Biggest thanks for Ace-Triad for fixing my SPAG problems, and Angel Wraith for beta-reading the chapter and providing feed backs.
As always, I will blabber some more in my end note.
In a valley about half a day's walk to Balafon village, the army of the Three Heroes' Church and House Consevatie's bannermen is gathering together. This time, their respective commanders consolidated their forces rather than having them scattered out. The power of The Bed of Chaos displayed, holding back both a full squad of the church's private army, and a second group of northern rangers no doubt spooked them.
"So, let me get this straight. Not only did The Bed of Chaos created by Cousin Sieg escape, it is now apparently working for our biggest enemy, the Shield Hero." The captain of House Consevatie slaps his own head. Mark Consevatie is young, still in his early twenties. And he is much more handsome compared to his father being a balding tub of lard. The heir of the vulture has a more sculpture-like face with strong physiques despite his still young age. And his light brown hair is well grown and groomed, compared to his father's few remaining bulbs near the tip of his ears. "Wonderful, just wonderful. Next thing we know, the other three heroes will turn against us too."
With his propensity for young children well known, one would think Raleigh Consevatie would not have a proper wife and heir. It's not like Viscount is a particular high title in the rank of nobility anyway. So nobody would care either way if the vulture returned his fiefdom back to the main branch once he inevitably passed. But no, the man did manage to get himself a wife, and they managed to produce a single son out of their loveless marriage before the woman passed away. There has been gossip on the Viscount he himself did, or ordered one of his sycophant servants to do the deed. And the rather stranded relationship between Mark Consevatie and his father only further fueled the malicious rumors.
"That might have already come to pass." The old knight's face is dark. Darker than when he first discovered the Shield Hero's group being carried around by the Bed of Chaos. "Two of the other heroes, sword and spear, already visited the city of Trumpet to see that traitorous Nork Balgruuf. Not knowing he had been replaced by his much more faithful and loyal son. The church's local command tried to arrest the Spear Hero's female companions, whose family were conspiring against the crown. They fought their way through the keep onto the balcony, and escaped on the back of a giant flying dragon."
Chapter 111: Naofumi's Counter Attack
Captain Mark Consevatie gives the knight a tastelessly long look before shaking his head. "Any other bad news you want to inform me? We might need to bring more reinforcements if the other three heroes come to the Shield Hero's rescue too."
"That's not bad news. We at least exposed the malicious intent of these false heroes. If they are helping conspirators to overthrow our ruling family, we can't hold back on them just because they are worshiped by the faith of three. We need to fully purge these demons." The old knight spits back at the much younger noble commander. "You youngsters need more guts."
"Despite my youth and my inexperience, you will not find me lacking courage in a real battle." The noble commander squints his eyes at the much older knight, and returns with a snort from his nose. The older knight simply sneers back in response. It's clear the head of the church's private army and the bannermen of House Consevatie does not see eye to eye.
While both the commander of the the Three Heroes' Church and Consevatie's bannerman stand at an in pass, a bush on the far eastern side begins to ruffle. The older knight immediately turns his attention over and draws his sword. "Who's there!? Show yourself!"
"It's probably just wind, or some wild animal. You are being overly paranoid just because you found the Bed of Chaos and the Shield Hero together." Mark Consevatie sneers at the older knight. But his smug expression quickly fades as a haggard looking person jumps out of the vegetation just like the old knight warned.
"You dare to show your face again, Jackson?!" The old knight immediately charges forward, and brings his sword up on the commoner turned templar.
Jackson pulls his sword up too, but all he does is block strikes from his former leader rather than fight back. "Please, give me a chance to explain. Commander!"
"What's going on here? Why are you attacking your own man?" Mark quickly pulls out his own sword and steps in. With a fast upward strike, he parries the old knight's blade two fingers distance away from Jackson's head. The exchange was brief, but it's still enough to display the young noble commander's skill at handling his weapon and the perception to know when to strike without hurting either combatant. The son of the child lover didn't get this position through family connection. He pushes the flailing old knight back, away from Jackson. "It's not my business to step in, but I want to know what's going on!"
"The filth standing before you was a faithless traitor!" The old knight struggles against his much younger opponent while spitting venom at Jackson. "He backstabbed us when we encountered the Shield Demon, to grovel at the enemy!"
"How else would I get close to the Shield Demon to learn his secrets?" Jackson throws his sword onto the ground, letting the blade sink into the earth. He puts both of his hands up while taking a knee down, showing his submission. "The Shield Demon had proven his tenacity for survival. He escaped us time and time again, causing troubles and mischiefs. He even escaped with his life after we captured him in the capital thanks to the distraction those rebels caused. We needed someone to get close to him, so we could find out all his tricks and kill him!"
