Fugitive Heroes
And welcome to another chapter of Armory of the Forgotten Hero! Now to answer this week's guest questions: 'Jason Wu' I believe it says. It's not so much a question but a little heads up that Darius and Rifana will be forced to tackle this situation a little differently than normal. You'll see pretty much within the first page of this chapter. Now, onto the story!
On the Road to Shieldfreeden
Time seemed to move slowly in that moment as both cardinal heroes reacted at about the same time. Naofumi quickly grabbed Melty, who'd been unaware of the danger due to her little tantrum, and pulled her to safety behind his shield as the guard's blade collided with it. At about the same time, Darius had summoned a pair of scaly looking boots and gauntlets, which he used to rush forward with a nasty right cross to the disloyal soldier's face. "The Shield has taken the princess hostage!" yelled one of the other guards from the back as everyone drew their swords.
"It's a setup, knock out only and take out that crystal ball!" Ordered Darius as he and the others rushed forward to meet their now revealed enemies. Rifana and Raphtalia stood back to back, parrying and countering blows from the guards before knocking them away. Filo and Johann both leapt into the air and transformed, dropping their now much heavier bodies on those not fast enough to get out of the way. As for the cardinal heroes, Naofumi deflected the blows of the few guards who managed to make it to him while Darius knocked them away with powerful punches, kicks and even once throwing an unfortunate guard into another one of his allies.
Despite them aiming for nonlethal blows, the soldiers all staggered around or fell on the ground as if someone had impaled them. The Armory Hero knew what was happening and the moment he saw an opening he rushed towards the commander of the guards and the one holding the crystal ball. "Full retreat men, no-CRASH!" His order was interrupted as Darius conjured a white bow and arrows and fired one, shattering the crystal ball held by the captain's subordinate.
"None of you are going anywhere, Johann the carriage!" Called the cardinal hero as his mount fired a small ball of flame at the wagon Melty had been riding in. The transport caught fire almost instantly, causing the terrified steads pulling it to scatter in all directions as the guards made a fruitless attempt to chase after them. "Now, Mass Chain Binding!" The skill activated a white portal on the ground, allowing a large collection of chains with both the clawed hand and pointed ends to emerge and lash out in all directions.
The guards fear now turned very real as each of them was seized and reeled in by the chains, and those lucky enough to avoid the chains were quickly captured by a flying Johann and a fast moving Filo who deposited them all near the portal. "Yank one of them out of there," ordered Naofumi as he held up his own weapon, "I'll handle the rest, Shield Prison!" Raphtalia managed to seize and bind one of the guards right as the rest were crammed into the large green sphere.
"That cannot be comfortable in there," commented Rifana as she playfully kicked the sphere to the side of the road, causing several yelps from the imprisoned guards.
"Are you alright Melty," asked Raphtalia after handing off the guard to Darius who checked his restraints to make sure he wasn't going anywhere. The princess had collapsed to her knees, clearly shaken by the sudden attack, but eventually nodded in affirmation that she wasn't hurt.
"Alright then," said Naofumi as he turned to the bound guard, "What exactly were you guys trying to do here with all that bad acting and why did you attack the second princess?" The soldier acted as if he didn't hear him, so the Shield Hero yanked the prisoner off the ground and forced the man to look him in the eye. "Answer me!"
"I have nothing to say to the devil of the shield, so you might as well kill me now!" spat the guard.
"Then maybe you'll answer me," said Darius as he stepped up next to Naofumi and held up the rosary of the Three Heroes Church. "I found this little trinket in your pocket while I was checking your bindings, which already tells us plenty."
"You know nothing Right Hand of the Shield," muttered the guard mockingly, "Your fates are already sealed."
"Oh no," said Darius with a raised eyebrow, "What about the fact that we can already narrow down the ones responsible for this to three people: the King, his cunt daughter, and the Pope. They're the only ones with the authority or influence necessary to stage something like this, or at the very least the only ones who hate us enough to try. As for your little plan, well, you already gave away the fact that the recording from the crystal ball managed to make it back to where it needed to go with that line about our fates being sealed. If I had to guess, you're probably gonna mess with the sound and images a bit using magic to make it look like we kidnapped Melty, hence all the exaggerated movements and yelling like you were all dying. How am I doing so far?"
