outskirts of Lurolona village
"the hole is ready, you can put it on" a villager with the appearance of a human size mole said, and with that superman slowly put a large wooden log on the hole next to many others
"Well done shield hero, we are halfway throughout building this wall and it hasn't been a hour" the mole villager said as he stared at the progress made so far, with the village being on the shore of the sea, they had to only put walls around the beach and the outskirts of the village, any threat that came from the water would be able to be managed by Sardina since her combat skills in water could not be match
"No problem, it could be done faster if I did it all myself" Superman offered as this could be done in a snap with his super speed, placing bricks and cement around the entire wall in less than 30 minutes
"Nah, you already work all day saving the world and besides we need something to do now that the houses are all done rebuilding" the mole man responded, there wasn't much left that the villagers couldn't handle in the aspect of finishing up the walls and reinforcing them
"if this is everything, I will be on my way now" superman said as he waved at the mole man before flying away
"...man, that guy is really swell. I understand why Siltvelt sees him as a god, but he is so humble that it seems unbefitting" the mole man comment, the shield hero definitely had the powers of a god but the way he acted so humble and kind even though he was possibly the strongest being on the planet was so inspiring, it was amazing that he wasn't using this sort of power for more personal or selfish reasons.
Melromarc capital, castle town
Eclair was walking a dangerous path, she was inside the same city where she was being imprisoned and had escaped. She was using a disguise and was avoiding the more guarded segments of the town, she needed to get in and out without bringing herself attention
"Welcome to my shop, how can I help you" Erhard gave his usual greeting for when a customer came to his store, not really looking at who it was
"I don't suppose you can give me a good disguise" Eclair said as she took off her scarf and hat, hoping to have a friendly conversation with Erhard as he was a person she could trust... hopefully
"Eclair!? what the hell are you doing here?" the blacksmith was shocked to see the knight in his shop, especially because she was a wanted criminal being chased by the guards all around the capital
"I came to order weapons and armor from you" Eclair said blunt and quick, she couldn't spend too much time still and risk a guard coming into the shop as she even closes the window of the shop just for precaution
"You know I have a policy about not selling to wanted criminals, the whole squadron of royal guards is looking for you" Erhard said, when he first heard about that Eclair had escaped from prison he was surprised, not because she escaped but because it was the first time he heard anything about she being arrested, it seemed absurd for one of the queen's most trusted knights to just be jailed for seemly no reason, as the knights looking for her always seemed to avoid saying what she did or came up with a crime on the spot.
"I noticed that, but I was put in jail for standing against injustice! the king wanted to silence me and punish me for disobeying his cruel orders, he wanted to just allow the citizens of my father's village, the people I grew up with to get slaved, not caring that Lurolona was supposed to be a safe haven to demi humans by order of the queen and that it represented a effort from both Melromarc and Siltvelt to help at improving relationship between the two species" Eclair explained to him why the king's action against her was wrong, he did all of that out of racism and anger. He would have been frozen until he couldn't feel his body for a month by his wife for such behavior if she was here, Aultcray was letting this power go over his head but he didn't know a thing about managing the kingdom, he was only focusing in the capital and ignoring problems outside of it which helped them keep lurolona's restoration in secret for now but it meant new problems could be brewing in Melromarc without him even knowing
"I'm honestly surprised he was able to do that considering you're part of the queen's personal guard" Erhard responded, Eclair was not just a knight of the castle but one of the elite combats assigned by the queen herself to be the guards of the royal family, something that gave Eclair a status above other knights of the capital
"Neither she or the second princess are in the country so he holds all the power" Eclair responds as things would have gone very differently if either were there when it happened
"... *sigh* I'm regretting saying this but what do you want to buy?" Erhard reluctantly said, his good hearted nature slipping in his ruff exterior, admittedly that could be a very bad decision but it was to help a friend in need
"Spears and armors for at least 15 people, I can assure you I'm more than capable of paying for it!" Eclair responds as she slammed a bag on the counter, with the money given by the shield hero they could buy anything they needed without worrying about being short on coins
