Thanks to the malicious machinations of the former king and first princess of Melromarc, Naofumi’s opinion of Melromarc and the world he was summoned to couldn’t have been worse.  Initially, the only thing motivating him to even fulfill his mission as the Legendary Hero of the Shield was self-preservation and the hope to return to his home world.  And while he still plans to return home once his job is done, the allies he’s made shifted his perspective to making sure this world is a better place for them after he’s gone.

Though he was currently preoccupied with rebuilding the village of his first and most loyal party member, Raphtailia, Noafumi received a summons from the queen of the country, Mirellia Q Melromarc.  Seeing that the summons was technically for all four Legendary Heroes, Noafumi reluctantly made the journey with his party.

Sitting in the meeting room that they normally should use to plan and exchange information, Noafumi fidgeted impatiently as he waited for the queen to return.  With the whereabouts of the other three Legendary Heroes still unknown, they had waited a few more days for them to be found, but with much to do in Lurolona Village, Naofumi was in a hurry to get back.

As a group of footsteps approached from down the hall, the quickened patter of bare feet on stone raced to the door first as it was thrown open.

“Master!  Filo’s hungry.  Can we go get something to eat?”  Running over to the black-haired young man, an energetic young girl in a white dress with blonde hair clung to his arm.

Pulling the young girl off Naofumi’s arm, a beautiful young woman with long auburn hair and red-furred, rounded tanuki ears took the seat to his right.  “Filo-chan, Naofumi-sama is busy at the moment.  We’ll get something to eat later.  Just be a good girl and be quiet for a bit, okay?”

“Okay, Raphtalia-oneechan!”  Obediently listening to her teammate, Filo went over to a corner of the room to preoccupy herself.

“I apologize for keeping you waiting, Iwatani-sama.”  Entering the room, the violet-haired monarch took the seat to Naofumi’s left, setting a box covered in broken seals on the table.  “I have dispatched my Shadows to locate and inform the other Heroes of this, but they still have yet to…”

“It’s fine.  We gave them a chance to be here, so if they complain later they have nobody but themselves to blame.”  Brushing off the inconvenience, Naofumi pressed the conversation forward as the others arranged themselves around the table.  Notably, the woman with long pink hair was someone he wasn’t expecting to see joining them with the other members of his party.  “Eclair?  Shouldn’t you have finished your business in the capital by now?  Melty’s been watching over everything while we were here, but I thought you’d be back to help her by now.”

Taking the seat between the queen and a green-haired young woman, the beautiful noble glanced at her monarch, shifting uncomfortably.  “My apologies, Iwatani-dono.  I was asked to remain for a bit longer.”

“Do not worry about Melty.  That girl will be able to handle herself for a few extra days.”  Opening her luxurious fan and concealing the sly smile on her glossy lips, Mirellia looked at Naofumi with an amused expression.  “Though, be sure to reward her for her hard work, Iwatani-sama.”

I can see where her daughters get their cunning from…  As well-meaning a scheme, it was a political move that he had come to expect from the violet-haired woman.  The closer he was to the royal family of Melromarc, the better relations with  Shieldfreeden and especially Siltvelt would become.  And manipulative or not, it didn’t discredit the work the second princess of the country did for him.  Sighing, Naofumi looked at the sealed box.  “So, what’s that?”

Taking his silence on the matter as a begrudging acceptance, Mirellia closed her fan and slid the box toward the dark-haired young man.  “Though we have officially reinstated the faith of the Church of the Four Heroes, the recent incidents have made seizing the assets and going through the documents of the Church of the Three Heroes a slow endeavor.  One of my Shadows found this artifact from a worn-out passage in an old tome.  According to what we could decipher from the faded text, this is only to be used ‘when the Four Legendary Heroes' power threatens the world’.”

“‘Threaten the world’?  Like the Curse series?”  Raising an eyebrow, Naofumi looked at the menu displayed in his vision showing him the statuses and condition of his party, and the curse he, Raphtalia, and Filo were suffering under still.  Though using his Shield of Wrath was dangerous and without it, they would have died long ago, but the debilitating effects had never been so severe before.  Then again, Fitoria enchanted my armor to mitigate it before, but she said it wasn’t that powerful.

