AN: Here's the next part and let me tell you, when I saw 'Rising of the Shield Hero' last year, I practically cringed at Naofumi's trial. In fact, most parts in that show made me cringe because Naofumi is a sweet guy and what do they do; accuse him of assault, kidnapping, brainwashing and being a "demon". If it were me, I'd go in there and give them all what for!😤

Anyway, here's the next part. Enjoy😉

As the sun began to rise in Melromarc, Ren and Itsuki were the first ones up and they decided to have breakfast in the inn's bar before heading out. While they were eating, Motoyasu came in clutching his head from the hangover he got as soon as he woke up. Itsuki smirked and said, "Well look who decided to finally join us after a night of drinking."

Motoyasu sat down next to Ren and he said with a groan, "Not so loud."

Ren looked at the spear hero and said to him, "Well that's what happens when you have more than one pint of ale."

Motoyasu groaned as he continued to clutch his head in pain and he said, "I need a cup of coffee or tea to get rid of this headache."

Itsuki then handed him a cup and said, "Here Motoyasu. A little bit of the hair of the dog that bit ya."

Motoyasu took the cup and said, "Not funny." And he took a sip of the drink inside the cup while Itsuki was laughing and told him to relax and that it was just herbal tea.

Soon, Ren started looking around and he said to the other two, "Have you guys seen Naofumi at all this morning?"

Motoyasu placed the empty cup down and said, "Not since he helped me to my room last night when I was drunk."

"I was hoping we would see him before we headed out this morning to train and grind before the wave," Itsuki said.

Ren then asked, "You don't think he's still sleeping do you?"

Motoyasu soon stood up from his seat and said, "Only one way to find out. Let's go to his room and give Naofumi a little wake up call."

Ren and Itsuki thought that was a good idea and they headed up the stairs to the room Naofumi was staying in. When they got to the door that led to Naofumi's room, Itsuki was the first to knock on it and he called out, "Naofumi, are you in there?"

Motoyasu also called out, "Are you still sleeping in there man?"

Soon, Ren gently pressed his fingers against the door and to his and the other two's surprise, it slowly moved a bit. Ren then said, "Well it's open slightly so it could mean something."

When they opened the door a bit more, what the three heroes saw put a look of shock on their faces. Sitting before them on the floor with his back against the wall and still wrapped up in his sheet was Naofumi with the same cloudy look in his eyes and his face had dried tear stains on them. Itsuki entered first and the others followed after him and soon, Itsuki knelt down to look at Naofumi and asked, "Naofumi! What happened?! Are you all right?!"

But Naofumi just sat there quietly not saying anything. Itsuki gently patted the shield hero's cheek and he said with worry, "Hey! Naofumi! Wake up! Talk me!"

Ren knelt next to his comrade to also look at Naofumi and he asked, "Got anything?" And Itsuki shook his head.

Motoyasu was looking around the room and he said, "This place looked like it's either been ransacked or Naofumi had an after party without us!"

Itsuki lifted the sheet that Naofumi was wrapped in up a bit and he said, "That would explain why he's not wearing anything under this sheet."

"Let's get some clothes on him and take him to the castle. Maybe the king will help him," Ren suggested and Itsuki agreed.

Motoyasu then said as he looked around the room, "Putting clothes on him would be a good idea. But I can't find any of his clothes at all in this room. And not only that, but his money and his chainmail are also missing."

Ren picked up Naofumi's arm where his shield was and he saw that it was bare and he said, "And not only that, but his shield is missing too."

Itsuki soon looked at the far wall and saw Naofumi's shield against it and he said, "It's not missing. It's right there."

Ren went over to pick it up, but when he did the shield shocked him and it disappeared and then reappeared onto Naofumi's arm. Ren looked at his hand from where the shield shock him and he said, "What the hell happened?"

Immediately, Motoyasu remembered what Naofumi told him yesterday and he looked at Ren and said, "I think it's because of your weapon Ren. Naofumi tried to purchase a sword yesterday at the blacksmith shop but it rejected him because he has a shield."

Itsuki nodded and thought, makes sense. Suddenly, the three of them heard the sound of shuffling and they began to prepare to fight but they looked down and saw the same balloon monster that latched onto Naofumi roll out with a piece of paper in its mouth. Motoyasu looked at it in confusion and he said, "What's a balloon monster doing here?"

The balloon monster rolled up to Ren, tapped itself against his boot and looked up at him with the paper. Ren took the paper and he looked at it and immediately he recognized the photo of Naofumi's family. Ren then looked at the other two heroes and he said, "It seems we need to get to the castle and report on what's going on."

