need to go to the Slave Trader."

Kane faces contorts. "I'm sorry, what?"

Naofumi frowns in response, she sighs. "Look I don't like it either but I need to increase my party size."

Kane shakes his head. "Why can't you just find someo-" His words die halfway though. the two Heroes stare at each other, their parties watching the two.

"It is nice to know you dislike slavery but whoever we purchase from that place will be treated far better with us then being over... there." Raphtalia finishes with a sad tone.

Leo joins in, arguing for Naofumi. "The fact that Raphtalia is allowed to talk, drink and eat makes Naofumi a far better owner then most others, like Raphtalia said the slaves stuck in that hellhole would be better with Naofumi then to waste away there." Rifana and Keel both nod at Leo argument.

Kane stares at everyone, the uncomfortable and morally grey scenario stuck in his mind. "...Best for them to be with a softie like you then I guess Iwi."

Naofumi's frown turns into a glare. "I'm not rising to your bait." Everyone else chuckles at her words.

Kane shrugs. "I'll see you at Erhard's then." He walks off, his party following behind.

"I can't believe you did that Naofumi, spending money so frivolously, especially when that money was kindly given to us by Kane."

"Well like I said, we need more party members, plus even if the monsters suck we could always resell them."

Raphtalia frowns. "I can understand that, what I don't understand is why you bought 3."

Naofumi rubs her arm. "Well one of them is for Kane, I don't know to think of it as a… gift for him."

Raphtalia stops and looks at Naofumi who stops as well. "A… A gift?"

Naofumi nods. "Yeah a gift, as thanks for his help."

Raphtalia hums. The two silently walking to Erhard's shop. They enter the building, finding everyone standing around, talking to each other.

Naofumi and Raphtalia walk up to the group. "Ah Shield Lass, good to see you!"

Naofumi gives a small smile at the sight of Erhard. "Boss, Kane isn't causing you any trouble is he?" She walks to the counter.

Erhard smirks while Kane scoffs. "What are you talking about? I never cause trouble." Naofumi deadpans at him, to which he looks off to the side. "...not that much anyway." Naofumi rolls her eyes while Erhard laughs. Everyone begins to talk, all of them speaking to each other, making the atmosphere in the shop warm and friendly.

Naofumi stops and looks upon the scene, seeing everyone laughing at Rifana chastising Kane for charging into the village, before bringing up the Troll to which he groans at. The camaraderie makes the scorned Hero soften before smiling. 'The world doesn't seem so bad, when I'm surrounded by people who support me and care about me. No matter how much that trash King and his bitch of a daughter try to keep me down, I can always rely on the people that care about me.'

After talking amongst themselves for a bit longer they said their goodbyes to Erhard and all decided to go back to Riyute village. Kane and Naofumi sitting on a hill overlooking the village, seeing birds flying and blue skies. Naofumi looks at the scene with a smile. She goes through her inventory and pulls out the magic grimoire from earlier, still completely ineligible to her she then looks up at the group all sitting around, Rifana and Raphtalia are looking at the sight before, Leo is napping against the tree while Keel is laying on the grass, looking up to the sky. Eventually, her eyes land on Kane who's skim reading through his grimoire. "So you can read this world's language."

Kane looks up from the book straight at Naofumi. "Uh, yeah?"

"How, did you get some special skill to help with you or something?"

Kane shrugs. "Kinda, I got a perk called Quick Study, make me learn stuff easier; so I picked up the language easier."

Naofumi scowls. "Of course, you get a special skill to help you."

Kane shrugs. "I could help you learn it, but I mean do you know the English language or even the English alphabet?"

"Yes."

"Wait really?"

Kane stares at Naofumi in surprise, who in return glares back. "I know how to speak and write English, I took it as part of my business course at college, let me guess you thought because I'm Japanese, I don't know English?"

"Yes." Kane makes a straight face as he responds.

A smug smirk on Naofumi's face appears. "You Americans, always so quick to jump to stereotypes."

"To be fair, you were speaking in Japanese when we first met, now that I think about it you still are… So weird that I just noticed that." Kane mumbles the last bit, scratching his cheek.

"I mean what's the point in speaking English if you perfectly understand Japanese, a language I'm more comfortable with."

Kane puffs his lips and nods at the logic. "Fair enough. Well, I'm up for helping you with the language then, should be a lot easier."

Naofumi smiles. Her eyes widen and she stands up walking over to Kane who looks at her in response. "Actually I've got something for you."

"Iwi, you know you don't have to get me stuff right?" Kane puts down the book he's reading.

"Just take it for god's sake." She pulls out the egg and hands it to him. "You need to put your blood on it, so you get ownership of it."

Kane takes it, looking over the egg in a weird glass incubator, his lips softly turning upward. "...Thanks, Iwatani." She smiles back, the two turn to look at Riyute village.

Deleted Scene: Three Dumbasses argue with each other and almost get into a brawl.

"Fucking unbelievable." Kane crosses his arms, growling as Naofumi receives the paltry amount of coins despite being responsible for the death of the Wave Boss and causalities being so low yet Ren and Itsuki gain almost 8 times that, even he got 8 times that.

The King stares at Kane. "Is something the matter Spear Hero?" Aultcray asks in a fake tone, attempting to make himself look better by playing to the nobles by the side who are still in favour of Kane due to the duel.

Kane huffs as he look up at the King. "You have to ask?"

