What if Naofumi was imprisoned for his "crime" against Myne/Malty before he had even ran away from the Kingdom? How would have things have gone if he had to be pardoned from his "crime" by the Queen a lot earlier than planned? How would Naofumi act after things had happened in a different way?

Warning: Characters will be very OOC but I will work on getting them back into canon personalities.

Chapter 1: Imprisoned For a Crime He Didn't Do

A lone and thin figure sat in the jail cell, rotting away because he refused to eat or drink anything. He was alone and he realized that he was going to die alone in the cell. Even though, he wasn't a known hero, he was now shown as the Devil of the Shield. He knew his reputation was tarnished when the crime he was accused of put him away for the rest of his life. He stopped caring about any and everything. Even when the other so-called heroes came to talk to him, he never responded to them, seeing that it was useless to even try to talk to them simply because of the fact that they were going to do nothing but talk shit about him to his face.

He didn't mind the solitude but he wanted justice and he knew that the justice he wanted seemed so impossible to even reach and hope for. He knew that Malty was manipulative but he didn't know that it would have gotten her to do this. The crocodile tears she cried to that fucking stupid Spear Hero made Naofumi sick to his stomach and now, he knew that it was because that Malty never wanted to help him at all. All she wanted as him out of the way because he was weak on his own. And I couldn't see that until it was too late. He thought, burying his head into his heads. He wanted to die. There was nothing for him to do now. His life was forever ruined by a senseless rape accusation. She got what she wanted now, I guess. I don't have to be in this stupid world anymore. He thought, wishing that he had rope in the cell with him. He then looked at his Shield and he shook his head. "There's no way that this Shield can help me now." He sighed as he unequipped the Shield from his arm. After the Shield laid beside his body, Naofumi kicked it away from him, letting it clash against the metal bars. He then hid in the darkness of the cell as he laid against the cold wall. He was willing to die already but his death was taking so long to happen.

A few days later, Malty came into the dungeon to visit the fallen Shield Hero and to her shock, there he sat against the wall, not moving. Her shock then turned to sheer glee as she cackled. "He is dead! Finally." She was happy that the poor man she had used. Unknown to Malty, her younger sister was listening to Malty bragging about how she only wanted him out of the way, which was why the rape accusation was needed. Malty never realized that Melty heard everything that the girl had done to the now gone Shield Hero's reputation. Because she now had evidence that her sister was truly a cunning bitch, Melty smirked as she felt sadness for the Shield Hero. She slipped away quietly and when she saw the other Legendary Heroes, she narrowed her eyes at them.

"Be careful of who you trust, Heroes. Not everything is as it seems." Melty spoke to them coldly before she left them but she knew that she had made her mark on them as she walked away from them.

"What was she talking about?" The Spear Hero asked.

"Who knows." The Bow Hero responded.

"Has anyone heard about Naofumi from Malty? She said that she was going go give us news about him a week ago." He tells them and they all remembered Naofumi but only the Spear Hero responded.

"Who cares about Naofumi? He deserves to rot!" He shouted in rage. He committed an unforgivable crime against Myne. He thought in anger.

"And rot he did." Malty tells them and all of them were shocked, even Motoyasu. They then looked sick. Then, would he even return home? He had never thought about that but now that he was dead, what was going to happen to his body? "I guess being without food and water for a week took a toll on him." She did not choose her words carefully and all of them except for Motoyasu had seen that.

"What do you mean?" Itsuki demanded from the girl and Malty knew that she had made a mistake in saying what she had said.

"It's fine now, right? He doesn't have to be executed for his crime." Motoyasu's words made the other two Heroes look at him with disgust making the Spear Hero back up in shock at the glares he was receiving from the other two.

"Man, for a Hero, you're sure aren't looking deep enough. Someone who claimed to be raped wouldn't leap into another man's bed right after being raped." Itsuki tells Motoyasu, who looked shocked at the new information he was receiving. "Wait, you mean you didn't know that?" He asked the young man. "Man, you really are stupid." He tells him, causing him to look over at Malty, who was giving him a shocked look.

"Really? But, I thought a woman would want relief after such an horrifying experience." He spoke, trying to defend himself.

"Not as soon as the person was raped." Ren tells Motoyasu and the man looked so shocked by the news he was getting. The three heroes looked at Malty, only to see that the girl had disappeared. "Which lead me to believe that Malty wasn't raped as all." Ren finished.

"But, wait? How would you know that she was lying?" Motoyasu asked Ren. I want to believe that she's not lying to me but the evidence is stacking up against her. He thought.

"Because, Onee-san is a pathological liar and lying is habitual for her." Melty had arrived back to the three Heroes. "Luckily for you, The Shield Hero is not dead but he is barely alive. Without help, he really will die." She tells them and they were glad until they realized what she had just said.

"You mean Malty had just lied to us about him being dead?" Itstuki asked Melty and the girl nodded her head.

"I'm afraid so but know that you know the truth, I hope you wouldn't mind helping someone innocent." Melty spoke to them, hoping that they would help Naofumi and to her relief, a very familiar voice spoke to her.

"Melty! Where's the Shield Hero? Take me to him!" It was her Mother, Queen Mirellia Q Melromarc, the true ruler of the kingdom. The woman had purple eyes and purple hair.

"Mother! He's down here, in the dungeon! Malty had him imprisoned." Melty's words struck a cord from within Queen Mirellia and she immediately went towards the dungeon, glaring at the other three Heroes as she passed by them. All of them felt coldness radiating from the woman's glare.

"Where is he? He could die." She tells Melty and she lead the way to Naofumi. When the Queen took one look at Naofumi's state, she gasped and she quickly unlocked the cell. She walked towards Naofumi and she saw the Shield behind his frail body. He rejected the Shield. Poor thing. She thought as she approached him. She could feel his faint breathing against her hands.

"Don't...please, let me die." Naofumi's words made the Queen angry at Malty. What has that cunning woman done to this poor young man? She wondered as she lifted him up into her arms. She hated so frail the young man was and she hated how he clutched onto her royal robes.

"No person should be that broken that they want to die." She muttered, kissing the young man's forehead. After she had taken the young man to the hospital ward, she checked him out herself. She could see his ribs and she hated that he was so broken to not accept anything from Malty but she then thought that he was being smart about it as she knew that Malty loved to cause people pain. Maybe she did poison his dishes but hopefully not all of them. She thought. After she had checked over Naofumi, Melty walked into the room.

"Mother, how is he?" She asked, concerned about the Shield Hero. "Will he be alright?" She asked her mother and Queen Mirellia hugged Melty close to her.

"He'll be fine with some rest but I don't know if he would trust anyone ever again." Queen Mirellia tells Melty, who wasn't shocked at her mother's words but she was hurt, knowing that the Shield Hero will be very hard at trusting another person ever again.

Chapter One End