Chapter 11: Bloodbath
Naofumi sensed that something was not right as it seemed too calming, especially with knights just standing on the back doing nothing.
'What the hell could they be—?'
His train of thought was stopped the exact moment he had turned to see what the knights were up to only for blood to hit his face.
"What?"
As he wiped away the blood in panic in order to see what had happened, he managed to see that a knight had managed to land a hit on Garfiel as he protected Melty.
'Garfiel.'
Prior to seeing this, Garfiel had turned towards the knights as he could tell someone was approaching them at a rapid pace. As he looked at the knight running towards them, he saw that the knight was pulling out a sword.
'Th'fuck!'
He immediately realized that this was a set up, having sensed something wrong.
He quickly attempted to block the attack with his bare arm but due to him not having had proper rest and his divine protection barely working, he took immense damage which had caused blood to spill.
Despite this injury, the demi human boy remained calm as ever, protecting the second princess from this knight's attempts of harming her.
"Tell me th's, knight. Were ya really about t'kill a little girl?"
"...the Shield Hero party is using the princess as a hosta—!"
"Answer. Th'.fuckin'. Question. " Garfiel remained to keep a calm tone though with a hint of anger slipping out as he began to grab the blade of the knight's sword. "Were ya about t'kill a little girl?"
"Let the princess go!"
He attempted to pull back his sword to ready himself for a fight but Garfiel's grip was tightening with each second that past.
"Aren't ya gonna answer th'question, knight? Are ya afraid th't th'answer will go against what a knight should be? Or are ya fuckin' stupid?"
"Sh-Shut up!"
The knight let go of his sword as he pulled out a knife, attempting to harm the demi human boy.
Garfiel looked at him with a serious expression as he easily avoided each attempt at a stab.
As he was dodging these attacks, he asked the question one last time.
"Were ya gonna kill a little girl? Is th't what a knight does?"
"Die demi human scum!"
As the knight attempted to stab Garfiel's face, he just grabbed the knight's arm with ease all the while his calm composure was slowly revealing the true anger he had deep down within him.
"Since arrivin' t'th's world, I learned how scummy majority 'f th'knights have become. There's some knights th't follow th'Cap'n's lead, which's why I respect th'hell outta him...but yer all scum. Ya don't deserve being called knights, it's an insult t'th'cap'n. It's an insult t'those I have read 'bout like th'Sword Saint. And it's an insult t'th'meaning of being a knight!"
Finally revealing his anger towards these knights, he easily broke the knights arm with a simple hit before grabbing his head.
"Let me show ya what happens t'those th't decide t'harm little girls."
"Garfiel! Stand down!" Both Naofumi and Ren shouted, knowing full well that he's snapped.
"Garf!" Raphtalia, Filo, Melty, and Tersia shouted in unison, worried that he's going to make a mistake but also not wanting him to let anger guide his actions.
The others shouted his name as well but none of them had reached Garfiel as he didn't hesitate to slam the knight's head to the ground with intense force, not enough to kill him but enough to knock him out.
As he was doing this, he was saying:
"Ya fake knight are gonna learn what happens when ya abuse yer position!"
As Garfiel shouted this, he looked at the other knights to see that some were happy by this for some reason while others were just shocked.
'Why da fuck are they smiling?!'
This anger began to consume Garfiel every second that past, causing a red aura to form around the demi human boy.
"Dammit Garfiel, I said to stand down!"
Naofumi shouted as he prepared to attack his party member, starting to wish now that he had the slave crest due to how impulsive the boy's becoming.
Just as he was about to do this, suddenly the system finally showed the demi human boy's name, health, and even level.
'He's...a level 47?!'
As this was revealed to him, Garfiel didn't listen to the Shield Hero as he was about to charge at the others only to notice the middle knight holding a crystal ball.
This wouldn't have mattered to him if he hadn't seen what it can do.
'Th't's a problem!'
Knowing how bad this could be, he charged directly at the knight, surprising them as they didn't expect the speed the boy was showing despite how injured he was.
As he swiftly closed the gap between himself and the knight with the crystal ball, he punched the knight hard enough to knock him out before turning his attention at the crystal ball.
