I do not own Rising of the Shield Hero

Biggest thanks for Ace-Triad helping me with SPAG edit! Also special thanks to Angel Wraith for reading my rough draft and provide important feedbacks.

More author note at the end for people who are interested to see me blabber some more.

The egg inside the incubator shakes and waves around, until a line starts to form on the top. She quickly removes the glass cover as the crack gradually travels downward, like a trickle of water.

A tiny beak can be seen between the space of the crack, as it struggles to break through the confinement. With a loud crack and tweet, the shell exploded into dozens and dozens of pieces, littered all over her fine silky bed sheet. "PI~!"

The baby bird has red feathers. As passionate as the burning flame, as beautiful as her own hair.

"Pi?" The tiny bird chirps again, looking up at her, slowly walks forward and starts to peak her finger with its soft beak.

"Aw, are you hungry?" She picks the bird up and places it on her hand, gently running her finger through its soft feathers. "I'll call the servant for some boiled beans. Would you like that?"

"PI!" The bird hops on her palm, almost falling off the edge of her fingers in its visible excitement.

"Careful!" She quickly moves her other hand up, holding the bird in place. She starts to cup both hands together to resemble a nest for the cute little bundle of joy.

The bird settles down in her hands, its body slowly becoming flatter like a snowball melting into her hand. But it's warm and fluffy, instead of cold and biting.

"You'll need a name. What do you think of..." The princess searched through her mind for a good name. Most of them being the names of Melromarc's previous rulers in her lessons. Not very fitting for something cuddly like her bird.

She thinks back to her favorite novel. The main character who has ardent red hair just like herself, and her new friend. "Mein? How about Mein?"

"PI!" The bird hops up once again, pleased with her new name.

Chapter 26: The Gathering Storm

The princess turned adventurer wakes up to the sound of a hammer hitting a wooden board, and a surprisingly melancholy tune with indiscernible words. Mein briefly wonders if she's still having a dream. She runs her gloved hand over her blinking eyes a couple of times, letting herself become adapted by the morning sunlight.

Not too far away from her tent, Naofumi is already up in his traveling clothes. From his slightly tinier bulk, it appears the hero isn't in his armor. But the long wooden plank he's carrying over his shoulder no doubt makes up for the extra weight. The young hero from another world, who by right has the title of a Duke, does not complain about doing menial tasks to help Lute rebuild.

Kyubey and Éclair are to the other side of the new cracked cobblestone road, hammering some wooden boards away at a half collapsed shack. Farkas is nowhere to be seen, probably still dealing with the massive amount of liquor he drank the night before. Well, it's not like the werewolf will be of much use helping Lute rebuild without his arms.

It takes Mein a moment to realize the strange music comes from Naofumi himself. Listening to a hero sing a native song makes for a much more exotic experience than anything from a bard. On the one hand, the syllables coming out of the Shield Hero's lips is completely incomprehensible. But on the other hand ... she feels like the meaning of the lyrics seems to simply materialize in her mind, for a lack of better description.

The translation matrix in the Legendary Shield seems to work in a very mysterious way.

While the undercover princess is still mesmerized by the music, she notices something wobbling in her peripheral vision. Mein turns her sight away from Naofumi, and notices the monster egg incubator is slowly but surely shaking. A sure sign the creature is about to burst out of its shells.

Mein slowly crawls out of her own sleeping bag. She slowly lifts up the glass dome while calling out to Naofumi. "Master Naofumi, the egg is about to hatch now."

"For real?" Naofumi quickly puts down the wooden board he's carrying. The young hero quickly makes his way to his tent, while a few Lute villagers giggled and laughed at his excited display. "I've never seen an animal hatch before."

"It's not as exciting as you might think, Master Naofumi. Although Filorials are very friendly and energetic by nature." The princess in disguise runs her gloved finger on the top of the egg, as a crack starts to form near the middle.

After a few more shakes and quakes, the shell explodes in a shower of shards as a pudgy, pink bird jumps out. "PI~!"

"AWW... cute!" Naofumi squats down right in front of the newborn chick. He extends out his hand, gently scratches the bird's comically large head.

The bird looks up at his new owner for a second. It turns around and starts to peck and eat the shard of its broken egg shells.

"Oh, do Filorial birds eat their own shells?" Naofumi pulls his hand back and starts to rub his chin. "I know caterpillars do that. It's an important source of nutrient for them. Didn't know any bird ate their shells too."

"No, Master Naofumi. That is most definitely not normal for Filorials." Mein picks up a piece of the shell and gives it to the newly hatched bird. It gobbles down the piece eagerly as if it is fed a tasty treat, instead of a piece of its shell it hatched from.

The princess isn't a Filorial expert. Not even her Filorial fetishist mother and little sister know much about those big fluffy birds other than that they are really warm and nice to hug.

But the undercover princess is sure these birds don't eat their shell after they hatches. Her little friend Mein didn't eat her shell after hatch, and the servants had to toss out her bed sheet when it was too much trouble picking the little pieces out.

"I don't know why this one is this particularly gluttonous." Mein begins circling her finger right on top of the dumb little chick. "Do you suppose she is... mentally blemished?"

"Don't say that, Mein. Maybe our little bird is just really hungry." Naofumi runs his finger along the back of the bird in a more encouraging manner. "We should go ask Filorial Bill what to feed her."