The Shield Hero were only able to escape from the castle dungeon thanks to the arrogance and stupidity of Consevatie The Younger, the Bartfort boy's clear betrayal to lead him astray, and the aid and sacrifice of Lord Notches and his resistance. But it's not like the the Three Heroes' Church would openly admit to their own fuck ups. Even the higher ups in the know would not expose their own incompetence to their host in fear of possible desertion of even mutiny. So of course, it makes sense for Jackson to appease their ego by blaming it on the craven wickedness of their enemy, the Shield Hero. For someone of humble birth, this man seemed to have learnt how to play his much higher born opponent like an instrument.
"Are you saying you pretended to be on Shield Hero's side just so you can get close to him?" Mark Consevatie's face looks somewhat between enlightenment and utter confusion. It's shared by the old knight who force of the Three Heroes' Church.
"He's lying! The traitorous commoner sold us out to the Shield Demon. But he's surely rejected by the demon for what he did outside the capital. Now he's crawling back and groveling at us to accept him back into our fold. Just to save his own skin!" The old knight narrows his eyes, and spats at Jackson once again.
"Please. All I'm asking is for you to hear what I have to say. Because we need to neutralize the threat of the Shield Demon and The Bed of Chaos for the good of our nation." Jackson stands up straight, but still keeping his weapon buried on the ground in front of him and his hands up. "You can strike me down after, if my answers don't satisfy you."
"Very well. Say your piece before we cast judgment on your previous actions." The stance of Mark Consevatie also becomes less tense and aggressive. No longer ready to pounce at a moment's notice. But the narrowness of his eyes, and the way his fingers tighten around the hilt of his sword showed that the noble scion isn't ready to fully trust the renegade commoner.
"Of course, my lord. As my commander no doubt informed you, that the Shield Demon and the Bed of Chaos we are tasked to bring back to Lord Consevatie has joined forces together." Jackson gives the old knight a sideway glance, who simply sneers back at him. "What he probably hasn't told you, is they have parted ways by now."
Both the old knight, and the young noble commander blink their eyes. Jackson's former commander takes a step, disbelief clear on his face. "Are you saying the Shield Demon abandoned his newest ally. The very reason he was able to escape us in our last encounter?"
"What do you expect him to do? That dryad giant created by us was as big as an inn. There's no way they can hide her trail from us. And we have enough men to kill the Shield Demon even with the Bed of Chaos protecting them." Jackson snorts at the old knight. "The Shield Demon's group split with the dryad not too long ago. If we go chase him down, he wouldn't have a chance to hide or get away. We can kill the demon once and for all!"
"You aren't going to believe him, are you?" Seeing Mark Consevatie having a contemplative look on his face, the old knight narrows his eyes. "This smells of a trap."
"Trap or not, this is our best chance to kill the Shield Hero!" Everyone heard Lady Ebonheart before seeing her. The northern lady of Midgardian descent is being held by one of her fellow rangers. The bandages wrapped tightly around her shoulder and arm makes it clear that her gunshot wound did not heal yet. In spite of her severe wound that would heavily affect her fighting prowess, the young woman's eyes are burning like fire. "I say we go for it! What's the worst these rapists can throw at us? Summoning an army of his thralls out of thin air?"
"Hmm… that reminded me. There have been rumors about those Siltvelt animals laying siege on Fort Wolf's Mouth. While the chance of those animals breaching the fort with General Anderson guarding it is unlikely, they could have sent small squads of elite infiltrators through the smaller adventurer's trails across Griffin's Spine." Mark Consevatie narrows and squints his eyes. "I don't know the layout of north western Griffin's Spine as you do, Lady Ebonheart. Tell me, is it possible for it to happen?"
"Bah! Cowards, all of you! And you dare to call yourselves men!" The ranger spats at the Vulture's son rather than answering his question. She pivots on her own heels, nearly knocking her aide over. "I'll go with you if these pouncey milk drinkers are too afraid to do their jobs! Tell me where the Shield Hero is, I'll hunt him down with my rangers alone if I have to!"
"We will not let you go after the Shield Hero alone, Lady Ebonheart. I'll send twenty of my own men, and ten of the cleric knights with you. Take Jackson as your guide to scout ahead. Don't let the Shield Hero escape you if you find him." The noble commander gives a wave to the men behind him. Twenty of House Consevatie's sworn swords breaks away from their group to line up besides Mark. The church men let out some disgruntled whispers and take more time, but eventually ten cleric knights also assemble before him. It seems like Mark Consevatie is the one who has the final saying on what should be done with this group.
"Bah, you won't be needed. I'll take the head of that false hero rapist myself. You! Commoner! You are with me! Show me where the Shield Hero has gone!" Lady Ebonheart gives Jackson a death glare as she turns around once again and promptly leaves. In spite of her aggression, she still took the men Mark offered her.
"You honestly believed the word from that traitor, vulture boy?" The old knight gives Mark Consevatie a snort full of derision. The son of the child lover shoots a glare full of anger back, but takes a deep breath to calm himself.