His arms were still not at full strength to transform yet he can briefly do this to use the extensive strength to destroy the crystal ball.
"Ya won't be usin' th's against th'Shield Boss!"
He used his uninjured arm to semi transform in order to break the crystal ball with pure force before reverting it back to a regular arm.
The moment this happened, his right arm had suddenly splat blood since he overused his strength.
'Fuck!'
Despite the injury, Garfiel did not care at all for his injuries as he kept pushing forward, similar to how he kept moving forward even after the fight against Ram and Otto.
He began to attack the knights nearby, with those that were smiling before now afraid because their little plan just went to hell.
"Air Strike Shield!"
As Naofumi shouted this, a shield blocked Garfiel from landing a punch on the knight though this didn't really stop the Shield of Sanctuary as he just turned towards another knight to land a knockout punch, breaking the guy's jaw.
"Garf! Stop!" Raphtalia shouted as she quickly prepared to stop Garfiel by force.
"Filo! Raphtalia! Now!"
As Naofumi said this, Ren told his party members to stand back as he quickly prepared to assist Filo and Raphtalia in stopping Garfiel.
The demi human boy was slowly getting blinded by rage as he broke two of Naofumi's air strike shields to get to three knights, breaking a few bones in their bodies.
"Knights protect people! They are supposed t'save children! How fuckin' dare ya'll act high and mighty when ya'll were plannin' on killing an innocent little girl!"
With four remaining knights attempting to run away, Garfiel slammed his right foot onto the ground with intense force, causing an explosion that sent one of the knights flying off.
With three remaining, he charged right in while avoiding another of Naofumi's air strike shields from blocking his path to reach the closest knight.
Just as he was about to break a couple of bones from this knight, he suddenly received a kick to the head from Filo in her filolial form.
"Stand down, Garf!"
"..."
Garfiel could only feel anger all over, frustration by the way this country treated those he has grown to call friends.
How it disrespects a position his Cap'n is, and how he was about to witness an adult attempting to kill a little girl.
All of this frustration had blinded him as the red aura around him increased once again to target the knight, not caring the injuries he received in the process.
He continued to make his efforts to make his way towards the knight only for Rapthalia to get in between the two.
"Stop, Garfiel!"
"...!"
Garfiel attempted to brush away Raphtalia only for her to land a kick on the demi human boy's stomach area.
This did halt his progression long enough for Filo to land another hit on the Shield of Sanctuary.
"Please! Stop fighting, Garf! I don't want to do this!"
"Yes, please Garf! Stand down!"
"..."
Garfiel didn't respond as he continued to push himself all the way towards the knight, just barely reaching him only for Ren to reach his position to land one hell of a hit on Garfiel's back.
Despite not wanting to actually use his sword, he needs to land a non fatal hit on him in order to knock him out.
This hit landed on the demi human boy only for the said boy to keep moving forward to land a headbutt on the knight's chest area, damaging his ribs.
"Dammit Garfiel, stop this right now before you end up killing someone!"
As Ren said this, Naofumi approached Garfiel using the twin shields variation to get some strength as he managed to land his very first effective punch.
Although under normal circumstances this wouldn't do much damage, Garfiel was weak enough to get knocked out by this attack.
As Naofumi landed the blow to Garfiel's face, the demi human boy was sent flying as this was the knockout punch the boy needed to finally get him under control.
'Damn it, Garfiel.'
Naofumi hated this, he hated that Garfiel had suddenly lost control just out of nowhere...though he knows how the boy will feel once he regains control of himself.
Once this knockout happened and Garfiel was on the ground with one armed bleeding due to having gotten hurt by the knight's attack and the other for overusing its strength, Melty with Bakta and Welt as her body guards approached the body.
"We need to get out of here." Ren said as he saw the last few knights getting on horses and riding off back to the castle town.
Naofumi looked at Ren before turning towards Garfiel, angry with the boy as he once again disobeyed his orders...though it's not like he doesn't understand why the boy lost control.
"Let's get out of here."
