"You want me to look for someone?" Clark asked as he holded a entire tree over his shoulder, once they had gotten into the village superman had been helping the villagers rebuild the destroyed lurolona only leaving to help people on other countries in life or death situations
"Yeah if it isn't asking much mister shield hero" Raphtalia said
"Not at all, can you tell how she looks?" The man of steel asked for more detail as he puts the tree down on the ground
"S-sure! her name is Eclair Seaetto, she has pink hair and blue eyes" the raccoon girl starts to list eclair's most notable characteristics
"She also wears a knights armor!" Keel says as any detail was relevant, although it was possible she wasn't wearing the armor right now there is no way lady Seaetto would throw it away
"She was the rightful owner of this territory before rapier took it" another demi human added, before the horrible rapier came and took over, eclair and her father owned this lands with the two being very friendly to the inhabitants of the village
"Lady eclair was a very nice woman, she was one of the kingdom's best knights" a wolf demi human woman said
"We need her back! she is the third strongest person I know and I bet she could really help with the village" Keel said while waving his tail, the shield hero was by far the strongest person he had ever seen with his childhood inspiration Sardina coming at a close second, Eclair was a well respected for a reason as she was considered one of if not the best knight of Melromarc
"Alright I will try, is it okay to leave the rest up to the villagers?" the man of steel asked
"Of course! you already helped us with enough of the reconstruction, leave the rest to us!" raphtalia says, even with superman leaving during the night to help people from the other side of the world he was able to restore the village by complete with the exception of two houses, he even build a barn to house the filolians and even replanted most of their crops
"Very well" Clark said as laid the tree on the ground and flies into the sky, the villagers look in amazement before returning to work
"Did he *huf* left?" Rifana asked as she had rushed with a bouquet of white lilly's
"Yeah just now" Keel responded while looking up in the sky, he was still amazed at the shield hero's ability to fly even without wings
"Ah... I was gonna make my proposal to him" Rifana left a sad squeal as she had spent all morning collecting the most beautiful flowers she could find just to make her proposal
"Rifana... you just met him and he is too old for you" Raphtalia said, although rifana was her best friend she couldn't deny that she was way too obsessed about marrying the shield hero, sure he saved all of their lives and is really helpful but the weasel girl didn't seem to think about anything else other than dating him
"More exactly you are too young for him" Keel added, if Rifana was a adult then maybe she would have a slim chance but as a little girl there was no way she would win over a adult man's heart, especially a guy with so much virtues
"Age doesn't matter when it comes to love!" Rifana trued to defend herself, to her true love doesn't care about size, appearance or age
"It kind of does" Raphtalia replied as having romantic feelings for someone younger than you was wrong as her parents told her, it was okay for two kids of about the same age to fall in love but a 30 year old man dating a 12 year old is considered a crime for anyone with reasonable sense
"Well I can just level myself up until I become a adult" Rifana said with confidence, if age was the problem then it was just a matter of her reaching a high level 'because demi humans age as they level up all I have to do is reach a certain level and in the next day I will have a smoking hot adult body to win the shield hero over!'
"Wouldn't you still be a kid mentally? you aren't mature enough for this sort of stuff" Raphtalia responded, while it is true Rifana would have an adult body, she would still be very much the same in terms of mentality and a kid isn't supposed to do adult even if they look like adults
"I'm mature!" Rifana yelled back while puffing her cheeks
"Yeah jumping on your bed after hearing a night time story is really mature" Keel said while rolling his eyes, he had a smile on his face
"Shut up Keel!" Rifana shouted before storming off in a childish anger
Meanwhile superman hovered over the country and used his super vision along with x-ray vision to look for Eclair, after twenty minutes of scanning the country for her, Clark found someone that matches the description in the capital city inside a prison...
