“YOU WHAT!?” The King yelled, losing his composure. His face went pale, and his eyes went bloodshot. The three heroes also stared at the princess in disbelief.

  “Daughter, tell me this filth isn’t being forgiven. He hurt you!”

  “Yeah, Myne, don’t tell me you feel sorry for this loser.” The Spear Hero had almost defeated his archnemesis, but here was a woman he cared for standing up for the man who ruined her life.

  “Yes, father. I die every day from it, the pain is that great! But the truth is, doesn’t he deserve to die every day, too?”

  The other two heroes were reluctant to say anything, whether out of pride or ego, or simply because they were clueless about the situation. No. They, too, wanted to see Naofumi suffer for what he had done. They looked toward Naofumi, the scorn in their eyes piercing harder than the weapons they carried.

  Goofy just stood there, dumbfounded. He didn’t know what to make of the situation. He held his shield at the ready should anyone attack, but nobody was. He looked toward Naofumi, closed his eyes, and shook his head.

  Donald felt a rage building inside him; his feathers were ruffling, and his feet were shaking. He wanted to thrash this woman, but he couldn’t. He, too, looked toward Naofumi, who by now was trying to stand up, then back to the princess. It wasn’t safe to make a single sound. All he could do was let out a single tear whose salt burned in beat with Naofumi’s wounds.

  Raphtalia, realizing what was going on, covered her face with her hands and cried in silence. She hadn’t meant to hurt him, but in the end, she hurt him more than almost anyone in this world had.

  Sora clenched his fists tight. This was all wrong to him. She had framed his friend and turned the whole country against him. But he didn’t know what to do. If he attacks now, she wins by Naofumi being seen as the villain. If he doesn’t, Naofumi still loses because his suffering will be immense. Either way, Sora wasn’t going to leave the Shield Hero.

  Naofumi clenched his teeth, prepared for whatever was going to come his way. He knew the country would retaliate against his friends if he tried anything. No, there was only one thing he could do.

  The king, while reluctant to actually abide by his daughter’s words, nevertheless ceded to them. He proceeded to clear his throat.

  “Guards! Take the Shield Scum to the dungeon! Screw the rules of the cardinal heroes!”

  “Y-yes, your majesty!” The guards replied in unison. There were five of them, each taller than the other. It was almost like a bunch of nesting dolls standing side by side, or a graph plummeting. Naofumi felt much the same way. He, too, was plummeting further and further. Sora saw it. Donald and Goofy saw it. Perhaps the person who saw it the most was Raphtalia, who by now had gotten back up, dusted herself off, and sent a look Naofumi’s way that said, “We’re going to get you out of there.”

  The guards began dragging Naofumi away. He did not fight. He did not yell. He knew that if he were to resist now, all hell would break loose. Not wanting to hurt his friends any further, Naofumi took the brunt of the verbal assault from those who were calling him all sorts of things, none of them good.

  After Naofumi was brought out of the arena, Raphtalia gave Malty a look that was a mixture of pain and regret. Naofumi told her not to trust people so easily, and she didn’t. But she thought the princess would see things from her perspective and not use them against Naofumi. She saw the scarlet-haired woman for what she really was: a manipulative witch whose charm over the masses was a spell that incited witch hunts against those she did not like.

  Raphtalia thought amongst herself. She couldn’t find the reason, but she did know one thing. She had to go out and find a way to save him.

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  Sora looked toward Raphtalia and caught the glare in her eyes that said, “We've got to save him!” He nodded for Donald and Goofy to look toward her, which they did. The quick glances between the four of them were a silent vow that no harm would come to their friend. They hung their heads in ‘shame’ and left the arena.

  Myne was feeling proud of herself for what she had done to the Shield Hero’s psyche. She knew that he valued the only people in the world who believed in him, and she used that to her advantage. What the guards were going to do to him was anybody’s guess. Surely her father had plans that were enticing to her. Still, though, she had other things to worry about, so she headed toward the exit, waving to a crowd that cheered her for the hero she was.

  After she left, the three heroes were the only ones in the arena. Motoyasu was the first to break the silence, as usual.

  “Woo! Yeah! We did it! High fives all around!” He exclaimed, holding his hand up, waiting for one of them to make contact palm-to-palm. Neither Itsuki nor Ren was having any of it.

  “Come on, you guys. Let’s celebrate!”

  “No thanks.”

  “Not happening.”

  Itsuki and Ren were thinking about what had transpired and what it meant in the grand scheme of things.

  “Do you really think someone could forgive something so heinous?” The Sword asked the Bow in a whispery volume and a stern tone.

  “Not a chance.” Itsuki shot back to Ren, and he wasn’t going to see it otherwise, but Ren wasn’t so sure. Itsuki then strapped his Bow back on his back and set off. Ren sheathed his sword and did the same. Motoyasu was still in the centre of the arena, not paying any heed to the other two heroes. He just stood their waving at the crowd, adoring every moment of his victory. When he finally did look back and see the other heroes leave, he let out a squeal.

  “Uh, guys? Hold up. Wait for me!” He dashed toward the exit to catch up to the other two, and right before leaving for good, he turned around, took one last look at the crowd, and bowed.

  —--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

  It had been a good while since Naofumi and the Guards left the arena. They were about to reach the dungeon when one of the guards let the Shield Hero in on a little secret.

  “You see this room, Shield? It’s the torture room. The king said to have loads of fun with you specifically.”

  Then another guard chimed in.

  “Yeah, we got loads of defense negating weapons lying around for cases such as these.”

  Naofumi stayed silent. He didn’t want them to think that he was terrified. But in truth, he was.

  When they finally arrived at Naofumi’s cell, which was in the darkest part of the wing. Naofumi could see only one light in the entire block. A torch that was hung up on the wall near his ‘bed,’ which was just a thin blanket spread across the floor with hay for padding. The guards saw that he was looking around and pushed him in. They laughed and locked the door.

  “See you in a few days, ‘friend.’” The apparent lead guard said to Naofumi. The Shield Hero couldn’t tell if the guard was being facetious or trying to get him riled up, but he wasn’t having any of it.

  After the guards had left, Naofumi was sitting in his cell, alone. “I hope that the others are okay.” He muttered to himself. After sitting for a while, he felt something in his pocket start to shake. He put his hand in to pull it out. What he saw surprised him. He had forgotten all about the moment with the rotund man and the egg; he didn’t know what to make of it. When he made that breakfast joke, he did so half seriously, but now that something was hatching from it, that was out of the question.

  He sat there in awe as a little bird-like creature popped its head out of the top of the egg.

  “Are you a filolial?” He questioned the baby chick. It didn’t answer back, much to his dismay.

  *Chirp, chirp.* The baby filolial looked at him, its big blue eyes were filled with curiosity about the man holding it.

  “Look, all I’m saying is that I was adventuring with a duck and dog for a while, so a talking filolial isn’t too out of the question, is it?”

  The baby filolial hopped out of his hand and onto the top of his head. His soft, fluffy hair made for the perfect resting spot.

  Naofumi gazed upward, trying to meet the chick eye-to-eye, and he did, for the bird was also looking down at him from the top of his head. It was a very surreal moment.

  “What should I call you anyway? Eggwyn?”

  The bird shook its head.

  “Eggbert?”

  Again, no.

  “Hootdini?”

  The baby filolial was getting frustrated.

  “Fine, fine. No more dumb puns. It’s got to be something short. Something sweet… It also has to be easy to remember. Hmm?”

  The bird started cocking its head from side to side.

  “Okay, okay. How about ‘Filo’?”

  The baby filolial started chirping for joy.

  “Okay, ‘Filo’ it is then!”