The guard didn't respond but he also refused to meet the Armory Hero's eye, which told him he got at least some of it right. "Figures it would be something like that," said the Shield Hero as he dropped the guard to the ground.
"I guess it won't cut it to just walk right up to the castle and have Melty explain everything," said Rifana with a sigh.
"Why not just have me fly her back and drop her off," suggested Johann, "I've been meaning to show her what real travel is like."
"It'd still be the same problem," said Naofumi with his arms crossed, "The trash king will probably just make up some excuse about you bringing her in as a hostage and try to kill you. Then we'd be in the same mess but down a mount." Johann deflated a bit upon hearing this, but Raphtalia put a reassuring hand on his shoulder, telling him it was at least a fair suggestion.
"So our best bet for now is probably to keep on trekking 'til we get out of the country," said Darius, "Though now we're gonna have to do a lot less flying to avoid detection." The mount pouted even more at this news.
"You won't escape," said the guard, "You've disturbed the natural order and you will pay the price for-AAAAACK!" The soldier's statement was interrupted by a very displeased Johann as the dragon boy began jumping up and down on the soldier's back.
"You're the one who's gonna pay the price!" He exclaimed as he continued trouncing all over the guard, "Because of you guys I can't fly around anymore! Now I've gotta ride in that cramped wagon and listen to Filo's awful singing!"
"I sing perfectly fine," commented Filo with her arms crossed.
"Besides," said Darius, "If anyone's disturbing the natural order it's you guys. Tampering with a summoning ritual you know nothing about and demonizing one of the four cardinal heroes. Heck, the very fact an Armory Hero's been summoned means things are wonky as all-he's unconscious isn't he?" Johann stopped jumping for a moment and checked before nodding his head to indicate that said guard was indeed out like a light.
"Well now that that's dealt with we'd best get moving," said Naofumi, "Filo, you mind sending the rest of those guys up the road?"
"Okay!" Cheered the bird girl as she transformed into her Filolial form and kicked the shield prison with a full force blow. They could hear all of the guards screaming like people on an amusement park ride as the sphere went barreling down the road away from them, with the skill ending somewhere out of sight. Even despite the situation, Rifana managed to get a laugh out of the sight of it as they all packed up and headed on.
Nightfall, A Couple Days Later: Outside of a Nearby Town
As they'd feared, the king's mages had managed to create several false images from the recording of the crystal ball which made it look like they'd killed all of the guards and captured Melty. In a matter only of a couple days the images were circulated throughout the entirety of Melromarc and wanted posters depicting each of their faces, with stupid evil looks, were put up inside of every town they passed. Guards were also checking everyone at the town entrances, forcing them to get creative when it came to gathering supplies. Most often, they would employ Raphtalia's illusion magic to get into the city while also making use of the various outfits Darius had stored in his inventory, some of which he'd actually intended to use for possible undercover missions.
They also patrolled the areas every so often whenever they parked the wagon for a certain period of time to rest, which was usually in the forest just outside of a town. Darius and Rifana were returning from one of these patrols to find Melty angry yet again at something Naofumi said. "Oh great," said the Armory Hero as he approached her, Johann and the Shield Hero's party around the campfire, "It was another argument about whether or not it was your father wasn't it?"
"I know he hasn't shown all of you his best side," said Melty, "but he wouldn't go this far and he especially wouldn't threaten the life of his own daughter."
"Look I agree that it's more likely your older sister's doing," said Darius, "but I will also say that it's possible your father is helping her while having no idea of her true intentions."
"That's not the point, though," said Melty, "you all shouldn't be at each other's throats at such a critical time. The waves are the true enemy yet you fight amongst yourselves." Darius was about to reply back to that when Naofumi came walking down the hill, returning from his own patrol.
"We're about out of time," he said, "we'll need to keep on moving soon and try to reach the border before they close it off." Most everyone nodded except for Melty who simply turned her head away with a 'hmph' gesture. "I suppose I should ask what you plan on doing too."
"If I leave this group, I may be able to return to the capital and talk to fa-," Melty started to say before Naofumi stopped her.