"I'm NOT my father! You do well to remember it, knight." The Noble Commander puts the emphasis of their social class in his reply before calming down. "No, I don't trust that Jackson boy. A commoner like him has no sense of loyalty and honor. But if there is even a sliver of truth to his claim, this would be too great an opportunity to tie up the loose end with the Shield Hero. Even if it's a trap, I'm sending Ebonheart and a small detachment of our own men to spring it. The Shield Hero would not have enough assets to survive us even if he manages to destroy our vanguard."
"...A sound plan." The old knight finally concedes to Mark through gritted teeth after a silent, brief deliberation. But he isn't done yet. No. As expected from an ungrateful knave who holds a grudge against the heroes who do their best to save his life, he throws something spiteful to the face of the son of the notorious child lover. "But let's not pretend you are doing this for the good of our nation, vulture's spawn. You are doing this to impress a lady, don't you? More specifically, a lady you shouldn't have gotten involved with."
Mark Consevatie's face remains passive. But the look from his eyes suddenly grew sharper. The old knight clearly hit a nerve. He waves to the gathered lieutenant, dismissing them and having them wake the entire gathered host while he asks the old knight with a deliberately lowered voice. "How much do you know?"
"The wife of Duke Oifey. She is involved with your cousin's schemes. And we know who got her hooked up with your cousin, don't we? The steward of Duke Oifey. Your father, Raleigh Consevatie." The old knight crosses his arms in front of his chest, looking smug at the revelation. "Everyone knows that Duke Oifey barely returns home, leaving his young wife with an empty castle. She spent more time with Duke Oifey's steward than the duke himself. And the fact you named your steed 'Celes', it doesn't take too much to put things together. It makes me wonder, if your father knows that you tried to double cuckold him while he is attempting to steal Duke Oifey's wife, who would he choose? His new flame, or the son he had with his dead first wife?"
"I'm not my father!" Mark Consevatie takes a step forward to glare into the old knight's eyes. The knight, and the noble commander stays completely still while the valley bustles with the activities of their men ready to go to battle. In the end, it's the young man who blinks and looks away first. "I'm not my father."
Interesting… Very interesting. As Duke Velthomar stole the power right under the main branch of House Consevatie, a member of their branch seems to be fighting back. Specifically, by being a wife stealer. It's honestly a method that befit the child loving vulture of north east. This information would be highly valuable, if she is in a position to use it.
She takes her hand away from the trigger of her fire rune, and quickly gives a slap to a small branch of an inconspicuous looking bush beside her. The shrub shuffles, and suddenly slips into the earth itself. It's time for her to leave, and link up with the rest of her group. What transpired with the host of the Three Heroes' Church and House Consevatie isn't the most ideal. But it's still well within their plan.
It takes a while before she catches up with the vanguard dispatched by Mark Consevatie. These professional soldiers are still more trained to trek through rough terrain than she was. Plus they have the advantage of not worrying about concealing themselves from the rest of their host just behind them. By the time she caught up, Lady Ebonheart's men were already fighting against Naofumi's group, and the three plant covered gutterbeak skeletons Yukari and the Bed of Chaos raised together. A half dozen or so men from their group are on the ground, lying in a pool of their own blood too. Even more, there are multiple piles of what can best be described as messy, broken piles of gore, that one can barely recognize were the body of a man. Unlike their luckier comrade in arms who were slain by either Sir Oersted or Ren, they were clearly the victim of those undead, plant gutterbeaks.
"You have to retreat, my lady! It's too dangerous!" One of the female rangers is trying to drag Ebonheart to the back. The noble lady isn't making her aid's job easier by flailing around.
"NO! We are so close to finally slay one of the summoned rapists!" The commander of the northern rangers glared murder at Naofumi with her bloodshot eyes. She screams her lungs out, foaming at the mouth. "Do NOT back down, men! The false hero has used up his trick, and the final victory will be ours so long as we keep him from escaping! Our reinforcements are just behind us!"
Mein can't help but think about how self-defeating Ebonheart's attempt at raising her group's morale ended up being. Now that she said exactly what she doesn't want Naofumi to do outloud, there's nothing stopping him from doing exactly that. Ebonheart certainly doesn't have enough men to spare, now that everyone isn't dead already is busy fending back the three giant plant covered beak-thing skeletons. They may be piles of bones animated by Yukari's magic and further enhanced by the plant from The Bed of Chaos rather than the real thing. But the most dangerous part of a gutter beak that earned them the nickname of 'Career enders of adventurers' had always been their sharp bone beak. Which are perfectly preserved.
"Let's go, Oersted, Ren." With a wave of his hand, Naofumi disappears into the thick vegetation behind him. The Gallian knight, and the former highwayman follow him. Their new, living plant enhanced armor giving them a literal spring to their steps and greatly enhanced their speed. Jackson didn't have such luxury, but the threat of bodily harm is a great motivator, and the backstabbing commoner easily disappeared into the forest behind Naofumi's group.