"An order like that is 13 gold and a wanted criminal wouldn't have that sort of money... did you steal it?" Erhard said more than suspicious on how she got that much money
"No, I was gifted this by a kind hearted man who has helped my father's village more than the capital ever did" Eclair responds while keeping the shield hero identity secret
"...Okay I'll work on that order but it's gonna take two days at best and it will be a lot for you to carry on your own, so you're going to need a wagon or something to carry this" Erhard said, sounded like she was wanting to buy gear for the people of her village, he didn't know if the place was still inhabited since there was no way that any slaver in Melromarc wouldn't have gone there to help themselves to "wild" demi humans after the first wave hit the place, then again... they were said to have a fisher woman more powerful than twenty men or a dragon, perhaps she took care of them
"I'll send someone trustworthy to get it, I'm already risking a lot coming here" Eclair responds as the shield hero had a contact called 'Clark' who could help move things without suspicion, she honestly wanted to know who was this man that the shield hero could trust so much as by the description he just sounds like a average farmer, a farmer that doesn't hate demi humans but a normal farmer non the less
"no doubt about that, also if anyone asks I don't know you and I was forced to make this order or else you would cut my throat and burn my shop" Erhard said in a bit of a jokey tone
"you think I'm gonna be caught?" she asked sarcastically, she had been training up to get back to her old level and as such her speed is likely higher than any of the city's guards
"you can never be so sure" the man responded, although he was certain that even if she was caught, she wasn't going down without a fight
--elsewhere in Castle Town--
"Huh?" Motoyasu as he looked around the inn him and his party members were residing in for the moment, he was trying to find Rino so they could go on a date but she wasn't in her room or anywhere by that matter
"Is there something wrong, Motoyasu-sama?" Myne asked as she and other girls in Motoyasu's group approached him
"No is just... have you girls seen Rino?" motoyasu asked as they might know something since they were all so close and friendly with Rino
"Oh... she left unfortunately" Myne said with a saddened tone of voice but it seemed very forceful and fake but it seemed that motoyasu didn't notice
"Really?... I guess the status screen did tell me that, but why would she leave?" motoyasu asked, he did receive a notification when he woke up that Rino left his party which was why he was doing this search for her to know why she leaved his group
"Oh she said it was getting too dangerous for her and that she was going back to her family's house to rest" Myne said a innocent look on her face but that seemed to hide away something malicious in her eyes and smile
"Isn't that right?" Myne said as she looked at the other members of Motoyasu's group, with them nodding in agreement although a bit nervously
"Y-yeah she said that" Lesty replied in agreement to Myne but she was obviously doing out of fear of something
"Damn... well, I can't force her to stay if it is getting too dangerous for her to keep up" motoyasu said, it was sad to lose such a pretty girl from his group but he completely understood that following a hero was not a job cut out for many people, especially beautiful women
"Exactly, now we better go grab another quest from the adventurers guild to take our minds out of this" Malty said as she grabbed his arm and hugged it while doing her usual pretty face of innocence despite her thoughts being very much the opposite 'Lets just forget about that useless slut, she isn't going to be a problem for me anymore'
"Yeah you're right" Motoyasu agreed as he was led by Myne to possibly another one of their dates
--Three heroes church in castle Town--
"This is horrible, absolutely horrible" the pope of the Three Heroes Church was infuriated as he sat in his chair, a hand massaging his forehead to release tension and relax
"How is the devil of the shield doing this? how come for every rumor defaming him that we make, another five praising him like a god appears from everywhere around the world?" the pope was flabbergasted by this, how could such rumors spread around? rumors of the shield hero performing feats of strength never once recorded on the old texts have been flooding through the entire globe, they were so stretched thin because of their effort to hide these rumors that he didn't even know what the other heroes were doing
"Is he outside Melromarc? no that would be impossible, his devilish minions must be spreading this false praise across the land" the pope rationalized as there was no way for the shield hero to do even a fourth of what these stories said, he was the weakest hero, he was the most devilish hero, there is no way for him to be as powerful and selfless as a God.