"Still a bad idea," said Naofumi, "even if you're alone you'll still probably be killed by one of the guards before you make it back to the capital. But, if you think you can tolerate being around us for a bit longer, I promise I can keep you safe until we figure a way out of this mess."
"Please come with us Mel," said Filo with a hopeful expression on her face. The second princess considered her options for a moment before answering.
"Alright, I'll remain with you at least a little longer," agreed Melty.
"Then be ready, because we're heading out before dawn," said Naofumi, "and we're gonna have to leave the wagon behind for now."
"Whaaaat! Yeaaaaaah!" Said Filo and Johann at the same time, their expressions the complete opposite of each other.
Unknown Cave in the Melromarc Mountain Range
Filo protested a good bit about leaving the wagon behind, only stopping once Naofumi promised they'd come back for it later. The fact of the matter was, there was no path for the wagon to go on in the rocky mountain range they were crossing to avoid detection, so traveling on foot was their only option. Darius and Rifana took the lead on this particular part of the journey as the Armory Hero had more experience hiding from patrols thanks to dodging drones in his own world, and the weasel girl had more experience spotting possible ambushes. It occasionally made for some slow-going, but they still made progress towards the border despite that.
One interesting phenomenon they noted was where the majority of soldiers was being concentrated, at the border between Melromarc and Siltvelt. Naofumi had decided to change their travel plans then and there, suspecting there was a reason the soldiers were trying so hard to keep them from getting to that particular country. Darius wasn't entirely for it, given that they were basically trying to get through the most heavily guarded area where they were most likely to be caught, but he was outvoted when Melty decided to support the Shield Hero's decision, breaking the tie between his group and the Shield Hero's. This led them to their current resting place, a rock formation which formed a cave-like structure.
The group sat around a lantern which was the only light source aside from the stars outside. Johann and Filo had quickly fallen asleep, for some reason on either side of Melty while Raphtalia and Naofumi were opposite them. Rifana and Darius sat in the middle near the back of the cave, either examining their weapons or checking the remaining supplies. Naofumi kept watch from his position in the cave, or at least he was until Melty decided to break the silence. "Sir Shield Hero," she said, "I must ask, what exactly occurred between you and my father? My mother left with orders that the Shield Hero be treated well should he be summoned in our country, so what happened?"
"He did everything, but, what your mother told him to do," answered Darius as he looked up from the dagger he'd been examining.
"Darius," said Naofumi with a tone of warning in his voice.
"What, you're not gonna tell her," said the Armory Hero, "We've talked about this before, you've made up your mind that no one's gonna believe you but we got a golden opportunity right now to prove that theory wrong." The Shield Hero clearly wasn't convinced by this argument, but Darius turned back to Melty and continued anyway. "Long story short this is actually the second time Naofumi's been framed by your hussy sister, and possibly your father, for a crime he didn't commit. The first time he was robbed by your sibling and then falsely accused of trying to force himself on her, a charge which your dear old daddy was more than happy to agree with and spread all over the kingdom."
"What, but father wouldn't do-," Melty started to protest before the Armory Hero held his hand up to stop her.
"Oh it gets better," Darius said, "after the first wave when it was discovered that Naofumi actually managed to find a companion, our dear raccoon girl Raphtalia, Malty lied about how she was being treated so Motoyasu, the blockhead hero, would challenge him to a duel. The king then proceeds to force Naofumi to accept the challenge and even though he won it was declared that I 'interfered' when I stopped Malty from blasting him with a wind spell and the match was given to Motoyasu instead. Obviously it wound up backfiring on 'em when Raphtalia and Rifana gave the royals and pole boy a piece of their mind. Topping it all off, he tried to weasel his way out of paying us the promised reward for fighting the wave by claiming that the removal of Raphtalia's slave crest cost five hundred silver, the minimum amount we heroes apparently get paid for doing our jobs."
"But that can't be, it isn't true is it," questioned Melty whose eyes had been widening in shock with each revelation.
"I'm afraid it is," said Raphtalia, "for whatever reason both the King and Malty have been treating Master Naofumi unfairly ever since he arrived."
"Though Darius left out the part where I punched your sister in the gut," said Rifana, "And the part where he threatened the king with spears, what's the count, twice now."
"You did what?!" exclaimed Melty, waking up Filo and Johann a bit with her outburst.
