Not necessarily a sequel to the last chapter but something I made to go along with it
Far away in a country best described as a ever advancing industrialist empire that is a society as toxic as the gases that flow from out their factories, in a thick tower of marble by the edge of a large land of coast that had already dead grass and vegetation long gone, at the top of the luxurious structure that house's a variety of rooms, in a bedroom laid a woman. She had a beautiful purple hair tied up behind her into gorgeous nods, she had a dress of different shades of purple that were complemented by jewelry and a white collar on her neck, she was calmed and wrote down on a piece of paper a text that was very well structured
"Report" she said to a hidden presence in the room as a shadow came into the room kneeling down towards your highness
"King Aultcray has summoned the four legendary heroes to Melromarc" the shadow responded and the Queen's reaction was a disappointed sigh, she didn't expect Aultclay to actually do it but it seemed that old fool she called husband could still surprise her and unfortunately not in a good way
"The fool, he wants to start a war with every other nation that bad?... How are the summoned heroes? Are they like the text described?" Asked the queen as it would be good to know if the heroes match the text so she could better predict how they would behave and if they would be more of an annoyance than help, luckily they were just good hearted youths with any exploitable personality trait to use and manipulate for the the sake of her country and the world
"For that I will have to go in parts, my queen, but if I can give my honest opinion... No, they aren't like the texts described" the shadow said and the slight variation in tone worried Mirelia, she already expected that the heroes wouldn't be the saints that religion made them out to be, they were humans and thus prone to have defects and insecurities but her shadow breaking out of its monotone voice was a bad sign
"The first is Ren Amaki the sword hero and human, he has proven to be the least problematic of the bunch. He is a self-described lone wolf that prefers to do things by himself, from what the shadow watching over him observed in these months it might stand from a difficulty of making connections and inherited shyness" the shadow said as it explained to her majesty as Mirelia trusted her shadow's description as that gave her a image of his mind, he was probably someone who tried to seem harder on the exterior than he was in the interior
"He does seem to believe everything to be a game and everyone in it as a NPC, a coping mechanism most likely" the shadow explained as Mirelia just nodded. Believing that the world was a game and nothing mattered was a very common thing among heroes as a way to help them deal with the stress of their function in the start of their journey according to the records, still... They usually broke out of that after a month into the new world they had to defend and keeping that charade up could prove detrimental for when they actually had to face reality through something serious like the death of a thrusted companion
"He has hope to improve but he has committed a mistake, one so monumental that I can't leave it unspoken" the shadow said as the queen raised a brow at that, it seemed very serious if her shadow was speaking in such language
"What is it?" The queen asked as she could only hope it wasn't too catastrophic in nature that mistake, luckily it would be something that affected solely the sword hero and not her country or world, perhaps he was just in some scandal
"He killed Galileon the dragon" the shadow's word sank into Mirelia, though he was unknown to the wider populace of Melromarc, all members of the royal family that were sufficiently trusted to be able to keep a secret and weren't named Malty knew of his existence. Galileon, one of the dragon emperors a supremely powerful race of dragons that was seeing a decline as the years went by, a good thing as they were quite problematic due to their immense greed for gold and jewels as well as their prideful nature demanding them to be feared or loved and as such would turn villages or countries into their enslaved worshippers
Galileon was one of the nicer ones, in the sense that he was mostly satisfied with just sleeping in his cave, he was a neutral entity inside of Melromarc but one that could be a great ally or enemy if provoked. As such his death would be one to not commemorate or to be saddened with and if anything it proved that the sword hero was stronger than most if he was truly able to end the beast, but Mirelia could feel that there was a reason her shadow had claimed that as a mistake
"Though he was tricked to do it by the village folk of Mirso and the dragon's own aggressive demeanor to trespassers, he committed the unfortunate error of disrespecting it in death, belittling it as it drew its last breath" the shadow explained as from the account given to her by the shadow observing the sword, he used some kindergarten level insults and repeatedly crouched down against the body in what he called a "Tbag" which according to ancient writing left behind by other heroes, was one of the worst insult to perform to someone in their death