"This complicates things..." he said with a hand in the chin before flying into the direction of the prison
Melromarc Capital, Castle City Prison
Eclair sat in her knees while her hands hang over her head in chains as she looked down to the floor, thinking about how she got here, how the king had sent her in the dungeon just because she wanted to join the shield hero, how he had let the village of lurolona to be devastated by the wave and then sent his men to slave the surviving people, all she could do was look back and ask how...
"Would you happen to be Eclair Seaetto?" a voice asked and as she lifted her head up to see who it was, all she saw was a man floating in the air with his legs and arms crossed wearing a red cape and a weird blue costume
"Great... I'm starting to hallucinate" Eclair said in sarcastic tone as she lowered her head back
"The people of Lurolona asked me to look for you" superman said as he observed the pink haired knight
"Really?... did they ask you to say how useless of a knight I am?" Eclair said somewhat sarcastically but with a hint of guilt, she couldn't see herself being able to stand in front of the villagers, they probably hated her, if she was there to help and stop them from being sold to slavery maybe all of this could have been avoided...
"They need you, they need someone to guide them" superman responded as he saw how the knight's spirit was almost crushed
"I am a failure of a knight, I failed to protect my father, I failed to protect them and I couldn't ev-"
"Our failures don't determine what we are" superman said as he flew a bit closer to the jail cell, as he stared with a worried and calming face at Eclair
"Don't they? How do you know I won't fail them again?..." Eclair said as she looked to the sides, even if it was a hallucination in front of her, she somehow didn't found in herself to look at the eyes of it
"Because you will learn from your mistakes, that's what we do, it is better to fail than to do nothing" superman said, many times he was put in a similar situation as the knight found herself in, he would often think about all the lives he couldn't save, all the people he couldn't help, those things devastated him in the beginning of his career, but he had learned that, even if he could perform feats that some called godly, he knew that he wasn't a God, he couldn't be in everyplace, so instead, he decided to try harder everytime so he could save more people
"What can I do then?" Eclair said as she looks back at the mysterious figure, his words getting in her head
"You will try your best, that's all I ask" superman said, both him and eclair stare at each other, a small smile forming in the pink haired woman's face
"Hehe... I guess I could try that, but how can I do anything stuck in this place?" She said sarcastically but more optimistic than before
"I can help with that" the mysterious man say as he stops floating and walks over to the cell bars, riping them out
"What the..." Eclair is confused at what just happened as she looked at the busted door on the ground before her hands fall down as the red caped man had broken her chains with his hands
"Wait... this is real?" she says while passing her hand across her wrist in disbelief, eclair thought this was all something out of her imagination
"Of course it is, now we better get going before someone show's up" superman says as he offers a hand to the knight, who accepts and lifts herself from the ground, staring eyes wide of surprise and confusion at the man in front of her
"But how? how could you have done that wi-" Eclair stops as she looks in the man's arm and sees the silver shield, it looked exactly like the pictures in the books her father read to her as a kid "You're the Shield hero!"