The bird seems to take offense at Mein's suggestion. It pouts at the undercover princess, making its head even larger. It gives Mein's finger a few harder pecks, but it only tickles with its still soft beak.

"We can't keep calling her 'bird'. Let's give her a name." Naofumi smiles and scratches the bird's head feather once again. "How about... 'Firo'?"

"It took you the whole night to come up with this name. Didn't it, Master Naofumi?" Mein slowly turns her head around and gives the Shield Hero the blandest look she can muster. "Isn't it the same as naming your son 'Boy'?"

"Hey! Don't you shit talk BOY! BOY is a great name." For some reason, the young man from another world seemed very offended at Mein's suggestion.

Despite her initial assessment, by now the first princess of Melromarc realized that the Shield Hero Naofumi Iwatani has his share of... quirky traits. Just like his fellow other world heroes. But the Shield Hero is still the most fitting to be the future king. That's why she's willing to overlook a lot of his flaws and tolerate others.

But his apparent inability to come up with good names? That's where she needs to draw a line in the sand and choose her hill to die on. Because she's not going to have her future progeny be the laughingstock of noble society before their first social debut.

"You are going to make your future children hate you, if you don't give more thought to how you name them, Master Naofumi." Mein can't help but shakes her head.

"Okay. What do you suggest we name her?" The Shield Hero stands up and puts his hands on his waist. It appears that the young man was quite proud of the name he's giving to the dumb bird.

"Evangeline. A strong name for a majestic steed." The princess turned adventurer glared right back at the young hero, not afraid to give her own input.

"Ehh... Are you sure it's one name? Sounds like two, or three names smashed together." Naofumi's eyes slowly squint together as he visibly turns his nose.

Yes, it's confirmed from his response. Her Naofumi has horrible taste in names.

"Yes, Master Naofumi. It is in fact, a single name." Mein stands up like the Shield Hero, mirroring his posture of putting her hands on her waist. "It's the name of the first queen of the Melromarc dynasty."

"Well, those really long name for aristocrats are dumb. Can you imagine the trouble we'll be in if we are in a battle, and we try to call Firo over if we name her 'Evangeline'?" Naofumi pokes his tongue out in a mix of fear and disgust. "We'd get ourselves run over before we finish calling her name."

That's actually a good point.

The undercover princess was about to suggest they shorten the name to Eva, when Raphtalia walks up besides them. It appears their impromptu argument has attracted her attention. "Maybe a shorter name?"

Naofumi smiles as he turns to look at the little girl. He knees down and runs his hand through her hair. "What do you suggest? Raphtalia."

"Rifana."

That's the name of her dead friend, wasn't it? No, listen to me girl. You don't want to name anyone after a dead name. It's pure bad luck, from Father's wisdom.

"How about this? We'll each call her with the name we came up with, see whose hand she'll climb on top of." Naofumi lets out a sigh as he turns to look back up at Mein again. "Let's see which name the little bird loves the most?"

It seems the Shield Hero will not budge at naming the bird Firo. Not unless the bird rejects it herself. At least it's only the name for a dumb bird, and not their future children. Because she's never, ever going to let him get his way, if he tries to name their children 'Boy' or 'Girl'.

"Alright, Master Naofumi. We'll let the bird decide for herself." Mein lets out a sigh. She crouches down in front of the confused-looking bird together with Naofumi and Raphtalia.

"Come on Firo/Evangeline/Rifana." The three of them all extend out their hands, calling out the bird with their preferred names.

The bird's head whips around from her, to Naofumi and Raphtalia over and over, seemingly having a hard time to make up her mind, or figuring out what's even going on. Her head starts to sway in the wind as her eyes start to swirl. Till' eventually she simply lets out a loud chirp and jumps onto Naofumi's hand.

"YES! I won! Her name is Firo." Naofumi pumps his free hand into the air, looking altogether too smug for winning a fairly pointless contest.

To the princess in disguise, the dumb bird didn't understand what's going on at all. She probably just jumped into the hand of her master's hand, because the monster seal compelled her.

"This dumb chick has horrible taste in names, just like you, Master Naofumi." Mein turns her nose up at the little bird.

Firo seems to take offense at Mein's word. The bird jumps off Naofumi's hand, wobbles over to her and tries to kick her finger. All Mein had to do was to pull her hand away, and the bird tripped over itself.

The princess in disguise flicks her finger at the bird's head, and Firo ends up tumbling over a few circles on the ground till she sprawls all over the dirt. The baby bird's eyes are swirling, being very obviously indisposed of.

"Aw, don't bully Firo just because she didn't pick your super long name." Naofumi quickly scoots over and picks Firo up. He gently ran his finger along the bird, trying to soothe it.

"Well, she asked for it when she tried to kick my finger." Mein stands up and scoffs at the bird once again. "Let's go talk to Filorial Bill. See what he says about raising this bird, and fitting her a carriage."

"Okay, let's. We are going to Filorial Bill." Naofumi turns his head towards their companions. Both Kyubey and Éclair gave the Shield Hero a thumb up from where they are helping out the villagers. Farkas simply groaned in his tent. "You want to stay with Kyubey, or are you coming with us? Raphtalia?"