"NO! They got away!" Lady Ebonheart howled in agony. She drops the sword from her hand, and fumbles with her one good arm trying to get the grappling hook from her belt. Not that she would get very far, since even the most skilled Forseti's ranger needed both hands to alternate between two hooks in order to soar through the air like the namesake dragon god of their order. That's when the forest begins to slightly shake behind them, as the rest of the group emerges from the trees. "YOU! All of you are late! Where were you when the false hero released his foul creatures on us!?"
"Gathering our host took time, Lady Ebonheart. But have no fear! We are here to reinforce you!" Mark Consevatie points his shining sword atop of his well groomed filorial steed, his gilded armor glitters under the sun. "Celes! Charge!"
Mein briefly wonders how House Consevatie was able to afford a set of armor like that. They are definitely one of the relatively poor great houses. The land mother gave to Grima Consevatie were less fertile than most due to both the poor natural farming condition of north east Melromarc, and extensive damage caused by the war. Plus, most of the north eastern nobles still pay their tribute to House Velthomar, not House Consevatie, the queen's appointed stooges. Lord Grima's son having the best equipment money can buy makes sense, as he is the heir to the main house. But the condition of his cousin's equipment doesn't seem to be much worse than that fop, if at all.
The princess can't help but wonder if the rumor of Lord Grima secretly having a hand in the highly lucrative (and officially illegal) slave trade business was true. A sound of a very tall tree being felled shakes her out of her musing. They have already destroyed one of the three gutter beaks In the short time since Mark caught up to Lady Ebonheart. Probably thanks to their greatly increased manpower and several high level fighters joining the group.
It's time for her to run once again. She doesn't want to get captured by them and disrupt Naofumi's plan after all.
She follows Naofumi's trail all the way up to the cliff of a mountain. She doesn't know if the locals have a name for them, but something tells her that it'll gain a new name regardless after this day. Much like how not many people remember the name before the plain of tears, the burial hill, or the bloodsoaked mountain after the Great War.
"I told you that Jackson fucker is a backstabbing son of whore! But did you listen to me? NO!" The old knight squints his eyes once again at Mark. His face was full of contempt towards the much younger noble commander. The son of Lord Raleigh simply puts a hand up to silence the knight.
"Your abominations are destroyed, and you yourself have nowhere to run, Lord Shield Hero. Surander, and I sworn on the name of my family that you will be treated as a lord befit your station." Mark Consevatie sits back on the saddle of his steed. He tries his best to not show his hubris by putting on a mask of professionalism. But the slight upward curl from the corner of his mouth still showed the pride he has for seemingly pushing the Shield Hero into a corner. And by all means, it looks like the Shield Hero is finished. His group literally have their backs against the cliff, and they are being surrounded by a force about a hundredth their size. It's safe to say that the Shield Hero wouldn't be able to get out of this one, unless he spontaneously grew wings and learned to fly. "If you continue to resist, you will force my hand."
"Just like how your cousin treated me?" The Shield Hero pulls the edge of his armor downward, showing the edge of the scorched mark of a slave the Consevatie fop personally marked on his chest. While all of Consevatie's bannermen and a good number of the church force simply show various degrees of disdain at him with their sneers and smirks, a small group under the the Three Heroes' Church simply look around confused and scared. They were probably the poor people 'conscripted' into the church's number much like the poor citizens of Graile. "I'll take my chances, thank you very much."
"Very well, you leave me with no choice then. I will try to only wound you and take you captive. Men, CHARGE!" Mark Consevatie's steed leans backwards, letting its master do a heroic pose before he charges with the rest of House Consevatie's sworn swords. Of course, there is nothing heroic when you are attacking a force one hundredth of your own size. Everyone at this point is just racing each other for a chance to gain the glory of being the one that finally took down the Shield Hero (or Demon, depends on how fanatical you are). In fact, Mein could see a few sworn swords of House Consevatie pushing their own comrades behind, or down just to get ahead.
"I think the same thing. Bed-Chan! NOW!" Naofumi suddenly balls his hand into a fist, and hammers the cliff behind him. Roots suddenly burst out of the cliff, draping over Naofumi's group like a protective blanket. Obviously, this alone is not enough to protect the Shield Hero's group from their pursuers. How quickly Mark's men cut down those three plant skeleton gutterbeaks is a good indication.
What is meant to stop, or more specifically, to kill the entire group of their pursuers is an entire mountain simply burst open. The massive landfall sends boulders the size of a fist at the smallest, a small shack the largest down on the mixed House Consevatie and the Three Heroes' Church down like a hailstorm. Trees, which were usually cut down into logs to throw down atop of an attacking army during a siege, simply fell whole towards them amidst the rocks and dirt.
The first princess of Melromarc has no idea who this Lelouch person is. Judging from the limited context Naofumi was willing to provide, he was some kind of a master strategist who has a knack for using the terrain to his advantage. And not in the simple way of having his troops hide, or navigate complex terrain to confound their enemies either. No, the specific act Naofumi is comparing his own plan to had this Lelouch destabilizing the very ground under his enemies to kill them and win his battle.