A few hours had passed as they all waited for Garfiel to wake up, having taken such brutal hits as well as having his body truly recover.
Once he started to wake up, Naofumi turned towards everyone to say:
"Allow me to speak with this idiot…alone."
"Are you sure? This situation involves us all." Raphtalia commented on Naofumi's order, knowing full well that what Garfiel did affects them all.
Naofumi wanted to tell her that they need to leave as this is not only a similar situation to what he had just done during the wave but this was to a grander scale.
"Oi...wh-what's going on—ouch!"
Garfiel's arms were still in pain despite Melty having done so much to heal the boy due to the curse he had received from facing the rage shield.
As he was slowly getting back up, he received a punch from Naofumi.
Unlike the hits from before the third wave, these actually hurt Garfiel as it left a bruise.
"What the hell were you thinking?"
"..."
"Do you realize just how much trouble we are all in. I mean, I understand that feeling of anger against those knights but you needed to have self control."
Garfiel was silent for a moment before recalling the events that led to him losing his mind and cool.
'...fuck.'
Garfiel looked at his hands as he realized how he hurt another human being in such cruel ways, especially the one he sent flying.
"...I..."
Naofumi and the others all looked at the boy and saw that he was in shock.
The two legendary heroes looked at each other for a moment before turning towards Garfiel.
"*Sigh, what's done is done. The king will want my head for that stunt of yours."
"..."
Garfiel didn't say anything as he just looked down, filled with absolute guilt.
After having acted cool and been so cautious after Naofumi made a mistake in letting his emotions get the best of him, he ended up making the same mistake not too long after the Shield Hero's.
"...sorry..."
"..."
Naofumi just remained silent as Filo just went to hug Garfiel, not wanting to see him sad.
Raphtalia also felt bad for Garfiel, seeing his guilt but understood the feelings of disappointment Naofumi was having towards the demi human boy.
Wanting to be there for Garfiel, she approached him and patted him on the head.
"Everything will be okay, Garf."
Welt, Farrie, Bakta, and Tersia all looked down as they were afraid of what'll happen to the boy, knowing that the king will want retribution.
Ren felt bad as he should've been the one to stop the knight from attacking Melty, having been the closest to her.
'Had I been the one to intervene, perhaps the situation wouldn't have gone as bad as it did...'
Ren said as he could see how much guilt Garfiel had on his face.
Although the knights clearly deserve it, the Sword Hero could see that Garfiel was acknowledging that he had gone too far with his attacks.
He turned towards Naofumi to ask him:
"What's the plan now?"
"..." The Shield Hero needed time to think. Now that things have gone from fine to worse in less than a day, they needed to get out of the country. "We head to Shieldfreeden as fast as we can. The king will be hunting us down."
Although he was already in hot waters after his stunt in the wave, Garfiel's made it more apparent that they need to go to a different country if they wish to be safe.
He turn towards Ren to tell him:
"Your group should split away from mine. Otherwise the king will hunt you all down too."
This warning was valid.
Despite being a target, Ren could still get out of this situation by him and his party keeping a distance from Naofumi's team.
This was probably the best choice for them to be safe from the King's wrath...unfortunately that wasn't the choice Ren and the others would make.
"Naofumi, I'll stick by you guys."
"Why? You have no real reason to stay with us, especially when this doesn't concern you or your party members."
As the Shield Hero said this, he turned towards Ren's party members, having noticed them looking oddly determined.
"That's true, Shield Hero, we don't have a reason to join you..." Bakta started as he turned towards his teammates, knowing that someone will continue what he was going to say next.
"...but we don't care." Tersia spoke right after Bakta, having the same sentiment.
"We will stand by your side." Farrie said as he proudly held his axe high.
"And protect you from whatever the king throws at you." Welt said confidently.
"That's why we won't run." Ren said with a smile, standing proudly behind his party members.
Naofumi looked at Ren and his group with a blank expression, having wished that this moron of a hero had done this back when everything went to hell the second day in this world.
He almost wanted to punch the hell out of Ren for this since these were the words he had wanted to hear but at the same time, he feels that Ren's been around him and his team long enough to be considered a party member of sorts.