"I'm coming with Master Naofumi and big sister Mein." The little girl reaches out her hand to hold onto both Naofumi and Mein's hand.

The walk to the now largely destroyed Filorial ranch does not take long. The sound of a rhythmic hammer on a wooden board lights up the way of their short stroll.

Not too far outside the village, multiple piles of dead bodies are still burning. A reminder of how many monsters breached into their world in the last Wave. It was no wonder Port Harp fell back in the first Wave. Even the well trained army of House Seatto was ultimately no match against a near endless wave of monsters.

Despite the hole on the side of the wooden barn, it still manages to stand. It's a testament of the structure constructed by Filorial Bill's family.

The man is busy picking over all the things that get knocked over when they arrive. The pile of broken things are much larger than the pile of relatively intact tools. He looks up and sees the bird in Naofumi's hand. "Ah! Master Shield Hero. I see your bird has hatched."

"Yeah, we named her Firo." Naofumi smiles and scratches the bird's head once again. "We want to know how to properly raise a Filorial."

"Well, not much if you aren't getting picky with the breed. Like you are trying to have a racer, or fighter competing in Zeltbull Coliseum. Filorials are hardy creatures, they can eat practically anything once they are grown." The man turns around and starts to dig into a half smashed crate. He pulls out a cloth bag and empties a few items of its content, which turns out to be large beads of dull, yellow beans.

Naofumi looks down at the content on Filorial Bill's hand. He looks up and asks tentatively. "Soybeans?"

"Is this what they are called in Master Shield Hero's world? We just call them Filo beans. Legend has it, we humans first discovered they are edible because we saw wild Filorials feeding those to their young." The ranch owner lets out a hearty laugh as he dumps the beans in his hand back into the bag. "For a baby chick, you best feed them well boiled Firo beans. The stomachs for baby birds are weaker than adults, and if you start let them eat, say, monster meat, you might end up with ... quite a ruckus."

The ranch owner pats his own behind with a scrunched up face. He obviously managed to get his meaning across without being extremely specific, judging from the way Naofumi mirrors his own facial expression. "Okay, boil the beans to feed Firo till she becomes large and strong. Anything else?"

"Nope. Nothing else. Just use your common sense, don't let her jump into a very sharp stick, or feed her rotting or poisoned food." Filorial Bill shakes his hand as he hands the bag of bird feed to Naofumi. "Unless you want to raise her into a racer or fighter. Or attend the annual Filorial Pageant held in Tristan city."

"No, I only need a bird to pull the carriage. I'm planning to start a traveling peddler business." Naofumi takes over the bag. He's about to put them into his Shield, till he takes a bean out and the Legendary Shield absorbs it. "Thanks for the beans. By the way, do you happen to also know about fitting a carriage?"

"Can't run a Filorial rising business without knowing a thing or two about carts and carriages." The ranch owner laughs as he scratches Firo's head just like Naofumi. His face turns serious afterwards. "With Master Shield Hero's EXP boost, you'll need a hardy carriage special build. Or else she might pull it apart when she starts to rise in levels. A metal one is obviously good enough, but it'll cost you an arm and a leg, especially now when most metals are being used to make weapons and armors to fight the Wave. I suggest you get a dark wood carriage."

"Dark wood? The name sounds... sinister. It's not cursed, is it?" Naofumi's eyebrow slowly rises up at the mention of the name.

"It's not sinister, or cursed at all. Master Naofumi." Mein tries to recall what she remembers from one of her classes. Funny enough, this name came up both in her statecraft and martial classes. "They get the name from their dark purple colored bark. It's also known as iron wood, because they are harder than iron and highly resistant to rotting."

"Your lady friend got it right!" Filorial Bill laughs again at Naofumi's reaction. "It's no good for your hearth, but it's great building material. Great for craftsmen too since they are lighter than most metals. They grow here in the depths of Harvest Valley. I'll go talk to Georg, get a team together to go into Harvest Valley with you and chop down a few of them dark wood trees."

Harvest Valley, that's the name of the forest between the mountains. The same place they went down the now abandoned mineshaft, where she came face to face with the thing that...

The eyes of the incognito princess become unfocused, her breath becoming increasingly hitched. Mein briefly loses track of where she is, until she hears Naofumi screaming at her. "MEIN! Stay with me!"

It takes the undercover princess another moment to realize she's halfway horizontal. The only thing stopping her back head from kissing the ground is Naofumi's arm wrapped around her back. Her heart beat picks up again, although for an entirely different reason.

"Will there be more big scary black dogs?" Raphtalia's trembling voice makes both Naofumi and Mein turn to look at her.

"No, no there shouldn't be more WavehoundS, Raphtalia. That wasn't a regular monster you find on Melromarc soil, or on the world of Medea at all." Mein slowly stands back up from Naofumi's arm. She runs her hand through Raphtalia's hair to sooth the child.

"Are you alright, Mein? Maybe you should lay down for today?"

"I'm okay, Master Naofumi. I'm just reminded of my encounter with that... thing in the mineshaft." Naofumi flinches together with the princess. "But I'll be okay. It's not like we'll face more of that thing. I'm your partner, wasn't I? It won't do if I stay behind while you go out to face danger."