She can see the resemblance. Given how his plan happens to be having the Bed of Chaos burrow most of her body into the side of a mountain to crumble it down on their pursuers. What remained of her would hide underneath their army's feet, to break the ground to stop them from getting away from the massive landslide. Or would it be more appropriate to call it a 'mountainfall'?
Well. She doesn't know about this Lelouch person. But Uncle Aldrecht would certainly have been proud of the Shield Hero. It's almost the exact same strategy he devised with father during the earlier days of The Great War, where their small group of ragtag resistance fighters lured an entire regiment of the Siltvelt army, and then collapsed an entire mountain to bury them alive. The battle of the 'Buried Hill', where father first earned his title 'Magician of the Battle Field'.
"I'm no great strategist, but I think the plan will work." Mein nods her head along to encourage Naofumi. She gives a quick glance towards Sir Oersted and Ren. It might be the lack of a proper light source, but both of their faces look very pale. "The only thing we have to be careful of, is we need to get almost all of the hosts of the Three Heroes' Church, and House Consevatie in our landslide attack. We would definitely be giving our position away, and they have a good chance to kill us in the aftermath, if we leave a few dozen alive. Nora is badly injured and healing, Yukari isn't a proper fighter, and you are still unarmed, Master Naofumi."
"Yes. True. It's easy for them to run over and overwhelm us. I don't think Bed-chan will be in a position to defend us after exerting herself like this." Naofumi looks over at the branch where the Bed of Chaos grew her second 'head' out. She shakes left and right, affirming his fear. "Good thing that reincarnates is drinking and partying in Balafon with Raphtalia and Firo. I wouldn't want to hurt them because we can't control a landslide."
"Then we'll give them an offer they can't refuse. Someone who knows the current condition of the Shield 'Demon'. Making them think they'll get a chance at the glory of finally killing you, so they'll all be trampling each other in a frenzy to get to you." Jackson turns his head towards the Shield Hero, it takes everyone a small pause to realize what he is saying. "I'll go back to them, and 'give away your location'. Better get your trap ready before I return, Shield Hero."
"You must think we are all stupid, if you honestly believe we'll let you go back to your church masters alone. What's going to stop you from telling them our plan, and have those cunts from the Three Heroes' Church and House Consevatie actually push us into a corner where we have no chance to escape?" The princess narrows her eyes to glare at the commoner templar. She pointedly notices how Naofumi isn't stopping her from antagonizing Jackson. The Shield Hero knows how absolutely doomed they are, if someone exposes their plan to Consevatie's men. "Nothing, that's what. You'll use the information you learnt from us to grovel back to your church, and noble masters."
"You'll need someone to reveal your location to them without raising their suspicion. I'm the best one for the job. Of course, you could have one of your own gets captured by them. That'll make it look much more real. But that person better be ready to get tortured to death." Jackson crosses over his arms. "As for what's stopping me from selling you out. Nothing, really. But I wouldn't have betrayed the church if I wanted to stick to them. They'll likely kill me anyway. They aren't the forgiving kind. Especially not those insane sycophants of Consevatie. They make the followers of Cromwell look rational by comparison."
"You can't go back to them. They'll kill you, Jackson!" Logan immediately grabs Jackson's shoulders, trying to stop him from going.
"If we want to free the people of Balafon, someone has to make sure those fucks get what they deserve. Better me than anyone else. I have more to make up for."
"I don't know how you missed the part that we don't trust you to sacrifice yourself happens to be the biggest problem. Not how we fear that you might not make it back alive." The princess crosses over her arms, and sneers back at Jackson.
"Miss Mein's concern is legitimate. We should not put our survival in the hand of a recent defect from the church. Especially not when he already betrayed us once near the capital." Sir Oersted stands up from where he was crouching. "I'll offer myself to be captured by Consevatie's men."
"No, I'm not letting you sacrifice yourself." The Shield Hero's hand immediately shoots up to grab the Gallian knight's shoulder. "There has to be another way!"
"There is no other way. Unless you want to place the lives of everyone in this traitor." Sir Oersted glares down at Jackson. Even with the dim light making everything hard to see, Mein can see how the young knight looks at the renegade templar like something he peels off his boots. "I should have been the first one to go. But everyone else from my group has sacrificed themselves for you, Master Shield Hero. Let me fulfill my duty as a knight of Gallia."
"All the more reason for you not to die! You want me to tell everyone back from your home how none of you are coming back?"
"There is another way to ensure Jackson's loyalty, Master Naofumi. Obviously, we need something like the slave seal's punishment method even if we can't make actual slave seals." The princess narrows her eyes, and remembers something uncle Aldrecht taught her that would work in this situation. "The Midgardians aren't adapted mages like we are now. They don't follow the way of Brimir, the Founder of Wizardry. But they had rune priests for their own magic. I happen to know a fire rune that can be used like a trap if I draw it on a surface and imbue it with my magic. If I draw it on Jackson's body, it'll work as a kill trigger just like the punishment system of a slave seal. Of course, I have to make it into a manual trigger or else it'll just activate and kill him as soon as it's drawn and charged. So I have to stay close enough to see and hear him, and activate it immediately if he tries to sell us out."
