Changing paces

Mute

The shield hero had been oddly... silent since he had been summoned, only communicating through odd hand gestures and charades. He also had been keeping a long black scarf wrapped high around his neck, burying his chin and nose in the material.

He seemed standoffish and rude, although he may just be insanely shy. Either way, his voice had not been heard once by anyone since the summoning.

Except, allegedly, Aultcray's own daughter.

When he had assaulted her in the dead of night.

Aultcray was understandably infuriated when he still continued to refuse to speak after he was dragged in from the inn, holding a pad of paper and a charcoal stick wearing nothing but the inn pajamas and a blanket as a rudimentary cloak.

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Upon hearing what he was being accused of, Naofumi almost punched the nearest accuser before stopping.

Taking the pad of paper he nabbed from the stash he had bought, he quickly wrote a simple question and passed it to Motoyasu.

'~ If I did assault her just like you said, then what does my voice sound like?~'

"Hey, Naofumi kinda has a point. What did his voice sound like, Myne?" Questioned Ren, having a suspicion that something big was about to happen.

"I-it was deep and gravely and creepier than anything else I'd ever heard!"

Suddenly a huffing sound came from the accused.

Naofumi reaches up, untied the blanket, and revealed his throat. Long, thin scars arched along either side, light and smooth enough to have been there for years.

He then started talking.

Or trying to, at least. All that came out of his mouth was a series of wheezes, whines and huffs.

Itsuki was the first to speak.

"N-Naofumi, are you... mute?"

The shield bearer nodded, grabbing another sheet of paper and writing down a fairly lengthy explanation. Passing it to Ren, the exasperated male turned to give the princess a mile-long stare.

"He says he had a large throat tumor as a toddler and the only way to remove it fully meant he had to lose his vocal chords. He's fine now but, as he just showed, he's mute and usually uses sign language and pantomime to communicate. In other words, he is very much not the culprit since he can't fucking talk."

The other heros stared at the seemingly straight-laced sword user.

"So wait, Myne lied about being assaulted?"

"Or at least misidentified her assailant, Motoyasu. "

Aultcray cleated his throat, very confused by the terms being thrown around and wanting clear answers from the group of heros.

"Pardon my apparent ignorance, but what is a tumor and what are vocal chords? And why is it that the shield hero is just making sounds and not speaking?"

"Your majesty, he literally can't talk.  A tumor is a mass that grows in the body, slowly killing you from the inside. They can also spread and form in other parts of the body and even lace themselves through your blood. Vocal chords are a set of vibrating valves in your throat that allow you to make noise.  Since he's had them removed with the tumor he had in his throat, Naofumi is mute and can only make sounds related to air moving through his lungs and throat."

The king paled, leaning back while rubbing his eyes and sighing in defeat.

"Melty you lied again, didn't you? I told you, I will let some things fly but your mother is breathing down my neck and forcing my hand. I also cannot condone lying about such a thing. You're grounded. That means no adventuring until after the next wave, no parties, and you'll be helping the stable hands for the next 4 months when not out on heavily restricted adventures."

The spoiled princess screamed at her father, said man looking 4 times his age and slowly slumping down in defeat.

"I apologize for my daughter's accusations, sir hero. She has recently been discovered to be a pathological liar with a psychotic streak and my wife and I are attempting to mitigate the damage. I pray you can forgive me for jumping to conclusions, I hoped she wouldn't go to this extreme. I was sadly mistaken."

Naofumi just gave a huffing chuckle, waving the king's worries away with good humor before making some more hand gestures.

Realizing no one understood, Naofumi groaned before writing a third note and handing it over to Motoyasu this time.

"Uh... wow so apparently he's dealt with people doing this to him before because he has a resting bitch face and used to work part time as a caretaker for young mute and deaf or hard of hearing kids. Some of the moms were crazy and tried to get him arrested because their kids liked to talk with him more than them." Was the awed translation of Naofumi's rather... colorful rant about his past career.

"*sigh* court adjourned! Malty, room, now! Heroes, please make sure that the shield hero gets at least one companion who can either read or use this sign language. Good luck with your adventures, and please take this small pouch of gold as an apology."

Upon handing over a pouch containing 10 gold (1000 silver, roughly), Aultcray left, mumbling about needing a drink and crazy daughters.

Naofumi just blinked, shrugged, and went on his way.

'Next task, actual armor/clothes. Then, companions who are willing to learn sign language because paper is expensive and journals are even more so here.'