As Ren was pocketing the photo, he looked and saw the balloon monster roll up to Naofumi and rub itself on his sheet covered leg and let out a little purr. Itsuki looked at Ren and said, "This little guy seems to be attached to Naofumi in someway. Let's bring him with."

Ren picked the balloon monster, placed it in his carrying bag and then Motoyasu picked up Naofumi bridal style with a little bit of the sheet slipping off and showing Naofumi's bare chest a little. Itsuki straightened the sheet up a bit so it covers Naofumi completely and before they could leave, a few royal knights appeared before the doorway. When they saw the three heroes, one of them smiled and said, "Well done Sir Heroes, you caught the shield hero!"

Looking at him in confusion, Motoyasu asked, "Caught? What do you mean?"

The first knight then said, "We were ordered to come and apprehend the shield hero, but it seems you already did it for us."

The knight the held out his hand and he said, "Now, if you gentlemen will hand over the shield hero to us, we'll make sure he gets the judgement he deserves."

"Hand over? Judgement? Seriously, what are you talking about?!" Motoyasu asked even more confused.

Itsuki then stepped forward and he said to the knight, "Is there something you're not telling us that has Naofumi involved?"

The knight let out a sigh and said, "I think it's best that you three find out once we get to the castle."

Knowing that that's the best way, the knight told them there was a carriage outside waiting for them. As they were walking out, the other knights tried to take Naofumi, but Ren glared at them and he said, "He stays with us." And the other knights backed away after hearing that.

As soon as they reached the castle, the three heroes followed the knights while Motoyasu continued to carry Naofumi. When they reached the throne room, they saw the king was sitting on his throne and standing right next to him was the same red haired woman in Motoyasu's party. Motoyasu looked at her and he asked, "Myne, what are you doing here?"

Myne immediately ran to Motoyasu and hugged him. She then looked at Motoyasu with "sad" looking eyes and said, "Sir Motoyasu! It was just horrible!"

She then saw Naofumi backed away and she said, "That's him! That's who did that to me!"

Ren looked at her and asked, "What did Naofumi do?"

"He raped me! Last night, he brought me to his room and forced himself on me," Myne said while she was fake crying.

The three heroes looked at her with surprise and said together in unison, "WHAT?!"

Motoyasu then added in, "That's crazy! Naofumi didn't rape anybody! As far as I can remember, he brought me back to my room while I was drunk!"

Ren agreed and said, "And even if he did rape you, what's your proof that he did do it?"

It was then that a knight came in and said, "I can answer that question sir sword hero. We checked the shield hero's room just now and found this." And he pulled out a lacy purple nightgown and showed it to the three of them.

When Motoyasu saw it he thought to himself, that wasn't there when we were there. Soon, Myne looked at Motoyasu and said to him sweetly, "Sir Motoyasu, as a token for your protection from that criminal, I humbly give you this as a gift."

It was then that she pulled out chainmail and showed it to him. Immediately, Motoyasu recognized the chainmail and he said, "That's Naofumi's!"

Myne looked at him in confusion and she said, "No it's not."

"It must be because I saw him wearing that exact same chainmail I saw Naofumi wearing yesterday when he left the blacksmith's shop," Motoyasu said.

Myne placed a hand on her hip, gave Motoyasu a "seriously" look and she said, "Sir Motoyasu, are you, by chance, calling me a liar?"

Motoyasu looked around at the knights and then at Myne not even knowing what to do. Aultcray then said, "If the shield hero did what Malty said he did, we must give him divine punishment until the next wave."

Motoyasu and Ren didn't know what to do or what to say to help their friend. However, Itsuki was looking around and he saw the evil looks on some of knights faces including the one holding the lacy nightgown. He then saw the evil toothy smirk Myne had and then he came to a conclusion and thought, that's it! That's what's happening! I knew something smelled rotten! Soon, Itsuki stepped forward and he looked at the king and said to him, "Your Majesty, if you will give me a few minutes, I can prove that everything that's said to us is a bull crap lie!"

Aultcray furrowed his eyebrows a bit and he said, "And what do intend to tell us Sir Bow Hero? What flaws have you found in what Malty is telling us?"

Itsuki put on a confident grin and said, "I can find multiple flaws in what she's saying. As well as proof that Naofumi is innocent. Back in my world, I was planning to study law after I graduated high school and become a prosecutor. Separate the criminals from the innocents and make sure justice is delivered to the criminals in question."

