Sinner in Night's Shadow

Chapter 3

Written in 2020, uploaded to Wattpad on 12/29/2022

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Knock knock!

"Sir Dagger Hero! The king has requested that the heroes are to attend an urgent meeting with him as soon as possible!"

The door slowly creaked open as a pair of purple eyes stared deep into the guard's soul.

"Who dares disturb my sleep?" Naito's true voice came out unhindered, like that of a demon in the dark.

"A-Ah! Apologies sir Dagger Hero!" The guard stuttered out. "P-Please take your time...!"

The door was shut. Naitokirā sat on the bed, annoyed that he was now wide awake.

He sighed, and begrudgingly got ready for the day.

[Later, at the castle...]

Now here he was, in the throne room of Melomarc's castle, assembled with three of the other heroes.

The girl who had accompanied Naofumi was here, crying into the Spear Hero's chest, which was covered in a suspiciously familiar-looking suit of chainmail.

"What's going on?" The Dagger Hero impatiently asked. "Why was I forcibly awoken at this hour?"

"Th-That dastardly shield devil...he...he...he pushed me down onto the bed! And..and..."

Oh.

Oooooooh.

Welp, this got dark pretty quickly.

"I see." He responded. "I apologize for my rude behavior. You have my condolences."

The throne room's doors opened as the unfortunate Shield Hero was dragged in and unceremoniously thrown to the floor.

"Wh-What's going on—"

"SHIELD HERO!" Aultcray bellowed angrily. "Who do you think you are?! To think that you would show your true colors so soon..."

"W-Wha— I didn't do anything?!"

"L-Liar! You came into my room, drunk, and...and...You violated me...!" The redhead exclaimed, pointing at him.

"Truly, a disgusting human being," Itsuki said, crossing his arms.

"Despicable, really," Ren added.

"Why, I ought to strike you down for what you did to her!"

"The law states that the punishment for the crime of rape is...execution." The King proclaimed, "However, as you are one of the Four Cardinal Heroes, you are needed in order to fight the waves."

At that moment, Naitokirā witnessed an instantaneous change in Naofumi.

Gone was the naive kid of yesterday, and in his place...well, that's a character development speedrun if he ever saw one.

"Send me back," Naofumi demanded. "If I am guilty of this so-called crime, then why don't you just toss me out and summon a new one?"

"Of course he wants to go home, after committing such a horrid crime!"

"Taking the easy way out? Coward!"

The King scoffed. "I wish I very well could, Shield Devil! But the only way to summon a new hero is if the previous wielder dies!"

Ooh....damn. That kinda sucks.

While this was going down, Naito threw many glances towards the Spear Hero. More specifically, his chainmail. Had he been paying attention, he probably would've seen the red-head, who was now by the king's side, make a "Gotcha" gesture.