"Hopefully our plan can continue in motion" he laid back to his chair, this was becoming a very stressful case but he was certain that the church's goals would be achieved in the end, this was all false rumors and not the actual reality they lived in
"Balmus?" Aultcray asked as he entered the Pope's office hoping to hear a response, he really needed help in the moment
"Ah! king Aultcray, what do I owe the pleasure of your presence?" the pope said as he welcomed his most useful pawn in his plans, wanting to know why he came for a visit in his office
"I... require guidance, problems have come my way that I don't know how to handle" Aultcray said as he was having many thoughts and troubles cloud his mind and stressing him all day and night "I wish you could give me some advice if possible" he asked, Balmus was a old friend and a person who helped him during many moments in his life
"Of course, what is it that troubles you?" Balmus said as he offered for the king to take a seat which Aultcray gladly took to rest
"Idol Rapier, a member of my battalion and very dear friend has died, by the hands of a terrible monster that might be in our country but so far no news of its destruction has been reported nor has the creature been seen" Aultcray said melancholic, the creature that took the life of his friend was nothing less than a creature as legendary as the saints of the country, a monster so fierce and powerful that it could only be sealed away and not killed, out matching the three cardinal heroes and the devil of the shield when they were working together, and that thing was free now and unstoppable to cause its rampage... but it was not doing anything, no reports of it's movements or destruction have been send, it didn't even seemed to be on the other countries as he expected that refuges would be coming to Melromarc to escape its rampage or that the country leaders would be asking for urgent help from Melromarc's army and the heroes but nothing came, the mystery on the tyrant's whereabouts was very stressing for him
"I heard of it... the Black Tyrant Dragon that was sealed under Rapier's manor, we can only hope that it has left the country or that our great heroes have killed it" Balmus said, that was also something that was heavily bothering him, with how spread out his shadows were, he wasn't being keeping a eye on the heroes 24/7 so he couldn't know if any of them had slayed the beast, the bow or spear hero would be boasting about killing it so the sword hero was the most likely but he had been too quiet for his liking
"Then there is that wrenched Eclair, I put her in jail for siding with those beasts and wanting them to be freed. But she has escaped even after being reset to level 1!" Aultcray said in a more annoyed tone, he didn't know how was possible for such a feat to be achieved unless the person was a hero or shape-shifter but he should have at least thought of the possibility that his wife's bodyguard could manage that, although he also feared that she might have been helped by a shadow from another country or worst... a shadow working for his wife, if she gets to know what he has been doing, he was sure to receive the worst of punishments
"I am sure that she will pop up again, you can stop her from crossing the borders of the country if necessary" Balmus said as he was the least worried about her, he had already informed most members of his church across the country to report or apprehend her and told the shadows of the church to kill her if spotted
"I suppose... then there is the shield hero, I haven't heard anything about him and that worries me, what could that devil be doing? raping more women? making an army of monsters? I need to know what the shield is doing at all times if possible!" Aultcray shouted furiously, he hadn't heard a single thing about the shield hero other than a rumor or two of his evil deeds, he seemly had vanished from Melromarc and although he didn't care about him, he did care to know if that devil was suffering for raping his daughter
"The shield hero won't be a problem, I am sure of it" Balmus said as he reassured his puppet with his never changing smile, hiding how much of a real trouble the shield hero really was for the m or at least for the church's plans
"Great pope Balmus I bring news... is this a bad time?" one of the church's clerics came in holding some papers and scrolls, he asked since the king was there and thus it would be better for an outsider to not hear any of the church's businesses
"No it is not, what seems to be the problem?" Balmus asked, he was slightly hesitant to let Aultcray hear of any of the church's activities but to consider how the cleric was acting and how he seemed to address the situation so lightly that it was probably safe to discuss it while the king was in the room
"well... the shield hero registered to the dragon hourglass yesterday" the cleric said, Balmus was mildly surprised but kept a straight face, but Aultcray had a far more exaggerated look
"What! are you sure?" the king spoke up first and asked the cleric as he got up from his chair, this was the first news he had received of the shield hero and it wasn't what he expected, of course there was always the possibility of him synchronizing with the hourglass but Aultcray never wanted that, did someone told him about it? but who would help a rapist criminal like the shield hero?