It doesn't make sense to stay in this village and miss out on the EXP from a trip to Harvest Valley. Besides, while she is comfortable with little Raphtalia besides her Naofumi, the newly joined Seatto heiress is a whole different story. Wouldn't want the young Seatto to become Naofumi's new partner when the creamy pastry swings a sword better than her.

"If you say so." Naofumi's gaze lingers on Mein for a long moment before turning to Filorial Bill. "But I wouldn't want to impose. All of you are still busy rebuilding your home."

"Nonsense! We still have our lives AND home to rebuild thanks to you. Shield Hero." The ranch owner takes a rag, waits for a second before handing it to the princess. He takes a second, slightly dirtier rag and wipes some of the sweat off his head. Leaving a smudge over his head. "Besides, you'd be helping us if you escort some of our guys to the dark wood. Since they make for great building material, and shields for light infantry, there's money to be made for us, if we sell some dark wood shields to the army."

"Is that so? When you put it this way..." A frown slowly creeps up Naofumi's eyes while his free hand starts rubbing his chin. "Wait a minute. How come nobody built some kind of lumberyard around here, if this wood is so valuable?"

"Ah, we used to have a lumberyard deeper into Harvest Valley just like the old mineshaft. You must have missed it when you were exploring." Filorial Bill tosses his rag onto the crate and points his finger far towards the Harvest Valley. "That was before the Great War. There's not enough healthy and strong young people to guard and maintain it afterwards. Fall into disrepair and abandoned. Would be nice if we could rebuild it, after this Wave of Catastrophe business. It'll bring a lot of extra coins for the village."

"I suppose it's not practical to split your people to guard both the village and a lumberyard." Naofumi nods his head along. "Well, let's see how much I can help bring in today."

"That's the spirit, Shield Hero!" The ranch owner slaps his big hand on Naofumi's shoulder. "You sit down tight here. I'll talk to the guys and find you a team of lumberjacks."

"Thanks. I'll see what I can do to help..." Naofumi hops over the pile of trash and hobbles his way towards the barn. Raphtalia quickly follows him, the young girl having a much easier time climbing over the small mound of broken things.

The Shield Hero suddenly stops right in front of the big barn door. "Hey, Mr. Bill. What's that thing doing here?"

The undercover princess gets curious over what Naofumi is talking about. She walks around the pile, trying to get a good look herself.

Inside the broken barn is the dead body of a great beast. Judging from the three stumps that's probably the creature's necks, and a small segment of scaled tail, it can only be a chimera. The princess turned adventurer, noticing the different spot of grey soot covering the corpse.

"Oh, the dead body of the Wave Boss?" Filorial Bill turns on his heel. "It doesn't burn, unlike the other Wavespawn. So we are keeping it inside the barn for now. Nothing good comes from leaving the body of a Wavespawn in the wild. They either poison the land, or whip the normal monsters into a frenzy when they start eating the corpse."

"Do you mind if I try to cut it up? See if I can unlock more shields from it?" The young hero seems almost giddy at the suggestion, considering he already pulled his dagger out before the ranch owner even gives his permission.

"Not at all, Master Shield Hero. You'd be helping us if you can take care of the whole corpse. Although we'd appreciate it if you leave us some of the bones. Our craftsman sure can use them." Filorial Bill gives one final wave as he turns around towards the village hall. Likely going to find the village elder, or the militia leader.

"Well, let's get started then." Naofumi kneels in front of the body and starts to dig his blade into the corpse. "Give me a hand here, Mein, Raphtalia."

The princess in disguise pulls up her cloth mask, hoping it would help ward off some of the stench. She wordlessly joins Raphtalia, helping hold the dead beast so Naofumi can concentrate on skinning the pelt off the meat, and then separating the meat from bones. He even tries to carefully peel out the scales from what remain of the creature's tail.

Mein has to admit, it's an almost meditative experience if she disregards the stink from the creature's blood. Eventually, the Shield Hero finishes his task and starts to put most of the parts into his shield, leaving most of the bones for Filorial Bill like he requested.

She wonders what Naofumi will use the meat and organs for. Since they aren't good for human consumption, maybe he should try saving them for his orange abominations, or the bird when she becomes an adult.

They can hear the sound of Filorials croaking outside by the time Naofumi finishes with the body. And sure enough, twenty healthy looking young men, Gaston, and Naofumi's remaining companions gather outside with four adult Filorials.

"Well, it looks like we'll have another adventure in Harvest Valley. Shield Hero." Gaston smirks as he crosses his massive arms in front of his chest. "And I'm still the party's guide and tracker. Told you I'm far from useless."

Their second trip to Harvest Valley wasn't much harder than the first.

Despite losing Lautrec, Farkas proves to be an adequate replacement with his nose. Coupled with the Seatto heiress' skill with her sword, their group makes short work of smaller monster groups, while still easily circling around the monster hives.

The part of Harvest Valley they are journeying across has thicker foliage than the last time. Probably on account of them staying in the more forested area, rather than walking towards the mountain.

Mein loses track of time, but after what feels like endless walking in a circle, they eventually make it into an area where the trees thin out.

Over the mostly fallen and trampled wood wall, in the middle of the clearing is no doubt the abandoned lumberyard Filorial Bill was talking about. It has a lumber mill with half of its roof gone, and a longhouse with holes in the wall.

