Sword and Shield
Clean Up 6
Raphtalia knew something was wrong almost immediately.
Before this moment, Naofumi had never been forced to draw on the power of the Shield of Rage. There was no way for her to know how well Naofumi would handle its cursed power, but as a sword of the Shield Hero and his companion, her believe in his willpower was as solid as rock.
That rock solid conviction cracked after the Legendary Shield had morphed into a menacing red and black shield, the iconography on the front of said shield evocative of a blazing fire. Not because Naofumi seemed to be losing control, but because mere moments after the Shield of Rage had been equipped, dark red energy enveloped the shield, triggering yet further change.
Evolution would be the more correct term.
Unknown to Raphtalia, or anyone else for that matter, the Dragon Core Fragment that they'd taken from the Zombie Dragon and that had been absorbed by the Legendary Shield was highly compatible with Shield of Rage. The soul of the slain dragon carried within the Dragon Core Fragment blazed with hatred and wrath. The moment Naofumi equipped the cursed shield, said hatred and wrath surged into him, further augmenting his own dark emotions that the Shield of Rage evoked in him.
Wrath was what powered the Shield of Rage, and what could cause the Shield of Rage to evolve even further if enough hatred and animosity was surging.
The dark red energy enveloping the Shield of Rage fell away, like embers in the wind. It revealed a considerably larger shield, still red and black, with the raging fire-like iconography further added onto with the almost bat-like wings of a dragon in midflight.
Horror filled Raphtalia as she intuitively realized what had just occurred.
Naofumi screamed like a mad beast. Like a dragon lost to its wrath.
It hurt her ears, but importantly, it hurt her heart far more to see Naofumi in such a state.
Raphtalia's horror deepened even further. Before she could do anything, though, Naofumi screamed once more and kicked off against the roof of the carriage they were on. She watched incredulously as the Shield Hero gained even more air then what he had attained with her help earlier.
It almost looked like Naofumi was flying, as he rocketed upwards like an out of control missile.
The raw physical strength that the Shield of Rage imparted couldn't be understated. The same held true for defensive might, a fact that became all too clear as the golden pillar of light of the Judgement spell came down from up above like an oversized hammer on an anvil. But said hammer was destined to be repelled and broken as the anvil moved to meet it, forcing the burning light away and up as easily as an ordinary man would wipe sweat from his brow.
BOOM!
The detonation that resulted shortly after as the Ceremonial Magic spell lost cohesion made Raphtalia's hair flutter wildly in the whipping winds. For the second time that day, unfair Judgement was averted. However, in that moment, that didn't matter to Raphtalia one iota. She only had eyes for the dark shape in the distance that she could see falling back down to the ground.
"Naofumi-samaaaaa!"
Raphtalia leaped from the rapidly moving carriage, and rolled on the ground to absorb the impact of her fall. Her feet pounded the forest floor as she ran as quickly as she could towards the general area where the Shield Hero had come down, her mind swirling with dread and with the fear for Naofumi's wellbeing.
Behind her, the caravan continued on.
For Naofumi, a dark miasma had enveloped his world. His world had shrunk down to the insides of his own skull, the influence of the slain dragon, and a series of running images of all the injustices he had been forced to endure since coming to this world.
Malty accusing him of rape and pulling down her eyelid in mockery.
BURN!
The King convicting him on nothing but hearsay and spite.
BURN!
A rigged duel at Motoyasu's behest.
BURN!
Words of scorn said to both his face and behind his back.
BURN!
Itsuki declaring that he deserved all the ills that had been done to him.
BURN!
Ren stabbing him in the chest and killing him.
YOU WILL PAY!
If Naofumi had been of sound mind, he would've realized that the last memory was from the Zombie Dragon's perspective. He would have realized that the Zombie Dragon's wrath was mingling with his own, driving his rage to a point that it became suffocating and downright agonizing.
"GRAAAAAAAAAAGH!"
The Shield Hero roared so that said agonizing hatred could not be denied by anyone. The truly astute would have picked up on the dark, guttural voice overlapping with Naofumi's own.
"GRGH!"
Naofumi bit his lips so hard that a long line of blood was trickling down his chin. In his state he hadn't even noticed that he had landed, unconsciously bending his knees in order to absorb the impact, and that a moderately sized crater had appeared underneath his feet.
"GRGHRGRGRG!"
The Shield Hero writhed, hands clawing at his chest as he tried and failed to push back the surging wrath within his breast. The effort just made the images and scenes of persecution and abuse come much more vivid and much more quickly. His back arched in agony.
"Naofumi-sama! Calm down, please!"
Naofumi's head snapped around in an almost deranged motion. Through the intermingling wrath of himself and the dragon, he could barely recognize Raphtalia's voice. He snarled viciously at her as she approached, making Raphtalia pause in her stride and stare at him wide eyed.
"…!"
Naofumi chocked back his hostile reaction as best he could. The brief flash of fear he had seen in Raphtalia's eyes hurt in ways he could not articulate. To see one of the people he relied on the most for the longest react like that…there was no way to describe how that made him feel.
However, that feeling allowed him to regain a little bit of his reason and senses.
"Don't come any closer," Naofumi growled.
Raphtalia stared at him, her expression unreadable.
It took but a second. The fear vanished from her eyes, replaced by an emotion he could not place. Her lips set themselves in a determined line and she took a step towards him.
"I said, don't come any closer!"
The Shield Hero howled. And howl was indeed the correct word, as the sheer force of wrath surging through Naofumi was enough to send the wind around him whipping.
Raphtalia didn't even flinch as the wind rushed over her and set her hair aflutter.
"I am your sword, Naofumi-sama."
Naofumi stilled as those familiar words reached his ears.
"I swore I would stand beside you. Through fire and brimstone, if necessary."
Step. Step. Step.
"Let me help you. Like you helped me, again and again."
"…I don't want to hurt you," Naofumi growled/begged. "Stay away."
"No," Raphtalia continued to approach. "As long as you are capable of reason, you would never hurt me, Naofumi-sama."
"You don't know that!"
An even harsher wind surged over Raphtalia, but from the fact that her pace towards him didn't slow one bit, it was evident that she was confident that he would not, could not, bring harm to her.
"Stay away!" in his anger and frustration, Naofumi stomped on the ground. With a crunch, the crater underneath him deepened even more, a testament to the uncontrollable strength he now wielded.
But still, Raphtalia did not halt her approach.
Fear appeared. Not from Raphtalia, but the emotion had become readily apparent in Naofumi's expression. But not for his own sake. Only Raphtalia's wellbeing was on his mind, and the closer she came to him, the more fear welled up in him.
Even now, in spite of his fear, anger and wrath was surging through him. The urge to hurt, to cause suffering, to immolate something, anything, nearly robbed him of reason. He was fighting with all the will power he had to not lose it, and he feared that it was a losing battle.
It was a battle he could not afford to lose.
If he did, and Raphtalia was within hand's reach…
Fear transitioning into terror at that thought, Naofumi took a faltering step back.
"Naofumi-sama…" Raphtalia reached out, as if to embrace him.
Scared almost out of his mind Naofumi was about to turn and run away, only to trip over his own two feet as he continued to back up.
Just as he fell, Raphtalia had closed her arms around him and she was dragged down with him.
THUMP!
It took a long moment for Naofumi to realize what had happened.
He was laid out on his back. Raphtalia was on top of him, arms closed tight around him, with her face tucked into the crook of his neck. In spite of the situation and in spite of himself, Naofumi shivered as Raphtalia's breath washed over his neck.
"Huh?"
A confused exhale of air escaped the Shield Hero.
Raphtalia did not respond with any more words. She just hugged Naofumi tighter, sharing her warmth with him. No words left her lips. Words were cheap. She knew that only actions would reach Naofumi as he was now.
She offered what comfort she could, in the hopes that Naofumi would calm down.
And surprisingly enough, it worked like a charm. Whenever the anger and fury called up by the Shield of Rage tried to exert itself in his mind, Raphtalia's warmth suppressed it. Whenever the images of what he had suffered tried to come to the fore of his mind, Raphtalia's warm breath on his neck made those images seem inconsequential and petty.
They laid there together for a long moment. Gradually, Naofumi felt his wrath ebb away like how the sea would at low tide. With a deep breath, he willed the Shield of Rage to be unequipped. With a low noise the Legendary Shield changed back into its base form.
He had been trying to do that the entire time, but the Shield of Rage had refused to do so. It was only now that he had calmed down that the Legendary Shield heeded his request. It was almost as if…as if the Shield of Rage could only be deactivated if he wasn't under its spell.
Either he controlled the Shield of Rage, or the Shield of Rage would control him.
This experience had firmly lodged that truth into his mind.
"Raphtalia," Naofumi hugged her back. "I'm okay now. Thank you."
"Thank goodness," she murmured into his ear.