"Y-yes..." the cleric responded shyly to the king
"Ugh... at the very least he will fight the waves for us, as unpleasant as that thought is" Aultcray was frustrated by this but accept it, he would need any help possible against the waves even if it was from the shield hero, he could just give him a lesser amount compared to the other heroes to limit his growth and he could always come up with a reason on the spot, he just wanted the shield to stay down and crawl into a hole while the real heroes did the what they are good at
"I see... well changing the subject, I think you should reinforce the security of the capital in the case of that tyrant dragon appearing here" the pope advised the king, thinking only of protecting the main headquarters of the church and assuring it's survival instead of making a effort to save the rest of the country from the tyrant's threat
"Right... thank you for your advice" Aultcray thanks Balmus before leaving the room, he still had many problems to deal with and his headache was still annoying him but at very least he knew that the shield hero was going to fight for their country, he didn't like it but Aultcray just had to accept this for now
"Were there any bodies aside from Rapier's found in his manor?" Balmus asked the cleric, he wanted to know the scale of the tyrants awakening and if anyone there could shred some light on the circumstances of such event
"The bodies of his guards, the servants seemed to have survived but they don't know what happened besides that the dragon emerged from the obelisk" the cleric responded, the servants were useless in determining what had occurred there since they just said that they were either doing chores or mysteriously and supernaturally "relocated" which made them be passed out when it occurred
"And what about the ones of his slaves?" the pope asked again, he didn't care for that scum but it was best to have some sort of confirmation on their deaths
"None besides very old bones" the cleric informed, Idol's dungeon had only two dead demi humans and the stat of decomposition didn't match that of other dead guards nor were those bodies crushed
"I see... I want you to talk to the local slave trader and get information on the slaves owned by Rapier, then send a group of shadows to their most likely hiding location" the pope said ominously he had something to do now, these demi humans must have some how freed the black tyrant and are now using it somehow. If he could find their hiding spot then he could slaughter them and take whatever they are using to control the black tyrant to the church and move their plans on a faster rate than now, if he can conquer the Tyrant then nothing would stay in the church's way of purifying the world from the filthy demi humans and making so that the three holy heroes are beloved by all while making the shield hero fade from the public knowledge, wether they agree to it or not...
Road somewhere in Melromarc
Rino sat on the cage she was in, tuckered up in a hopeless state as she had been sold off into slavery. Her own party member, Myne Sophia, had tricked her and sold her off to slavers, why? because Rino was close to the spear hero, not as much as Myne was but still close. The witch had gone on two or three dates with the spear hero by his request and she was enjoying their time together, with the whole party in fact, but then Myne called her to talk privately about a spell she wanted to learn but in reality she just wanted to get Rino into a trap. Myne had apparently done that because of control, she wanted the spear hero for herself and she deemed that Rino was getting too close for comfort, the witch had been drugged, gotten a slave mark put on her while she was unconscious and sold off to human slavers. Human slavery was illegal in Melromarc, how was this operation happening was a mystery on itself, but it didn't matter... her life as a free individual was now over, she was going to be a tool for whoever bought her and she would likely be sold as a sex slave, that's what usually happened to female slaves, Rino was ready to give up hope of living... until the carriage stopped suddenly
"What the hell! is the shield hero!" the guy in front of the carriage screamed out, Rino lifted herself from the dirty interior of her cage to try and see what was happening. the shield hero had appeared? what was he doing here in the middle of the road? of all the heroes he was the one that possibly came to her and many others rescue?
