The Rising of the Shield Hero Vol 16

by Aneko Yusagi

  “The queen of Melromarc and the heroes, is it? I have been told to expect you. Go ahead!” The guard had been expecting us and proceeded to open the gate without any further ado.

  Fohl, his head tilted at a suspicious angle, watched the guard as we passed.

  “What’s up?” I asked him.

  “No, it’s just . . .” Fohl trailed off. I looked at the guard myself. He was smiling broadly. What was so odd about that? “Maybe I’m imagining things. I felt something strange there, for just a moment,” he said.

  “You did? About him?” The man was still smiling and waving. Sure, it was a little creepy, but I could speak from experience when I said being too suspicious could leave you crippled in place.

  Once the cart was inside the castle grounds, the gates rumbled closed behind us.

  “Should we send Filo to park the wagon and go on ahead?” I asked.

  “I was informed we can just park it in the garden,” the queen replied.

  “Fair enough,” I said. We did so and then headed into the castle itself. Now this was a castle. The sheer size, the profundity of the place was far more than that of Melromarc. So this was the way things were in the largest country in the world.

  A red carpet was laid out in front of us, leading to some stairs. We were led up those stairs and toward a waiting room for our audience with the king.

  “Can you tell me more about the seven star heroes? I want to whittle down the suspicious candidates,” I asked. I probably should have sought this information sooner but hadn’t really had the chance to do so. Now one presented itself, so I took it.

  “Due to his role in taking down the Kirin, shall I start with the Whip Hero?” the queen asked.

  “Is he from this world?” I replied.

  “Yes,” she told me, explaining things as we walked along. “He’s said to be a great genius, of a kind rarely born in this world.”

  “A kind rarely born? I have a really bad feeling about that,” I said. Kyo, the one who had controlled the Spirit Tortoise, had been called a genius. There had been lots of that kind of person in Kizuna’s world too.

  “Such a genius is said to be born once every few generations in this world. An individual capable of revolutionary technology, skilled in commerce and a variety of other fields, enough to completely change the world,” she went on. I just listened in silence. “He’s a distant relation of the Faubrey royal family. He acquired and mastered magic at just the age of three.” I guess every world had its geniuses. So one of them had been selected as the hero. I’d heard Trash was a genius at strategy too, if I recalled correctly.

  Putting it like that, I’d had plenty of trouble with geniuses already.

  “At age five he brought about a revolution in paper-making, greatly advancing bookmaking technology around the world.” Age five? That was quite something. Itsuki had also moved closer, his ears picking up. He came from a different Japan to my own, a world where people had special abilities. But as his own abilities had only been average, he probably had some feelings about geniuses himself. The queen continued. “Everyone around him was amazed by his unparalleled abilities. At age seven he absorbed all sorts of further fields of learning, including alchemy and mechanical magic studies. He graduated top of the Faubrey school for nobles that same year. Eventually he settled in the Adventurers’ Guild, making a name for himself as an adventurer. He won the martial arts tournament hosted by Shieldfreeden and was selected as the Whip Hero prior to the arrival of the waves.”

  “A textbook genius. Incredibly suspicious. We may need to set a trap for him,” I said.

  “If in doubt, seek punishment. I do understand how you feel,” Ren chimed in.

  “But what if he isn’t the one?” the queen asked.

  “He fought one of the four benevolent animals around Faubrey but didn’t come to the Phoenix battle? That alone puts him on the wrong side of this. Worthy of punishment,” I said.

  “We’ll put it to the king of Faubrey like that. I really don’t want to trust him myself,” the queen said.

  “Something happened?” I asked.

  “Yes. When Witch was studying in Faubrey, I heard she was friendly with him,” the queen said, looking away from me as she answered. That sounded completely suspicious. Either that or she had been taking advantage of him.

  Even Witch’s parents didn’t trust her. Getting involved with that bitch was nothing but trouble.

