The Rising of the Fisticuffs Hero

Chapter 10: Lullaby at Dawn (Part 2)

The night had been long, cold and unwelcoming. He had been forced to stay at the castle, in the room above Raphtalia's cell. Naofumi had left the castle to prepare, but Cadver and Raphtalia weren't allowed to go with him. Raphtalia wasn't for obvious reasons, but Cadverus was locked up as well since they feared he would help Naofumi train up in the short time till dawn.

Speaking about dawn, she was about to come over the horizon now, rosy fingered as always.

That was when he was told he could leave, and he immediately headed to the arena, where the duel was said to be happening in. The grandstands were packed with people of all titles and wealth. He made his way over to where Ren and Itsuki were, intent on giving them a piece of his mind.

However, he noticed some movement on the arena floor. The red head was down in the arena for no apparent reason. It was strange though, surely she would be with the rest of Motoyasu's party. A suspicion began to dawn on him. He continued on his way to speak with Ren and Itsuki, and found them chatting pleasantly over where they had been and what type of loot they had got from each monster they killed.

Ren was the one who noticed him first.
"Cadver! Come sit with us!"
"Sure, but only for a bit. I have two questions to ask the two of you."

Itsuki spoke up now, trying to appear dark and cool. He seemed to be trying really hard to be some sort of vigilante, like Batman.
"Go ahead. Ren can answer all of your questions, but I'll only answer the ones I want to answer."

"Ok then. First, what is your opinion on Naofumi's rape charge?" He crossed his arms and stared at the two Cardinal heroes. Surprisingly, Itsuki answered first.

"Innocent until proven guilty, and as far as I can tell, there wasn't enough evidence to get a guilty verdict. It was a public stunt made to ruin Naofumi's credibility."
Ren nodded, then added: "For some reason the king is discriminating against Naofumi. I think it has something to do with him being the shield hero, but I haven't got any idea why the shield is as hated as it is."

These answers seemed acceptable to Cadverus. It appeared only Motoyasu actually believed Naofumi was guilty. He sighed and turned to the area, which had Motoyasu waving to the crowd as the main attraction. Cadverus' eyes wandered, before focusing on a certain red headed woman standing in the arena on the sidelines.

"Ren, keep an eye of Motoyasu's party member over there. I'm heading down there, I don't like the idea of her being there without supervision." And so, leaving the other heroes, he calmly made his way towards the stairs down to Motoyasu's entrance gate.

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"This duel is between the Spear hero and the Shield hero. It will only end when one of the combatants is unable to fight or is forced to surrender."
Cadverus had made it into the arena just as Naofumi's door was opened. The Shield hero looked angry, far angrier than Cadverus had ever seen him.

"This match is being witnessed by the king and the pope, so it is legitimate and official. If the Spear hero wins, the Demi-human in his party will be released from her slave pact. Combatants, make ready."

Both Naofumi and Motoyasu changed their weapon to one better suited to fighting. Cadverus recognised both, Naofumi's was his small shield, which gave the shield hero the most defence out of all his shields. Meanwhile Motoyasu was using the same spear he had during the wave. Cadverus wasn't sure what stat buffs it gave, but it must be one of the spear heroes best weapons.

"Ever heard of the folk tail of the irresistible spear and the immovable shield? How about we test out who wins." Motoyasu said cockily, pointing his spear at the shield hero, who simply got into a stance, ready to block any attack thrown at him.