"Why are you here you piece of horse shit" the guy in front of the carriage asked. Rino was praying for the shield hero to have come for good reasons and not because he was just passing by or wanting a slave
"..." there was no response that Rino could hear, the shield hero just kept quiet to himself which she didn't know if it was a bad or good thing
"Answer me you fuc-" before the guy in front of the carriage could finish he was cut off, Rino and the others inside the back of the vehicle felt the whole thing shake as a gust of wind seemed to have hit the carriage. after a few seconds, Rino and the others saw someone open the curtain behind the carriage to reveal the shield hero
"Are you all alright? lets get you all out from those cages" Superman said, Rino watched as he went and broke the locks of the cages and then placed his hand in the shoulders or heads of the slaves present there, making a glow appear in their chest that for their surprise, made the slaves seals in their chest disappear
"thank you! thank you!" that was the response of the humans slaves that were freed, since they were citizens of Melromarc, they grew up to see the shield hero as the devil, but when their country abandoned them to a fate worse than death, he was the one to save them instead of the gods and heroes they prayed for.
"Shield hero?..." Rino calls out as superman was about to leave, superman took a moment to look back at her
"Everything alright?" he asked, thinking she might be injured or slightly sick from being kept in the conditions of a slave
"It's me Rino, from the spear hero's party" she declared, superman looked and sure enough, he remembered her from the day where each hero got themselves a party
"Really? how did you get in this situation?" superman asked, how did she was captured if she was in the party of a cardinal hero was a mystery to Clack, from what he gather about the heroes and their influence on the world, kidnapping a party member of a hero was the same as buying a fight with a demigod, you're just calling upon a opponent with power far beyond that of a normal person
"I... Myne sold me to these slavers" Rino said with some struggle in her voice, remembering the betrayal and the first princess devilish smile as she was taken away was something hard for her to think about without being reminded of the fear she felt at that moment
"Why would she do that?" superman asked because although he knew that Myne was malicious, selling someone to slavery doesn't make sense for someone that was princess of the country that although had demi human slavery, was so against human slavery that it was punishable with the death sentence no matter the gender or status of a person according to what Eclair had told him about the legal system of this country, was she...using her status as the princess to do this without being punished? Clark could only imagine what other selfish abuse of power she has done until now.
"She said I was... getting too close to the spear hero, that I was an undesirable probability for her plans..." Rino responded, it wasn't even her fault, the spear was the one that seemed to have gotten interested in her and keep wanting to win her over... now that she thought about it the same thing happened to two other party members, the spear hero began to get more interested in someone that wasn't Myne and they disappeared without a trace, was Myne doing this to all the party members that even represented a problem to her? how could she sleep at night having done such a thing?