Ren stuck out his hand while saying:
"I do regret my actions of having accepted baseless accusations, so let this be the start of our true friendship...if you wish to."
Raphtalia, Melty, and Filo were all three curious to know how Naofumi would respond to this while Garfiel remained on the ground, devastated by his actions.
Naofumi had noticed everyone but Garfiel was waiting for his response.
He was silent for a second before accepting this handshake.
"You better not betray me. You'll regret it."
"I won't."
Once an understanding had been established, they all turned towards Garfiel as they realized he was still in shock.
Naofumi stood over Garfiel for a moment before smacking him in the head.
"Naofumi-sama!"
"Naofumi!"
Ren and Raphtalia were shocked by this kind of action. Garfiel looked down for a moment before rubbing his head.
"...th't fuckin' hurts..."
"Well, your shield has crazy attack power."
"..."
Garfiel slowly got up as he looked around to see everyone worried about him.
"...Sorry everyone. I fucked up. Now th'king's got somethin' on th'Shield boss."
"It's fine, we all make mistakes." Ren said, thinking back of his biggest mistake, the dragon.
Naofumi was silent for a second before crossing his arms, agreeing to what Ren had said since he had made a mistake...the end of the wave.
"Look Garfiel, I'll let it slide this time but you'll have to work two hundred times harder if you want to be in my good graces again. That and I'll have the slave merchant put the slave crest on you. I can't afford any more mistakes like that."
"...understood."
Garfiel didn't want the slave crest since well...he doesn't want to feel tied down to strictly Naofumi's commands but after what had happened, he can see the importance of it.
The Shield Hero looked at the Shield of Sanctuary before patting his head, showing that he does care for the boy.
Garfiel Tinsel was silent by this before turning towards Melty, recalling that she's probably the one who's suffering the most.
"Oi...lil' princess, are ya okay?"
"...I'm okay."
"Then those knights...why would they try to harm you?" Tersia asked.
"Were they even knights?"
"Yes...those men are father's knights."
"What? Trash?" Naofumi was a bit surprised by this. "So he really wants to take me out."
"I don't think so." Ren speculated. "He doesn't seem like the type who would try to kill his own daughter to get to you."
"Then perhaps th't bitch did somethin'." Garfiel suggested; this something that Melty agreed with.
"I'll have to agree, this would be something my sister would think of. It's just like mother said. We'll have to keep an eye on her."
Naofumi crossed his arms, thinking this as a possible thing considering the type of person Mai has.
"Why is your sister such a cruel person?" Filo questioned, having been curious after hearing the stories from Naofumi.
Melty looked at her friend for a moment before looking down as she responded:
"My sister, from a young age, has loved bringing ruin to people. My mother has said that she would do anything to get what she wants."
'Of course she would. That bitch.' Naofumi thought to himself, annoyed. Melty continued to speak:
"But father doesn't understand that. He keeps saying that she's serious—and good."
"Why would the king be thinking that?"
"Perhaps the king doesn't want ya t'inherit th'kingdom." Garfiel spoke out his thoughts. Melty quickly corrected this:
"That's not it."
"Why not?" Naofumi questioned, seeing this as the most possible reason.
"Because Mother is in charge of choosing a successor. And Mother does not trust my sister."
"Mother...Your mother...Is that the woman who says 'Zir'?" The Shield Hero asked, catching Melty's attention.
"That was a double—they pretend to be her in public."
"A double? So I guess she looked like that."
"Yeah. Well, the double looks just like her but talks kind of strangely."
"Huh?"
"Because she's the queen, way more powerful than the king."
"Hm. Makes sense." Garfiel said, knowing that the princess he's working under will be ruling over Lugnica with the Cap'n by her side, he can see the Queen having more power than the king.
Naofumi on the other hand was confused by this information.
"What was that?"
"Her mother is more powerful than her father."
"Huh?"
"Naofumi-sama, Melromarc is a matrilineal country. I just found out recently myself."
Raphtalia jumped in, adding more information.
There was dead silent for a moment before Naofumi just burst into laughter with Garfiel also laughing at this.