Naofumi wanted to move and get up, but as Raphtalia wasn't showing any motion to do so herself he found himself stuck and a little confused. Something in his gut was telling him that moving and forcing Raphtalia to do so would be rather…rude. Truth be told, Raphtalia found their position quite comfortable and was trying to drag out the moment as long as possible. And honestly, Naofumi found that laying together felt oddly natural.
"Uhm, are you two alright?"
Those words floated through the still air, making Raphtalia's raccoon ears twitch.
The eyes she had closed in contentment snapped open and she scrambled to get up. With her cheeks turning cherry red in embarrassment, Raphtalia stood and turned around to see the rest of their party: Shirou, Atla, Elrasla, Fohl and Filo. All of them were staring at Raphtalia and Naofumi with wide ranging emotions that ran from incredulousness all the way to amusement.
It was Fohl who had let slip that question, but he regretted it a moment later.
Atla poked him in the side.
"Atla, why?!" Fohl spluttered, the Life Force infused jab feeling like a hammer blow to his ribs.
"Can't you see that they are having a moment. It's rude to interrupt," Atla reproached. If she'd been cuddling with Shirou-sama and someone came to bother them, there would be hell to pay.
"Now, now, children," Elrasla cackled. "There's a time and a place for an elicit rendezvous and a tryst, but now is a rather inopportune moment. Perhaps it would be better to revisit the passions of this moment at a later date?"
""It isn't like that!"" both Naofumi and Raphtalia exclaimed, red faced. The Shield Hero scrambled to get back on his feet.
"No fair, Onee-chan!" Filo pouted and stamped her foot. "Filo wants to cuddle with Master, too!"
Shirou kept his peace, choosing to not further embarrass his comrades. However, the corners of his lips had curled up in both fondness and amusement. To Naofumi and Raphtalia, it reminded them of a doting relative looking over a preciouses moment, and they blushed all the harder for it.
"All of you, never bring this up again," Naofumi ordered.
The looks he received made it clear that wasn't going to happen.
The Shield Hero's brow twitched. "Lets, lets just go back to the caravan…"
Elrasla gave him a mocking salute and grin. "I understand, Holy Saint. Lets finish up all this nasty business so that these lovebirds can pick up where they left off as soon as possible."
Naofumi palmed his face. "You incorrigible…"
Raphtalia elected to keep her silence. Privately, she was glad Sadeena wasn't here right now. If she'd seen all of this, Sadeena would have teased her with it for time immemorial.
"Shield Hero. It is good to see that you have returned to sound mind. Degojaru," still disguised in the guise of a rough and tumble female Gladiator Slave, Shadow greeted them.
They had made haste the return to the caravan. Shadow had informed them that all enemy combatants had been disposed of, but it was all too easy to imagine that more might be hidden by the forest and the haze of combat. Thankfully, when they returned to the caravan, which had been brought to a halt half a mile further down the trail, they found that no further attacks had occurred in the time the party of the Shield Hero had been away.
Standing besides the Shadow close to the Shield Hero's carriage, H'aanit cocked an eyebrow at the disheveled looking Naofumi. "Shield Hero, you seemen out of sorts. Aren thee alright?" she asked, idly scratching Linde behind the ear, getting a deep purr in response.
"I'm fine," Naofumi blinked and shook his head, as if to clear it from a haze.
Shirou coughed. "Uh, Naofumi just got mobbed. He's fine," he echoed.
The Shadow and H'aanit blinked in unison at that. Though they'd calmed down somewhat, the slaves had been relieved and jubilant at coming out unscathed. Furthermore, nearly everyone had seen Naofumi defending them from what could easily have appeared to be the judgement from god to the ill-informed.
Suffice it to say, Naofumi had gotten a heroes welcome. After going through that hullabaloo, though, he had come to the conclusion that he could do without such a thing in the future.
Like Shirou had said, Naofumi found himself mobbed upon return by all the people who he, with his decisive actions, had saved. What Shirou did not mention was that he had similarly been mobbed; his actions in the defence of the slaves hadn't gone unnoticed either.
"Understandable, I suppose," Shadow shrugged.
"More importantly, is the situation over?" Naofumi recentered himself.
"As far as I can tell, yes. Degojaru," Shadow stated. "My men haven't encountered any more enemy forces."
"Neither haven our…auxiliary forces," H'aanit added.
"Considering that there has not been a follow up attack, and giving us the time to recuperate doesn't make sense from a strategic point of view, I can only conclude that the crises has passed," Shadow finished. "However, we won't be taking any chances. My men will continue to patrol both the woods and the path ahead."
"As willen mine 'friends'," H'aanit said.
"Good," Naofumi nodded and let out a breath. "Let's get back on the road. No offence, H'aanit, but I would like to get out of these woods as fast possible."
"None taken, Shield Hero," H'aanit snorted. Considering the harrowing trials they'd had to contend with in this forest, both in the present and the past, she could easily envision the existence of a need to leave the Dark Woods behind. To potentially side step yet another trial waiting in the wings if nothing else.
They were about to climb back into their carriage and get back on the move, only for the Shadow to suddenly jerk to a stop.
"…Oh, please don't tell me," Shirou grimaced.
Multiple faces paled.
"No, it's something else. Degojaru," the Shadow assuaged, but considering how tense the Shadow looked, it did little to relieve their wariness.
At the Shadow's urging they piled into the carriage like they had originally intended. Another Shadow was already waiting inside, cradling a crystal ball. They handed the crystal ball to the Shadow that had been accompanying them, then just seemed to melt away. Turning to face them, the Shadow in disguise tapped the crystal ball, which came alight in a swirl of colors.
After a moment, the face of the Queen became clear, and the tension ratcheted up several notches at her expression.
There was no mistaking or missing the grim expression on Mirellia's face.
"Greetings," she said.
"Don't beat around the bush. Just lay it on us," Naofumi cut across before she could say anything else.
"I assure you, that was my intention, Shield Hero-sama," Mirellia said, closing her eyes. "Less than half an hour ago, the Shadows of the Church of the Three Heroes attacked Melty and her guards."
There was a moment of stunned silence at her proclamation.
"Tell me Mel-chan is alright!" Filo burst out almost immediately as the moment passed.
"I don't know," was the frank response.
"And what is that supposed to mean?" Naofumi bit out. He was gritting his teeth in his anger and was making no effort to hide it.
"At the time of the attack, Melty was in her room, back at the castle," Mirellia began to explain. "The attack, from what little information I have, was perfectly executed and was done with overwhelming force. Melty's guards were slaughtered to a man and nearly all the Shadows protecting her were killed as well. Those few Shadows that managed to escape reported the incident to me just moments ago, but they have no further information on Melty's whereabouts or her condition."
The group was as silent as the grave as Mirellia matter-of-factly laid out what happened. Filo's face was growing flush with anger at both the situation and the apparent calm the Queen was taking said situation with.
Before Filo could explode, however, Naofumi's hand came to a rest on top of her head. Filo turned to look at the Shield Hero, lips wobbling and clearly distraught.
"It will be alright, Filo," Naofumi soothed. He himself was angry with the situation, but he realized letting his anger take the fore and lead him by the nose would not help Melty, so he had suppressed his initial furious reaction. The Queen's apparent lack of upset and anger was clearly done with the same reason in mind.
Naofumi saw through it, though. The Queen was a master of politics and controlling her emotions, but for better or for worse, Naofumi was highly attuned with the emotion of anger. She might try and hide it, but Naofumi could acutely feel the ice cold fury radiating out from Mirellia.
"Are you sure, Master?"
"I will make sure of it," was Naofumi's flat response, as if the outcome was guaranteed.
That got a smile out of Filo.
"Why would the church target Melty?" Naofumi asked.
"They've probably surmised that we are cooperating with each other," Mirellia stated. Their actions, taken in separate at a cursory examination, complemented the other neatly at weakening the church. Hell, the church might have just acquired intel that Melty had met with the Shield Hero back in Zeltoble and inferred a partnership between the Shield Hero and the Queen from that.
"If so, that would imply that they want to use Melty as leverage against us," Shirou added.
"My thoughts exactly," Mirellia nodded. "One good thing about all this is that, if they want to use Melty as leverage as we surmised they will need to keep her alive. If they kill her and we find out that she is dead, Melty could no longer be used as a bargaining chip."
"But why now?" Raphtalia asked. "Melty has been at the castle for some time now. Why wait so long before attempting this?"
"Considering their ill thought out and ill-fated attack against us, I can hazard a guess," Elrasla said, for once devoid of her perpetual smile and cheer. Now, she was scowling. "They are throwing everything they have at the wall and seeing what sticks."
Mirellia raised a brow at the information that they had been attacked, but didn't inquire further on it. It wasn't important right now.
"…You'll have to explain that line of reasoning to me," Naofumi raised a brow.