"Alright, boys. Let's chop down some lumber while we have daylight." Gaston claps his hands together. "Shield Hero and his companions will guard us. Don't waste this chance! Let's bring as much dark wood home as possible."

The villagers let out a subdued cheer as they all took out their woodsmen's axes. The young men quickly divide into teams, as they start to swing away at the purple colored trees around the abandoned lumberyard.

Naofumi takes the balloons out of his cloak, the party spreads around with the adult Filorials brought by the Lute villagers. Making sure none of the monsters can get to the working men. Raphtalia climbs up to the top of the lumber mill, acting like they look out in addition to Kyubey's ears and Farkas' nose.

For a short while, it's just the sound of grunting and metal on wood as the laborers work up a sweat. But sure enough, monsters begin to get attracted by the noise. Stingers buzzing around in the air, snakes slithering under the tall grass. Most of them are quickly taken care of by Éclair's sword, or torn apart by the fangs of Farkas. The werewolf is definitely still dangerous, even without his arms.

The princess turned adventurer simply holds her sword at ready, but hangs back for the most part. She's content to hang back with Kyubey, letting their two newest members show off their ferocity and skill while catching up whatever manages to slip past Farkas and Éclair. Her fire magic is too dangerous for both the foe and friends anyways, where she can easily start a forest fire without meaning to.

"Dogs! Dogs!" Raphtalia suddenly starts screaming on top of her lungs. And among the thick foliage they start to emerge. Three two-headed dogs, maw full of razor sharp fangs dripping with saliva. Coat as dark as if one is staring into the abyss itself. "Dogs are coming!"

More Wavespawn, escaped from the last wave before the heroes and Melromarc army had their chance to bring down the Wave Boss. Unlike the one in the mineshaft, those aren't already emaciated.

The princess in disguise vaguely hears Naofumi shouting something to her, but her mind isn't paying it much attention. She puts all her focus into gathering an orb of fire, and tossing it towards the same kind of monster who scarred her.

The ball of fire splatters uselessly on the ground, igniting some tall grasses but failed to hurt anything. The dogs scatter almost as soon as she throws her spell, and quickly close their distance with quick leaps and lunges.

Farkas charges forward, tackling one of the monsters onto the ground. The werewolf's one mouth, and Wavehound's two maws try to close in on each other's neck in a cacophony of snarls and screams.

Éclair stops the second one, keeping the hound away from her with her sword's longer reaches. The knight waves her newly gained steel straight sword in a deadly dance, leaving dozens of cuts on the monster without gaining a single scar of her own.

The third hound successfully charges right through their new companions. It pounces at the princess turned adventurer through one final giant leap. Mein tries to gather another spell in her hand, but she can't gather it fast enough even without chanting. All she can do is watch the monster descend towards her, almost in slow motion.

"NOT THIS TIME!" Naofumi charges right into her view. The back of the armored young man and his great shield replaces the monster in Mein's view. Legendary Shield meets razor sharp fangs, the dog makes a loud bang on Naofumi's bulwark, unable to get past him.

Naofumi's left arm swings forward, hand grabbing the neck of the wavehound's second head, while his shield firmly pressed against the first. The Shield Hero easily pushed the monster back with the extra strength he gained in fighting in the Wave, despite lacking Attack power to do real damage. "Kill it now, Mein!"

The princess tosses her hastily gathered fireball into the face of the monster, making it howl with pain. Her sword quickly follows after, jamming right into its mouth and through the back of the hound's head. Mein pulls the sword back out as the dog monster drops onto the ground, and she starts to furiously stab her sword through both of its heads almost in a trance. "Die! Die! Die...!"

"MEIN! It's okay! It's dead already." The undercover princess comes back to her senses when she feels someone wrapping their arms around her waist and leg.

Mein looks back, and realizes both Naofumi and Raphtalia are holding onto her. The princess in disguise takes a good look on the two headed dog she killed, and nearly falls onto her behind. What can charitably be called the monster's heads is little more than a lump of flesh with a few dozens of stab wounds each, leaking both dark blood and the monster's mangled brain onto the grass.

She looks further away at the other two Wavehounds. Kyubey is standing by a slowly rising Farkas, his rapier dripping the same blood and grey matter after he stabbed one of the dogs through its eyes. Naofumi's balloon monsters are taking their turns ripping the second hound, after Éclair cut off its heads.

All three of them looking back and forth at both the mess she made, and herself.

The princess slowly turns her head, trying to look at Naofumi. She opens her mouth, trying to say something. Only managing to make a weak whisper on the seventh try. "That, that display was unbecoming of me, Master Naofumi."

"It's okay, Mein. It's okay." Naofumi's arm releases her waist, closing around her shoulders instead as he pulls her closer. "I'm with you this time. I won't let these monsters hurt you again."

"You didn't, Master Naofumi." Mein reaches up with her hand, wrapping her long fingers around Naofumi's arm. She can feel Raphtalia burying her face against her, the child's tiny arms enclose both of them. "You didn't let the monster hurt me."

The three of them stay still for a while, until the Seatto heir clears her throat. "Sorry to interrupt your moment... but we kind of have to clear this mess. Before the villagers are done with their work."

"Ah, right." Naofumi pulls away from Mein's grasp and stands up. He walks towards the dead wavespawns, turning back at the princess after a few steps. "Mein, you sit down tight here for a minute. Stay with her, Raphtalia."