"...she is really something rotten... do you have a home to go to? perhaps a family member that you can stay with?" superman asked, willing to take her to somewhere she felt safe
"I have a home with my parents and siblings to go to... but they all live close to the capital... close to the castle, close to her... I can never go back there, as long as she has her status and is now the spear hero master with how he just does whatever she wants... she is untouchable..." Rino responded as she looked at a distance, feeling down for having her life ruined by someone she couldn't get revenge against
"If you are interested, I have a place that is safe at the moment, we are making defenses and fortifications in case of a wave or attack." superman offered, lurolona village was relatively well defended thanks to the reinforcements build around the village, and since most of the citizens were freed slaves they could help Rino with what she was going through
"...sure, what other options do I have anyways?" Rino said, there were pretty few things she could do right now and she was being offered an opportunity from the man who saved her, why not take the risk anyways? Clark puts his hand on her shoulder and equips the [dragon hourglass shield] to finally use it's ability. In an instant she and the shield hero were in a different location, a faint white glow around their bodies that quickly disappears as the two were inside the demi human village, the first to notice this was raphtalia and keel who were playing outside
"Oh you're back and... who is that?" Raphtalia asked, worried about how Rifana would react to the shield hero bringing in a woman to the village that wasn't accompanied by more people that were possibly saved since just one woman being brought in by the shield hero himself could send her friend thoughts into a speculation and jealousy filled spiral
"Why did you bring a human here?" Keel said as he looked at Rino with much more skeptical eyes, unsure about what to think from a human other than Eclair on the village
"Keel!" Raphtalia said as she looked at him a bit angry, that person was brought here by the shield hero for a reason, they didn't need to be rude to her
"No it's... understandable, I bet you don't have a good look at people like me" Rino said as she looked to the side, this village seemed to have only demi human denizens so they were either on Siltvelt but it didn't seemed the case since the shield hero wouldn't take her to a nation that practice human slavery after just taking her out from becoming one, the most logical answer was that they were in Melromarc still from the accent that the two children had... she heard that there was a demi human village in Melromarc but it was devastated by the first wave, and while many believed that some also thought that was a cover up for what happened, Rino was unsure what was true but to consider the hostility she was getting from a child it seems that it was the second option
"Yeah especially after a bunch of slavers came to- ouch!" Keel gets punched in the arm by Raphtalia for talking like that
"This is Rino, I rescued her from a slave cargo here" superman explained, with the two kids being taken back by this. They knew the shield hero was stopping slave operations here and there but they didn't expect human slavery on Melromarc
"uhh? but she is human, isn't human slavery illegal in Melromarc?" Keel asked, he didn't understand why would humans slave other humans if they already slaved demi humans, the bastards that buy and sell slaves are scum but Keel assumed by the way they talked about how they were justified by stupid religious crap that no one in Melromarc would try and slave a human since it went against the whole point of slavery in the country
"Yes, but that doesn't mean there aren't people who will do it anyway" Rino commented as she looked down with a saddened look on her face, Keel felt kind of bad for saying those stuff after knowing they went through a similar thing
"oh, sorry... welcome to our village then!" Keel said as he now saw Rino as one of them, victims of the same evil rescued by the coolest hero ever
"want me to show you the place?" Raphtalia offered as knowing what it was like to be a slave, the young raccoon girl knew that some friendly attitude would ease the things
"...sure" Rino said as she smiled, seeing that perhaps she was going to enjoy her stay here with this hospitality
"Great, just follow us!" Keel said as he and Raphtalia began to give the young mage a tour through the village, superman just watched for a moment before flying off to stop another problem on another country like a rock slide in Shieldfreeden that was happening this moment
Siltvelt capital, Hamlet's office
"What is the next item on the agenda?" the dragon demi human asked as he finished writing on a piece of paper
"Commercial dispute, a shop owner wants to barricade the entrance of another chain in his territory" his assistant said as she passed him another paper from the one she was caring
"Does he own a monopoly on his service?" Hamlet asked as this was something that happened at times, it wasn't bad for the council or Siltvelt as a whole but he personally didn't like to promote a stale market if possible
"No, but the-"
"Lord Hamlet!" the large dog nun shouted as she burst into the room, opening the door wide open and possibly damaging the frame of it
"What now? I'm doing my work" Hamlet said angry that his work was being disturbed, especially by this mess of a guard once again. He would personally demote her if he could, but she was a high rank member of the church and he wasn't in charge of the religious side of the country's management, that was Werner's thing.