"That, combined with the village folk raiding its cave to steal its treasures and most importantly its children has led his spirit to revive its body as an cursed undead that spread a plague in its wake" Mirelia tensed at that, not only did Galileon's decision to just lay in a cave sleeping made more sense now that she knew he had babies or eggs there to protect, but the fact that it performed self necromancy was a scary proof of the power of such mythical beast, undeads weren't common and much less something that could be done with a simple spell, an elaborate ritual with multiple steps performed to perfection by the most powerful of archimages would only lend you a rotten corpse that could only grunt and barely move, and with a plague to supplement it? Was already something worthy of calling the national army to take care of it the same intensity as a war
"Mirso is nothing now but an infertility land that would need many powerful priests to lift the curses that have plagued its very earth now" the shadow said as when she saw the sight of the place, nothing more than a land burned to black that couldn't have life sporting from it anymore as the land seemed supernaturally toxic, it wasn't a polluted air like Faubley that flowed through it but rather the absence of it, the absence of heat, cold, moisture, dryness and anything... The land was bland, as if it had become a place where no condition for life could occur and just staying there made the body want to return to normalcy
"The plague spread as the undead dragon was searching for something, I don't know if it was his lost treasure, his family or simply revenge against the sword, but five villages were inflicted with the plague, and although it wasn't as severe since the dragon was simply passing by, it still left a lot of people sick and dead" the shadow explained as Mirelia could only bit her nail at that, plagues weren't something any country would want to happen within itself, to have it afflict five villages was absolutely detrimental to the economy and population, even if it was just a small selection of nearby villages with low number of people it still would hurt in the socioeconomic status of the kingdom
"Luckily the dragon was slayed by the heroes before more harm can be done" the shadow concluded while leaving out which set of heroes did it, as Mirelia could only hope that the sword hero was among them and had somehow seen the error and improved
"...Next" Mirelia said as she was done with the sword hero and his exploits for now, and it would be better to not linger any longer on the subject as she still had the other heroes to learn of
"Motoyasu Kitamura, the spear hero and your daughter Malty's latest puppet" the shadow said as Mirelia was already worried to her core, her first daughter Malty with a hero is a bad sign, she could tell
"He's an idiot my queen, a very unique brand of idiotic. He believes women to be angels and saints incapable of committing evil or lying, he's a oblivious fool that will ignore red flags as long as they are attached to a lady, especially if they are beautiful as he has shown to side with who he finds more attractive, believing a person's beautiful reflects the purity of their soul" the shadow explained as the queen of Melromarc was mixed on the subject as for one that made him a idea pawn to manipulate but that type of behavior truly disgusted her, it was almost like a dark reflection of what a man in a matriarch would be like, but the fact he cared for the superficial appearance was not good, as that meant his feeling were less genuine than she would hope for
"He's your daughter's favorite puppet as he is tied around her finger like a knot, and he is none the wiser. She uses the fact he is a hero along with being a princess to get away with everything she sets her mind to" Mirelia could already imagine what her daughter was using that power for and it made her frustrated as that meant Malty was only getting worst, abusing the status boost of being the companion of a hero is something that is expected from most but she could see Malty truly abuse of being "one of the chosen to save the world" as a excuse
"Due to this, most of his mistakes are through Malty's fault, but it could be avoided if he had stepped a foot down and actually made a decision for himself, but to go over them: he had flirted with many women using his status and even went on dates with them, but he seems afraid of commitment as he rather date many and have one night's stands over dedicating his love to a sole partner" the shadow said as Mirelia realized that the spear would fair well in Faubley considering the sub culture for sex and prostitution here, but that again disgusted her, the idea of the heroes having multiple spouses and harems were common among countries like Siltvelt and Faubley but the rest of the world still found better that the heroes were actually committed to a relationship, political or not. Having the heroes being these playboys who cared more about the sex they had than the person behind it was a stereotype that Mirelia didn't want to become common as that would only cause more despicable sexual behavior
"He was given ownership of a village that was attacked by the second wave that he basically gave to Malty as he didn't care or knew how to manage a village, who stripped away all the money from the people with absurd taxes and locked them inside their own homes, when they couldn't pay up, they had their items confiscated and sold. The villagers fought back but most were met with iron to their throats splashing their blood on the dirt, while those who lived were sold off into slavery to help fill the princess pockets" Mirelia wanted to vomit after hearing that, her daughter did that? She knew Malty was twisted and spoiled rotten but she had never gotten to that point yet... She had already known that she was unfitting to inherite the throne but this settled it, that was a tyrant's work not a queen's proficiency.
