by Aneko Yusagi
“YOU set those fires?!”
Motoyasu was shaking.
“It can’t be true! Myne would never do something like that!”
“Mr. Kitamura, you must understand this. This girl has always been a liar. She always hid in the shadows and tried to get others in trouble. She’s been this way from childhood.”
“No, she isn’t like that! It’s HIM. It’s HIS fault.”
Motoyasu was thrusting his finger at me.
He didn’t understand the difference between belief and blind faith. Eventually that would knock him off of his feet.
“All of this is because of my daughter Malty. She pulled the strings and tricked my husband, Aultcray, into persecuting Mr. Iwatani.”
Motoyasu was still furiously jabbing his finger at me, but Ren and Itsuki were nodding. They seemed to understand.
“You know…”
“Is there no other proof?”
“There is plenty of proof. If you want to know something, just ask.”
“Are you so confident? It is true that some of Myne’s behavior during the last incident cause me to wonder. We were supposed to protect Melty, but she attacked her. What was her intention there?”
“Melty is the first in line to inherit the throne of Melromarc. Therefore, if Melty were to disappear, Malty would become first in line.”
“Now I understand.”
Ren was nodding too. He’d been paying attention for a while now.
Even Itsuki, who liked to pretend he was a shining knight of justice, was nodding.
“Should we support Naofumi?”
“Yes. Even back when Motoyasu was dueling him, Naofumi had been hit from behind by magic. What was that? It’s very strange to think back on it, even now.”
“Yeah, and the next day when we were supposed to receive our funds for the next month, she had his funding taken away. It’s very hard to not harbor doubts in a situation like that.”
It had taken a long time, but her true colors were finally plain for everyone to see.
It felt like the winds of fate were finally blowing in my direction. I could assume that I’d proved my innocence now.
“Aultcray is next.”
The queen cast her gaze at Trash, and he seemed to flinch on the throne.
“What were you doing? You made no attempt to discover the truth. We were supposed to be taking special care of the Shield Hero, but you threw him out into the world naked. I don’t even know what to say. In the past, no matter what my private feelings about you may have been I’d been able to keep you domesticated, but…”
“It’s all the Shield’s fault!”
“Malty was not raped. Her lies have been shown for what they are. What do you have to say about it?”
“Urg… It’s the Shield! He’s to blame!”
Was that all he could say? Just how much did he think he could pin on me?! Trash…
He was just adding fuel to the fire at that point.
“I swear… You would have been smarter about this in the past. You used to be smarter than this!”
The queen held a palm to her forehead—clearly she couldn’t handle much more of it all.
“It seems like you are not going to be able to defend yourself.”
Like a breeze had blown through, both Bitch and Trash turned their eyes to the floor.
Still, I didn’t get the feeling that they were going to apologize to me. That didn’t seem possible.
They were so irritating. Why did the queen force me to stand there before them? Ideally, I wanted to spend as little of my time with them as I could.
It’s not like I could expect them to revaluate their behavior in any sort of meaningful way.
I wondered why she didn’t make Trash into a slave. Was there some kind of reason behind it?
Well… I guess he wasn’t lying the way that Bitch was.
“I thought, for a long time, of ways to get around having to say this—but I now believe there is no other way.”
The queen was absentmindedly opening and closing her fan as she spoke, but now she authoritatively clapped it shut and pointed it at them.
“I officially disown you both. From this time until eternity, neither of you will be considered part of the royal family.”
“What?!”
“Mama?!”
Bitch and Trash both shouted in shock and protest. They weren’t able to accept the severity of their transgressions.
It wasn’t so bad. I was starting to enjoy it! I hoped she’d come up with more things to show me.
“Mr. Naofumi, what are you smiling about?”
“Come on… You know.”
“I know where you are coming from, but…”
“Mother… She’s serious.”
“Huh?”
Filo turned her head to the side. She didn’t seem to understand what was happening.
She could be pretty stupid when she wanted to be. All she understood was food, carriages, and Melty.
Wait. Why was I thinking about Filo? There was so much other exciting stuff going on!
“Why?!”
“Both of you have behaved in unforgivable ways. Had you been truly repentant, I could have found some way to petition Mr. Iwatani for forgiveness. And yet…”
“You think I’d forgive them?”
“I thought of various ways to earn your trust after these two admitted their crimes and apologized…”
Trust… apologies, ha! I’d rather just watch to see how this all played out.
“What will happen to Melromarc if you remove me from the royal lineage?!”
“Nothing bad. To be honest, you’re garbage—the scum of this country.”
“Wah…”
“How can you speak to your own child that way?!”
Motoyasu was screaming in anger.
“Don’t you understand? You reap what you sow. And it is now more than clear that Melty is the only one here capable of running the county. Malty, you’ve lost.”
She was right—the country would be in much better hands with Melty.