"Hey the guy was being a prick," said Darius defensively, "and judging by the letter your shadow gave me, he's been overstepping his authority more than a little."
"I've been meaning to ask about that," said Naofumi, "the letter Darius has makes it sound like the King is lower on the pecking order than the Queen, is that true?"
"Well Melromarc is based on matrilineal succession," replied Melty, regaining her composure, "so yes the Queen is higher than the King."
"So what you're telling me is he married into the royal family and has to answer to your mother but still acts like he runs the whole place," questioned Naofumi with an amused smirk.
"What's funny about that?" Questioned Melty, "He's still the king so he does have some authority."
"Yeah, as adopted royalty," remarked Naofumi, getting an angry pouting face from Melty. Any further conversation, however, ceased when they noticed a flock of birds flying off in the distance. "Time to get moving." It was practically a routine now as everyone quickly grabbed their supplies and moved out of the cave to continue down the mountain side.
The group continued heading for the border to Siltvelt, but as Darius feared the guard presence increased dramatically the closer they got. The two parties were forced to trek next to cliff sides and steep drops, avoiding the roads as the guards searched the surrounding forest. Eventually they ran out of options upon spotting a large patrol unit and took a narrow route on a canyon wall right below the road.
The wall was steep on their left side and there was nothing but a long drop on their right as the party moved along the narrow path at a cautious pace. But in the end the area where the path led back up towards the road was also being patrolled by guards. "They got this route covered too," said Darius as he held up a hand for everyone to stop, "there's no way around this spot without them seeing us, we'll need to backtrack and look for another way." No one argued as the seven of them turned to head back, only to run into another problem as the rock beneath Melty's foot gave way.
The startled princess let out a terrified yell just before Naofumi reached out and grabbed her hand, losing his pack in the process of pulling her back up. "There's something down there!" yelled one of the guards from the cliff above them.
"Crap, we're gonna have company," said Naofumi as he helped Melty to her feet.
"We'll make a break towards the rocky path down there," said Darius as he conjured seven chains from the rock wall, "everyone grab on!" Melty looked unsure for a moment, but did as instructed when she watched the rest of them grab a chain without hesitation. "Down we go!" The whole party leapt forward and slid down the wall as the chains lengthened and slowed their fall until they landed on another rocky path.
The guards weren't far behind, unfortunately, as the large patrol charged down a path which converged near where they planned to escape. Adding to their bad luck, the moon came out from behind some of the clouds to reveal that their path of escape, had a very large gap in the road. Too large to jump across. "Shit," both cardinal heroes said as everyone in their party turned around to face the oncoming guards, and some pursuers they did not expect.
"You're at a dead end and you're surrounded," said Itsuki as he stepped into the moonlight with Ren and Motoyasu flanking him close behind, "so it'd be best if you all surrender now and release princess Melty."
"We don't need to release her," said Naofumi, "she's not even a prisoner to begin with."
"Don't try to lie your way out of this," said Motoyasu smugly, "we've got all the proof we need."
"Oh for fuck's sake, sorry about this Melty," said Darius as he grabbed the second princess under her armpits and hoisted her up into the air, "does she look like a prisoner to you, and I'm asking you to really use your eyes this time dumb ass! Note the lack of ropes, bindings or even a gag."
"Put me down Sir Hero I'll handle this," said an annoyed Melty. The Armory Hero did as requested, allowing her to recompose herself before speaking. "Now then, Sir Armory Hero's antics aside, I am perfectly fine as I'm certain you all can see. The Shield Hero and his companions have actually been protecting me this whole time."
"But didn't Naofumi abduct you?" Questioned Ren in what was becoming an all too familiar confused tone.
"What advantage could either of them gain by abducting me?" Questioned Melty, "Someone has been plotting my death and used my own guards in an attempt to assassinate me. After these two heroes saved me I asked them to bring me along and guard my life."
"Guarding your life, but that can't be right," said Itsuki, also confused yet again.
"My mother the Queen said now is the time to work together," said Melty, "only then will we be able to fend off the waves of catastrophe. The world will not be able to endure anymore of these pointless conflicts amongst ourselves so I implore all of you, please put down your weapons!"
"It's all true," said Naofumi, "we've been set up. I can explain everything so let's-."