"I bring amazing news! woof! a blessing from heaven! woof!" she says while excited to show the council member the news, her verbal tick was back in motion as she did little jumps in the room
"Speak normally, have some sort of decency" Hamlet said as he was a bit disgust by the nuns attitude, to bark and growl like a true animal was something considered one of the most offensive and pathetic things a demi human could do, as it was basically allowing yourself to act like a uncivilized beast, it was something humans did to insult and annoy demi humans, so seeing one of the people under him act like that was disappointing
"Of course! woo... will do" she corrected herself before angering the dragon demi human, she should work on getting that verbal tick under control
"Now what is so important?" Hamlet asked, although he had a few ideas of what it might be
"We have confirmation of the shield hero, it's on this crystal ball" the dog nun happily exclaimed as she showed the ball, this news were to be a nation wide celebration to all demi humans on Siltvelt as their god had returned to guide them into salvation
"What!? Really?!" both Hamlet and his assistant screamed in disbelief at this news
"Yes! see it for yourself" the dog nun takes the crystal ball and places it on the table as a recording of the shield hero begins playing on loop
"My god..." Hamlet was speechless at this revelation, he might need to check the recordings to see if they were changed but he took extra measurements to avoid that from being a possibility
"Ha! I knew he was real! I'm your face!" his assistant smugly pointed at him from excitement before realizing what she had done and how that would cost her job
"I'm sorry so sorry, it came out of nowhere I-i didn't want to say it" the assistant pleaded as she feared getting fired or something worst, Hamlet wasn't a short tempered as the white tiger representative but he very much didn't like insubordination
"I'll... forgive you this time..." The dragon demi human would let this sort of behavior slide this time, he hated to admit but his assistant was right from the beginning and he was the one in the wrong for dismissing those rumors. Although he felt it was justified considering how little solid proof they had of the shield hero being real
"To see with my own eyes the shield hero is... almost like a lucid dream" Hamlet says as he couldn't really believe what he was seeing, if this was true then... all those impossible feats of power performed by him were real or had some level of truth to them, he was honestly overwhelmed by the idea but he keep his posture
"he is dreamy alright" the dog nun comments as she looks at the crystal ball's image of the shield hero, his appearance being just as handsome as the church's texts said he was
"you're dismissed, keep guard of the church and inform me if the shield hero returns" he orders the dog nun, he wanted some time to process this and the dog lady had her obligation as guard of the holy church to fulfill
"Yes lord Hamlet!" She screamed as she left and slammed the door shut, causing more damage to the framing of said door
"... should I schedule a council meeting tomorrow lord Hamlet" his assistant asked, with confirmation that the shield hero was real it would be the best course of action to notify the other council members and begin search for him to come over to the capital, hopefully having him staying to guide them
"Not yet, we need more information and evidence for our case. Werner would take very little convincing but the other two will be more skeptical" He said while getting up from his chair and began walking, while this news could bring a country wide celebration, it would cause some chaos if they weren't 100% sure of every detail of this new shield hero
"...one of those rumors is that he saved enslaved demi humans from Melromarc correct?" he asked his assistant as this was a good place to start, he had heard many of those rumors before but he didn't want to check them, bow was the perfect time to pick up the slack of his past self
"Yes It's said that he even brought them to a small village for them to readjust, would you like me to pull the village's location?" she asked back to her boss, knowing how Hamlet likes to do things it was likely that he would want to extract as much information from these people as possible, with or without their cooperation
"Of course, I want to talk with these ex-slaves and if necessary interrogate them all. I want to know as much as we can about this shield hero the fastest we can" Hamlet responded as they would be useful, they had been saved by the shield hero and likely saw him due this feats in person before getting to Siltvelt, it would also be good to know his stand on slavery. If he supports human slavery then he would be perfect for their country, if he doesn't support slavery of any kind... then some citizens might be reluctant to accept him but to have a man as powerful as this shield hero on their side, Hamlet was more than ready to stop human slavery if it meant he would stay in their country as a more active figure in their politics
"I have no doubt in my mind that if he is just like those rumors say he is... we won't be the only ones looking to have his power on our side" He said while looking out at the large balcony in his office, it was clear that gears were in motion and that the world was about to change if it hadn't already. Every time the four cardinal heroes are summoned to their world, it means that something would change in some way be it small or drastically. This shield hero made armies obsolete and could end tragedies before they happened, whoever got him on his side would automatically become untouchable in terms of power and Hamlet knew that every single world leader would want to have this shield hero for their country and no one else, if Siltvelt were to thrive in the near future, they needed this shield hero for themselves.