"You can call me Kal-El, but superman is fine too" superman nonchalantly responds as the pink haired woman keeps looking in disbelief at him
"This is unbelievable..." she says as she passes a finger in his chest
"Now" superman quickly picks and holds the knight in his arms
"What are you doing?!" Eclair asked in confusion and embarrassment
"You better hold tight, this might be a bit nauseating" superman said as he moved in super speed, in a second they were now outside the prison
"Urhm!" Eclair grunted as she puts a hand in her mouth to not throw up
"I hope you don't have a fear of height" superman said as he looked up to the sky
"Urhm... why?" Eclair asked before superman leaps into the air and begins to fly in the direction of lurolona village, the knight doing her best to not black out or vomit during it
Melromarc Castle, Throne room
"Would you have a moment your majesty?" one of the king advisor's ask's as he enters the throne room
"It will depend, do you have any news about the shield?" Aultcray replied, he wanted to know how much suffering and struggle the shield hero was passing through now that his reputation was completely ruined
"No my king, it seems he has been laying low, not even doing hero work" the advisor responded, they have asked around the capital and even the close by village's but it seemed that the shield hero had seemingly disappeared after the trial
"good... let's hope he doesn't interfere with the other three heroes" Aultcray was satisfied with this outcome, with the shield hero dead or in hiding it meant that they would have no one to interrupt the other heroes from growing stronger or be a dead weight during the wave
"I... I also bring bad news my highness" the advisor was reluctant to tell this news to the king but it was his job to do so
"Really? what is it then?" Aultcray asked
"Idol Rapier has died" the advisor told the news and for a minute the room was silent
"Idol Rapier is dead!?" the king shouted in disbelief, how could one of the country's greatest war hero's and close friend of his to have simply died like this
"Y-yes my lord" the advisor responded, it was a shocking news for sure, especially to the king as he and Idol were close friends as they fought in the war together
"But how?... was he assassinated?" the king asked, Idol may have been a close friend but even the king couldn't deny that he wasn't well liked by nobles or the citizens of the capital, his attitude and behavior made him despicable to the other nobles and certainly one would try a assassination attempt to gain power, even idol's son was a possible suspect
"No my king... he was crushed to death" the advisor replied, his voice trembling as he did
"But... by what? a boulder?" Aultcray once again asked, it could be possible for Idol to die in such a way but he would be able to react to such event 'maybe his reflexes weren't as good as they used to be... it could be that'
"No... by the Black Tyrano..." the advisor said knowing the reaction it would cause
"What!?!?!?" Aultcray screamed out in confusion and panic
"Yes... it seems the Black Tyrano was responsible for the death of Idol and the destruction of his mansion" the advisor continued, he too was terrified when he heard that the Black Tyrano was freed and he expected the king to have a similar reaction
"I heard that it was sealed in the grounds long before the manor was built but... how could it have broke out?" Aultcray was flabbergasted, the monster was put inside a obelisk by the ancient legendary heroes so the seal couldn't have been broken unless someone did, but who would be insane enough to unleash such evil?
"We don't know for sure, but we believe that the seal holding the creature inside the obelisk degraded over the years eventually becoming weak enough for the monster to escape..." the advisor said, that was the only logical explanation for such a event unless Idol Rapier went insane decided on unleashing that monster
"Raise security! I want every guard ready to face that monster, were is it heading?" Aultcray asked, they had to kill this ancient beast before it destroyed the country and even with the three legendary heroes, in their current state they would be dead within the minute for sure
"We have no idea my highness, we lost the trail of it as if it seemly disappeared" the advisor responded, he knew it was outlandish to say something like that but aside from multiple footsteps and a couple of destroyed terrain, it seemed that the Black Tyrano simply disappeared
"A thing that size can't just disappear like that!"Aultcray screamed out to the advisor, a monster bigger than two houses on top of each other couldn't just disappear without leaving a trail
"W-we asked around and a guard s-said that a man lured the monster a-away from the city, maybe he killed it!?" the advisor tried to calm down the king, if someone lured the monster away and the monster had disappeared then maybe this brave soul was able to kill it
"But then where is the body?" he once again asked as if someone did kill it then he would have told everyone and there would be a skeleton to show, in fact he would he hearing about how this man killed the beast instead of the monster just evaporating out of thin air
"We don't know..." the advisor shyly replied as he had no answers as to where the monster is
"Ugh... Idol is dead, the shield hero is nowhere to be found and we have no idea of what the Black Tyrano is up to... Could this day get any worst?" the king ask's as his blood rate was through the roof from stress, he couldn't see how his day could get even more awful than it already was
"Your majesty *huf* Eclair Seaetto has *huf* escaped prison" the prison warden announced as he storms into the room tired, Aultcray face palms himself as he shouldn't have asked
Lurolona village
"Are we landing? please tell me we're landing" Exlair asked as she was holding on to the man of steel with all her strength, terrified of falling from such heights
"Yes" superman said as the began to slowly descend "Welcome back to lurolona" superman says as they land on the ground
"I can't say I have ever took flight before, hopefully I won't have to repeat it soon" Eclair said as she had to catch her breath
"the village looks great and the red barn is new but it d-"
"Eclair!" Raphtalia screamed as she went running towards the pink haired knight and hugged her leg
"Raphtalia! is so good to see you are well" Eclair responded as she gently lowered down to give the raccoon girl a proper hug
"Uhm?! Everyone! Eclair is back!" Keel shouts to everyone and soon all of the villagers come to greet the return of Eclair Seaetto
"Lady Seaetto you're back!"