She could be a little hysterical, but she’d grown up a lot with all we’d been through.
Besides, she only really ran her mouth off at me.
“If you remove me from the throne, there are many people and organizations that will be upset.”
“I’ve already silenced them. Did you think I was just sitting back and watching in silence for these last three months? If so, you’re mistaken.”
“Bu…”
Trash was so shocked he couldn’t speak. He just kept flapping his lips without saying anything.
“Besides, why did you summon the Heroes on your own! We needed to discuss this.”
“What do you mean?”
“Certainly the Heroes found it odd that they would be summoned to this world without the approval or appearance of this nation’s highest authority?”
“Naturally.”
Like she said, she really didn’t seem like the kind of person that would leave such important matters up to her subordinates.
Besides, if they had summoned us and been a bit more diplomatic, if they had really made the effort to win us over to their side, then they could have put us to better use.
I didn’t want to admit it, but that went double for myself—considering how little I’d known about the world when they summoned me.
They could have gotten me to fall in love and arranged any political marriage that was convenient.
“Before we take this any further, we need to get one thing very clear. Our country was supposed to be the fourth country to summon the Heroes. This was decided at an international diplomatic meeting.”
“Wait just a second!”
Now she was blurting out some serious stuff.
Different countries could summon the heroes? There was an agreed-upon order?
What was Melromarc up to?
“Explain.”
“All right.”
The queen began to expla
in things.
The waves had come, and many different countries had suffered heavy losses. To discuss their options, the kings and queens of various nations all agreed to a meeting.
Certainly, there were different interests expressed, and some of the countries were natural enemies (like Melromarc and Siltvelt), but no one could avoid the truth: the world was sliding closer to complete destruction. If any of the countries had squabbles, they agreed to put them aside until the relative safety of the world was secured.
At that meeting, it was agreed that Melromarc would be the fourth nation to summon the heroes.
It also sounded like the typical procedure was to summon one hero at a time. Most of the time when they attempted to summon heroes, no one showed up.
Also, and this was supposed to go without saying, the heroes were expected to travel around to all the different countries.
“So why did this country summon them?”
“The Heroes are normally summoned using pieces of ancient holy relics. The ceremony can only be performed at a specified time, but…”
It meant that they had summoned all the heroes while the queen was out of the country.
“The Church of the Three Heroes had been around for a long time, and its roots run deep in these lands. As far as I know, they are a very conservative organization. Still, it appears they had unexpected ambitious plans.”
“That sounds like a big problem to me.”
The heroes were supposed to save the whole world, but we’d all been summoned to the same spot.
“Yes, that is why we have been so heavily criticized.”
“Why would you leave the country in the hands of a war hawk like this?”
That was a big problem. She gave him way too much authority.
Ren and Itsuki seemed to agree. They nodded. Their party members looked like they had something to say though.
I’d heard a little about it from Melty. She had said that some really nice members of the nobility, the ones who had been in charge of Raphtalia’s village, had been killed in the wave.
“What are you saying?!”
“Shut up!”
The queen shouted for silence.
“Myne’s father isn’t that bad!”
Motoyasu still had wisdom to contribute, apparently.
“Motoyasu, you only feel that way because of the special treatment you received. This all makes sense to us.”
“Yeah. I felt like things were unfair this whole time.”
“That’s the precise problem. The first wave came while I was away on diplomacy. I had appointed someone I trust, my right hand, to take care of the kingdom in my absences… but…”
“…But?”
“They died in the wave… And they had spent so much time earning the trust of the demi-humans…”
“May I ask a question?”
“What is it, Mr. Amaki?”
“Why did this human-supremacist country harbor nobility that wanted to work with the demi-humans?”
The queen opened her fan and hid her mouth when she answered Ren’s question.
“We wanted to avoid war with Siltvelt, and so it was part of our strategy to fix our relations with demi-humans. Siltvelt was aware of this, and they were doing the same thing for humans in their country.”
I was starting to understand. The nobility had been kind to the demi-humans as a sign of good faith to avoid war with Siltvelt.
“It’s odd how open you are being about this.”
Itsuki said this to the queen, expressing his suspicions.
“After we forcibly summoned your here, take it as a sign of my sincerity that I, the highest authority in these lands, would speak honestly with you like this. If I don’t go out of my way to earn your trust, how could I ask for your cooperation?”
Ren and Itsuki looked at each other then nodded.
“However… Aultcray has already shown a great deal of preferential treatment for the Spear Hero. The Bow and Sword Heroes have also demonstrated their loyalty. But, from this point on, if it seems like I am showing the Shield Hero preferential treatment, please understand that I am simply trying to balance and correct the past misdeeds here.”
“All right.”
“You’re right. If Naofumi really was innocent of everything, then the scales must be balanced. I understand.”