"Doesn't that mean you'll be close to our pursuers? What'll happen if they find you?" The panic from Naofumi's voice reaches a new height. It makes the princess feel warm inside to know that despite everything, the Shield Hero cares for her the most.
"That's the risk I'll have to take if we don't want to sacrifice anyone else. Well… anyone other than this renegade, anyhow." The princess lets out a mirthless snort as she points at Jackson. "I also happen to be the best man for this job right now. Other than how only I know the method to make a fire rune, one of my star wand gives me an ability that makes it very difficult for people to notice me unless they already know I'm there. So I have the best chance at evading their notice."
"Is there no other way? Can't we simply let Bed-Chan leave a trail for them to catch up? Or how about that spell you used to find us? Surely someone from the church knows it too?"
"[Clairvoyance] isn't a sure way to find anything and everything despite its name, Master Naofumi. The reason I, or Raphtalia can instantly lock onto you is because we are both in your [party] so we have a shared magical connection. Actually, from the myth of how legendary weapons are supposed to fully unlock our potential, we might already be marked by your shield somehow. Which makes it easier for [Clairvoyance]'s magic work to detect you. For the church, it'll be difficult especially if the caster doesn't even know what you actually look like. The spell might just fail to cast if they tried. As for letting our dryad lead the church to us…" The princess turns her head over to the bud of twisted roots that forms a bulbous head. "That sounds promising. But can you do it? I imagine having you collapse an entire mountain and the ground near it will use up all of your strength."
The shaking of the 'head' gives them a negative answer. So, her method has to do.
"Let's get it over with then. Where do you want to draw that fire rune on me?" Jackson stands up, strips down both his armor and his clothes. He holds his arm up, forming into the divine icon of the Four Heroes when someone needs to have their measurement taken by a tailor, or armorsmith.
"Over your heart. I prefer to have it on both your chest and your back, just to make sure I cook you instantly without a chance for your survival if you try to rat us out." The princess stands up, getting ready to draw the fire rune onto Jackson's body. Once again, the Shield Hero didn't stop her this time despite how cruel and amoral the method is. The Shield Hero ultimately chooses to compromise his moral standard in favor of survival.
"The plan to collapse the mountain on them might not be enough, Master Shield Hero." Sir Oersted speaks just as Mein starts to create the fire rune on Jackson's body. "If the commander of Consevatie's men isn't a complete idiot, he will have made a vanguard unit. To spring any possible trap we had in store for them, in case we did have something that could wipe them out."
"So we need some additional bait… we are near Balafon. So there's a lot of those beak things, right?" Naofumi turns his gaze over to Yukari. "Surely there'll be some skeleton of those giant ostrich giraffe elephants around. Yukari, can you reanimate them with your necromancy?"
"I probably could? But my magic isn't nearly powerful enough to support something that huge." The apprentice necromancer jumps on her feet, clearly surprised at Naofumi's sudden attention to her.
"Damn, that won't work… Bed-Chan. The Life Root before you had a way to grow plants inside a dead creature and control them like a puppet. Can you also do something like it? Yukari, give me one of your skeleton rats. Let's see if Bed-Chan can do that." The raccoon girl quickly follows the Shield Hero's order to donate one of her undead familiars. The Shield Hero set it down in front of their root barricade. The dryad stays still for a little while before dropping what looks like a small seed into the middle of Yukari's undead rat. Vines quickly begin to grow out of the seed, and gives Yukari's rat a much more buffed out body with plants in place of muscles. "Great, I think we can get this plan to work. Let's go find ourselves a few beak thing skeletons, and make the church think that's our trap."
The faces of the warriors, who were red in the eyes for a chance to grasp glory against each other, twist into disbelief, and then to utter terror as they turn around, trying to escape their death. The pushing and trampling only got worse, as now they fight for their own survival rather than a chance at reward, or a promotion.
Of course, their deaths were already sealed the moment Mark Consevatie decided to believe Jackson's words. Even as the men try to run from the landfall behind them, the very ground they step on crumbles beneath them, the Bed of Chaos almost burrowing her entire mass into the mountain, and the ground underneath for this death trap.
Only the rangers from the north managed to escape, as they instantly shot their hooked grapples into the forest and flew away. Ignoring the begging, crying and cursing of their comrade in arms. Lady Ebonheart struggles in the arms of her subordinate. "Let me go. LET ME GO! Let me at the false hero rapist! NOOOOOO!"
"The battle is lost, my lady! We need to flee!" The rangers disappear into the thick growth. The thought of intercepting them with her magic only existed in Mein's mind for a brief moment before she snuffs them out. With their speed and the way they swing through the air, she'll not be able to hit them, and only give them a chance to kill her when she's inevitably exposed.