"Is great to have you back, I'm happy you're alive"
"Lady Seaetto please let me show the village, we made lots of improvements"
"Are you hungry? I'm gonna wipe up a stew for you"
"We have to celebrate!" one of the villagers said with all agreeing with the idea, even if they didn't have much to make a proper party, their overall good and cheerful demeanor they had because of how much things were starting to get better and the many miracles performed by the shield hero, they were able to happily party all night without the need for music, drinks, or anything else.
"uh shield hero?" Rifana asked as she came closer to the man of steel holding her bouquet of flowers behind her
"yes?" Clark replied as he placed the carrot stew on the table
"please marry me!" Rifana says at the top of her lungs as she places the bouquet of white lilies in front of her, her two friends face palmed
"...sorry but no" Superman responded, Rifana didn't expect that answer and just stood quiet for a moment, meanwhile Keel and Raphtalia had a 'I told you' look on their faces
"oh...then can I be your girlfriend instead?" Rifana asked, if she couldn't marry him right now then she would be his girlfriend until they got intimate enough to marry, the weasel girl would not stop trying to get together with the man of her dreams no matter what
"sorry but the answer is still no" superman responds much to the girl dismay
"But-"
"Rifana, stop bothering him and come dance with the others" Keel said as he took rifana by the arms and began to dance with her to stop the girl from annoying the shield hero
"sorry for her, she is a bit of a enthusiastic romantic" Raphtalia apologizes for her friend, she hoped that Rifana's obsession for the shield hero wouldn't become a problem
"No it's fine, it isn't the first time I had a woman asking me to marry them after I saved their lives, but it is the first time a little girl does" Clark replied, if he got a pennie for every time a woman he saved asked him that, then he wouldn't have to work for the daily planet
"Shield hero could we talk privately? it's a important thing" Eclair asked with a very serious face, she looks at raphtalia and the raccoon girl leaves the two alone
"Sure" superman said as he got up from his chair and follows eclair into one of the newly rebuilt houses
"What is it?" he asks
"Since you can fly... I wish to request that you help us with retrieving the other citizens" Eclair asked in a confident tone, the ability to fly would be of great help in retrieving the villagers, it certainly was better than do so in a carriage since the skies have relatively less dangers than land
"Already planned to do that anyway" superman said, which caused eclair eyes to light up in excitement
"Great, now I will try to gather names, age, race, and any other relevant information about the missing villagers" Eclair said as she put a hand to her chin, trying to remember anything she could that might help their search
"It certainly would make it easier" superman responds, it certainly easier to look for someone in the planet when you know what they are supposed to look like
"But searching only Melromarc will not be enough, we have to go to Zeltobe or Faubley, these are the places were most slaves are sent, but even with your flight, the travel time from here to there and the question of passing the borders will be a problem" Eclair murmured to herself as the crossing of countries might be the hardest part of this whole plan
"A flight from here to Zeltobe is just a few minutes actually, even less if I go full speed" superman says as he waved his hand
"Huh? you have already been there?" Eclair said as not only was the speed they flew was relatively slow, but if the shield hero had left Melromarc... why did he returned to it? she couldn't understand why he would stay in a place that hates him instead of somewhere like Siltvelt