But she was additionally disappointed at both the spear hero and her husband, Aultclay was most likely the one to have given Malty the right to the village probably thinking it would be good for her and the spear hero to get started on developing manage skills to rule over people when they married and became king and queen, something Mirelia would never allow but alas it proved to be the wrong decision, further aggravating the manner was that the spear hero just allowed that to happen, Mirelia was willing to bet that Malty had sent him away before the revolt and had the destruction and killing be explained as a bandit or monster attack, that was giving him the benefit of the doubt that he was just oblivious to her devil spawn of a daughter
"She sold humans to slavery?" Mirelia asked and she hated the fact she wasn't more outraged at that revelation, it actually seemed fitting of what she knew of her daughter, but to commit a cardinal sin against the country and the people in it, warrant for the slowest and painful execution, boiling alive in burning oil or perhaps having her limbs pull in different directions by fillolians, she was quickly losing any sort of compassion or love for her daughter and truly hoped she could somehow find redemption in some shape or form
"Yes my queen, apparently she is also selling any woman that gets too close to the spear hero and doesn't fall into place, she wants to be the only voice influencing his mind. And he doesn't know it because he doesn't question her excuses" the shadow said as Mirelia felt more disappointed in the spear hero, poor women were being sent to be used in inhumane ways because he couldn't keep it in his pants and focus on a single person at a time, she wondered how he would react to such news? Would he try denying it or break apart at that notion? Perhaps he wouldn't care much of it if he was truly twisted, but he must have some heart and quality to him
"Additionally, the spear hero went to help a famine in a small village by delivering them a miracle seed... The one from the alchemist cave, though to be fair, your daughter whisked away the warnings as nothing to worry as he couldn't read the language" the shadow said as Mirelia was once again feeling stress wash over her, did Malty truly understand anything at all? Were the fact that the place was abandoned and forbidden to enter because of a mad creation from an insane alchemist not even of a reason to read the warnings? "And just like the warnings in the cave said it grew into a gigantic monster that grew by the day, it was stopped by the heroes"
"I don't assume the bow is any better is he?" Mirelia asked almost sarcastically as she started to see a pattern here, the shadow nodded as confirmation that the disappointment would continue
"He's a narcissist, prideful to a fault, I assume it comes from some complex he developed as a child that has now been fully grown thanks to the endless praise his companions send him" again, this were traits Mirelia could use to her theorically advantage as ego's were easy to exploit depending on the degree and of what they pride themselves at, but that always came with a double edge as these type of people were always thinking of themselves as the best and thus required constant pleasing or reminder of their superiority
"He has a sense of justice that works as he pleases, he won't stand for injustice as long as it doesn't benefit him as he allowed his teammates to make one of them a slave through a pyramid system in his party where the one standing at the bottom of the hierarchy was the same as a beast of burden" the shadow said as she still found it absurd how that happened, the bow hero rescued a fair maiden named Rishia from the clutches of a corrupt noble he executed, the girl became a dedicated follower and companion that was clearly in love with the boy but that was a bit too weak and not really good at fighting, then his other companions who were all members of spoiled nobility and too used to having servants do whatever they wanted, developed a ranking system between the party, that made the person on the bottom a servant to be commanded and perform unwanted errands, with Rishia being the weakest and newest member she was assigned that role while Itsuki was at the top.