Aultcray nodded and said, "Then by all means Sir Bow Hero, do what you must."

Itsuki thanked him and then he looked around at everyone in the throne room and he said, "Ladies and gentlemen of Melromarc, as you may already know, Naofumi Iwatani is accused of a serious crime, but looking around at most of you this morning I can tell that most of you are guilty of a crime yourselves. The crime of being covered up by the true criminal. I can also tell you that the "proof" that's been showed is illegally obtained and even shown to us to make us think he's guilty."

"And what would that be Sir Bow Hero?" Aultcray asked while stroking his beard.

Itsuki pointed at the nightgown the knight was holding and he said, "That sexy nightgown. The reason why I pointed that out? Because Motoyasu, Ren and myself were in Naofumi's room this morning but we didn't see that. However, we did see a few things missing from there."

Aultcray got more curious from what Itsuki was telling him and he asked, "And what was missing from the shield hero's room pray tell?"

Itsuki turned to look at the king and he said to him, "All his clothes were gone. Along with his money and the chainmail Miss Myne is holding. We even thought his shield was missing since it wasn't on his arm. But we found it leaning against the wall."

When Aultcray heard that, his eyes went wide and he said, "But that's impossible! A cardinal hero's weapon can't be separated from them no matter what. If a legendary heroes weapon is separated from them, they'll immediately be returned to them."

"Unless there was a spell that did that so the weapon wouldn't return till the next day," Ren pointed out.

Itsuki nodded at him and said, "Precisely."

Itsuki then turned back to the king and said, "However, there were two things there that weren't immediately taken Your Majesty and Ren is still holding onto them."

Ren then placed his hand in his pocket and took out the photo of Naofumi's family and then he reached in his bag and pulled out the balloon monster. He handed them to Itsuki and he showed them to everyone in the throne room including the king and he said, "This photo that Naofumi showed us yesterday of him and his family and this balloon monster is what we found in Naofumi's room."

Aultcray looked at the balloon monster curiously and he said, "How in the world did a balloon monster end up in the shield hero's room in the first place?"

Itsuki added in, "It either followed him from the fields without being seen or latched onto him with its jaws." And the balloon monster chomped its jaws at the king.

Itsuki then walked back to Motoyasu and Ren and then he turned to look back at the king and he said with a mellow look, "And one more thing, take a look at the state Naofumi is in. Can he really rape anyone with how he looks now? Cause from what I can tell you, he can't. And why? Because the real assault victim in all of this is Naofumi himself."

After Itsuki said that there were small gasps and talks among some of the knights wondering if what Itsuki said was right. Not buying any of it, Myne said in denial, "That's an outright lie! I'm the victim here! That...man raped me!"

Itsuki then looked at her and said, "Then why don't we have Naofumi tell us himself."

"How will he do that when he's practically a vegetable?" Motoyasu asked when Itsuki approached him.

Itsuki smiled and said, "He'll know."

He then told Motoyasu to gently put Naofumi on his feet and the spear hero did. Once Naofumi was set down, the sheet he was wrapped in slowly started to fall till it was around his waist and Itsuki looked at him with a serious look and he said, "Now Naofumi, I want you to look around this room that you're in. Look at Motoyasu, Ren and me. Look at the king. And look at the knights and Myne. Don't think about why you're here and what's happpening. Just focus on who is here. Okay?"

Once Itsuki stepped away from Naofumi a little bit, the cloudiness slowly left Naofumi's eyes and he did as Itsuki said. He looked at the three of them and then he looked at the king. However, when he looked at the knights and saw their armor, he immediately started to breathe heavily and shiver in fear. He continued to do that when he saw the other knights and then when he saw Myne, he let out a scream and he back away until he fell on his butt.

The sheet around Naofumi fell off completely exposing his naked body when he backed away and continued to scream. He turned and ran out of the room while still screaming leaving everyone standing there in utter shock, surprise and confusion. Ren then asked still confused, "What just happened there?"

Itsuki then said, "That's a reaction an assault victim gets when they see the person or persons who assaulted them."

"But I didn't assault him," Myne denied.

Itsuki shook his head and said, "No, but you probably told a few of the knights to. And judging from Naofumi's reaction, he didn't see the faces of the people who assaulted him, but he recognized what they were wearing. Naofumi recognized the armor the knights were wearing so he knew they were the ones who assaulted him. And Miss Myne just stood there and watched while she stole his possessions which probably explains while her face is the only thing he saw because the inn has lanterns in the hallway that are still lit."