  “He also has a considerable connection to Melty,” the queen continued.

  “What? Melty too?” I responded. Melty had some connection to the Whip Hero?

  “When she was in Faubrey, the sister of the Whip Hero took a liking to picking on her,” the queen said.

  “Teasing her and stuff?” I asked.

  “Having such a capable brother has grown his sister into a bit of an entitled brat. A level supremacist, believing that those with high levels are innately better than those with low levels, she took a liking to messing with Melty, who was learning technology,” the queen explained. I imagined a hero with a muscle-headed sister. She went on. “I’m sure Melty tried to avoid her, but his sister was probably pretty pushy about it.”

  Sounded like a real nuisance. I felt sorry for Melty being surrounded by people her own age like that. It was good she found a friend like Filo.

  “I bet Melty could handle her easily now,” I said. Maybe not to the extent of Filo, but Fitoria had still drawn out Melty’s latent abilities. Any level supremacists who gave her trouble now would get a beating.

  “Back on topic, anyway. Apparently the Whip Hero is currently investigating new means of travel,” the queen said. She pointed outside the window of the room. Huh? Something was flying through the air. For a moment, I thought it was a flying monster, like a dragon, but no . . . it was an aircraft.

  “That’s what you’re talking about?” I asked.

  “Yes. A past hero provided information about a machine that allows flight without using a dragon, griffon, or magic. The Whip Hero has advanced that idea to practical implementation,” the queen confirmed. So this guy really was a genius. The doubts swirled and thickened inside me.

  “A genius? I can’t say I like smart folks.” The old lady ostentatiously cut into the conversation. First Itsuki, now the old lady. I wished they’d stop listening in on other people’s conversations.

  She’d also caught my interest though. Why did the old Hengen Muso lady hate geniuses?

  “I’ll bite. Why?” I asked.

  “Hengen Muso Style was torn apart from the inside and destroyed by one of these rare geniuses,” she explained.

  “It was?” Now she really had my interest.

  “That’s right. A genius who believed he was the one to rule the world and sought to wipe out all other styles in order to achieve that goal,” she said.

  “Wow, okay.” Something else that every world seemed to struggle with.

  “Geniuses are said to be in command of both growth and decline. At every major turning point in history, such an individual is always there in the shadows. The Whip Hero has all those expectations, and those worries, pinned on him,” the queen continued. Turning points, she said. So things like big wars. It did feel like the big incidents for which many materials were lost had geniuses involved. Thinking back to everything that had happened in Q’ten Lo, there were also often bitches like Witch involved too.

  “I’ve actually never met the king of Faubrey. What’s he like?” I asked. The queen covered her mouth with her fan, narrowing her eyes and looking away. What? It was that bad?

  “The king of Faubrey is one completely given over to his base desires. When he sees a woman . . . to put it bluntly, he sees nothing but a toy for his pleasure,” the queen explained. I managed an exasperated sigh. She went on. “He is truly an ugly man, in not just appearance but all things. When I was younger, I was so scared that my parents would send me to marry him,” she confided in me.

  “Hold on, what?” I blurted out. I wondered what she was
talking about. Weren’t we just talking about the king of Faubrey?

  “If we could capture Witch alive, I was thinking a fitting punishment might be to give her to King Faubrey. I’m sure she’d beg for forgiveness right away and bow and scrape before you, Hero Iwatani,” the queen said.

  “If Witch would hate it that much, I’d very much like to capture her alive and do just that,” I said. If it would make that horrible bitch grovel like that, I’d love to see it. I wouldn’t back down on that point.

  “M-Mirellia?! You wouldn’t really do that—” Trash asked the queen with a terrified look on his face. He was pale.

  “Fehhh . . .” Rishia said, clearly frightened herself.

  “Rishia, are you okay?” Raphtalia asked. Even Rishia, on the fringes of the conversation, was turning pale. I pondered whether it would really be that vicious of a punishment or not.