It was inhumane what they put the girl through, she had to cook, clean, carry luggage, and practically every single task given to her at once with the sole exception of finances since those stuck up nobles dressing as adventurers would like to keep the wealth away from who they thought beneath them. The worst part was that the girl allowed it, even acted like it was justified because she thought herself a bother to her beloved bow hero, after all she was weak and did not level up as easily as the rest, it seemed she had a severe lack of self-esteem. And the bow hero allowed it since he was in the top of this ranking, he practically gave all the orders he wanted without having to do them, but there was something else as the shadows have noticed, a form of resentment towards the girl that the shadow couldn't quite understand, did he see her as a nuance for how weak she was and her clumsy and shy personality or was there something else amidst, something much more deep and personal they couldn't determine without knowing the bow hero's full story
"He has killed other humans my queen. The sword and spear heroes have yet to kill a human person directly but the bow has become something of a hit man for hire, as long as you make it seem like the person you want dead is corrupt, villainous and unjust he will kill them, this has been exploited by some nobles and those who aspire to gain power in a region, some were enemies to the crown, others allies of the church and a ton of innocents got caught in the cross-fire, especially since he helped a civil war take place" the shadow explained as the queen was slightly taken a back by it, heroes killing people aren't something worth gasping over but the bow hero becoming a hired killer was worthy enough, she assumed he was doing this without asking for rewards but there was the possibility he was doing this for money
The problem came from such drastic changes in power coming so suddenly, if she had to guess the people who hired the bow hero to eliminate those targets were not much better if not even worst, the issue is in how those lands and resources would be managed from now on as people either unsuited or too scummy for the position were now going to take care of it. Mirelia wanted to personally deliver a scolding to the bow hero for making her life so much worst when she comes back to her country
"... And the shield hero? If the other heroes were summoned he was as well. How's my husband treating him?" Mirelia asked as that was what worried her the most now, the four heroes can only be summoned together so he was in her country, which would already send Siltvelt at their necks if it wasn't for the fact they had a apocalypse to focus their resources over. Her country hated the shield for historically being the savior and martyr of demi-humans and the oppressed, liberating slaves and establishing entire countries for them, he was a symbol to everything Melromarc, a human superiority society that benefited well from religious prejudice against demi-humans, stood against and as such the shield had become the devil of the country's religion when he was once one of their saints.
Add that to the fact her husband Aultclay hated the shield for his own personal reasons that seem to blind his mind in rage for something that can't really be blamed on the shield, as it shouldn't be the fault of someone who just got summoned to have been the cause of an incident that happened years ago without direct involvement. But Aultclay surely knew he couldn't do anything to the shield directly or risk getting all the other countries against him even more than they already did, but the rest of the people in Melromarc didn't have that mentality, if they didn't avoid him then he was probably getting verbally and physically assaulted by the population
"Ah... You see that's when things get complicated my queen" the shadow said and Mirelia got confused and worried, of course any matter involving the shield hero in her country would be complicated but something about that tone of voice and little pause made her stomach turn
"Your husband botched the ritual, the only thing in the place where the shield hero was to be summoned was ashes and miscellaneous pieces of hair and clothes" the shadow said and when the words finally were out of their mouth and lingered in the air for just a second too much, the ground below the queen froze over as her magic was let out momentarily as her emotions flared up to a level it couldn't be contained anymore as her usually calm expression was washed over by a angry glare and an open mouth showing teeth as she cracked the fan in her hand
"That... Bumbling idiot! What does he think of anymore?! He has possibly just doomed the entire world!" Mirellia's rage was justified as that man she called husband had doomed them all, if that information got out, Melromarc would meet its end, herself and Melty would be killed here or turned into slaves, any outside trade would be banned from the other countries as they start to prepare and go to war, leaving nothing but destruction and death in their wake for commiting a sin against the planet itself, no matter how much someone hated a specific hero, sabotaging the ritual to purposely kill one of the heroes would make even the most adamant of haters gasp audibly
This was a crime against the heavens and earth, striking down a cardinal hero that had yet to even set foot on the land was the same as killing a angel and placing its head as a trophy on your wall, a guaranteed ticket to the pits of hell where no salvation could reach you. And her husband had done it, screw his status as both a war hero and as the star staff wielder, he had basically revoked all of that now, how did his hatred towards the shield allowed for such a thing? How could a obsession led someone to commit the ultimate defiance to god and the world? Mirelia hoped she would have enough time left from their doomed future to get back to her country and punish Aultclay herself