“Back to the topic at hand… It seems that Aultcray’s incompetence has led to the destruction of our demi-human protected district.”
The queen reared back and stomped on Trash’s foot with all her might.
“Owwww.”
“And I found this out at the exact same time that I discovered your secretive summoning ceremony!”
The queen slapped Trash time and time again.
“Ugh…”
“This is what I get for allowing a fool like this to rule in my stead! A never-ending series of ridiculous events in my absence! Even if the true enemy WAS the Church…”
“Ugh!”
“And the very next day after the Heroes begin their quest, you call in the Shield and deem him a criminal!”
“UGH!”
“Then you continue to discriminate against him! Do you have any idea how close you brought us to war?!”
“UGH!”
“And then, immediately following the second wave, you tried to steal his slave from him? What were you thinking?!”
She was really worked up…
“Because of your foolish behavior, Siltvelt and Shieldfreeden are infuriated. They could attack at any time!”
I was starting to sympathize with the queen’s position.
Everyone she’d entrusted the kingdom to had died or disappeared, and she had to keep the world from war all by herself.
I was impressed. She must have been a very skilled diplomat.
Even if she just looked like a hysterical woman in her twenties exploding at her husband.
And she was Melty and Bitch’s mother? She certainly looked young for her age.
“Then, on top of everything, you write to say that you want to see Melty? How selfish can you be?!”
“Ugh!”
“And the people that would use you and your red face to accomplish their own goals… They were right there before you, and you didn’t notice? All of this is your fault!”
She was fuming with anger. She went on.
“I hereby declare the Church of the Three Heroes heretical! Melromarc will follow the Church of the Four Holy Warriors from now on!”
“W…What?! You would abandon the very traditions that gave rise to our kingdom?!”
“There is no reason to maintain a tradition that causes nothing but trouble!”
The Church of the Four Holy Warriors?
“What’s that?”
“A religion that worships the four Holy Heroes equally.”
Melty explained.
I guess that was only natural. If there were four people that saved the world, you’d expect a religion to crop up about them sooner or later.
“The Church of the Three Heroes originally branched off from the Church of the Four Holy Warriors. But to explain why, we’d have to go all the way back to the founding of Melromarc.”
“Huh…”
If Siltvelt worshiped the Shield Hero, then it was only logical to assume that other countries worshiped the heroes in different ways. It was easy enough to imagine the reason. If Melromarc and Siltvelt were not on good terms, and Siltvelt worshiped the Shield Hero…
It was only natural that they’d come up with a way to say that the other country’s religion was false, that their god was a demon, etc. That would explain the start of the Church of the Three Heroes.
“Sigh…”
The queen finished scolding Trash. Refreshed from slapping him so many times, she opened her fan, hid her mouth, and turned to me. Too bad I hadn’t gotten the chance to slap Trash.
“There is much more to discuss, Mr. Iwatani. But it will have to wait until later.”
; “I’d rather not hear about all that.”
“Myne and the king are not bad people! This is all a misunderstanding!”
Motoyasu had been standing in silence for a little while, but he finally stepped forward and stated screaming again.
What did he want?
“But everything makes sense, doesn’t it? We were nearly killed, and the facts behind all these events have come to light and been proven.”
“Yeah. We looked into all sorts of things. I got suspicious. It really does seem like Naofumi has been discriminated against. It’s actually very impressive that he was able to earn the trust of anyone at all. None of that was due to anything like a Brain Washing Shield. It is all because of Naofumi and his friends. They earned people’s trust.”
Itsuki and Ren both spoke up on my behalf.
“When I accidentally unleashed an epidemic on that village in the mountains, it was Naofumi that cleaned it up. That is plenty of reason to trust him.”
“Yes, and if you saw the weapon that the high priest was using against us, it’s clear enough who was behind all of this.”
“Ugh….”
Motoyasu’s fingers were curled into a shaking fist. He was still glaring at me.
“Mr. Kitamura, if you wish to protest further, you will have to do so after you are able to provide some proof of your assertions.”
“Fine. I’ll be right back with proof. Myne! Let’s go.
“Unfortunately, I haven’t finished speaking with Malty. You will have to wait until we are finished here.”
When the queen finished speaking, a large number of castle knights appeared behind the throne and began walking towards him.
“Bu…But! But Myne!”
“Spear Hero, please step outside.”
They were very polite as they motioned for him to leave the throne room.
I hoped he wasn't so stupid as to cause a ruckus in the throne room.
“Stop changing the subject.”
“I’m very sorry.”
“It’s really Motoyasu’s fault, so I wouldn’t worry about it.”
Itsuki seemed to have some suspicions that Motoyasu was receiving preferential treatment. I didn’t see a reason to correct him.
“Anyway… There are still many punishments I need to heap upon my husband and daughter.”
Bitch and Trash were both pale. It was time to pay the piper.
“Are you disappointed?”