Aultcray sits up straight in his throne. "The amount of coins distributed are distributed fairly. You sh-"

"Ah, fuck off with that horseshit, you senile dumb fuck." Gasps can be heard at Kane's vulgar and offensive tone at the King. "If you had any value as a fucking leader you would actually reward the ones that deserve it and punish the ones that don't, like why does Ren and Itsuki get 3800 silvers despite leaving a village to die-" The King tries to interrupt Kane but he just raises his voice, echoing off the halls. "AND failing to kill a Wave Boss while Naofumi who protected the village and killed the Wave Boss only to get fucking 500 silvers." Kane points at the knights standing to the side. "And Captain Cuntface over there! Sets the village on fucking fire and he doesn't even get punished."

Whisper spread around the hall, the nobles staring at Ren and Itsuki, who frown and look displeased but don't voice their disagreements due to the recent loss still fresh in their minds. Even the knight who Kane pointed out begins to start sweating bullets, feeling the rooms' entire gaze on him, making the air feel suffocating. The King knuckles turn white as he clenches the sides of his throne. He speaks out in restrained tone. "Sir Ren and Sir Itsuki have performed their duties extremely well, while Captain Brienus had made a difficult decision to quickly annihilate the monster's number, damaging the village but protecting saving more lives and buildings down the line."

Kane rolls his eyes, crossing his arms. "By performing their duties well you mean getting on their hands and knees and gargling your balls like good little bitches?" The crowd to the sides get even louder, the nobles split between siding with their King and the two Heroes, or the Spear Hero, who's shown to the crowd being the strongest but also the most radical.

Ren snarls as he turns to Kane, the disrespect angering him, Itsuki watching on the sidelines with a glare, wanting to shut Kane up but still slightly afraid at being beaten like last time although there was no way in hell he was going to admit that. "Who the hell do yo-"

"Shut the fuck up, if I was talking to you I would call you." He turns back to the King. "Captain Cuntface didn-" Ren fumes even more at being ignored like this, stepping forward with his sword drawn to his side. Naofumi walks inbetween the two, her Shield at the ready. Kane turns when he sees Naofumi in his peripherals. "Do you want a fucking repeat of last time you edgy little fuck? Should I smack you around so hard you'll wish you stayed dead?" Kane walks up to behind Naofumi, standing tall over her as he stares down at Ren. His ruby red eyes bore into Ren's sapphire blue eyes who glares back coldly.

The two almost get into each other's personal space. Naofumi still inbetween the two of them, pushes Ren back with one hand, her strength surprising Ren, while her body presses against Kane, a attempt to calm him down. "Knock it off, both of you!" Naofumi glares at Ren. "Kane's gone over the line but he's right, you left people to die." Ren opens his mouth to argue but he's interrupted. "I don't want to hear it! You and Itsuki both left that village to die, end of discussion!" Naofumi turns to the King. "And your Captain Brienus fired upon the village without checking if the evacuation was complete, not only that but me, the Spear Hero and our parties were already handling the monsters easily, we weren't struggling and there was no massive horde of monsters to kill, your idiot captain did nothing but damage that village and endanger the Cardinal Heroes, nothing more. We're done here." Naofumi grabs Kane by the hand and pulls him away, him giving one final middle finger to the King, Ren and Itsuki and generally anyone else that pissed off Kane, their parties following suit shaking their heads at Kane's childish antics.

Kane's head tilts to the side from the force of the slap. He rubs it with a wince, despite no damage being dealt, the strength still made it sting. Naofumi stares at him with her teeth shown off in a snarl. "What the hell were you thinking dumbass! First duelling the Ren and Itsuki and now getting into some fucking childish argument with them like a idiot?! Even almost getting into a brawl with Ren again!"

Kane grumbles. "I might have gotten a little heated but I'm not wrong."

Naofumi grabs his armour. "I don't care if you're not wrong, it's still a stupid fucking thing to do! Are you trying to screw yourself over?!" Kane opens his mouth but Naofumi's finger glides up, her index finger pressing against his lips, shushing the taller Hero. "Don't. Just don't, let's just go."

So this Omake was sort of the original script for how this chapter was going to go, but I changed it up, originally the Kane and the King would just get in a argument between each other for a bit longer with Kane insulting the King and in the end telling him to kill himself, resulting in the King going fucking mental and banishing Kane from the castle permanently, but I've changed it up as you can tell from actual chapter and that part pretty much got left in saved works.

As I was working on Chapter 12 and had the occasionally writer's block I would just pull this up and begin fixing it up, adding more parts like Kane and Ren almost getting into a fight and so on to eventually it got to the point that I decided to edit it in as a Omake for the chapter just because eh, might as add the little extra piece I was working on the sidelines whilst trying to write for Chapter 12.

So, you might be thinking Kane is pretty OP and I wouldn't honestly blame you for that considering he pretty much one tapped both the Heroes but in all fairness Naofumi was winning against Motoyasu before Myne cheated, Kane is stronger then Naofumi would be if he fought Motoyasu, due to Kane not only having a bunch of powerful Spears but Passive Skills and even the Mastery thing that Naofumi uses, including Smelting and all that.

That fight was pretty anti-climatic, I was planning to make it longer and then add Myne cheating but I thought about it longer and to be honest cheating against Kane would be a horrible idea since it's not the Shield Hero but the Spear Hero that gets fucked over so not only would one of the Cardinal Heroes get screwed over by cheating, nothing would even come out of it. I have one more anti-climatic fight planned out, it ain't the fight with Glass if you were wondering.

Kane is gonna soon learn how to use his Spear, but he's gonna try and mix it up and make it more unique.