Naofumi just found it hilarious that the pain in the ass king married into royalty with Garfiel just finding the king even more pathetic.
Ren chuckled at the information.
"What are you laughing for, Naofumi-sama?" Raphtalia scolded, annoyed at Naofumi acting like a child.
"How could I not laugh? That trash had to marry into the royal family! Ahaha!"
"Master, you look like you are having a good time." Filo said in a happy tone, always happy to see her master happy.
"Don't speak ill of my father!" Melty shouted with frustration.
"S-Sorry princess...it's just kinda funny." Ren said, finding it funny.
"It is not!"
"Why not? He hung you out to dry." Naofumi added as he still found this all hilarious.
"He did not! Wahhhh!"
Melty couldn't keep her composure anymore as she burst into tears while also starting to batter the Shield Hero with her fists.
"...Oi, Shield Boss. Do ya think we might've gone t'far?"
"You sure did, Garf!"
Raphtalia shouted at the demi human boy, frustrated with how he along with Naofumi were acting. She turned towards Naofumi to scold him to:
"It's not right to laugh at a crying child."
"She's basically the same age you are!" Naofumi responded to what Raphtalia had said, annoyed at her though that comment had made her a bit mad.
"Naofumi-sama..."
"I know."
He composed himself, having taken a step too far.
"We shouldn't stay here for long, those knights will come back and with the princess with us...the king might find a reason to just kill the Shield Hero." Bakta recommend, knowing that this would be the best excuse the king would need to eliminate Naofumi and his crew.
"Bakta's right, we should get moving."
Naofumi agreed with this before telling Filo to go and get ready to pull the carriage.
As everyone was getting on the carriage, Melty and Garfiel were both standing still.
The second princess trying to regain her composure while Garfiel was still feeling guilty for his actions against the knights.
"Perhaps...I should turn myself in. Might get th'king off of Shield boss's back."
"That would surely get you killed." Naofumi said as he approached the two, having noticed that they hadn't moved. "Plus that would be a dumbass move."
"Yea. Yer right." Garfiel turned towards Melty. "Let's get goin', lil' princess."
"..." Melty was still hurt by the way Naofumi and Garfiel to a small degree have been treating her.
"Come on lil princess, we'll keep ya safe."
"Hold your horses there, who says she's joining us."
"Come on Shield Boss, we need t'know more information."
The Shield Hero was silent at this, thinking of what Garfiel had said.
Although he doesn't want to have Melty with them any longer, the demi human boy might be onto something.
He also started to think back on the attempted assassination on the second princess.
'Something's off. They were standing there like if they were...'
"Let's get going then." The Shield Hero said as his train of thought finished, prompting him to turn towards the carriage.
Melty was hesitant to go with the Shield Hero after how badly he's mistreated her though Garfiel managed to convince her by saying:
"Ya can ride on Filo if th't'll make up fer us laughin' at ya."
Melty was silent as she just nodded, something that Naofumi noticed.
Garfiel smiled as he carried her all the way towards Filo's position.
"Oi, Filo. Allow lil princess here t'ride ya?"
"Yes!"
Filo was excited by this with Melty slowly smiling as she enjoys being with any filolial, more specifically Filo.
As Garfiel was helping Melty to get on top of Filo, Naofumi got onto the front of the carriage and waited for Garfiel to hop on before they could start their journey.
"Aight Shield Boss, where are we off t'now?"
"...we will need to leave the country. That annoying king will be after us soon."
"...understood."
As Garfiel looked down with guilt, Naofumi looked at him for a second before turning forward to tell Filo to start having the carriage move.
Once this began, Naofumi slapped the back of Garfiel's head once again.
"Stop looking down. There will be none of that."
"...sorry..."
"And stop apologizing. What's done is done."
As Naofumi said this, both he and Garfiel could hear Melty having some fun with Filo.
"Those knights were holdin' some kind of crystal ball th't can show events th't had happened. I don't know why but I destroyed it. Didn't trust th't t'be around."
"Is that so?"
Naofumi took a second to think back on that entire situation, starting to see it clearly.