"Not exactly my queen, the king and church don't know this of yet because of their poor translation of the scroll and lack of knowledge but the shield hero was summoned, just not in the same area as the other three" the shadow said as it saw the Queen stop and turn to face her confused for a moment as she slowly recuperated her more calm look, but now less apathetic now as she was still clearly curious by what her subordinate had proclaimed
"And the reason I know this is solely due to the church's actions. They sent a group to attack the carriage leading Melty back home, the knights and myself did our best to defeat them as Melty ran away" the shadow said as Mirelia had anticipated that the church would make a move if she tried to get Melty back with a royal decree to cease Aultclay from power and placed her ten year old daughter she had more faith in ruling the country, specially now
"That's when the luckiest of coincidences happened, she was found by the fillolian belonging to the shield hero who was camping close by with her team, who helped Melty with the fanatics" the shadow said as mirellia's heart skipped a beat, the shield hero had a fillolian? She wondered how it looked. But more importantly was that the shield hero had encountered her daughter just like that? By chance? She awaited to hear more from the shadow to see if this was good news or not
"What I'm about to show you may shake you to your very core my queen and I'm afraid it could be your husband's fault for his tampering of such sacred magic, so beware" the shadow said as it took from under their clothing a collar with five crystals shaped like diamonds, those crystal were miniature crystal ball for recording images, they were much more difficult to produce and had much inferior capabilities as Crystal balls could record footage that could be played at a later date and be used to transmit live footage to other crystal balls. These crystal shards could only take a single photo print of a image after having a bit of magic placed in it, and you would have to pour magic into the crystal to keep it from naturally erasing the photo, they couldn't record sounds nor were they transmittable to other similar crystals, but they were much more inconspicuous and far easier to move with, making them great for espionage, and the most important part was that they couldn't be altered as they recorded the events as they were without getting caught by illusion magic since that tricked the senses of living things, not senseless objects, Magic balls could be edited by skilled mages but that was a arduous process that needed dedication and a lot of magic, something the crystal shards couldn't do as even pouring magic of a first grade spell would cause it to explode from not being able to support such power, which meant the queen was going to see the truth as it was, no chance of it being faked
The shadow poured some of its magic to the crystal as it glowed and made a holographic image in front of the Queen. It was Melty sitting in a log around a small camp, chatting happily with the other six residents as a large orange fillolian slept close to a carriage, her eyes would have lingered on the fillolian a bit more if it wasn't for those six residents her daughter was talking to, they were creatures Mirelia had never seen before and doubted could even be from this world, one was a ragdoll large as a bear and wider than a door, one was a pale creature dressed as a jester that had sharp claws on its hands and couldn't be a person from how their proportions were off, one was a purple rabbit that Mirelia thought was a demi-human but he was far too strange in how his face was structured around his eyes and smile not to mention his strangely skeletal arms but large hands and feet, one was a collection of ribbons twisting and knotting themselves into a vaguely humanoid shape with a porcelain mask as their face, one was a amalgamation of different parts from both animals and items with a triangle for a head that was as big as the doll and lastly was what seemed like a chess piece wearing a purple robe and black pants with floating hands and bulging eyes
"What... Are they?" Mirelia asked a bit concerned about what she was seeing, these were by far not the scariest beast she had ever seen but the fact she couldn't say they were a natural creation concerned her, specially how friendly they seemed as although monstrous they still resembled something a child would make
"That living ragdoll is the shield heroine, my queen, and in her company are five other creatures... Each wielding a star weapon" the shadow said as mirellia's mouth hanged open for half a second before it closed and she began inspecting the image again, she was so focused on their perplexing appearance that she had ignored the items in their possession, silver weapons with gold details and gems embedded on them
"The missing five of the seven star weapons?! How could this be?" Mirellia could only wonder how this could have been, five of the seven star weapons were lost on the day Takt Faubley declared his attack on shieldfreed and was killed by a whopping ten Last judgement spells. That information was kept under wraps from the general public but it still plagued the mind of those who knew, how did such a person killed five heroes? And where did he hid the weapons? No one bought his claims that he could actually steal them and saw that as a bluff, except for his next victim the whip hero, who orchestrated a trap to kill him in case he truly had that power
That was one of the reasons every country was desperate to summon the four legendary heroes, because five of the people who could fight off the waves were dead and their weapons seemingly vanished without choosing new wielders. It was probably one of the things her husband had accounted for when he made the bonkers idea of summoning all four to Melromarc, as the military of the other countries would be spread too thin fighting back the wave to go to war against Melromarc, a outstanding use of opportunity but that meant he was willing to let hundreds or perhaps thousands die for it... Gosh what happened to her husband?