"Holy Saint, the Church of the Three Heroes making such aggressive moves is in and of itself a sign that they are getting desperate," Elrasla said. "Remember, the Church of the Three Heroes is a public institution that takes the political situation into account. Though it doesn't care one whit about the thoughts and opinions of demi-human countries, if it becomes known that the Shield Hero was killed by operatives of the church, nearly the whole world would condemn them."
After all, Holy Heroes were of paramount importance to pretty much everyone.
"If they could get rid of you using clandestine means with no chance of having it being traced back to them, like they have been attempting until now, they would continue to try and do that. The fact that they're acting more or less out in the open now means that they have given up on that," Elrasla continued as she shook her head. "Your attempts to wear down the church's grasp on power must have had more effect and much more quickly than we had anticipated. Otherwise they wouldn't take such drastic steps, steps that increase the risk of an international backlash."
In this context, international backlash was a synonym for war, or for a concerted international effort to have the Church of the Three Heroes condemned and destroyed at least. The Church of the Three Heroes, naturally, had a vested interest to avoid such an outcome.
Elrasla breathed out slowly. "The attack back in the Dark Woods, if it had succeeded, has a far higher risk of implicating the Church of the Three Heroes than anything they have tried before. As does the attack and abduction of the crown princes of Melromarc. Such drastic, risk laden actions just reek of desperation."
"That was my summation of the situation, as well," Mirellia shook her head.
She had been aware that their actions had undermined both the credibility and the sway on power of the Church of the Three Heroes, but she hadn't appreciated how driven in a corner their enemy felt. If she had, she would have recalled Melty to her side. But she had underestimated the situation and, more importantly, what risks the Church of the Three Heroes would be willing to take once desperation set in.
"I would like to say that's a good thing, but…" Fohl looked troubled.
"An animal is often at its most dangerous when its driven into a corner," Atla surmised what they were all thinking.
"Correct," Mirellia hid her mouth behind her fan.
"…But hasn't the Church of the Three Heroes already over played its hand?" Fohl offered.
"We have taken several of the church operatives that attacked us into custody. Degojaru," Shadow said. "And with the use of a Slave Crest, we can get these captives to admit that they, on the orders of the church, attempted to kill the Shield Hero. Degojaru."
"The church will deny everything, of course," Mirellia said, shaking her head. "Not that denying until their faces are blue will make much difference. With circumstances as they are, the reputation of the Church of the Three Heroes is in the gutter both abroad and domestically. Not many will take their denials at face value. However…"
"However, If we do that, if we make the situation for the church even more precarious they might be inclined to take ever more drastic actions…" Naofumi furthered the thought.
"And with Melty in their grasp, that translates to even more potential risk to her wellbeing," Shirou finished the thought, grimacing.
"Desperate as they are, the church clearly has not completely given up on strategic thinking," Mirellia closed her eyes. "I would think their tenacity and sheer gall admirable, if their goals and methods weren't absolutely horrendous. If my daughter wasn't in danger," Mirellia opened her eyes, and they bored into Naofumi with the intensity of a laser. "With Melty in their custody, the Church of the Three Heroes has a critical point of leverage. They know it. We know it. And most disastrously of all, they know that we know it."
Mirellia eyes went right past cold and into subzero. "They'll use this leverage of theirs to the hilt and abuse it as far as it will take them. As such, this leverage has to be denied to them, no matter what."
"A rescue operation," Shirou stated. He was all up for that.
"Naturally," Mirellia nodded. "And that's exactly why I contacted the Shield Hero as soon as I could."
"You already know where Melty is being held?" Naofumi led slip in surprise.
"No," Mirellia shook her head. "However, I have reason to believe that you will shortly."
Naofumi looked confused at that adamant assertion of the Queen. As did everyone else. How did she figure that?
"Melty is resourceful," Mirellia smiled thinly. "It won't be long before she realizes that she has a way to inform you, Shield Hero-sama, of her exact location. She chose to be connected to you of her own free choice, in order to increase our chances of creating a partnership with you. Now, I am quite sure that choice will prove to be highly fortuitous indeed."
"You don't mean…" Shirou trailed off, eyes widening as he figured out what the Queen was implying.
Mirellia's eyes gained a cold, vindictive glint. "Once Melty's location has been ascertained, all of you will have carte blanche to do whatever it takes to ensure her rescue and safety. Murder. Torture. Wanton destruction. Everything and anything to achieve that goal. As the queen of Melromarc, I will handwave away any and all crimes you might commit in service of that goal."
Slowly, Naofumi gained a vindictive grin of his own. The Shield Hero cracked his knuckles as he gave a menacing chuckle.
"Gladly," he almost hissed under his breath, a dark look in his eyes.
For once, no commented on how villainous Naofumi looked and sounded at that moment. To be honest, the general attitude of the party to the situation mirrored that of the Shield Hero.
The Church of the Three Heroes was going to regret going after Melty.
"You are stubborn, princess, I'll give you that."
A disembodied voice spoke in the darkness, but the recipient of those words refused to reply.
Melty, tied down to a chair in the middle of a cell so dark that it was impossible for her to tell the size of the room, didn't react at all.
Drip. Drip. Drip.
Only the sound of blood dripping broke the silence. Her blood. It drippled down her arms and legs in considerable amounts, forming a slowly growing puddle underneath the chair. Long cuts adorned her extremities, weeping that source of life at a slow rate.
That in and of itself was prove that they weren't trying to kill her. If they wanted, they could've made the cuts so deep in certain locations that she would have bled out in short order. As it was, Melty felt rather light headed, but she didn't actually run the risk of bleeding out.
The implied threat was there, though.
"Still refusing to talk, I see?"
The disembodied voice spoke again, a barely there note of frustration contained within.
They had been torturing her for the last hour, but had not so much as gotten a peep out of her. They, in this context, were the disembodied voice echoing from the darkness and a Shadow covered from head to toe in the standard full body covering. The Shadow tortured, the voice asked questions, with the implicit promise that the torture would stop if Melty answered said questions.
Inwardly, Melty sneered at them, even as she maintained her blank expression outwardly. No matter what they did or threatened to do to her, she'd never answer any of their questions.
She was scared of course, and the pain was incredible. But when she had been taken her captors had made the fatal mistake of giving her the chance to steel herself for what was to come. She was stubborn, she knew that she was worth more alive than dead to them, and she was certain she could weather this trial.
All of that combined allowed her to take was being done to her so stoically. Her country's continued prosperity and existence depended on it.
Moreover, she had the suspicion that this torture served another purpose than to just get answers from her. If they wanted her to answer their questions, all they would have to do was brand her with a Slave Crest and she'd literally be inable to either lie or withold answers.
But they hadn't done that. They hadn't even threatened to do that. Something else was going, this torture was meant to accomplish somehing else, but she couldn't figure out what.
"What is the Devil of the Shield planning?"
WHAM!
"How is the Queen involved?"
WHAM!
"What deal did they hash out between them?"
WHAM!
Questions bombarded her in unison with the Shadow's fists, but still, Melty refused to bend. No cry of pain left her lips, her face expressionless.
This continued for a while, but then…
"Stop," the voice in the darkness said, and the Shadow stopped.
Inwardly, Melty raised a brow.
"We will stop, for now," the voice said, and Melty scoffed. Inwardly, of course. "Our guest here won't last long if we continue like this. We'll get someone proficient in Healing magic, treat her wounds and continue where we left of."
The Shadow nodded and then stepped out of the cell without a word. The bars of the cell door slammed shut with a loud clang. The torch beyond the bars guttered, the only source of minimal light in the cell, just enough for Melty to see the dark wall ahead but little else.
Again, Melty mentally sneered. Hurting her, then leaving her alone to let her stew in fear and pain, and a promise of more pain in the near future. A common and highly effective tactic in interrogation to induce further fear and to get someone to crack under stress cooked up by the target itself.
It would have been effective if her captors were a bit more suave about it. As it was, it only hardened Melty's resolve.
As soon as the Shadow left the voice had fallen silent. Melty wasn't sure if the owner of the voice had left or not, but she could still feel eyes on her. They were not going to leave her unattended, after all. She was too important a bargaining chip.
Not that it mattered if eyes were on her or not, because her captors had made one crucial mistake when they captured her. Well, two mistakes to be exact. The first was that they hadn't stripped her naked when they tied her down. As it was, she still wore the ragged remains of her customary blue dress.
Melty closed her eyes and focused. Her hands were tied around the back of the chair, held in place by magic suppressing manacles that in theory made it impossible for her to perform any magic. Given that, most would assume what she was attempting to do right now to be impossible, however, Melty knew how these kinds of contraptions worked. They worked by inducing an irregular current of magic energy into a target that made operating one's Magical Circuits damn near impossible.
Damn near impossible, but not entirely. Melty could still call on and harness a tiny trickle of magical energy. More importantly, she wasn't trying to cast any magic. Not really. Casting spells with those magic suppressing manacles was beyond her.
But directing some magical energy to what amounted to an already preprepared spell?
That she could with some difficulty.