"Okay." Raphtalia nods her head and sits down on Mein's legs. Her arms are still holding onto the princess.

Mein slowly runs her hand through the child's hair. She turns her eyes away from the messy business of Naofumi running his dagger through the dead monsters. Focusing on the breathing exercise her two instructors taught her, both for spell casting and for fencing. Whatever helps getting her still pounding heartbeat back in control again.

Thankfully, it looks like the three Wavehounds are the most ferocious trouble makers for this day. Nothing much shows up afterwards, aside from an occasional monster peeking at them through the thick foliage. They quickly turn their tail and back away as soon as they witness the mess.

The Lute villagers manage to fell four dark wood trees in total. They chop off the side branches, and secure the log onto their Filorial's back with some kind of special harness digging into the side of the log.

"Are we pulling them back, just like that?" Naofumi turns his head to look at the birds, and then at the logs. Their bounty is easily as thick as the birds, and ten times as long. "Won't we hurt the birds like this? Those logs look heavy."

"Oh, have a little faith in our heavenly fowl. Shield Hero. " Gaston pets his black Filorial, his voice filled with pride. "They are hardy creatures to pull carriages all day. And after all the levels you help raise for them? This will be all child's play."

Wolfgang hangs his head back, puffing up a small cloud of dust from his beak. And sure enough, the log starts moving with the bird as the young hero looks on with awe.

Firo makes a weak sounding chirp on top of Naofumi's head. Likely hungry after almost a whole day. Naofumi smiles and takes her onto his hand, feeding some of the beans to his new bird pet. "Eat a lot and grow big and strong, Firo. Just like your bigger brothers and sisters."

Gaston pulls out his large hunting knife, and walks in front of their birds with a few other villagers. They cut down the thicker overgrowth, making it easier for the birds to find their footing. The rest of the villagers pull out their weapons, ready to fight off any monsters who try to attack them with the Shield Hero's party.

The undercover princess pulls Raphtalia up onto her feet, as the two of them quickly pick up their pace to follow their logging caravan on their stride back to Lute village.

"Mein, how are you holding up?"Mein turns to look at Naofumi striding towards her. His face downcast with worry. "Those dogs, they are the same as the one we fought in the mineshaft. Were they?"

"Yeah, they are. Master Naofumi." Mein bites her lower lips, trying hard to forget what happened to her back underneath the Harvest Ridge mountain. Even if she'll forever carry the scar unless they manage to get their hands on a vial of the highly sought after Yggdrasil medicine.

Naofumi keeps his pace with the incognito princess. He holds his hand out, freezes for a second, before wrapping his hand around hers. "I guess I haven't been a very good hero to you."

If the princess is allowed to take off her rose tinted bi-spectacles and forget all the romance novels she read? No, Naofumi hasn't been a very good hero to her so far. Considering she already got disfigured two weeks after joining his party, and he readily tossed her aside back in the Wave of Catastrophe. When she made the correct argument of them joining the fight against the Wave Boss. Not exactly what her friend Iris would call 'a sound investment', after Mein tossed away her comfortable life of royalty to live like a vagabond with him.

Then again, she made the decision to stick with the idealistic young man. Mein suppose she doesn't exactly have a good reason to complain afterwards. Especially considering what competition Naofumi was unknowingly running against.

"You are more than a hero to me. Master Naofumi." Mein gives the young hero's hand a firm squeeze and a shake. "You are the hero of glorious Melromarc, if not the world of Medea itself. I ... I can't fault you for putting the others above me."

"Ah, the need of many outweighs the need of the few." Naofumi seems to chew the inside of his mouth at Mein's word. His eyes suddenly seem to find the ground he is stepping on very interesting.

The two of them fall into a silence as they walk side by side. Not exactly comfortable, but something the two of them are both content with. Raphtalia gives a curious look up from Mein's left side. The demi-human girl has enough wisdom to not blurt out whatever's obviously on her mind.

Mein's mind is a maelstrom inside despite her outward calm. Deep down, the undercover princess knows she can't forever keep her 'Mein of Samphor' identity.

Perhaps she'll be able to enjoy the quiet life of a duchess if she chooses one of the other three heroes, but not as the consort of the Shield Demon hated by the Faith of Three. The other players in the game of thrones will not let her enjoy a quiet and peaceful exit, least of all her ice hearted harpy of a mother. The influence of the Shield Hero has over beastmen and demi-humans is too good a leverage for her mother to pass up.

Yet, she's afraid to tell Naofumi what she really is. With her face forever... blemished, she will have nothing left if the Shield Hero rejects her. She may have created an escape route with the Spear Hero before, but Iris will surely block it after she moves into the Spear Hero's party. Her childhood playmate is too smart to let a dishonored and disfavored princess harm her future prospect.

The undercover princess almost giggles out loud at the hole she dug herself into. It starts to look like she is cornered on the board, all routes leading to doom.

"Master Naofumi/Mein." Both of them open their mouths, and just as quickly falls into silence at the same time.

"You first, Master Naofumi." Mein looks up at Naofumi. Who seems to quickly whip his head away from looking at her.

