Two worlds, one shield

Chapter 14: Guilt

"Do you...think that they will be okay?" Melty questioned, worried about Ren and his party members.

Naofumi turned towards Melty for a second before turning forward.

Raphtalia took this opportunity to help calm the second princess by saying:

"The Sword Hero is strong as well as his party. They will make it out unscathed."

The second princess looked at her, noticing the confidence when answering her question.

She still felt guilty though due to the fact that she's the reason that the soldiers had managed to catch up to them.

All she can hope right now is for Ren and his party members to escape their predicament.

"Don't feel guilty, princess." A voice to her side spoke, understanding how she's feeling.

The second princess turned towards the direction of the voice to see that it was Garfiel.

He had caught up after being the last one to escape out of the group.

"I was wondering how long it would take you to catch up."

"Hm."

Garfiel didn't respond to Naofumi's comment and just quickly jumped onto Filo's back to be with the other Shield Hero party members.

Once he was on Filo's back along with Naofumi, Melty, and Raphtalia, Filo increased her speed in order to gain more distance from where the other cardinal heroes are located.

While she was running deeper into the forest, Garfiel continued to speak with Melty:

"I know ya worried fer sword guy. 'F there's somethin' my amazin' self can assure ya th't they'll make 't outta there. Sword guy's pretty strong. Hell, he took on a pissed off Shield Boss."

As he said this, Naofumi turned towards his direction, wanting to ridicule him for bringing that up though he let it slip this one time.

Melty paused for a moment before nodding at Garfiel, seeing that there's no reason to trust in Ren and his party's capabilities in escaping their predicament.

As her worries were lowered, they waited until it was a safe distance before they got off of Filo's back.

She returns to her human form in order to rest up along with Raphtalia and Melty while Naofumi and Garfiel remain their guard up.

"Ya think we made it far enough."

"We must assume that some had followed."

He wasn't going to take any chance. He knows that Malty isn't going to lose this opportunity to eliminate her sister.

The demi human boy nodded, understanding that it's best to keep their guard up.

As the two were looking around, the boy sensed that someone was nearby.

"Show yerself!" Garfiel shouted, having eventually pinpointed the exact location the person nearby was at.

Naofumi responded to Garfiel's shout by smacking him in the head.

"What's the point of hiding if you're going to shout?"

"..." Garfiel just grabbed the top of his head.

As he does this, Rapthalia spots someone near the trees, revealing themselves to be someone concealing their identity through a hood and a mask.

She prepares to pull out her sword only to be stopped by Melty:

"Wait! She's on our side."

Raphtalia paused as she along with Garfiel, Naofumi, and Filo looked at the person Melty said was on their side.