A trickle of magical energy was harnessed and directed, surging through Melty's body and towards a particular location on her chest. Hidden beneath the remains of her dress, a purple Slave Crest flared to live for but a brief moment. Melty felt a burning sensation, but it didn't last long before the burning subsided, the high-level Slave Crest becoming invisible as soon as it had finished activating.
The second mistake her captors had made and she had alluded to earlier? They had searched her body and clothes for anything she might use to escape or might be used to ascertain her location, but they'd neglected to do any further invasive searches.
Not that she could blame them. Who would suspect a crown princess of bearing a hidden Slave Crest on her body?
Inwardly, Melty smiled.
Shield Hero. I'll place my faith in you. You might be crass in personality and incorrigible in both word and deed, but you are honest to a fault and will always do your best to do right in return to the people who have done right by you. I hope you consider me one of those people…
This last thought could be paraphrased as such.
I hope you noticed that I am truly your ally, and that you are on my side in return.
Naofumi's head jerked.
He was sat in their carriage in the driver's seat. The caravan had been on the move again and had left the Dark Woods behind. His eyes had been focused on the road, but now a notification from his Menu dominated both his sight and his attention.
Slave Crest activated! A slave has been contracted to your service!
The Shield Hero's sudden start wasn't missed by everyone else.
"Naofumi-sama…"
"Melty has activated her Slave Crest," Naofumi said, his lips pulling up into a grin.
Back when they had first met the Queen and Melty, a partnership had been proposed and accepted. However, before that faithful meeting had even occurred Melty had committed herself to an act that would hopefully help convince the rightfully weary Shield Hero to agree to work with them.
Once Melty had looked objectively at the facts, she had come to the conclusion that getting Naofumi to team up with them would be nigh impossible. Stolen from his home, lied to and betrayed at almost every turn, all orchestrated by her own family members out of greed and spite. Paranoia was, in Melty's opinion, the only reasonable response to such a series of events. To say nothing of the fact that the Shield Hero had to bare a rightful grudge against the royal family of Melromarc.
Given all that, coming to any kind of agreement with Naofumi would be an uphill struggle. As such, a certain assurance had to be provide, to assuage the Shield Hero's paranoia and to prove the sincerity of their offer.
This translated, in Melty's mind, into collateral. If they reneged on their path of the deal and betrayed the Shield Hero in doing so, they would lose something priceless, something that could not be replaced, something that Melromarc could not do without.
Something that the Shield Hero knew they could not afford to lose.
Coin? Land? Power? No, none of those kinds of collateral would do. All those could be restored with sufficient time and effort.
No, in the end, Melty had decided to put herself up as collateral. The heir to the throne was one of a kind and priceless. Especially for Melromarc, as the only other candidate to potentially inherent the throne was wholly unsuited to the role. Something that the Shield Hero was aware of from painful personal experience.
From that premise the deal was struck. Melty as collateral sealed with three separate components. A Slave Crest. A Curse Seal. And a Magical Contract. The Magical Contract would force Melty's pre-applied and inert Curse Seal and Slave Crest, that were linked to Naofumi, to activate if the Queen or Melty did anything to betray the partnership they had themselves had brokered.
The Slave Crest would force Melty to obey every order Naofumi gave and marked her as his property, but it was the Curse Seal that truly sealed the deal. Melty's Curse Seal came with this singular command: if the Slave Crest were ever to be removed without Naofumi's consent, use every possible opportunity to have the Slave Crest reapplied.
In short, if the Queen or Melty betrayed Naofumi, the crown princess of Melromarc would forever be compromised, even if they removed the Slave Crest. It was as close as an absolute deal/collateral they could offer. There were ways around Magical Contracts and Slave Crests, but Curse Seals and the accompanying command are absolute and unremovable.
It was Melty herself who had suggested this arrangement and it had been presented to Naofumi with the preprepared Magical Contract he had signed back when they first met. Even if the Shield Hero and his companions had been taken aback, none had been more surprised than Mirellia herself. After she had listened to Melty's arguments, however, Mirellia had acquiesced to the arrangement.
It was a harsh plan that ensured their cooperation. However, now that the situation had come to this unfortunate turn it provided a unique benefit.
An active Slave Crest acted like a beacon. It broadcasts the slave's rough direction and location in the master's Menu.
"Master, where's Mel-chan!" even as she continued to pull the carriage, Filo's sudden question knocked Naofumi from his thoughts.
"She is too far away for the Slave Crest to broadcast her exact location," Naofumi said. "However, there's a signal in the direction of Melromarc."
"Naturally," Shirou came clambering out of the back of the carriage. "Shall we?"
Naofumi didn't verbally respond. The answer was obvious. "H'aanit?"
"I willen taken care of thine caravan, Shield Hero," the Lady of the Forest almost saluted him. Linde growled in agreement.
H'aanit had offered her continued support, for no other reason than leaving given the Melty situation would have left a foul taste in her mouth. Thankfully, she had no pressing commitments back in S'warkii at the moment. And as she had often set out on hunts that took multiple days, her people back in the village wouldn't even think her extended absence strange.
Behind them in the carriage everyone was preparing, gathering supplies and checking their weapons. The entire party including Shadow would set out to rescue Melty. H'aanit, Linde, and all of Shadow's men would stay behind to guard the caravan as it continued on its journey. After all, the possibility of an attack while they were away was very real.
Naofumi frowned heavily.
By leaving to rescue Melty, they would leave the caravan open for attack. The chance that the Church of the Three Heroes could launch another assault on a similar scale was nonexistent. It would require too much manpower and preparation in a short time period to be feasible. However, smaller scale attacks by lone operatives or church Shadows were definitely still on the table.
But Melty had to be rescued, no matter what. Going off half cocked on a rescue mission like this was not an option. They had to succeed, so they were bringing their A game. Once more they faced a situation where there was no optimal answer. The only thing they could do was rescue Melty as fast as possible and give the church as small a window of opportunity they could.
In that time frame, they would have the rely on H'aanit and Linde to lead and safeguard the caravan.
"Thee need not worry, Shield Hero," H'aanit noticed Naofumi's dark look and spoke up to reassure him. "I willen ensure that thine people will be waiting for thee when thee returns."
Hah, 'his people'. It was odd to think it, but H'aanit was right. The people in the caravan were in effect his people now. The fact that he was leaving them to fend for themselves made his stomach feel heavy.
"Trust me, Shield Hero," H'aanit said as his dark look didn't abate. "I willen not be alone, remember? Linde, Shadow's men, the Gladiator Slaves and mine 'friends' will aiden me."
Overhead, a massive flock of Four-Eyed Ravens continued to shadow the caravan. On either side of the road on which the caravan was advancing monsters flitted about unseen in the underbrush. Monsters in the service of H'aanit.
H'aanit smiled as Naofumi's expression and worries visibly lightened.
"…I'm counting on you," Naofumi inclined his head.
H'aanit's smile widened a tad.
The Legendary Shield changed into the Dragon Hourglass Sand Shield.
"See you soon."
In a flash of light, the Shield Hero's party plus one disguised Shadow appeared in the shadow of the Old Man's weapon shop in Castle Town back in Melromarc.
"Quick, inside."
The party piled into the shop, the bell at the door heralding their arrival.
"Welcome, how can I-Ah, Shield Boy," Erhard changed word mid-sentence as he recognized who had come to visit him.
"Old Man," Naofumi greeted. "How's business?"
"Pretty good," Erhard answered reflexively before his eyes widened in alarm. "But that isn't important right now. What are you doing here? Do you have any idea how dangerous it is in the city at the moment?"
"Dangerous?" Shirou raised a brow.
"Yes, for Shield Boy and you lot," Erhard expounded. He got out behind the counter, marched up to the front door with hurried steps and turned around the we are open sign to closed. "Hopefully no one will have seen you enter, or we might have some unwanted visitors soon."
"…I was afraid of this. Degojaru," the Shadow said, still disguised as a rough and tumble female Gladiator Slave.
The Old Man gave the disguised Shadow a considering look.
"What do you mean?" Raphtalia asked.
"Considering what we've been told, the attack on Melty was large in scale and left multiple people dead. Degojaru," Shadow sighed. "There's no way to cover something like that up entirely, especially not if it occurred in the castle. Since they can't hide the fact that Melty was attacked and taken, they can only do the next best thing: shift the blame."
Shirou's eyes narrowed in anger as he figured out what Shadow meant. "They're accusing us of attacking and kidnapping Melty?"
"That's right," Erhard broke in, shaking his head. "An announcement went out less than twenty minutes ago, saying that the Shield Hero and his party attacked the castle and have taken the crown princess hostage. The people who went around informing the populace even included a recording of you lot slaughtering the princess' guards and knocking her out cold before taking her."
Naofumi didn't respond verbally, but the building anger on his face couldn't be missed. Again, he was being accused of something he didn't do. What else was new?
"How did they manage that?" Fohl asked, incredulous.