“We are not sure.  The rest of the text was too far gone to read, and it was so old to begin with they were all but forgotten about.”  Shaking her head, the queen could only explain what little they did know.  “As far as we know, you are the only Legendary Hero to awaken such a menacing weapon, but that is not the only way a Hero’s power could threaten the world.  The Legendary Heroes could amass too much power, gain too much influence over the people, fall to some sort of manipulation or mind control magic, or, like with this latest incident…”

“Come from another world.”  Finishing her thought, Naofumi recalled the late wielder of the Book Vassal Weapon from Glass’s world.

“B-But…  That’s never happened, before… r-right?”  The more timid, green-haired girl across the table asked nervously.  “A-And if the Church of the Three Heroes d-didn’t use it against all the heroes when they tried to k-kill them all, wouldn’t you think would benefit them instead?”

Looking at the box again, Naofumi was still hesitant.  “You might be right, Rishia, but that idiot Pope might have just not known about this either.  There are barely any records of what happened when the Legendary Heroes were last summoned too, so we don’t know if there were invaders from other worlds or not.  But, Fitoria seemed to know about the dangers of the Shield of Wrath from experience.”

Though the mention of the Filolial Queen did cause Mirellia’s eyes to light up, she was capable of keeping her composure, clearing her throat.  “As we were unable to determine the nature of the artifact, I was not sure if I should inform you or the other Legendary Heroes of it, Iwatani-sama.  However, if it could prove useful to you, I decided to let you decide for yourself.”

Opening the box, inside was just a perfectly spherical gemstone, much like the one set in his shield.  The deep purple hue of the translucent crystal looked similar to the coloration of his display showing how much the curse was lowering their stats, and it shone with a gentle, pale glow.  But other than what it looked like, his identification skill was unable to reveal anything more about it.  Hmm…  The odds are still about fifty-fifty, but…  Looking at the curse icon next to Raphtalia and Filo’s stats, Naofumi pushed through his hesitation.  If it can help them, it’s worth the risk.  Reaching out to pick the orb up, he was stopped as Raphtalia grabbed his arm.

“Naofumi-sama?!  Are you sure?”  She asked, her pinkish-red eyes filled with worry.

Nodding and giving her a reassuring smile, Naofumi got her to let go of his arm and picked up the artifact.  “We don’t have much time before the Pheonix revives, we need to at least try.”  As he would with materials to unlock new shields, he touched the artifact to the gem in his shield.

Arcs of violent lightning sprang forth from his shield, causing Naofumi to drop the gemstone, and a warning flashed across his vision as it phased through his shield and fell to the table below.  The map of all his unlocked shields and abilities popped up and their icons were covered by a symbol of his base shield with a tiny, humanoid figure replacing the gem in the center as text appeared before his eyes.

[Curse Series detected.

Hero of the Shield designation: threat to the world.

Locking all skills.

Minimizing threat.]

Before he could process the warning, a searing pain tore through Naofumi’s body as his body emitted a bright purple light.  Yelling out in agony, he fell back into his seat, convulsing in anguish.

“Naofumi-sama!”

“Master!”

“Feuh–?!  Naofumi-san?!”

“Iwatani-dono!”

“Iwatani-sama!?”

Hearing his companions and allies call out to him, the last thing he saw before blacking out was one final line of the warning.

[Hero of the Shield, present Proof of…]

Unsure of how much time had passed, the frantic, familiar voices above Naofumi indicated that he wasn’t out for too long.  At the very least, not enough time for them to transport him onto a softer surface to lay on.  My head is killing me…  So much for that artifact hel…ping?  As he sat up and held his throbbing temple, Noafumi opened his eyes to see what was going on, only to see towering, gigantic versions of the women that had been in the room with him surrounding him!  Still not fully conscious, he wasn’t able to follow anything they were saying, but their body language and tone made it clear there was some sort of argument underway.  I…  I’m dreaming… right?

Looking down at his body, the shield on his arm had vanished, save for a cuff of iron wrapped around his wrist with a gemstone set in it that was alternating between green and purple.  Other than that, he had no other injuries, but he also noticed that he was wrapped in the blue ribbon Filo normally wore, the only thing keeping him decent.