'So, that's why they were all just standing around. They were going to set it up as if we had killed the second princess. Those bastards!'
Naofumi's anger increased for a moment, hating this country and its people though after recalling that Garfiel had destroyed the crystal ball, he realized that they had nothing on them.
'They only have their words. That's probably better but those knights that were brutalized...that might be an issue.'
He figured that they can use the injuries the knights received as the evidence that Garfiel harmed them and with the missing princess, it would still be the same effect as to them having some footage of them supposedly kidnapping Melty.
'Either way, we will need to leave this country.'
The Shield Hero turned towards Garfiel to tell him:
"The priority will be to reach Shieldfreeden."
"With th' lil princess with us?"
"..." The Shield Hero had a blank expression as he didn't respond for a bit. After a few seconds later, he responded with an annoyed expression, "Unfortunately, we'll have to. If we leave her here, she'll be killed and you'll likely be framed."
"Th't's why we'll protect her."
"Not forever. She isn't our responsibility."
"True but th'queen might be grateful if we protect th' lil princess."
"That...actually might come in handy."
Naofumi crossed his arms for a brief moment as he saw this as potential to get something from the queen.
'I could use this in my favor...unless the queen is involved with all of this, then protecting the little brat won't really suit me at all.'
These were some valid thoughts as the Shield Hero doesn't know the queen, prompting him to take things with caution.
"Regardless, a lil girl's life's in our hands. We should protect her at all cost."
"Hm."
He didn't like this since it's a pain protecting people for free that aren't a part of his group...but witnessing her true self, her child self, he knows that Garfiel is right that a little girl's life is in their hands.
He didn't deny Garfiel's words which was something that Melty had caught on, having eavesdropped on their conversation, bits and pieces.
Despite how cruel the Shield Hero can be, this conversation here proved that there's some good in him.
As for Garfiel, she felt that she owed him a lot.
He protected her...though he might've gone a bit overboard. Regardless, she definitely owed Garfiel.
After a day of traveling, Naofumi decided that everyone should rest up in order to give Filo a chance to rest up.
While she was sleeping, Ren and Naofumi gathered Raphtalia, Garfiel, Melty, and Welt to discuss the situation while Bakta, Farrie, and Tersia were on guard.
The conversation started with Ren saying:
"Alright, the plan is going to be getting Naofumi and his party members out of the country for the safety of theirs."
"That and gettin' th'lil princess t'safety as well." Garfiel added, which Naofumi didn't fully like hearing since his party members are more important than the second princess to him though the princess's survival might help in the long run assuming the queen isn't a scumbag like the king.
Welt said his current thoughts to the group:
"We agreed that Shieldfreeden was our target...but perhaps we should aim for Siltvelt."
"Wouldn't th't be dangerous fer y'all?" The demi human boy question.
"Yes, we do have to consider that the country isn't keen on humans." Ren said as he had his arms crossed. "But that could be an advantage in our case."
"How so?" Raphtalia asked as she tilted her head, curious to know what the Sword Hero meant by this.
"Siltvelt worships the Shield Hero and cares for mainly demi humans, meaning you, Garfiel, and even Filo have the best chance of getting us in."
"Yes but..." Raphtalia crossed her arms as she was hesitant by this idea. "Wouldn't you and Master Ren be in danger because you are humans?"
"I doubt Shield guy'll be in trouble." Garfiel added in. "He's th'Shield Hero, so th't means they'll listen t'him."
"That is the plan then." Welt gave a thumbs up to this, seeing it as their best course of option. Ren nodded at this, agreeing with one of his party members.
"Doesn't seem too bad of an idea." Raphtalia added.
"What do ya think, princess?" Garfiel turned towards Melty to ask this question, curious if she's fine with this. Melty looked at the demi human boy for a second before thinking on what they were discussing.
"It's not a bad plan."
"If it's the best hand we have…" Naofumi started as he began to think of all the ways things could go wrong.
But considering their current situation, if it's the best they have, then they might as well go with it until a better plan can appear.
"Let's get moving. We shouldn't stay out here for too long."
Everyone nodded at this and began to pack up as they headed off to Siltvelt.