The Old Man turned towards Fohl and Atla and raised an eyebrow at two demi-human children he had never seen before, but he didn't question their presence. He correctly assumed they were new party members and left it at that.
"Recordings made with a crystal ball can be doctored by a sufficiently accomplished mage. Degojaru," Shadow said shaking their head. "They recorded their own attack on Melty and edited the footage afterwards, changes the appearances of the attackers and such. Degojaru."
"And who's they?" Erhard asked.
"The Church of the Three Heroes. Who else?" Naofumi snarled.
"What a bunch of filth," Atla frowned thunderously.
Elrasla looked less than pleased as well, but she kept her thoughts to herself.
"Rumor has it that the King is beside himself with anger and grief, and that he has vowed to hunt the Shield Hero down," Erhard said. He didn't comment on the apparent fact that it was the Church of the Three Heroes that had attacked the princess and taken her. Once he had heard the news, he had pretty much assumed something in that vein.
"I don't care what that trash thinks or feels," Naofumi spat, not surprised that the King had swallowed the lie of the church hook, line, and sinker. "We've got to rescue Melty. Then we can worry about all the other shit that the Church of the Three Heroes is trying to peddle."
"Rescue…the princess?" Erhard tilted his head, blinking.
"We are working together with the Queen," Shirou broke in with surprising suddenness. "The church probably figured that out and targeted Melty as a result. We have a way to find and her. We came back to Castle Town because, as she was taken here, it will be easier to track her down if we came here first."
The Old Man blinked rapidly at the sudden onrush of information.
"…I see."
"Old Man, can you get us a carriage?" Naofumi asked. "We will need it if we want to be able to move quickly and inconspicuously."
Privately, the Shield Hero was annoyed that his teleportation ability couldn't take along large objects like a carriage. If it could, they wouldn't have to impose on the Old Man like this.
"I can pull a few strings and have a friend of mine provide one," Erhard confirmed.
"Then please do so as quickly as you can. Degojaru," Shadow said. "For Melty-sama's wellbeing, time is of the essence. Degojaru."
"But won't the little miss stand out in her Filolial Queen form?" Erhard pointed to Filo, who was currently in human form. When she took on her Filolial Queen form in order to pull the carriage she'd stick out like a sore thumb with her unique appearance.
"We've already thought of that. Just get the carriage. Degojaru," Shadow said.
"Will do," Erhard saluted.
"Also, can you shelter these two in the meantime?" Naofumi asked, pointing towards Atla and Fohl.
"What?" Atla and Fohl started, with Fohl blinking his eyes rapidly.
Erhard cocked his head at the unexpected request, a bemused expression appearing in his face. "Sure, but might I ask why?"
"We will be heading into an unknown amount of danger," the Shield Hero shrugged helplessly. "And while both Atla and Fohl have a lot of talent and promise, I just do not feel comfortable taking then with us with their current Level, abilities and combat experience."
"Then why did you take us with you in the first place?" Fohl asked, clearly offended.
"Because I advised him to," Shirou said.
Everyone turned to look at the white haired demi-human.
"Why, Shirou-sama?" Atla asked, tilting her head.
"For your safety," Shirou shrugged. "There's a non-zero chance that the caravan might be attacked while we are away. No matter if you two came with us or not, you'll still be in potential danger, and I figured that keeping you two safe would be easier if we kept you both close by. I hadn't thought of leaving you with Erhard here before, but I do think it's the best option."
Atla opened her mouth to object.
"Neither you or your brother are ready for something like this," Naofumi broke in, stating the facts in a no nonsense tone of voice. Honestly, he had wanted to add that, as the siblings were now they would be more a hindrance than a help, but he'd managed to reel it in at the last second. Saying that would probably not go over well.
Fohl looked insulted enough as it was.
"Staying here with the Old Man will be better for everyone," he said instead.
Atla turned to Shirou with a doleful look. How she managed that with her perpetually closed eyelids was anyone's guess. Shirou blamed her tail that had curled in between her legs and her cat-like ears that had folded down. She looked like a kicked puppy.
Shirou reached down and patted Atla on the head. "I know it isn't nice, but we can't risk taking you or your brother with us. As Naofumi said, you two aren't ready yet, and if we mess up it will be Melty that pays the price. We can't afford to take any unnecessary risks with this."
Atla continued to 'stare' at Shirou like a kicked puppy, but she only got a flat look in return. Shirou wasn't going to bend on the potential safety of Melty, Fohl and Atla herself because she was sad that she couldn't be of use.
Atla pouted, petulantly crossed her arms and averted her 'gaze' with a huff.
Shirou found himself smiling in spite of himself at how cute she looked, and before he realized what he was doing, he scratched Atla behind one of her cat-like ears. Atla started at the surprise sensation and, like a kitten, leaned into his touch.
Fohl growled audibly at this.
"Fine, I'll forgive for leaving me behind this time, but only if you promise to train me, so that I can catch up and start helping as soon as possible," Atla said.
"Deal," Shirou responded. With one final scratch behind Atla's ear, he withdrew his hand.
Less than an hour later, a completely ordinary carriage being drawn by a completely ordinary Filolial with white feathers and a smattering of pink ones left Castle Town through the main gate after a quick check by the guards. The road stretched out before the carriage as the Filolial set off at a much faster clip than most Filolials could achieve.
"Left," the rough and tumble looking woman sitting in the driver's seat said.
The Filolial did as instructed and the carriage veered left. The journey was silent until, after about twenty minutes of travel, the carriage was swallowed up by the thick greenery of the woods.
"You can come out now."
There was a tight and minute surge of magical energy, barely perceivable, as a spell came undone.
"Good job on the illusion, Raphtalia. Those guards were none the wiser."
"Thanks for the kind words, Naofumi-sama."
Naofumi and Raphtalia stuck their heads out of the carriage. The illusion that had rendered the party invisible inside of the carriage when the guards did their check had been released just moments before. Shirou and Elrasla remained inside of the carriage.
"Master…"
"I'm sorry, Filo. You'll have to remain in that form for a little while longer. Your Filolial Queen form is too distinctive and we do not know how far the church's version of events regarding Melty's kidnapping have spread," Naofumi shook his head in apology.
Filo pouted, though it was almost impossible to see through her beak. Quite a while ago, the Monster Breeder back in Riyute village had informed them that Filolial Queens could take on the form of an ordinary Filolial. It was an ability allegedly used in order to hide in the fast flocks they ruled over. And thankfully that piece of info had been spot on, otherwise leaving Castle Town unobserved would have been much more trouble than necessary.
That, and security had not been all that tight. No one could have expected for the Shield Hero's party to 'return to the scene of the crime' after having 'escaped'. The higher ups in the country, those in the know, had to be aware of the teleportation abilities of the Heroes. They had just assumed that the entire party of the Shield Hero including Melty had warped away. And as such had seen no reason to lock Castle Town down even if they were not aware that the story of the Devil of the Shield kidnapping Melty was just hogwash.
"Which direction is the signal, Shield Hero-sama? Degojaru," Shadow asked.
"North-west."
"You heard him, Filo."
"Mel-chan, here we come!" Filo cried and sped up.
"Uh, and try and talk as little as possible. A talking Filolial might give us away," Naofumi ordered.
"Aww. Will do, Master," Filo pouted again and clamped her beak shut.
They traveled deeper into the woods, and it did not take long before the path they were on started to go up at an incline that steadily grew steeper. As they followed the signal given out by Melty's Slave Crest, their journey was taking them up a forest covered mountain in the hinterlands of Melromarc. The journey was mostly done in silence with the disguised Shadow in the driver's seat, Filo pulling the carriage and the rest of the party hidden away inside of the carriage.
It happened three hours after they'd set out from Castle Town.
"…We have gotten close enough. I have a definite bead on Melty's location," Naofumi said, his eyes deep in his Menu.
"Is it close by, Naofumi-sama?" Raphtalia asked.
"It's still a ways off, but Melty is definitely being held somewhere on this mountain," Naofumi said.
"Can we continue to follow the road we're on? Degojaru," Shadow piped up.
"Yes, but the chances are that we will have to leave the road soon and start trekking through the woods on foot," Naofumi shook his head.
The Shield Hero's guess was spot on. Less than twenty minutes later they'd had to leave the carriage behind if they wanted to cut a straight path towards Melty's location. Filo looked less then pleased as she was forced to leave another carriage behind. They took the effort to haul the carriage into the woods for a small ways and hide it in the foliage. It wouldn't do for the enemy to find it and become suspicious.
As they wandered deeper into the woods, Shadow silently removed their rough and tumble Gladiator Slave disguise. Color seemed to drain out of Shadow's skin and clothes, leaving a thin film of 'something' completely black behind, after which said thin layer of 'something' fell away and Shadow was revealed to once again be wearing their full body covering ninja clothing.
In fact, they had never taken it off.
The rest watched this peculiar phenomena curiously, but didn't enquire about it. Now wasn't the time.