"I been flying from country to country ever since I got here, I only fly slow if I'm carrying someone else with me" superman explained
"...you're quite frankly amazing" Eclair said flabbergasted at the scope of his abilities
"I get that a lot" superman man responded with a chuckle
Melromarc embassy in Faubley
a woman with purple hair and a elegant blue clothing sits in a chair writing in a paper with a pen, on top of her head lay a golden tiara with gems across it
"Report" the queen say's seemly to herself before someone in a dark full body costume that covered all of his skin appeared in the room behind her surrounded by a dark light of a spell
"The four legendary heroes have been summoned to Melromarc by king Aultcray" the shadow says as it kneeled down
"I see... that dumb fool will start a war if this information gets out" Mirellia says as she turns around to look at the shadow
"I'm afraid it has already has my queen" the shadow reveals as Mirellia's fear becomes a reality
"What?" she asked surprised, her eyebrows showing a bit of concern
"We have been keeping a eye on the four heroes, but the shield hero has been a extremely difficult one to keep track as he possesses the ability of flight, we have been doing our best to follow him, but the speeds he goes are hard even for us to trail behind"
"Really!?" Mirellia was shocked to hear of such ability, none of the legends talk of such ability and even if he got it from one of his shield's it would still be impossible for him to have it in such a short time
"Yes my queen, he also has a super natural level of hearing from what we were able to gather from a rumor so it makes it hard for us to not alert him" the shadow replied, they had to increase their caution when lurking around him as without their spell to make they footsteps soundless or hide their presence, the shadow's would be detected by the shield hero with relative ease, after seeing how he noticed the maid spying on him and the other heroes the shadow that was spying on them had to use a stronger version of it's illusion spell just so he wouldn't be noticed
"That is unheard of, none of the legends told of su- you said rumor?" She was beginning to get concerned 'how has a rumor about the shield hero possessing such ability already out?'
"Yes my queen, rumors of the shield hero have already start to spread through Siltvelt, Shieldfreeden, Zeltobe and Faubley" the shadow responded with Mirellia going from a expression of concern to one of terror
"I haven't heard of such rumors before... Wait! would the rumors about a 'man of tomorrow' be related to the shield hero?" Mirellia once again asked, she had heard of a so called man of tomorrow going around Faubley doing impossible feats, one of which being of his ability to fly and super hearing
"It is my queen, he matches the description of the shield hero in every way" the shadow responded
"When did he start going around the other countries?" the queen asked as a drop of sweat went through her face, maybe they could still save this situation
"From what our research show's... it seems he has been doing it ever since he was conjured to Melromarc in his first day" shadow responds, tracking the actions of the Shield hero had proved to be a challenge as rumors about him on Siltvelt or Shieldfreeden could be over exaggerated but after a intense amount of research the rumors, the shadow's were able to pin point his first appearance in Siltvelt when he saved a small girl from a burning building
"This is terrible... I have to prepare for the world council meeting, no doubt the other countries will question me about this and I will have to prepare for Siltvelt wanting to declare a war... could this get any worst?" Mirellia said as she wanted to lay on her bed and never get out of it 'never before a hero was able to go to all the countries with such ease, even the heroes ability to teleport has limits...'