"I don't know but I think it and their appearance has something to do with the altered ritual." The shadow said her theory as Mirelia contemplated it, as by far it made sense, the altered ritual could have possibly allowed for multiple people to get sucked in by accident, and it was only to affect the shield, so while the three other legendary heroes came out as normal humans, the shield and whoever was along with her came out wrong as monsters perhaps fused and altered from items that were around them when they got pulled in. And the missing star weapons felt the spiritual energy of the heroes summoning, realizing that there were five additional presences not bound to a weapon and decided to latch on to those possible hosts, it was a stretch but as good as any
"... Are they just as bad as the other heroes?" Mirellia asked as so far the three other legendary heroes proved to be dangerous nuances that had major flaws, she couldn't imagine how heroes that looked like battered and twisted creatures from an old toy box would be much better
"Maybe the purple rabbit but their problems are much more understandable than theirs" the shadow said as only the rabbit had proven to be a bad person, and even then she wondered if it was simply a response to trauma, he had apparently softened up when arriving here, and the jester made a snarky remark about how he was less of a ass when Melty was around that he dismissed, so he still had some good in him
"My queen, these people are broken, tired and not mentally well. And I can't blame them for it, I heard their blights and can tell they weren't lying about their situation" the shadow said as they were all trained to be able to read people like a book through their facial expressions, tone of voice, physical mannerisms and more. It was a bit hard to determine emotional tells in faces and bodies so otherworldly, but their voices still had no filter that the shadow's couldn't use to decipher the true feeling on a matter
"Imagine waking up, in a place you don't recognize, in a body that isn't yours and that feels every bit as wrong as it could. With no memories of your identity or past life besides the fact you weren't some forsaken monstrosity with no name, imagine only knowing that you were human and now you weren't" the shadow explained, from what they heard of both the jester, ribbons and amalgam pouring out their guts by accident to Melty when she made one too many questions to them. The shadow still did not understand if this they were experiencing was from being summoned or if it was before their arrival but it didn't matter, the sentiment was apparent for the amalgam and ribbons specifically that the group was discontent with their monstrous bodies. Especially after hearing that they went through further mutations after leveling up to their current levels of 30. As apparently the doll and amalgam were once the size of normal people, the jester was less lean and didn't have sharp teeth filling her mouth, the rabbit was less animalistic, the ribbon bundle was made of smaller and less thick strings and the chess piece was more noodle than buff, apparently their weapons were making them more imposing and monstrous, possibly as a way to further make them stronger to deal with the waves, but in doing so it was eating at their humanity, physically only but the consequences on their mentality were apparent, the fear of one day becoming something so monstrous you lose yourself
"Now add that with being in a hostile environment where everything and everyone wants to kill you because of something you have no control over. Having to isolate yourself from society because you will be killed if you even try to say hi" Mirelia could already imagine from how she knew her country treated non humans, she looked at the images again, the stitches on the doll's skin, the scar on the shoulder of the rabbit, the small cuts on the wooden chess piece were all things she felt were inflicted by people and not random monsters, their clothes were tattered and dirty as if they couldn't clean themselves fully, even the armor they used seemed to have been stolen from a discard pile from how much it looked
"They at least have each other, in fact they seemed to have known each other for very long as they were apparent part of a circus before the summoning but clearly from the way they talked about it, I assume it was just as bad as some of the ones in our world" the shadow said as working in a circus in this world was simply fancy slavery, after all why hire a person to be a clown when you can force the role on to someone with a slave seal? Circuses were entirely performed by slaves, wether those were monsters or people it didn't matter since they were all property of the ringleader that was free to treat them as however they saw fit.
And from the account of the heroes it seemed to be the same in their world, they avoided talking about it because clearly it brought out bad memories to them but from the little they shared it was what she expected, inhumane treatment as they were to perform acts that shattered their minds and bodies, with no way to leave or escape, being forced to do any number of dangerous stunts day after day for the entertainment of others, living in conditions not meant for a person, having to keep it together and not lose their minds or risk getting "abstracted" and "thrown into the cellar" which the shadow assumed was something akin to death or worse