Having done that, the party cut a path through the overgrown woods at a steady clip. Naofumi was at the front, using his shield to clear a path through the overgrowth for everyone behind him. And as they walked, the overgrowth grew progressively ticker and the trees grew ever larger, to a point that most five-story buildings could comfortable fit underneath the canopy.
"How far are we from Melty-sama's location? Degojaru," Shadow suddenly asked.
"I'd guess we're about twenty minutes out from her," Naofumi said.
Shadow nodded. "I will scout ahead. If I encounter any enemy Shadows, I will signal you and take out the enemy Shadow if necessary. Degojaru."
"Sounds like a plan," Shirou spoke up for the group.
"I'll place our group under an illusion, that way it will be more difficult for us to be spotted," Raphtalia informed the Shadow.
Shadow nodded again. "Good idea. Some Shadows have been trained to see through illusions, but it's a rare skill that isn't common even amongst the best. Degojaru. Your illusions will serve us well in retrieving Melty-sama. Degojaru."
"Will the illusion not make it difficult for you to find us again?" Shirou asked.
"No," Shadow stated. "I'm among the few who can see through illusions. Degojaru."
"Convenient," Naofumi deadpanned.
Without another word, Shadow leaped into the canopy and disappeared from view.
"All Zweite Hiding," Raphtalia murmured the words of power under her breath. The party of the Shield Hero shimmered, then faded from sight. The speed and ease at which Raphtalia had cast the spell spoke to her building skill with magic.
They crept forwards, still moving quickly but taking care to make as little noise as possible. This did slow them down a little, but they arrived at their destination nonetheless. More importantly, they did so unnoticed.
They peeked out from the tree line, taking care to remain behind foliage even if they were invisible. Shirou used his sharp eyes to survey the scene.
"A bit of a surprise, this," he commented. Naofumi grunted in agreement.
What laid in front of them was a castle in a miniature. It was square in shape with thick walls made of light brown stone. Four narrow rounded towers were situated in every corner of the castle. A gate with tall wooden doors was at the front. Small windows were scattered thinly across the walls in an asymmetric pattern, along with symmetric holes for archers.
And all if it was build small enough to disappear underneath the canopy of massive trees. Obviously, this place was chosen to imprison Melty not only because it would be easy to defend, but it was also out of the way and hard to find.
Finding this place without the aid of Melty's Slave Crest would have been nigh on impossible.
"This…is going to be a bit more difficult then I'd hoped," Naofumi grumbled.
Shadow reappeared, seeming to faze back into reality, crouched besides Shirou.
"There are six enemy Shadows hidden in the surroundings," Shadow said without preamble. "So far, they haven't noticed us."
"Only six?" Elrasla led slip in surprise. In her mind, that was a very small contingent of enemy covert personnel for a place such as this.
"There are probably a few more Shadows inside of that building," Shadow allowed, tilting their head towards the small castle. "However, such few Shadows is only to be expected. The Shadows of the church are constantly being sent out on various missions and to counter our own operations. When it comes to numbers, we have a small advantage over the Shadows of the church. The Church of the Three Heroes has very few Shadows to spare."
"Lucky break for us, I guess," Naofumi grunted.
"But sneaking in still will not be easy by any means," Shirou cautioned. "Guards. Checkpoints. Traps. We can only assume that we'll encounter all of that and more. If we want to get to Melty and get her out of there without being seen…"
Shirou's words lingered in the air. Said words made all of them come to terms with the fact that they were facing an uphill struggle. This was enemy territory in every meaning of the word. They were at an inherent disadvantage that they had to overcome, if they wanted to rescue Melty without putting her or themselves at unacceptable risk.
This meant that they had to exploit their own advantages to the hilt if they wanted to succeed.
"Shadow," Shirou spoke up. "Infiltration is your bread and butter. What do you suggest?"
One of said advantages was Shadow themself. Their expertise in situations such as this was worth its weight in gold.
Shadow was silent for a brief moment. "Split the team," they eventually said. "Team 1 will sneak into the enemy base and retrieve Melty-sama. Team 2 will remain behind and provide a distraction if it should be required."
"Makes sense," Naofumi nodded. Besides the flexibility and options Shadow's suggestion of splitting the team provided, sneaking in as one large group would make remaining undetected more difficult.
Naturally, the next question that came up was who would go in and would stay behind. Thankfully, it was a question with an easy answer, and came back to making maximum use of their own advantages.
"Elrasla, Raphtalia and Shadow will go. I, Shirou and Filo will remain behind," the Shield Hero stated.
Raphtalia's illusions. Elrasla's ability to knock people out with but a poke. Shadows skill, disguises and experience. Those three combined had the best shot of getting to Melty without being detected.
"There's only one problem," Shadow said. "How will the two teams communicate?"
"I don't suppose we can use the same method that Shadows use?" Elrasla enquired.
"No," Shadow said, but didn't elaborate further.
"…I think I might have a solution," Shirou said as his hand dipped into his pocket. He pulled his hand back out and opened his closed fist to reveal…
"Marbles?" Filo blinked. What Shirou was holding in has hand were a dozen see through marbles, like little spheres made of glass.
"These are experimental accessories that turned out to be abject failures," Shirou said.
"And how would 'abject failures' be of use, then?" Raphtalia raised a brow.
Shirou shrugged, and everyone drew back in surprise as the marbles suddenly changed, no longer clear but a bright yellow. A blink later and the marbles became a dark orange. Another blink and the marbles were now a fiery red.
"The only abilities that these marbles have is that they are linked and that they can change colors in response to magical energy that is inserted into them," Shirou explained. "The possible colors are yellow, orange, and red. Yellow takes the least amount of magical energy and red the most. And if a single marble changes color, all the others will take on the same hue. After a minute or so the marbles will become clear again."
"…I see. Very clever, lad," Elrasla grinned. "If we assign meanings to the colors…"
It clicked in everyone's minds.
Now, they had to figure out which meanings to assign to which colors. After a short discussion they'd settled on the following.
Yellow means: returning with Melty.
Orange means: provide a distraction.
Red means: attack/rescue.
After that everyone practiced with the marbles, testing out and getting a feel for how much magical energy would invoke which colors. With all of this said and done, the mission to rescue Melty was about to begin for real.
"Bring Mel-chan back, Onee-chan," Filo pouted, clearly upset that she couldn't go and retrieve her friend herself.
"I will, Filo. Don't you worry," Raphtalia petted Filo on the head.
With that, Raphtalia stepped back and stood beside Elrasla and Shadow.
"…Don't hesitate to order us to attack if necessary," Naofumi said, less then pleased to send them in without going himself. Honestly, it was his job to protect them. Sending them off on their own didn't feel right at all.
Raphtalia nodded, expression determined. With yet another set of words of power, she renewed the illusion hiding Shirou, Naofumi and Filo and layered another illusion over herself, Elrasla and Shadow.
The next moment, they were physically gone as well. Team 1 had set out to infiltrate the enemy base and rescue Melty.
"…Let's go a little further back into the woods."
After all, though she had renewed the illusion rendering them invisible, no spell lasted forever. If Raphtalia's illusion spell came to an end at an inopportune moment and they were to be spotted…well, calling it inconvenient would be one hell of an understatement.
Naofumi, Shirou and Filo cautiously crept back, taking care to make their footsteps as silent as possible. They did not go back all that far, however. They might need to move and reach the castle quickly if so called on. They just crept far enough away to keep themselves out of sight.
They settled into a small hollow underneath a particularly large tree, pressing their backs into the bark and settling in for a long wait.
For a brief moment, there was silence.
"…I'm bored," Filo said.
Naofumi closes his eyes and groaned. Shirou snorted at his reaction.
They had been sitting in tense silence for over an hour since team 1 had left. Even Filo, with her admission of having become bored immediately when their wait began, had been silent all the while. All three of them had their eyes locked on the marbles that they were cradling in their hands, waiting for news or instructions.
"It's been a long time," Shirou eventually muttered, more to himself than anyone else.
"Worried, Onii-chan?" Filo asked.
"I would be lying if I said I wasn't," Shirou shrugged helplessly.
"Same here," Naofumi grunted.
"Letting them go without us feels wrong," Filo commented.
"Now you know how I felt during the Wave at Elrasla's hometown," Naofumi said. Shirou, Elrasla, and Filo had gone on ahead during that Wave while he and the rest of the party had to remain behind to protect Elrasla's village. Though it might not have shown on his face back then Naofumi had harbored serious doubts and worries about splitting up like that.
Shirou frowned and pursed his lips. Naofumi was right. Now, he did know how it felt, and he didn't like it at all. I'm going to create an accessory that will allow us to communicate like mobile phones, he resolved. If they could remain in constant contact it would allow them to coordinate much better if and when they had to split up in the future, not to mention that it would help them to soot their own nerves in situations such as this.
Just as he come to that resolution…
Three sets of eyes widened.
…the marbles suddenly turned a fiery red.
