Naofumi was walking towards the central church of Melromarc along Raphtalia to synchronize with the dragon hourglass so he could actually participate in the wave that was soon to hit. If it was up to him, he wouldn't go at all, but he had to fight the waves not only because he was forced to as part of his duties as the legendary shield hero but also because of the whole kangaroo trial as if he was to try to run or hide from his responsibility then he would face further punishment

Thankfully it was actually really easy to spot as it was one of the largest buildings in the capital and among the tallest, only behind the castle of the king in terms of height, they were able to enter without any resistance from the guards or people inside, but he did see their angry eyes and disgusted faces, but those things had lost any meaning to him at this point

"What do we owe your visit here, shield hero?" a nun of the church asked, clearly unpleased with his presence here

"Wave about to hit, I want to register to the hourglass," Naofumi simply responded not wanting to stay in this place any longer than he had to

"Ah, of course, please follow me," the nun responded as she guided them to the hourglass, who was massive and had blue sand that sparkled softly

Naofumi stepped forward and placed his hand in it, suddenly a beam of light shot from the gem of his shield towards the dragon hourglass which caused the sand inside to glow for a while before fading away

[Connection to the Hourglass: [Melromarc] stabilize]

[Time until the next Wave: 21 hours 41 minutes 120 seconds]

'A timer, that's handy, we have less than a day, we can manage that' Naofumi thought, if Erhard got that armor done very early in the morning then he wasn't going to have much trouble in the defensive department

"Oh hey! Look who's here!" A voice called out from behind as Naofumi recognized it and gritted his teeth at it, turning around to see three figures approaching, the three seemed to match as they all had white hair, golden yellow eyes, a pale skin tone and all were dressed in black clothing with a black headband with five sections of glowing neon yellow in them.

The one carrying a spear was the only male and he wore a black winter coat with a fur collar and a black belt, along with a black pilot hat with a skull insignia. he also accessories a yellow armband that has a skull label on it on his left bicep. dress shoes with the bottom of his sole and his wrists are orange and black striped.

The one carrying a sword was a girl and she had her silver hair in a bob-cut hairstyle. She wears a black-gray, short-sleeved crop coat with a fur collar and cuffs. Her legs are covered up to her thighs by thigh-high socks, with yellow and black stripes at the end of her black shoes. she also accessories a yellow arm-band with a skull label on it, along with some text.

The one carrying a bow had her silver hair styled in high twin pigtails, tied with black ribbons. Her attire consists of a short-sleeved black dress with side pockets, a black leather belt, and a black tie over a dark yellow collared shirt. She also wears knee-high stockings with visible suspenders. On her left bicep, she wore a yellow armband marked with a skull emblem

These three were Naofumi's fellow summoned heroes, N, V and J, he despised them deeply as ever since he was summoned they showed him up, admittedly in the first day it was hardly their fault as it was more on chance that he would be summoned along three people in uniform all with very distinguishing features that were shared between each other, he was dressed in plain old street wear and had a average hair color and eyes that didn't glow in the dark so he stuck out like a sore thumb even though he was supposedly looking average

But it wasn't that bad, though J was a bit of a major ass and control freak while he was sure that V had that letter as her name because it stood for violence since that's what she seemed to crave at all times, he actually got along pretty well with N all things considered. But then they got their parties, having that red haired bitch accusing him of rape and having everyone against him, only N seemed to have defended him by asking for stuff like evidence and testimonies but he had completely brought that lying whore fake testimony and that circumstantial evidence that could have been planted.

"Surprised to see you shitheads here," Naofumi responded sarcastically while eyeing them. He hated them, he didn't know if they had changed in the month that had passed but he could still see it in their eyes, N had a heart of gold and the soul of a golden retriever but he was too much of an air head, V was violent and uncaring towards everyone and J was some corporate obsessed, bootlicker with a passion for control. He hoped they would at least lose a limb or two in the wave, perhaps have a companion killed

"Uhm, okay that's a bit rude but we were invited by-"

"Shut it N, he's not to be privy to matters from his superiors" J quickly silenced him by striking his head with her bow, making him shrug his aching head as he softly apologized. Naofumi couldn't care less about what they had come to do here as long as it didn't involve him in any capacity

"Who are they, Naofumi-sama?" Raphtalia asked since Naofumi seemed to be very angry about them, which was weird since she kind of knew that Naofumi was usually always angry but not to the extent he was right now. And the thing about being his superiors had her intrigued as not many could claim to be above a hero and the weapons they carried did seemed like...

"Come Raphtalia, we're leaving," Naofumi said as he proceeded to go down the flight of stairs wanting to leave this place since the bitch and her idiot were now here, but when he looked back at Raphtalia, he saw N go to her and held one of her hands for a handshake

"Hi, I'm N, nice to meet you, what's your name?" The dissembling drone asked her as he tilted his head to the side just a bit to look at her, his senses picked up on some odd stuff coming from her chest, something rather unnatural by the feeling he was getting

"Uhm, Raphtalia, I'm Naofumi's companion" Raphtalia simply responded as she shook his hand back before breaking away from it

"Oh, okay... He hasn't, you know? Done anything weird to you right? Blink twice if yes and three times for no" N asked whispering as he placed a hand on her shoulder while looking at Naofumi with his hidden set of eyes disguise in his headband to see if he was hearing them. Raphtalia was as strange by the question but besides a few odd times Naofumi behaved weirdly, he hadn't done anything to her to warrant anything else but three blinks, as N sighed in relief

"Leave him and his unpaid intern be so they can leave" J said and Naofumi finally agreed to something she said, though he was rather annoyed by her use of corporate lingo

"Don't get in my way in the wave, or else you might die by accident" V spoke like that was a tease, but the toothy grin she send him implied she would follow through with that as a threat. Naofumi looked at her for a moment before he resumed leaving the church, after he closed the door rather loudly behind, the three other weapon wielders observed the exit he left through

"... That girl was very nice, I really hope he isn't abusing her in secret" N expressed, he really wanted to believe Naofumi was a good guy and that he didn't actually raped his companion but he had heard so many accounts on how bad his behavior got after the trial and even seeing him now, he seemed even more far gone than in that day. Plus that strange feeling he picked up from the girl's chest was indicative of something bad, he just didn't know what exactly it was yet

"If he is, can I claw out his heart and eat it? I'm dying to know what real hero flesh tastes like" V asked, of course she wasn't going to do it... Well, maybe she would depending on how she was feeling that day, if it was a shitty day, slow and painful death, good day would be fine with no murder and Monday sucked in general so a quick and painless death

"Silence you two, we have an appointment with the pope remember?" J spoke up a bit louder as to get their attention, they had important business to attend to, they were about to speak with the manager of religion in the corporate office known as Melromarc, he was the third most powerful person in power here, only behind the (unofficially elected and temporary) regional manager Aultclay and the CEO queen Mirelia. Time was important in business and they were going to be seventeen seconds late! She can't have her image of a diligence worker be ruined now when she can feel herself getting close to receiving employee of the month

The other two drones rolled their eyes but followed the twin pig tails bow wielder non the less, intrigued by what the pope had to say for them