"The jester seems ready to panic at most times, the doll has taken the burden of being the glue to reassure them even at her own expense, the rabbit seems to use violence and crudeness as a escape from how he feels, the amalgam despises themselves, the ribbon pile is always trying to mask her depression and the chess piece... Is quite literally insane, as he also has lost his wife beyond all that I mentioned" Mirelia thought it over, rather than seeing traits for her to use and manipulate she saw... Something to pity over, she genuinely could see it from the image alone some of it but also could understand it clearly why they would turn out this way. She felt an odd sympathy for the chess piece in particular as he probably was going through it the worst, the death of a partner can truly mess with someone and adding that to their current situation would be a recipe for anyone to break
"Dear God in heaven... I can't even imagine how..." Mirellia really tried to think of how the shields group would have been doing in these three months, and she couldn't help but wonder how they hadn't taken their lives yet or had become a major antagonist group attacking villages left and right
"And despite all of that... They saved your daughter, helped her treat her wounds and offered to take her back to her home, unaware that she was the princess of the country until the end when she told them. That's the tragic part, they have good hearts and are going through all of this" the shadow said as although they were trained to have little sympathy for others, it was hard not to feel something after observing the group for a week, they had more flaws than she could count but they were good people, minus the rabbit at times
"When I mentioned that the heroes had stopped the undead dragon and the plant monster I was referring to the shield heroine group, they even helped some refugees from the civil war caused by the bow hero" Mirellia had a glee of surprise in her eyes, and soon sadness as that meant the three heroes of the sword, spear and bow didn't get to face the consequences of their actions head on and thus probably didn't learn from it
"Not only that but they also seem connected to the hourglass, as they were summoned to the second wave, where they stood protecting the nearby village that the other heroes ignored completely even though there was signal flare for help, mind you they didn't know the shields group was there" another chord was struck to Mirelia, not only did the three heroes ignored a call of help without consideration that the people there could defend themselves. But also the shields group had defended that village for nothing as it was the same that was given to Malty and then destroyed by her greed
"And I can say that although their combat prowess isn't much as they lack former training, their power as a unit is quite significant, possibly due to their altered bodies, since they are behind the other heroes in terms of levels and equipment but seem fairly more powerful in raw power" the shadow said as mirellia's mind returned to a more analytical mindset, that had some serious implications as her shadows were masters at gauging strength of their targets, that made them very dangerous and valuable as the sword hero being able to defeat Galileon was no short of amazing even if he had help from his group. The queen looked at image again, she could already guess some of the advantages of such bizarre bodies, perhaps the doll was filled with heavy beads itself of stuffing for more defense, the jester looked boneless which could help with absorbing blows and speed, the rabbit could very well have the power to break metal with how thick his legs were, the ribbon could wrap itself around any target and weave its body to any shape it desired, if the amalgam could replace body parts then they were sure to be deadly depending on which monster part they had, the chess piece clearly could control his hands with his mind since they weren't connected to his body which allowed for various possibilities. They were a group built with strange abilities, and they had survived so far against a wave, an undead dragon, and a plant monster, clearly they were strong
"Your daughter offered them to be knighted as heroes officially employed by the crown, which would grant them support of the crown in the form of housing, equipment and protection" Mirelia felt relief at her youngest daughter, that was a smart choice, one she would have done as well. Having these six as allies would be beneficial if her assumptions were right, sure it would be hard with the church and public perception against them but with the authority of the crown and masterful commanding skills she taught her daughter it should be doable
"They denied" the shadow said as mirellia's expression fell flat
"Why?" The queen didn't understand why they would refuse such an offer, it was a perfect deal and she was sure Melty probably made it sound inresistable for people like them, living in a castle not having to worry about struggling for food or sleep, having a hot bath and a meal ready while being protected against most was something most would jump on, sure they were technically obligated to help against the wave but if they already were synchronized with the hourglass than they would have to do so wether or not they took the deal, then why would they refuse
"Because, although they trusted your daughter, they didn't believe the same about the rest of the people. Three months being hunted and treated like a beast to either kill or enslave shatters the belief in humanity" the shadow said as Mirelia stood there for a moment before sighing, it was true, she couldn't blame them for not believing in the rest of her country besides a innocent child that couldn't lie to them, they probably taught that it would change nothing that they had saved the princess, heck they might have been accused of kidnapping her by the church or her husband even if one of them wasn't the shield.