The sound of cry, scream and rumbling rocks eventually comes to a stop. And for a short moment, all is silent as the combined host of the Three Heroes' Church, and House Consevatie disappeared underneath a bed of broken rocks and earth. A mound of thick, hardened roots the size of a small shack stands along where a mountain used to be.
Mein can't help but notice the massive surge of experience she suddenly gains, pumping her a few levels above level 40, into what would have been the prestige range post class-up at a Dragon's Hourglass. Any joy she might have had for this prestigious milestone is soured by an iron like taste in her mouth, when she knows that it's the snuffed lives of her countrymen that pushed her beyond the limit of Common level range. She doesn't regret Naofumi's plan to kill so many of her own people, since they would have no second thought of killing him and her. But she can't feel any sense of joy for this senseless death and destruction caused by the fanatic's greed and… ambition.
The princess leaves the forest she's been hiding, silently observing the battle and walks towards the masses of roots. They slowly uncoils, reforming into the now increasingly familiar, but no less eldritch looking Bed of Chaos. The entire group of Shield Hero's followers except herself, plus Jackson and Logan slowly stand up from the ground where they lay with their heads covered. Naofumi's face grows increasingly solemn looking as he surveys the damage his plan caused all around her. His lips seem to be shaking, and as Mein walks closer, she can hear what he's muttering under his breath. "I killed them."
"Yes, Master Naofumi. But it had to be done." The princess quickly runs over to the Shield Hero, and pulls him into an embrace. "It's either them, or us… and the enslaved people of Balafon."
"Look out, someone's still alive!" Sir Oersted's voice quickly brings both Mein and Naofumi out of their stupor. Sure enough, some of the rock, and dirt on the farside began to stir, and about fifty or so men managed to crawl out of the mound. Unfortunately, the old knight is among them.
"That stupid boy from House Consevatie. I told him we can't trust a traitor, but no. He doesn't listen! Men, with me! Kill the Shield Demon! It's either him, or us!" The old knight's eyes are practically glowing red despite dirt and ash covering his entire body. He raises his sword high above his head, and tries to charge at Naofumi. He only took a few steps, before realizing none of his men was following him. "Why aren't you following me?! Are you afraid of death? You think the Shield Hero would let you leave with your lives after throwing a mountain on top of you?!"
The surviving members of the Three Heroes' Church begin to look at each other. They hesitantly raise their weapons up, ready to fight against the Shield Hero. So, these are the poor people conscripted into the church by force. And they only want to fight the Shield Hero if they believe there's no other way.
Jackson and Logan immediately run forward, and begin to shout something different to undermine the old knight's attempt to rally the forcefully conscripted people. "NO! Don't believe the word of an oppressor, my common born brothers! The Shield Hero doesn't want to fight, or kill any of you! He wouldn't have tried this if the church didn't try to kill him first!"
"Yeah! He didn't kill Jackson and I. Not even after Jackson betrayed him once!" Logan helpfully adds.
The forcefully conscripted soldiers of the Three Heroes' Church lower their weapon, and begin to look at each other in hesitation once again. One of them finally voices their fear. "These from the church will kill us, if they found out we helped the Shield Demon."
"Then run! You don't have to help us." Naofumi gently pushes Mein back and takes a step forward to address the scared commoners forced by the church, and nobles like Consevatie to fight for a war they didn't believe in. "Nobody will know you survived. Go, run for your lives and don't look back!"
A few from the edge of the church survivors immediately turned their heels and ran. Their show of cowardice is clearly infectious, as the rest instantly begin to follow their examples. The old knight, practically bellowing fire from his eyes, raises his sword and is ready to turn his steel against the deserters. "You ungrateful, unfaithful common- *BLAM!*"
Smoke rises up from Ren's pistol, as the old knight falls onto the ground dead. A good chunk of his forehead was blown away by the weapon from Faubley.
"Should we free the people of Balafon now?" Jackson casts his eyes over. Instead of asking Mein to take the fire rune off his body, he asked for them to help the innocent people of Balafon first. It seems like Mein underestimated him after all.
"Yes, let's."
End Note:
There we go, Naofumi's 'Lelouch tiered plan' for his counter attack. Congradulations for yasulong for figuring out what will happen. I hope it came out as smart as it did in my head. Imagine that, Naofumi actually had to do something smart on his own to show off his supposed 'superior intelligent' when he's in a bad spot, rather than have Trash of all people doing his thinking for him to save his worthless sorry ass... wait.
While one of the major points of this story is to essentially have Naofumi unknowingly rejects his canon Rising self, this chapter as well as previous where he meets the Lestrange family is about showing he is still the same man who could have become the person he was in Rising canon. Going against his own integrity to allow Malty's enslavement under himself could be explained as necessary evil, but in this chapter he allowed Malty to put a killswitch on another person because he can't blindly trust someone for the success (and survival) of their plan.
There seemed to be a misconception in the community about me hating Rising Naofumi because he is unethical, which is just flat out false. Some of my favorite characters of all time are unapologetically evil bastards. Jaffar, Scar and Gaston (not in that particular order) are my top three favorite Disney characters, and I have much more respect towards Voldemort (when he's not insane) than I ever have towards Dumbledore.
