paradise ; the rising of the shield hero

nine ; kidnap

"I DONT SEE WHY  we have to go to the royal castle. You did nothing wrong." I spoke as we rode to the castle. Once outside we got off Filo as she turned back into her human form.

"You girls stay here okay, I'll be back." Filo, Raphtalia and I started looking around the castle waiting for Naofumi. "Let's go to visit Elhart!" Filo suggested.

We left a note behind before heading to Elhart's place.

I couldn't stop thinking about what Glass said. I wonder what she meant by that. I needed to know the truth.

Was Naofumi my soulmate?

My heart flipped every time I saw him, every time I thought about him.

"We're here!" Filo cheered. We entered the store to see his smile. "Hey girls where's Naofumi?"

"Talking to the king but we got bored so now we're here" Raphtalia replied as we sat down in the chairs he provided.

"It's good to see you girls again, want food?"

"Yes!" Filo jumped turning into her bird form.

"Filo!"

—

WE WERE HEADING towards a town that seemed accepting for us. We need class upgrades.

Naofumi and I haven't spoken much, only when necessary. It was nice though, being back here. It's only been a day on our journey and I already have had the best of time along their side.

We were currently camping on the road.

"Found you!" A high pitched voice called out.

"Mel!"  Filo gets up quickly happily.

Naofumi groans looking unhappy. "Be nice." Raphtalia nudges him.

"Yeah she's a very nice person."

Naofumi groans going up to her. "I kindly ask for you to go back to the castle to speak to the king."

"No"

"I want you to go back and reconcile with my father-"

"No"

"Why don't you-"

"No"

"This is ridiculous, the hero and king can't be in a fight! How are we supposed to win the waves like this!" The purple haired girl angrily says.

"Don't you agree?" She turns to Filo and then Raphtalia and then to me. "Wait who are you?"

I raise an eyebrow crossing my arms. "Who are you?"

She looks more angry and stomps her feet. "I'm Melty and I'm part of their team."

"I'm Minerva and I was part of their team way before you sweetie." Naofumi chuckles causing her to get more angry.

Raphtalia hits his stomach causing him to stop. "Look I'm not going to talk to him." He stops suddenly looking at the guards.

Then a guard runs forward trying to attack Melty. Everything happened too fast for me to process. Naofumi pulls Melty in protecting her from the attack.