"I order you not to listen to him!" commanded a familiar, infuriating voice as Myne stepped into the light behind the three heroes. "This lying demon possesses a shield capable of brainwa-."
"OH YOU'RE SO DONE!" yelled Rifana as she stepped forward and reached for her mace before Darius stopped her with a hand on her arm.
"Rifana no!" exclaimed Darius before returning his voice to normal volume, "If we attack now a whole fight will break out. We're trying to avoid that." The weasel girl was clearly not on board with such an order, but complied nonetheless as she backed up while keeping a hand on her weapon.
"As I was saying," continued Malty, "a brainwashing shield. It allows the shield hero to take over one's mind just by talking to you. It's the most dangerous weapon in his arsenal."
"But that's just stupid," said Raphtalia, "who would even believe something so ridiculous?" 'Probably the three stooges standing across from us,' thought Darius with slight irritation.
"How else would you explain the findings by the Three Heroes Church," said Malty as she turned to the other heroes, "heretics worshiping the shield have been mysteriously popping up all over Melromarc this past month."
"And why, pray tell, would the king be making use of the Three Heroes Church for an investigation?" Questioned Darius, "If I recall the Queen has her own network of spies whose job is to gather information of all kinds, including whether or not one of us wields the power to brainwash people."
"But what else could it be?" Questioned Myne, "The two of you have managed to travel around under the guise of the Savior of the Heavenly Fowl and the Merciful Dragon Knight, gaining the love of the people. It has to be the Devil of the Shield and his Right Hand brainwashing the innocent and now they've brainwashed my dear sweet sister Melty!"
"Oh give me a break," said Rifana with her arms crossed, "the people love them because they did what heroes are supposed to do wherever they went. And come to think of it, you don't really have any authority here given that Melty's been given the rights to succeed the throne. So why don't you do something useful with that mouth of yours for once and eat a dick."
"What did you say you-," Myne started to retort before Ren stopped her and stepped forward.
"Can you give us proof that your shield doesn't possess such an ability?" Questioned Ren.
"If my shield could really do something like that I would've used it a long time ago to clear my name and we wouldn't even be in this situation right now," said Naofumi.
"Then maybe you'd be willing to make an arrangement," said Ren as he held out his hand, "let us take the princess from here on out. I can promise she'll be safe."
"Now we're gonna need some proof," said Darius, "tell me, do you plan on bringing Motoyasu's main squeeze and the guards along with you?"
"Why of course," said Malty as she leaned against the Sword Hero, "with all three heroes, an armed guard and her loving sister, there would be no safer place."
"Yeah not happening," said Darius as he held up a few fingers, "if we're gonna let her go with you then there's a couple of conditions. One, no guards, no Motoyasu and especially no backstabbing red head."
"Hey what's your problem?!" exclaimed Motoyasu, "I'm just as capable of keeping her safe as the other two."
"Except you think with your pole instead of your brain and you clearly don't wear the pants in your little relationship," Darius pointed out. "If we're gonna do this, it'll just be Ren and Itsuki coming along with me, Johann and Melty. Oh and before I forget, Melty, is your mother far away from here?"
"It would take a couple days to reach her but she's not terribly far, why?" Asked the second princess.
"Good, because that's the third condition," said Darius, "we're gonna see the Queen while the rest of my party is allowed to leave."
"Oh come on boss do I really have to carry four people?" groaned Johann.
"You'll carry Me, Melty and Ren," said Darius, "Itsuki will ride along a distance behind us so he can make use of his long range abilities if the need arises."
"Those are some steep conditions you're asking for," said the Bow Hero, "how do we know you won't try anything?"
"It's me and a dragon boy versus two cardinal heroes," said Darius, "what could I do against that?"
"He does bring up a good point," said Ren, "but why do you want to see the queen?"
"Because as long as we're in Melromarc, Melty isn't safe," replied the Armory Hero, "so what's it gonna be?"
"We couldn't possibly agree to such terms!" declared Myne as she pointed at Darius's bands, "As the Armory Hero he has the ability to copy other legendary weapons, which means he must be planning on brainwashing my mother in place of the devil of the shield!"