"The positive thing is that the church has lost a lot of power since the heroes have been running their creditability, and without proof of the shield's existence they have no one to blame, hide as they try, there's too much dirt to cover" the shadow said with a slight shrug to lighten the mood a bit. Without the shield to fall as their escape goat it was truly bad for them, sure they could tell the population he was scheming somewhere, probably Siltvelt, waiting for the moment he would strike but the more the people had to wait for this supposed attack the more their faith would waiver, specially with the heroes continued mistakes
The plague that was named as "curse of the black dragon" that afflicted a small portion of Melromarc happened a few days after the sword hero had slayed the infamous dragon emperor, and it only appeared in the area the dragon lived, it didn't take a genius to figure the connection between those two things, especially with how Mirso tried to advertise Galileon's body as a attraction to get more profit before they met their demise
Malty's exploits with the spear were famous, but nobody knew of her slave trading ways, but the fact a few women disappeared and were never seen again after going out with the spear as well as his continuous attempts to seduce ladies painted a worrying picture, rumors going around that he was a cannibal for female flesh or that he sold them off to slavery to keep his profits were spreading along gossip about the first princess's use of her status and use of the spear hero as her brute that did her dirty work
And the bow hero had made a bad job at being incognito, after all he still wore the same armor and had his party accompany him in his assassinations with the only thing different being that he wore a hood and spoke more deeply as he somehow believed that made him be a different person in others eyed. Another flaw was the fact that he still used very clear hero abilities, because not many if any person in this world that wasn't the bow hero could shoot a glowing arrow into the sky that transformed into a hundred ones in a second, his attempts to be a mysterious vigilante were null and void so some knew the blood he had spilled
So the church had its three saint's images ruined, and their devil was inexistent from the looks of it, so the fact they were losing power was no surprise. The pope was doing a good job keeping it all together, but if they didn't do something soon then Melromarc's religion of the church of the three heroes was bound to fall together with the country
Mirellia couldn't be happy about the church's situation because she had to wonder how bad the state of her country was, unless Aultclay was managing the situation like he did battlefields during the war, the reputation of the royal family must have taken a hit since this was technically her husband's fault so the church was probably throwing the blame on him, and that's not mentioning the controversies Malty was getting herself into
"This... Is the single worst thing to happen to my life..." Mirellia said as she placed a hand to her forehead to help with the growing migraine she was developing, so many problems at once to deal with that it was frankly insane, she had to do a lot of damage control now. The top priority should be the heroes, but the question was which heroes her attention should be to? It shouldn't be a hard question after everything she heard of them but each side presented problems to deal with
The three legendary heroes were once the pinnacle of what one would want, but now she felt willing to throw them out as far from her country as she could now that they had royally screwed up, the few caviars that prevented that string of thought was the possibility of fixing them by showing were they were mistaken, make them see the error of their ways and improve from that while gaining back the public trust. But that was under the assumption they would take criticism and take initiative, three months going around getting praised by every little thing by the people must have some effect on their impressionable minds and they certainly had a ego, specially the bow. Who's to say the moment she starts to act rough they would jump the boat to another country that offers them better than the one they helped ruin?
The shields group was interesting, they were seemingly stronger without having the same resources and support as the other heroes and knew well how to work with each other but there was many problems, their mental state was worrying but could be helped through therapy and a better environment, but the innate discrimination they would have for being monsters would but the public against them or at least skeptical. There was also the detail that they were six heroes, if information got out that Melromarc had the four cardinal heroes and six of the seven star heroes a war would rage even with the threat of the waves, with the only chance at avoiding this being to give up on the three other heroes which might not convince them
And then was the question of what was their opinion on Melromarc and its people, sure they didn't seem to actively despise humanity and seem understanding on why people are afraid of them, but did they know about the country's history with demi-humans? Probably not considering her shadow would have mentioned such detail, but that meant that when they learned of it a cold wave of realization would hit, and if they discover that countries like Siltvelt and Shieldfreed would likely not have the same discrimination to them, with even the promise of being treated like a god in the shield hero's case
"I need to amend this, get the Shield group on Melromarc side. Are they still in the country?" She asked the shadow, who nodded as a response
"Yes, they don't know and have nowhere else to go, and we have placed a shadow to watch over their carriage and fillolian to track their movement" Mirelia internally smiled, it was ideal that she could track them down if needed, though it didn't seem like they were particularly in a advantage with such appearances and sizes, it was honestly surprising they hadn't been found out earlier but then again they might have been actively avoiding highly populated areas
"Good. I'll try to resolve this and do something about my husband and those three heroes" Mirelia said as she placed aside her broken fan in the nearest table. Dealing with her husband and the other heroes might be tricky but she trusted on her powerful presence and commanding authority, and if that failed her ice magic would certainly make them consider what she has to say while trapped in an ice formation
"Make preparations, I'm returning to Melromarc"
[Author's Notes]
Everyone talking about Mirelia made me think about her reaction and analysis of the situation and honestly I wrote this out of the social politics that would ensue from it
Touched a bit about something else people commented on, which is the fact the legendary weapons would alter the circus cast as they level up, making them more powerful. Went with a more body horror take instead of them getting human forms as I thought it would fit better the vibe of the TADC show