"Mein, I... I wanted to tell you this before. But I guess I was afraid." Naofumi's face slowly turns to point forwards. Still not making eye contact with the princess, but a slight improvement. The tiny bird on his head looked confused as it repeatedly blinked its large blue eyes to look at her master. "I wasn't a good friend."

"What brought this up? Master Naofumi?" Mein let go of Naofumi's hand to slowly guide his face, making him look at her. "Sure, you could have done things differently before. But I wouldn't say you were terrible."

"No! I mean I wasn't a good friend back home." Naofumi quickly holds his hands up. "Back home, I wasn't well liked. And I only had one good friend in school..."

From the way Naofumi speaks, it sounds less like he was being vilified through religious persecution, and more of being looked down upon by his peers. It's hard for Mein to imagine a legendary hero in this kind of situation. Although she supposes it's natural, if he went to a hero academy like the Hero's Academy of Faubley. Everyone attending is a hero hopeful, after all.

"We didn't get into the university we aimed for. And my friend wanted me to go to a faraway agriculture school with him. I... I was afraid to leave my comfortable life in the city. So I made some bullshit excuse, and let my only friend go away." Naofumi's eyelid seems to droop down in a hypnotic trance as he recounts his previous life, his voice distant. "I guess I still haven't become a better friend yet."

Mein blinks her eyes at Naofumi's confession. It's flat out insane to imagine one need to pursue education to become a farmer. Even more maddening to imagine one change their future prospect from a hero hopeful to a lowly peasant.

Naofumi's confession makes the princess realize how much better a person the young hero is compared to her. Naofumi is broken up inside over a very reasonable decision to not follow his friend to a much darker future. She actively undermined her... friends right from childhood in an effort to thin out competition.

"I think you are being too hard on yourself, Master Naofumi." Mein quickly wraps her hand around Naofumi's hand once again, squeezing and shaking him. "It was obviously hard on your friend to become a farmer along, but when it's a choice between being trained to be a hero or a farmer, anyone would have taken the chance to become a hero."

That's apparently the wrong thing to say, as Naofumi's head visibly recoils back at her attempt at comforting him. She needs to do something fast to repair the damage.

"...And once again, I'm glad you chose to stay your course Master Naofumi. I said it before, but I am sure of it after watching you fight in the Wave. You are the hero Melromarc needed, even if a lot of our people don't realize it."

The Shield Hero's head does not jerk up again, which is a better sign. But his face remains pensive, which means Mein's word didn't do much if at all lifting his spirit.

Raphtalia seems to realize her presence is needed. She quickly runs over to squeeze her way between Mein and Naofumi. "I'm glad you are here too, Master Naofumi."

Naofumi looks at Raphtalia with a smile on his face. "Thank you, Raphtalia."

The dumb bird chooses this moment to chirp atop of Naofumi's head.

"You too, Firo." Naofumi's eyes turn up even if he can't see the bird. He scratches its feathers with his finger once again.

"Hmm... I don't think that's what Firo is getting at, Master Naofumi." Mein looks forward, realizing they crossed the forest of Harvest Valley and can see the cobblestone road running through Lute.

The normally quiet and sleepy road is now filled with a convoy of carriages, armed escort wearing uniform tabards and banners flattering in the wind as far as the eyes can see. Muskets, spears and halberds are shining under the late afternoon sun.

The most prominent flags feature red and aqua blue twin swords crossed over bronze, the banner of House Faubley.

In the middle of the convoy is a lavishly decorated monstrosity. One can charitably call it a carriage considering it's being pulled by four Pegasus, but it's more appropriate to describe it as a golden trimmed, ivory colored moving house on wheels.

Upon closer inspection, Mein realizes the beast of burden isn't a pegasus, since the animal has a horn on top of their forehead in addition to wings. They are actually Alicorns, the greater cousin of pegasi and Unicorns who have the magical protection of a unicorn and flight capability of pegasus. Usually reserved as a mount for high ranking officers. To have them reduced to a mere beast of burden is not just wasteful, it is pure idiocy.

But the choice of beast, and the banner flying over the giant carriage confirmed the identity of its passenger. A banner of emerald, the same color as the gem in the middle of Naofumi's shield. In the middle of the fabric is a diamond shaped shield shattered in the middle with a lightning shaped crack, one half the same Emerald of the banner, the other side Tristan aqua.

The shattered shield banner of House Malfoy.

If anyone can actually have Alicorn pull their carriage, House Malfoy would be it. Considering they own one of the few pegasus ranches in the world.

"Master Shield Hero, this is an official convoy from Faubley. See the bronze banner? That's the flag of their royal house." Mein can hear Éclair whispering to the Shield Hero.

The princess is annoyed for a moment at the young lady for breaking rank and speaks to the Shield Hero without her permission. Then, she remembered she was 'Mein of Samphor' again.

Good, let the already exposed noble heiress speak everything related to politics. Less chance for her exposing her true identity to Naofumi, before she is ready to tell the truth.

"Faubley? Isn't it one of the other countries in this world?"

"Not just one of the other countries. Master Shield Hero. THE strongest country in the world, after they humbled Siltvelt twenty five years ago." Mein can almost hear the hissing from Éclair's lips. "They are known as the Nation of Heroes, thanks to their nobles having the pure bloodlines from previous Legendary Heroes."