"Oh for, now can I kill her," said Rifana as she pulled out her mace. She was disappointed yet again as Raphtalia put a hand on her shoulder and shook her head. She also took that moment to whisper a quick plan into her ear, which Rifana then passed along to Johann.
"She does bring up an interesting point," said Ren, "we can agree to just me and Itsuki escorting her, but none of you will be coming along just to be on the safe side." 'This would actually be a good line of thought if it wasn't based on something so obviously untrue,' thought the Armory Hero with a groan.
"Why don't we let Melty decide then," said Naofumi as he glanced at the second princess who'd been clinging to his cape ever since Ren offered to take her.
"I," Melty started to say before raising her voice, "I'm afraid I cannot agree to those terms. The Shield and Armory Heroes have succeeded in keeping me safe up until now and I know I can trust them to continue to do so."
"There ya have it," said Darius, directing his next comment towards Myne, "so better luck next time on trying to murder your own sister to become crown princess. NOW!" Both cardinal heroes shouted at the same time, prompting their mounts to leap into action. Johann leapt off the cliff with Darius and Rifana right behind him as he transformed and caught his party members on his back. As for Filo, once her party was situated on her back she actually charged forward, surprising their would be captors before using one of Naofumi's airstrike shields as a platform to leap off of.
The two mounts flew towards the opposite side of the gap, but before they could get too far Motoyasu and Myne produced a pair of shackles which they pitched into the air. A purple magic surrounded the iron bindings as one clamped onto Johann's leg while the other clamped onto Filo's leg, forcing them both to transform back into their human forms. This was more than a little problematic as the entire party was now in free fall towards the ground below. "Crap, hang on everyone!" exclaimed Darius as he held out his hand, "Rolling Armory Shell!"
A collection of shields, swords and spears appeared around all of them and mashed together to form a boulder of weapons. Unlike the last few times, however, Darius wasn't alone in the shell and it was cramped. "I swear if that's your ass in my face Darius I'm gonna wring your neck!" exclaimed Naofumi as they hit the ground and began rolling at high speed.
"Just deal with it, we're all cramped," said Rifana as everyone felt themselves getting dizzy from the rolling motion of the weapons shell. And wondering if this was some sort of karma for what they did to the other soldiers.
"Oh crap I forgot he could do that," said Motoyasu as Itsuki stepped forward and took a kneeling position.
"I've got this, thunder arrow!" Said Itsuki as his bow fired a rain of red energy bolts at the retreating weapons boulder. Not all of them hit, but the ones that did managed to chip away little bits of the Armory Hero's attack at a time until it finally fell apart, causing both parties to spill out over different sides of the path and land in a heap.
"Ow," said Raphtalia as she managed to get back onto her knees, "are you okay Filo?"
"I'm fine," said the bird girl, "but I can't get this thing off my ankle and my strength is all gone."
"That's not good, what should we do Master Nao-what a minute, where's Master Naofumi!" A similar situation was happening on the other side of the path.
"Well this has been a good day," commented Rifana as she struggled to her hands and knees, "How are you guys-wait a sec, that's not Darius's ass sticking up."
"Do I even want to know how you're able to tell our asses apart?" Questioned Naofumi as he sat up and untangled himself from his cape. A notification appeared in his HUD then as an image of Darius appeared.
"I take it my party is with you then?" Asked the voice of Darius over his HUD.
"Yeah, both Rifana and Johann are over here along with Melty," replied Naofumi, "It looks like those shackles clamped on their legs is preventing them from transforming." A flare of purple light shot up from the cliff where the other three heroes had been as he finished his sentence.
"And that is probably a signal for reinforcements," said Darius, "we better move and try to find some place to meet back up." A task which would prove monumental as the entirety of the gathered guards and the three heroes were now charging down the mountain path after them. Before dawn of the next day, heroes would be facing heroes.
And the chase is on! With the two parties split can they hope to evade their pursuers and meet back up again? Will they even have a chance to escape or is hero versus hero inevitable? Hello everyone, sorry if the story was a little shorter this week, but I've had a few issues here and there going on. That being said, I believed this was a good stopping point for this chapter and hopefully it was still an enjoyable read for all. Be sure to stop in next time as Darius and Naofumi contend with the mayhem of having switched party members. 'Til then.