My problem with canon Rising Naofumi is how Alenko was both insecure as well as incompetent about the character they wrote. On the one hand, they want Naofumi's actions to go against tradition of a traditional 'hero' of having good morality. But they also don't want people to be able to criticize their beloved imaginary dream pet husbando. Which is why they bend over backwards, and twisting the back of the story 360 degrees trying to have him both acting amoral, but also have all his actions justified both praticially, and also 'ethically' to the detroment of the story. Creating a bunch of self-contradicting world building element in the process, and hope you don't notice all the contradiction in their own author's words of god (which is why I don't trust Alenko as far as I can throw them. They are a worse compulsory liar than Dumbo). On top of that problem, they can't write an actual smart character. So their solution is to have Naofumi act with medium intelligence at most and just make everyone act like complete idiots all the time to make him look smart by comparison.
No. Making your imaginary dream pet husbando smart by making everyone else dumb DOES NOT WORK! It only makes him commit hate crime against mentally challenged people on top of a truckload of other sins he already committed.
Which is why I decided to go the opposite direction when writing Naofumi for this story. He actually wants to a traditional kind of good moral hero in this story, but he is being challenged by a world where a good number of people are selfish and uncaring. And there are negative consequences to his action both when he succeed, and when he fails. And ACT III of Three Heroes Church Saga is the time when a lot of the consequences of his actions catching up to him.
Guest review time.
To Guest:
Thank you for your review and long thought, and thank you for placing such high opinion on my version of Malty.
On your thought about child rising, I actually agree with you on most parts at least on principle, and I feel like I didn't make my initial point clear due to my rant. I most definitely don't advocate corporeal punishment as the first, go to method when punishing a child. In fact, the reason the spanking I received as a kid worked well for me to correct my behavior was because my father would only do it as a last resort and he doesn't do it very often as the rule of thumb of Chinese parents at the time. He would always patiently explain to me what and why I did wrong first, and only spank me when I decided to act like a little shit beyond reasoning.
That being said... what I have a problem with all the so called 'Child raising expert' (or as I like to call them, Child raising bricks because in China the first syllabel of expert is the same as 'brick') is them trying to claim physical punishment have absolutely no effect under any circumstance. I speak from personal experience that those idiots have no idea what they are talking about, because it clearly had a positive effect on me when corporeal punishment was used correctly back when I was a kid. Trying to claim is has no effect under any circumstance and shouldn't be used at all is as stupid in its extremism as thinking corporeal punishment is the go to method of raising a child. And children (especially problem children) are not stupid. Once they realize parents' hands are tied in certain ways, they'll absolutely ride it to the extreme.
As for the 'good reason' why it's made illegal, yes, it has one. It's called 'virtue signaling'. It's western society patting itself on its back again, trying to tell everyone else 'lookie me, lookie how civilized I am that I don't resort to any barbaric method'.
For Firo specifically... Your suggestion could have worked, if Naofumi and Malty knew what they were getting into and treated Firo like an actual child from the start rather than a cute pet/beast of burden. By the time Firo had gained her humanoid form, it's already too late for Naofumi to establish some kind of empathy she would have towards others due to Malty's actions.
And as far as canon goes, corporeal punishment and coarsion was actually established as THE methods that would make Firo behave. Back when Firo first changed into her human form, she started showing Naofumi in what's essentially furious bodily assault, completely ignores Naofumi and Raphtalia's words of telling her to stop. And what did have her stop was causing her pain through slave punishment system (which once again, canonically established that Rising Naofumi was NEVER against slave abuse when he's perfectly willing to do it to a child), and then threatening to sell her if she ever misbehave.
I would have theorized that it might have been Firo's monster instinct kicking in, forcing someone to essentially assert their dominance over her before she'll listen... EXCEPT none of the birdies Motoyasu raised have the same problem as Firo. At least not to this extreme extend. Which is why I compared Firo to Joffrey Baratheon. Both them are just natural born little shit monsters, I guess.
Technically, Reprisal of the Spear Hero DID also establish how filorial are highly empathetic creatures, and their development would be influenced by their method during incubation stage (Sakura was very different when she's raised by Motoyasu and Naofumi in two different timelines... and there is a fan theory that Sakura is Firo raised differently, which is certainly plausible with all the circumstantial evidence). So taken this mechanic into account, it's possible that Naofumi's malice during Rising timeline influenced Firo into the angel faced little shit she is in Rising.
Yes, I know I'm cherry picking what details I liked from canon for my own narrative. But a lot of the points of my story is me essentially lighting a neon sign on all the plot holes and bad writing Alenko did in canon while I try to spin off my own narrative based on it. Although in this case, I'm showing the flaws from my version of Naofumi compared to his canon self, on what canon Rising Naofumi did 'better' (arguably... if you don't care about ethics. but it's not like he's doing a great job raising Firo due to his own inexperienced here either).