  “Would it really be so unjust?” the queen replied to her husband. “You’ve heard the stories of what she’s done, correct?” Trash could only grunt in reply.

  “How old is this king anyway?” I asked.

  “He’s Trash’s older brother by about thirteen years,” the queen said. Trash was the youngest of the Faubrey princes, if I recalled correctly. So it would be like sending Witch to be married to a relative. “He’s stupid and ugly, but he has enough intellect to protect his own authority. He’s been honed by being king of a tumultuous nation for many years, after all,” the queen continued.

  “I still don’t understand why she would hate it so much?” I said. Witch was pretty fixated on appearances, true, so maybe an ugly husband would be hellish for her.

  “Let me explain a little more about that. The Faubrey royal line has a long history of taking husbands and wives from among the four holy and seven star heroes. As a result, they are known throughout the world as the bloodline of heroes,” the queen explained. This was a world in which gods basically existed, after all. I’d come close to being deified in Siltvelt myself. Those summoned as heroes likely enjoyed the special treatment. Even if those on the royal side had their own schemes, it was probably still a pretty decent place to end up. Children from the royal side could probably go and serve in large nations too, receiving preferential treatment and get married there. That very bloodline was also why there was so much conflict over authority, however.

  “Are there more male heroes than female ones?” I asked.

  “There are women, but the bloodline never spread as far as the men,” the queen said. That was simply the difference between the stud and the mare, to put it . . . graphically. I wondered if the heroes were generally scum. Was that it? I’d heard about more than one of them making a harem.

  If I’d obeyed Atla’s final words, maybe I’d have ended up the same.

  Maybe this was just limited to those four holy heroes summoned from another world. So I guess it made the royal bloodline the grandchildren of people like us—just those who decided to set up their own harem here.

  “The current king is more skilled at power plays than even Witch. There’s definitely a reason he’s been king for so long,” the queen explained.

  “I see . . .” Even worse than Witch. And there was no way to avoid this meeting.

  “I once heard the king of Faubrey say something disgusting about how the closer one of his playthings is to death, the tighter they are,” the queen said, her lip curling. Oh God. So he was a real sadist. A true enemy of women.

  “The first place well-born ladies who cause any problems are married off to is Faubrey. When they learn of their intended, many of them choose to kill themselves instead,” the queen said.

  “Suicide? I guess it’s better than being beaten to death,” I replied.

  “It’s a famous method of execution in this world. They say he once kept a favorite girl of his alive for more than three months, using magic and medicines such as Elixir of Yggdrasil,” the queen continued. So marrying someone off to him was the same as an execution. Quite the punishment. Faubrey clearly had its own fair share of darkness.

  They also apparently had the right to summon the four holy heroes first. I couldn’t imagine getting summoned here. According to Rat and some of the others, they also had a number of the seven star heroes under their wing.

  It was a country with vast lands, power, and military force—a long history too, enough to be called the “nation of heroes.” With such a twisted ruler in power, I wondered why the people weren’t rioting in the streets.

  “His engagement with Witch had already been set up. She avoided it by becoming a companion to a hero,” the queen said. Who knew where she was then? She’d discarded Motoyasu, set up with Ren, and then horribly betrayed him before cleaning him out and fleeing. After she tricked Itsuki, she’d gone on a rampage in Zeltoble and ran up massive debts before vanishing. No word of her since then.

  “The last thing I heard was that he was prepared to receive Witch as his ten-thousandth toy,” the queen unwillingly admitted.

  “Ten-thousandth?!” I exclaimed. Hold on a moment. Math wasn’t my strong point, but that meant he’d already used 9,999 women as “toys?” That was just going too far. The most extreme humiliation porn game would never go that far.

  But hold on. This guy was older than Trash, right? I didn’t know how many days there were in a year in this world, but at one a day, that would be 365 for one of my home years. Considering his age, then, even 9,999 might not be enough.