Myne clenched her teeth after hearing that and then Itsuki looked at Aultcray and said, "From what you just saw and heard Your Majesty, I can tell you that what we just saw was the real reaction to an assault victim. And what Miss Myne showed us, is fake."

After seeing and hearing everything that went on, Aultcray nodded and said, "So noted."

He then stood up and announced, "I hereby drop the assault charges on the shield hero. Seeing as he reacted to seeing not only the knights but Malty as well, he'll be pardoned from this."

The three heroes smiled when they heard that and they each gave each other a thumbs up including the balloon monster who chomped its jaws happily. As soon as Aultcray sat down, he then looked at Motoyasu, Ren and Itsuki and he said to them, "Now I have a job for the three of you. Your job is to search around the castle and find the shield hero so you can tell him the news."

The three of them nodded and agreed to the job. Itsuki then said, "Where do you think he could be? This place is huge!"

"Well we can't have him running around in his birthday suit now, can we?" Motoyasu said.

Aultcray let out a sigh and said, "I don't care where or how you do it just find him. And for god's sake, someone find some pants for that boy!"

Soon, Motoyasu, Ren and Itsuki started to search around the castle to find their comrade. Ren looked around the stairways with the balloon monster on his shoulder, Itsuki checked some of the rooms and Motoyasu looked around the hallways. Suddenly, he saw some movement behind one of the curtains and he slowly approached it and pulled it aside. There sitting in a ball shivering was Naofumi naked as the day he was born with his back to the blond spear hero.

Motoyasu then called his name quietly and Naofumi jumped and turned around while backing away into the wall. Motoyasu put his hands up in defense and said, "Easy man. Easy. No one's gonna hurt you here, okay."

Just then, Ren and Itsuki appeared in that very same hallway and approached Motoyasu. Itsuki then asked him once they were close enough, "Did you find him Motoyasu?"

Motoyasu then showed them Naofumi and the two of them knelt down to his level and Itsuki said, "Hey there Naofumi. You're all right. It's all been taken care of."

Naofumi just stared at Itsuki and then he saw Motoyasu hand something to him and he heard the spear hero say, "I believe this is yours."

Naofumi saw that it was the chainmail he bought yesterday and he quickly accepted it. Ren also handed him his family's photograph and the balloon monster and he said, "I believe these also belong to you too, Naofumi."

Naofumi accepted them quickly and hugged the balloon monster which nuzzled against him and clenched his family's picture between his fingers. Suddenly, the three heroes heard their names being called and they looked to see a royal knight that looked about fourteen or fifteen approach them. Getting scared by seeing the knight, Naofumi stood up and hid behind Motoyasu afraid that he will get assaulted again.

Motoyasu looked at the knight and asked, "What is you want?"

The boy knight bowed his head and said, "My apologies for the trouble my comrades did to your comrade, I started the royal knights quite a while ago and at had no idea that they were capable of doing something like that."

Ren looked at the boy and asked, "What's your name by the way?"

The boy smiled and said, "Ake. My name is Ake."

Starting to remember why he was sent to find the heroes, Ake held out some folded clothes to them and he said, "My captain gave me these and told me to give them to the shield hero for him to wear."

Naofumi peeked a little from behind Motoyasu and he reached his hand out as if he was telling the boy to give him the clothes. Ake smiled and kindly handed them to Naofumi which he gratefully took. With Motoyasu, Ren and Itsuki being a cover for him, Naofumi got dressed in the clothes he was given.

The three of them thanked Ake and as the young knight was about to leave, he looked at the three heroes and said, "Oh yeah, my captain also told me to pass on a message to the spear hero, the sword hero and the bow hero. His Majesty wants to meet with the three of you immediately because he has something to tell you."

Curious about what Aultcray wanted to tell them, the three heroes agreed to go back to the throne room. Before they left, they all looked at Naofumi, who was now dressed in the clothes he was given, and Motoyasu said, "Hang tight Naofumi. We'll be back." And soon, the three of them left following Ake.

After they were gone, Naofumi sat there on the ground looking at the balloon monster in his hand and his family photo in the other. He placed the picture in his pants pocket, stood up while still looking at the balloon monster, which tilted its head while looking at him. Naofumi hugged the little monster close to him, looked at the castle and he said to himself, "I don't want to be here." And soon, he started to walk towards the closest exit and he left the castle without a word to anyone about where he was going or where.

AN: What did you all think of that? Pretty gripping, huh? I told you all before in my summary Naofumi will have a different fate. Stayed tuned for more!😊😊😊