[author's notes]
I hope you all liked the chapter, leave a comment as it helps a lot (but don't spam things not related to the fanfic)
Rino is now part of Lurolona! Superman has been stopping slave cargos for a while off screen but in this one he found the spear hero's party member. Next chapter is going to cover the wave in Melromarc, despite it having been completed before I'm gonna have to rework some of the aspects and add some new stuff for it
to 2zz3: I didn't know or I didn't remember about being able to see other people's levels so I didn't factor that in, but maybe Aultcray lost that ability because of the staff locking a lot of his power (I'm assuming seeing people's levels is a hero exclusive ability here okay?) but also the other heroes could think that they are so far ahead of Clark that they can't see his level because of how low it is when it is the opposite. The church won't be able to cover up Itsuki's assassinations so he is fucked and motoyasu won't have that specific rumor but people will not think of him highly later on, Ren is mostly safe of that sort of thing since his only rumor was the Mirso village pandemic which was a massive one
to zanzara: Superman won't be unlocking a cursed series any time soon, the man is literally seen as an embodiment of hope to people from his world and story after story has told of his good hearted nature and overall unbreakable morals. If anything he would be unlocking blessed series left and right but the original shield hero story doesn't specify those like they do with cursed series (I plan on him getting blessed series but I don't know which they would be in specific,leave suggestions on what blessed series superman could get)
to IbisFight: thanks! I have been putting my all into making this fanfic the best it can be while also being distinct from other shield hero fanfics
to Guest 1: thanks, hope you liked this one
to Bruhman: The duel with motoyasu will likely not happen unless it takes place in a different time with a different reason. I thought of having Medea try to grab strong monsters from DC or even some kryptonite to use in her plan but she would be too scared of the speed force or darksied himself to try anything
to iamchaos: thanks, hope you liked this chapter
to Guest 2: I mean it's not like every single ability has to be good or useful, Naofumi and the other heroes could use this to their advantage but superman is mostly just doing it as a formality and to see what type of ability it gives so he can judge if it can help him saving people (Superman doesn't have a need for offensive shield powers so support is what he will likely focus on using)
to TheRealD3lph0xL0v3r: she certainly will be pissed off, now the question is what she will attempt to do in order to stop him
to the mysterious Mr.E: thanks!
to XaralandoWyattWyatt: every nation leader will definitely fight over him even if they don't explicitly show to the other nation leaders. I mean of course they would, he is superior in every way to any of the legends or old texts of the heroes and he has done a better job of saving the world alone than all four heroes and vassal heroes over the years. Ren will fight his own wave but there is still time before that happens. An underground base sounds interesting but I have another idea for his base. I guess he really helped boom that small village's economy by leaving those cyclops bodies then. Eclair could have joined his party but she never thought of the idea, she is a bit of a meat head according to the series and other characters. Only two of the villains I came up with were inspired by DC characters so far but others could appear (to clarify this wouldn't be DC characters that have been transported to the shield hero world but rather that world's version/take on that character. Imagine dark knights of steel version of the green lantern, it is a medieval Lex Luthor that had gained the appearance and insanity of the joker after founding a magical green ring that came from space, it is based on a familiar character but is made of completely different elements)
to AnimeFan13579: so the way I saw the Waves was... like literal waves of enemies, you finish a group and then the other comes up after a small amount of time since that would help explain why the heroes saw it like a game even more, also I wrote a good chunk of the Melromarc wave already so it would be extremely short if superman just immediately ends it. I might work this around on the glass wave (when I get there) as that one will be extra tricky for our heroes