  In either case, it was still a terrifying number.

  First Melromarc, then Siltvelt, Q’ten Lo, Zeltoble, and now Faubrey—were there no reasonable, measured countries in this world? I wanted to know if there was only suffering to be found anywhere you went in the world.

  Rather than the next of the waves, I was starting to become more concerned for this world itself.

  “As one who continued to allure and use men, you could consider it fitting if she died by the hand of a man. She escaped that fate through service to the heroes, including her slights to you,” the queen said. The king certainly did sound like pure scum, but the fact he was male still nagged at me. I wondered what would happen if Witch managed to get him under her thumb. She was a genius at deceiving people. Making use of her attractive exterior, she might have taken control of even the king of Faubrey. In that case, we’d have been looking at a worse situation than the current one.

  “Is there a chance Witch would have been able to survive?” I asked.

  “I can’t say there’s zero chance she would win him over, but I’m sure other countries have already attempted such a ploy. Considering the size and power of his nation, making an ally of him would bring the world to your feet. Yet there are no examples of his ever having listened to anything a woman has said,” the queen replied. He was like Motoyasu had been when we started out, but in the worst possible way. However, Motoyasu had been a feminist.

  “Enough of this. I’m more focused on punishing the one who interfered with the Phoenix battle.” That individual wasn’t going to die easily. They were going to pay dearly!

  As we talked, some soldiers came to the waiting room.

  “The king is ready for his audience with you. Heroes, please come this way,” one of the men announced. Finally! They had kept us waiting long enough.

  “King Faubrey has the habit of sleeping past noon. He keeps anyone waiting for at least this long,” the queen mentioned. I wondered if this country could really function.

  Huh? Right then, I felt something . . . tremble in my pocket. I took it out to see the anchor accessory that Ethnobalt had given me. I checked the accessory a couple more times, just to make sure, but there was no response. It was like I had just imagined it.

  I didn’t give it any more thought, and we followed along behind the soldiers as one of them shouted, “Announcing the queen of Melromarc, the four holy heroes, and their entourage!”

  Chapter Four: Stolen Power

  Was the pig-king in here?

  With that thought, I looked toward the
throne. It was occupied by a youth I’d never seen before. He didn’t fit the description, but he was wearing a crown.

  He had a handsome face. Everything in the right place, at least by my estimation. He had blond hair, blue eyes, a textbook Westerner. His eyes, though, were super suspicious. There was . . . something about them that just made me feel really uneasy. Not for the first time that day I recalled Motoyasu from when we first met, that breezy feeling with impure intent mixed in. Combined with that, he was clearly looking down on us. That got my hackles up, and I instantly decided he was an enemy.

  He reminded me of Kyo.

  He was wearing a rough jacket and jeans. It suited the modern city, perhaps, but something still looked out of place. He was wearing a bandanna below the crown, and it really didn’t suit him.

  “Thanks for bringing them in,” the youth said.

  “Sir!” the guards who showed us in gave a salute and then closed the doors to the audience chamber behind them. That was all he said, and yet it was the look in the soldiers’ eyes that made me think of Itsuki now.

  “Kwaa?” Gaelion looked up from where he was being held in Wyndia’s arms and looked around.

  “Huh?” In the same moment, Filo also tilted her head.

  “If it isn’t Takt, the Whip Hero. Do you know where we might find the king?” the queen asked. So this guy was called Takt and he was the Whip Hero.

  “The king? Ah, that pig. I killed him,” the youth said flippantly, as though it were the most natural thing in the world. In the face of that admission, even the face of the normally composed queen showed a twitch of suspicion.

  “Did I hear you correctly? Please say that again,” the queen asked.

  “That trash didn’t deserve to live, so I removed him from this world. He was a cunning one though, I’ll give him that. It wasn’t easy to get rid of him,” Takt stated, as blithely as before. Those words put everyone, including me, immediately on guard.