"... that is not the only bad news I bring my queen" the shadow replied with a slight hint of hesitation in it's voice
"What is it now?" Mirellia asked as she placed a hand on her face out of frustration, she couldn't see how things could get much worst than they already were
"You're daughter Malty has accused the shield hero of rape" the shadow revealed without a change in tone
crack
the pen Mirellia was holding broke in half as her hand was now full of ink, she was not only furious at such revelation but also afraid of what it meant. on one hand her first daughter has done something that if learned about by Siltvelt or Shieldfreeden could cause a war that Melromarc might struggle to win, but on the other hand this might cause this new all powerful shield hero to turn it's back on Melromarc and might cause him to join Siltvelt, if that was the case then Melromarc would certainly lose a war against them
"King Aultcray took her word as truth and labeled him a criminal around the whole country of Melromarc... it's hard to track him due to his capability of flying, but since the trial, there have been more rumors about him in Siltvelt and the other countries compared to Melromarc, we assume that the church is trying to silence any good rumors about the shield hero, but I dare say that he might not be particularly protective of Melromarc since it already has the other three heroes" the shadow finished it's report, the queen reacted to this with a blank but shocked expression on her face
the queen got up from her chair and cleaned her hand with a tissue, before extending her hand out and two ice spikes come from behind a family portrait, piercing through Malty's and Aultcray's face. Mirellia takes a deep breath and turns back to her shadow
"Keep me informed whenever possible, I have to make sure the shield hero doesn't see Melromarc as a enemy, if the rumors are true... I don't think our army could stop him" Mirellia ordered as desperation could be noticed in her voice, she needed to bring this shield hero to her side to make sure that her country would survive against not only the waves but also him
"Yes my queen" the shadow says before disappearing, leaving Mirellia alone in her room as the queen now had a gigantic problem in her hands
[author's notes]
hope you all enjoy this chapter, leave a comment but please don't spam stuff not related to the fanfic
sorry for any spelling errors I might have overlooked
to mysterious Mr E: he will definitely try, but our man of steel will find that ending slavery in a peaceful way is going to be difficult (it took a lot of time in our world so imagine in the world of shield hero where the situation is even worst because of slave marks, even with superman there it will take some time)
to Guest: I'm going to go in the direction of the magic weakness as to give superman a challenge, also he is not immune to magic like most humans are so fire created by magic will cause him pain ( if I don't give him a weakness the problem of power creep will come up and people will say superman is too powerful for the fanfic to even work, remember kryptonite was created for that exact reason)
to Student: fitoria will for sure look around for the black tyrant and once she finds superman, she will give him a stern talk about it
to 2zz3: I'm still thinking about Galileo joining Clark, I want him to be a part of the story but I also don't know if him joining Clark is the best option
to THEREALD3LPH0XL0V3R: there is no way takt would even get his hands on kryptonite, also Lex Luthor wouldn't work for the waves nor will he appear in this fanfic as a antagonistic force
to Qinlongfe: I didn't know about that, thanks for this little fun fact but it might be a bit late to introduce this concept (unless I make it a shield ability)
to AnimeFan13579: superman will mostly absorb the whole object or monster as he doesn't know that absorbing individual parts give different shields (so superman will have way less shields compared to naofumi, his stats will also be lower because of this)
to RavenBlu: sorry for the grammar and spelling errors, English is my second language so I don't have the best grasping on every single error I might commit while writing so forgive me if this continues but I'm glad you're still able to read it and enjoy, there will be politics for sure and I have made OCS just for that (I wouldn't have to if shield hero had given us official political figures for Zeltobe, Shieldfreeden and half of the Siltvelt council)
to Supreme Failure: they were very happy to find such a easy dinner for the whole family
to blueassasin996: it is told to us that the legendary heroes and vassal heroes don't have a level cap (fitoria was only able to achieve level 3000 because she was the carriage hero) also it is never said the level of the Black Tyrano but I don't plan on having levels playing much of a role for Clark (the only time it did was with the Black Tyrant and he still won thanks to the solar gauge)
to ZukahaniMultiColor: I'm not gonna follow the original canon as I already have a vassal hammer, whip and claw hero planned for this fanfic with two of them being OCS. Filo can't be the claw hero as she is not yet born nor is she going to be part of superman's party (after all he doesn't need a filolia to travel)
to Perseus12: Idol definitely got himself way over his head and he payed the price for it, word is already spreading about this new shield hero and as we will see in the next chapter, the queen will not be the only powerful figure that will be notified about this
to billdean19: yea there is, but so far superman hasn't seen one yet. it won't take long for him to discover it though, the problem will be ending it
to zanzara: I'm going to go with what I wrote down, but yeah Faubley will not be in good terms with clark especially once he learns of the 'pig king' rulling the place, it will still be a while before the wave