"Cover Move!"
And Naofumi disappeared in one instant to the next, translocated to the side of his imperiled party members by the power of his Skill.
They had discussed this in advance. If the marbles turned red, Naofumi would go to their side while Shirou and Filo would cause havoc up above in an effort to provide the most conspicuous distraction they could and suck up as much of the enemy's manpower as possible. After all, red meant, amongst other things, that team 1 had been discovered. Dividing the enemy's attention meant that less of the enemy's forces could be concentrated on the party members that were quite literally in the belly of the beast.
Shirou pushed himself away from the bark of the tree he was resting against and jumped into the air. Underneath him, Filo transformed into her Filolial Queen form, and he landed upon her back with practiced grace. In less than a second they were thundering towards the enemy base.
The forest parted before them and the miniature castle became visible. The large wooden doors of said castle rapidly became bigger in their vision as they closed the distance.
Shirou could dimly make out the sound of shouting, but that did not matter. They were approaching too quickly for the enemy to react in time.
He drew his sword with the hiss of steel.
"Hidden Light Slash!"
An diagonal crescent of cutting light was launched ahead.
"High Quick!"
Filo accelerated behind it, going so fast she released a shockwave of compressed air.
The Hidden Light Slash sliced through the castle doors like a hot knife through butter. Before the bottom half of the doors could fall to the ground, Filo rammed into it and sent the newly separated parts flying into the distance as they broke into the castle grounds proper.
Men in knightly garb were marshalling in the center of the courtyard, as were men and women in the habits of nuns and priests. But because Shirou and Filo had blitzed them, none of them were in position and ready to repel their assault. All enemy combatants looked shocked at their sudden and dramatic entrance.
"Filo, go wild!"
"Filo is going to kick some ass, Onii-chan!"
Shirou leaped from Filo's back. Filo continued on and slammed into the nearest congregation of knights, sending them flying like errant bowling pins.
"Look out!" someone screamed far too late.
Shirou came down on the largest group of nuns and priests in the courtyard. As they lacked any kind of visible weapons, he could only surmise that they were mages. And if the encounter they'd had in the Dark Woods had taught him anything, it was that mages were the most dangerous enemy combatants the Church of the Three Heroes boasted.
He would not give them the chance to bring their deadly craft to bare.
"Light Swords!"
Swords of pure light rained down, punching through cloth, flesh and bone and sowing chaos amongst the ranks of nuns and priests.
"Light Swords!"
A second wave followed after the first a single breath later. The courtyard of the miniature castle was rather small, and as such, enemy combatants were grouped close together by necessity. Compacted as they were, it was nearly impossible for his attacks to miss their mark.
Light in the shape of swords rained down, and cries of pain and panic rose in response.
"Get him!"
Still in midair, magic of many different varieties came hurtling up at him. Balls of fire. Blades of water. Spikes of earth. Cutting air. Bolts of light. All of that and more came up to meet him.
Shirou twisted and midair and plunged downward, just like he had done when they had fought the Zombie Dragon. Most attacks outright missed thanks to this maneuver, the only attack remaining on target being the spikes of earth that had been fired from directly underneath him.
There were three such spikes. And when they reached him, Shirou shattered all three of them with a single, perfectly timed swing, his sheer strength reducing the earthen spikes to harmless dust.
Beneath him were but nuns and priests, magic casters that weren't well versed in close combat. If he got into striking distance, unless they had access to certain specific spells, the battle would be over in an instant.
A single brave knight of the church had realized this and had moved to intercept him. The man in heavy plate armor came to a stop directly underneath him, pushing aside the priest that had launched the spikes of earth. The man looked up at him, determined, braced his legs against the ground and readied his sword to thrust upwards and impale Shirou.
Unfortunately, combat can be cruel, especially to the brave.
"Piercing Light Thrust!"
Light magic infused Shirou's sword, increasing its cutting power and heating up the blade. Shirou stabbed down from above, and when the knight from below answered in kind, his own blade flat-out melted through the knight's sword.
The knight didn't get the chance to register what had happened. He was flattened to the ground with a sickening crunch as Shirou came down on him, solid steel having punched through the center of his forehead.
"Shadow Sneak Blade Rush!"
And in a fatal one-two punch, blades of shadow-lined steel erupted all around Shirou the moment he made contact with the ground. They exploded from their owner's own shadows with blinding suddenness, unerringly slicing through their target's central mass and delivering fatal wounds without fail. Those unlucky enough to survive the attack would bleed to death in short order.
The large group of magic casters he had been targeting had been neutralized.
Just then a low, muffled roar sounded from down below, like an explosion going off down a mineshaft. The ground underneath Shirou trembled visibly and buckled a little, and the demi-human was glad that he was already kneeling on the ground. If that had happened at an inopportune moment, he might have lost his footing or worse. As it was, a few of the enemy numbers had stumbled and fallen.
It didn't take a lot of brainpower to figure out that Naofumi, Raphtalia, Elrasla and Shadow were having a situation of their own down below. He hoped Naofumi had been able to protect everyone from whatever that explosion just now was.
Stamping down on his worries over his party members, Shirou rose back to his feet and wrenched his blade free from the ground and the man he had impaled.
"You bastard!"
Knights rushed to surround him on all sides. Cutting steel was bared at him from every angle with the clear intent to do him harm.
And as the knights slowly edged closer around him, Shirou took in the scene with no apparent alarm. He flicked the blood from his blade and pointed the cutting edge at the nearest knight.
Apprehension was apparent on the faces of the knights. Their approach slowed to a crawl.
Suddenly, Shirou reversed his grip on his sword and seemed to make a move to stab his own shadow.
"No!"
The nearest knight's eyes widened in alarm and he rushed in, hoping to prevent Shirou from casting his deadly sword magic.
It seemed to work, as Shirou, instead of stabbing his own shadow, moved to meet the knight. Held in a reverse grip still, the Magic Amethyst Longsword came swinging up to meet the knight's sword.
"Blade Breaker!"
"Flashbang!"
The two swords met and an unholy screech was released. Blinding light lashed out, blinding everyone in the vicinity.
Everyone, except for Shirou, who had braced himself and closed his eyes mere moments before their swords had struck each other.
The technique the knight had used was a simple non-elemental Applied Sword Magic spell. One that, as the name implied, was used to break the blade of an opponent on impact. However, the spell worked by infusing a sword with magical energy that on the moment of impact would surge into the opponent's blade, find the inherent faults, the 'holes' one could find in the structure of everything. By oversaturating those 'holes' with magical energy, the sheer stresses from within would shatter the opponent's blade in less than a second.
It was, in essence, a weaponized Reinforcement spell.
Shirou had mentally cocked a brow when he realized this the very second he had seen the knight's sword. In virtue of his talent, he had been aware of this technique of the knight before they'd even begun swinging at each other.
It was also why he met the knight without fear. Even without using his own techniques, through the use of his own magical energy, Shirou always used Reinforcement on himself and his weapons, filling in the 'holes' the enemy technique had tried to use to break his blade.
The magical energy had nowhere the go and had simply bounced off as if someone had tried to force a round peg in a square hole.
This fact was lost on the knight, who had been rendered blind and deaf by Shirou's Flashbang technique just like the rest of his compatriots.
"Hidden Light Slash!"
If one had stopped time in that moment, it would have made for a gruesome tapestry. Over a dozen bodies clad in heavy plate armor had been severed neatly in two by an horizontal crescent of cutting light, the top halves of the defenseless knights arcing through the air as their legs collapsed like putty to the ground.
Shirou ruthlessly stamped down on his emotions and continued to move without pause.
"Light Swords!"
Turning around, Shirou swung his sword in a wide arc. The afterimages of his swing filled with bright, iridescent light that rocketed forwards in the form of flying swords.
SQUELCH! SQUELCH! SQUELCH! SQUELCH! SQUELCH!
Another dozen bodies were pockmarked with swords, the blindingly hot Light Swords punching clean through armor and flesh.
Now, at last, Shirou failed to suppress a grimace.
…These people were his enemies in every sense of the word. If they had the opportunity, out of blind faith, they would do the exact same thing to him and his companions, and probably doom Melromarc and maybe the whole world in the process. Before the battle had even started, Shirou had hardened his heart. The followers of the Church of the Three Heroes would receive no quarter from him.
But as he took in the bloody scene around him he himself had wrought, he would be lying if the sight did not move him. He had caused unimaginable suffering in service of his goals and the people he had chosen to side with.
In that moment, Shirou realized that this was part of being a Hero. By both happenstance and choice, he had become an ally of the Shield Hero and made his enemies his own. Saving everyone was impossible. In the end, a Hero could only safe the people he sided with, and it was a duty of a Hero to choose the right side and minimize casualties as much as possible.
That was the hero Shirou wanted to be, and the hero he would strive to be. No matter how much more bloodshed he'd encounter going down that road.
That revelation and resolution almost made him ignore the attack coming from behind.