"Ah, so they are this world's inbred competition champion. Got it." Naofumi's word almost make Mein giggle out loud again. She is honestly curious how the Pig King would react, if he hears how her Naofumi made light of something his country is most proud of. "They aren't here for war, are they? A bit too careless if that's the case."

"No, most likely a diplomat convoy." Éclair shakes her head. "All these armed guards are a show of strength in addition to escorts. They obviously aren't happy our king summoned all four heroes. They are probably on an official mission from their king to voice their protests."

"So that's what a real diplomat emissary look like." Naofumi rubs his chin again, obviously reminded of the two Siltvelt rats who at first claimed they were emissaries of Siltvelt. "And that green flag? The one on top of that camper carriage?"

"...what's a camper?"

"A camper is... you know what? Nevermind. I meant that giant monster of a carriage." Naofumi points his finger at the moving house on wheels, which slowly comes to a stop before it enters Lute village proper.

Mein wonders if the noble lord of House Malfoy found it beneath him to enter a squalid village, or if the monstrosity finally broke down.

"That would be the banner of House Malfoy. They are the descendant of the first Shield Hero and a Tristan princess, before he left her behind and joined the side of the beastman horde." Éclair turns her black iron pot helmet, no doubt looking at the banner Naofumi is pointing at. "It derives from the old Tristan word of 'bad faith'. Some legends say it was a name their mother cursed her son with, that's where their platinum blonde hair came from since it's neither a trait from the first Shield Hero or of House Tristan descent. Others spoke of the first Malfoy lord took the name himself, as a reminder of his father's bad faith to his mother, and to remind himself and his future descendant to not repeat his father's mistake."

"So, that's House Malfoy I've been hearing about. They sure lived up to their wealth." Naofumi scrunches his face at Éclair's words. "And the first Shield Hero just left his wife and child like that? That's... appalling."

"Well... the exact account of events regarding the first Shield Hero's defection varies from version to version. But one thing remains consistent is he left behind his wife and unborn son. Kind of hard to dispute that, when his descendant is one of the most influential noble houses in Tristan, and later Faubley after Tristan merged with Germania."

A boy in white and black uniform quickly runs up to the side of the stopped carriage. From a distance, it's hard to make out the feature of the boy aside from his light blue hair.

The curtain of a window pulled back, showing a sliver of platinum blonde hair. Lord Malfoy and his valet talk for a short while, before the curtain is pulled right back, and the convoy starts moving once again towards the distant capital of Melromarc.

End Note:

I noticed there's some confusion about Naofumi using slave/tamer shield in my story to boost his companions and monsters, so I'd like to make a clarification since this story is mostly told from Malty's perspective. Naofumi in fact, does NOT have either slave shield or monster tamer shield in this story. Mostly because those two shield does not create any interesting scenarios, when all they do is give flat stats boost.

I'm not a fan with how the Curse series is implemented in canon, to put it diplomatically. But Curse series isn't a flat out awful idea, since a weapon series that trade massive short term power boost for huge (possibly persistent) long term draw back can create interesting situations. The two stat growth boost shields on the other hand, is flat out an awful idea. They both actively make fight less interesting, since the flat out stats boost just make Naofumi's party able to steamroll any opposition without having to fight smart.

So the heroes simply won't unlock them in my story, and if they do appear at all they'll be exclusively used by villains.

Onto guest reviews.

To Giuseppe:

Glad you enjoyed my take on the Isekai villainess trinity. While I do have an Easter egg reference fetish, I generally try to pick things that go well together, or tweak around an Easter egg character to fit the setting of the story.

To Night:

Yeah, Malty's outburst is a reference to what she herself did in canon. And to my knowledge, yeah, the mage girl was one of the girls who was sold into slavery.

To Guest007:

Okay, this is a bit of a misconception mostly because I'm jumping over a lot of actual mechanic of the story with Malty's POV mostly focus on the lore aspect. Naofumi's counter move does not deal actual damage. It's mostly a move which he uses to have his opponent stun locked, or disarmed. He does in fact, need to have ATK rating to do damage.

I'm not a huge fan of giving the Shield Hero high ATK rating to the point they can fight by themselves, even if actual tank build video game characters can attack. Mostly because it makes the Shield Hero as a character comes off less unique, and can easily turn the Shield Hero into a badly written Mary Sue if the author isn't careful (and yes, I think by the end of Three Heroes Church arc, canon didn't so much as cross this line as full speed ahead charged over it with a filorial pulled carriage). Not to say Naofumi won't get any attack ability in my story, but he hasn't unlocked much other than his needle shield.

My opinion on canon isn't exactly very flattering. I think the author wasted too much effort into making pointless RPG mechanics, rather than develop the lore side of the world. Which is what I think the real potential of the story lies. Although I do think the part where Shield Hero has abysmal ATK rating which make them rely on their companion for offensive power is a good idea. Since it made the story unique and stand out... at least till Wrath Shield came along, and that part where his companion is so over powered after the slave/tamer shield growth boost ruined all possible tension for the story.

To Guests:

Yeah, the what-if omake can certainly be its own story. Although I'm not a huge fan of the hyper cynical dark Naofumi from Rising. Which is why I am doing this current story.

Some influence was definitely take from Crusader King, as the title of Lord Noches. But I'm more of a Stellaris guy than a Crusader King guy myself.