“Iwatani-dono?  Everyone, Iwatani-dono’s awake.”

Eclair calling attention to him, Naofumi looked up to see his allies swarm around the table once more, circling him with their billboard-sized faces.

“Naofumi-sama?!  How are you feeling?  Are you alright?”

“Master’s so small and cute!  Now you can ride Filo all the time!  Can we play?  Oh, but after we eat!”

“Filo-chan…  I don’t think Naofumi-san can…”

“Ehh–?!  Why not?  Master!  You wanna play with Filo, right?  Right?”

“First, we should settle on what to do with Iwatani-dono.”

“Exactly.  Now, everyone, give him some space.”  As the only one who hadn’t crowded the table, Mirellia composed herself as she sat in her seat.  Once everyone else had done the same, she closed her fan and looked at him.  “Iwatani-sama, how are you feeling?”

“Sore, but otherwise okay.  It looks like that gem is a countermeasure to Heroes who have unlocked the Cursed Series.”  He said, checking his other statuses.  It wasn’t just his shields, skills, and magic abilities that were affected his magic and move stats were reduced severely.  Of course, his attack stat was still zero, but that was no surprise.  However, his defense and magic defense stats seemed to be untouched.  Is it because I was able to resist the effect, or does it not target the defense stats since they’re not offensive?  Or maybe because I’m the Shield Hero?  Without anything concrete to go on, he couldn’t be sure.  “Other than my defenses, everything’s been either sealed or heavily penalized.”

“I see…  So it is a stone to make it possible to capture and imprison a Legendary Hero.  If the Pope had known about it, he surely would have used it against you, so thankfully that does not seem to have been the case.”  As Mirellia smiled down at him, there was a glint in her eye that told him, now that it seemed like he was fine otherwise, that she found his current state amusing.  “Anything else you can tell us, Iwatani-sama?  Any clues to releasing the seal?”

They can hear me even though I’m this small?  And she’s already plotting something.  Likely trying to gift me to Melty or something…  Not finding the situation nearly as humorous, Noafumi shook his head.  “The warning I received is gone, and if I focus on the seal’s icon, all it says is to present ‘Proof of Benefit’, whatever that is.”

“Then I will have my Shadows look into it.  Until then, we have a more pressing matter to focus on.”

He could tell she wasn’t taking the issue at hand as lightly as her tone indicated.  With the other three heroes missing, the Pheonix close to reviving, the other Guardian Beasts, and Waves of Calamity after that, losing him now would be a huge disadvantage to the world.  But as a leader of a nation and accomplished diplomat, she was adept at not showing her emotions… so long as filolials weren’t involved.

“What could be more important than that right now?”  Looking around though, it wasn’t just the queen, everyone else in the room seemed to agree there was something more important to decide on before proceeding.

“Well, while you were unconscious, we have already agreed to keep this matter strictly confidential.  If it got out that you were in such a state, why, I doubt I could keep Siltvelt or Shieldfreeden from marching to war.”  She said in an almost jovial tone, betraying just how serious the ramifications of the truth coming out would be.  “Which leaves only one other question to be answered: who will be responsible for your well-being until a solution is found, Iwatani-sama?”

“I’m Naofumi-sama’s sword, so he should stay with me so I can protect him.”

“Filo can protect Master!  Filo’s super strong, so Master will be safe!”

“Oh, but I am sure Iwatani-sama would be more comfortable and safe here in the capital.  I would not let a single discomfort impose upon him after all he has done for Melromarc.”

“Fueh!  W-Well…  Naofumi-san d-did save me a-and has helped me so much.  I w-wouldn’t mind repaying h-his kindness.”

“Iwatani-dono’s protection…  As a knight, I could also…”

Not having thought about how to live at such a diminutive size, Naofumi now understood the odd tension in the room.  Raphtalia’s serious diligence, Filo’s innocent playfulness, and the queen’s scheming machinations, each were the most enthusiastic about being named his caretaker.  Even Rishia and Elcair seemed willing to take up the task, though were much more reserved than the other three.

As the five giantesses debated amongst themselves, Naofumi swallowed the foreboding lump in his throat.  Do I even get a say in this!?

To be continued...