Almost.
"Thunder Arrow!"
A bowman, standing atop the castle tower behind him, fired an arrow coated in bright blue lightning at him.
Shirou spun away, dodging the electrified arrow with room to spare. The movement brought him around to face the bowman, his sword already in the process of being reared back in preparation to launch a long range technique.
But as he looked up at the bowman, Shirou's eyes widened in surprise and he faltered.
"Got you! You filthy demi-human!"
A well-built man in gaudy full plate armor came rushing in from the concealing shadows of the castle wall, having apparently been waiting for the perfect moment to attack. Shirou's surprised expression had been the cue he had been waiting for.
"…!"
Though decked out in heavy armor, the man closed the distance in but a few short moments. Clearly, the man had a far higher Level than the people Shirou had been fighting before.
In the blink of an eye, the man was on him.
However, catching his opponent off-guard was not enough.
STOMP!
Shirou's foot stamped down on the ground with an audible sound as he recovered his footing and turned to meet the charging, heavily armored enemy. His Magic Amethyst Longsword came up to meet the massive broadsword that came swinging down with the clear intent to slice Shirou in twain.
"…Blade Breaker!"
The broadsword and Magic Amethyst Longsword met with a thunderous noise.
CRACK-CRUNCH!
"Damn demi-human brat!" the man roared as his broadsword shattered and broke, sending glittering pieces of metal arcing through the air.
In virtue of his talent, Shirou had picked up the Blade Breaker technique just moments before. As said technique was a weaponized Reinforcement spell, a spell he was highly familiar with, it had been ridiculously easy for Shirou to recreate the technique and use it. As a matter of fact, the technique had, for a want of a better term, felt familiar to use. That made sense. After all, he'd used the stored memories of the technique's execution to recreate it, after all.
The only surprising thing about all this was that Shirou had done all that and recreated the technique on nothing but pure reflex in the moment he had been caught flat-footed.
But now wasn't the time to be surprised, neither at his enemy or himself.
"Ack!" the Magic Amethyst Longsword swung for his opponent in a deadly straight line. With a cry of effort, the man stumbled back, just barely dodging the cutting edge.
Shirou moved to follow up on his assault, but-
"Zweite Fireball!"
A large ball of fire came smashing down on him from above like a meteor, forcing Shirou to disengage and jump back to dodge. As he did so his eyes darted towards where the fireball had come from.
A lanky man covered in a full body robe stood on the wall above the ruined front gate. His hood was up, partially obscuring his face in shadows. The man's hand was raised, his palm still glowing with red magical energy.
Shirou recognized him. He, in fact, recognized all three of the men he was exchanging blows with.
He continued to jump back, anticipating further attacks from either the bowman or the mage, but no such attack came. They seemed to content to watch him, weapon and magic ready, but not in active use. The heavily armored man glowered at him, but besides snatching up a sword a fallen knight had dropped, the man made no further movements.
Seeing this, Shirou came to a stop in the center of the courtyard.
Slowly, his eyes turned towards the bowman atop the castle tower.
"Itsuki," Shirou said slowly. "What are you doing here?"
The Bow Hero glared down at him, but didn't respond to his question.
"Onii-chan!"
Filo suddenly came to a halt besides Shirou. She had been wreaking havoc on the other side of the courtyard, and had just finished off the last enemies on that side. Having done that, she'd raced back to Shirou and saw for herself what they were now faced with.
The Filolial Queen cocked her head at Itsuki.
"What's Blowhard doing here?"
In spite of the situation, Shirou damn near busted out laughing at Filo's nickname for Itsuki.
That got a reaction. Itsuki glared down at them with contempt.
"…Scum," the Bow Hero finally said. "You invade this place unprovoked. You slaughter indiscriminately. Your master has poisoned the minds of thousands! Even if you are not in your right mind, there will be no forgiveness for these actions! In the name of justice, I will see you lot punished!"
"Unprovoked? Slaughter indiscriminately? Poisoning of the mind?" Shirou glared back at Itsuki. "What are you going on about? Before they'd kidnapped Melty, the Church of the Three Heroes was already our enemy. There's nothing indiscriminate or unprovoked about this."
Filo nodded her agreement. "And Master has poisoned nobody. He simply is a much better Hero than a stooge like you. It's only natural people would flock to his side."
Itsuki's lips pulled back, baring his teeth in a vicious snarl.
"I reckon brainwashing would count as poisoning, of a sort," the Bow Hero spat.
…What?
Apparently, their confusion was apparent on their faces, as Itsuki began to explain.
"It makes perfect sense," the Bow Hero mused. "There's no way trash like Naofumi would every willingly do good. Or that the people would side with a rapist. It's impossible…unless there was some kind of force at work to mess with people's perceptions."
Itsuki grinned at them, as if he was privy to some great secret.
"That fool thought that no one would figure it out," the Bow Hero said slowly, as if savoring every word. "That no one would see through what he was doing and how he was doing it. Naofumi is trying to subvert the country…and if we hadn't realized the existence of the brainwashing shield, he might well have gotten away with it."
"…Has Blowhard gone crazy?" Filo asked plaintively.
"Apparently," Shirou shook his head in disbelief. A brainwashing shield? How the hell did Itsuki even come up with such a ridiculous notion?
"If you rule out all other possibilities, whatever remains, no matter how improbable it might be, must be the truth," Itsuki sneered down at them. "As I said, there's no way trash like Naofumi could have garnered so much support. For him to weaken the Church of the Three Heroes to such an extent. For him to bring the crown princess and likely the queen over to his side."
Shirou's raccoon ears twitched. He could faintly hear movement inside of the walls of the castle.
"The only possible explanation for this is some kind of ability or power to pull the wool over the eyes of unsuspecting victims," Itsuki said. "A brainwashing shield is the most likely explanation of the few improbable remaining possibilities."
"…You're an idiot," Shirou stated flatly. There was no logic to Itsuki's reasoning. In his desperation to paint Naofumi as an incomprehensible monster, the unquestionable bad guy in the situation, the Bow Hero had closed his mind to the possibility that more might be going on in the background than he was privy to. Or that Naofumi was genuinely doing good. Or that the Church of the Three Heroes itself might be the party in the wrong. The power to brainwash people only became a viable solution if one assumed that the Shield Hero was incontrovertibly evil.
Itsuki was clearly working from the assumption that Naofumi had to be evil. Otherwise the possibility of a brainwashing shield would never have brushed his mind. The worst part was that the diehard adherents of the Church of the Three Heroes would swallow such a ridiculous explanation hook, line, and sinker.
Shirou had to wonder if Itsuki had come up with the brainwashing shield himself or if someone in the church had thought it up first, and then fed it to the Bow Hero.
Not like it really matters.
"You calling me an idiot," Itsuki snorted contemptuously. "I'm not the one who got himself brainwashed and is aiding and abetting a monster. I can't be too disparaging of you, I suppose. Many others, the crown princess included, have been brainwashed. That's exactly why the church took her to this place, so that they can find a way to get rid of the brainwashing."
"That's going to be difficult," Filo stated. "Mel-chan hasn't been brainwashed! No one has!"
"You'll excuse me if I don't take the words of a brainwashed person at face value," Itsuki said. "Otherwise…" the Bow Hero was about to add something else, but trailed off as he decided to keep what he was about to say to himself.
Shirou narrowed his eyes.
"Brainwashed as you two are, the both of you can't be held entirely accountable for what you have done here," Itsuki said slowly. "However, I can't allow you to continue this wanton slaughter. It will be luck of the draw if you two die here or not. Should you survive, I'll ensure that the brainwashing will be undone, if for no other reason to give you two the chance to earn your redemption. You two have my word, in the name of justice!"
Having said that, the Bow Hero pulled back the bowstring of the Legendary Bow. An arrow made out of pure energy manifested, aimed straight for them.
Just then, the faint noise of doors being thrown open could be heard. Men in knightly garb started to appear on the castle walls, clearly appearing from strategically placed doors. They were all armed with bows and arrows. In a few short moments, these knights were lining the entire length of every wall. The sound of over a hundred bowstrings being pulled taut was heard as dozens of arrows were notched and aimed straight at them.
So that's why Itsuki and his companions hadn't immediately continued the battle. They'd been stalling for time so that their allies can get into position. Not to mention that, while most knights, priests and nuns that had been in the courtyard had been dispatched, those few that remained had rallied, clearly intend to continue fighting.
The Bow Hero and his companions. Bow wielding knights all around them. Knights and magic casters on the ground, haggard but determined to end them.
…This was going to be a struggle.
Shirou leered at Itsuki. Hero's need to think long and hard who they side with, otherwise they'd do more harm than good.
Itsuki had without a doubt failed in this aspect of being a Hero.
With that thought, the cutting edge of Shirou's Magic Amethyst Longsword rose up and came to be bared at the errant Bow Hero.
And that's a wrap. I hope you guys enjoyed.
