The Grand Escape

Chapter 15: The Grand Escape

White. No matter how long Naofumi searched, all he saw was white. He had been on this plane for who knows how long. Minutes, hours, years, Naofumi could only wish that he knew. The only thing keeping him company is blank existence, a collection of lights all floating around him with a green light in particular trying its best to get his attention. But the second he reached out his hand, he woke up.

The sounds of a struggle filled his ears as the room he woke up in was wrecked. With the wardrobe knocked down and several of his potions lying wasted on the floor, he finally decided to get up, only for him to be assaulted by a pain coming from his chest.

"Agh."

"Oh thank God you're awake. Sakura was worried!" Sakura exclaimed as she held Keel by his shirt. The dog boy continuously tried to claw at her face and arms, but unfortunately, did nothing to cause any real pain.

"Sakura showing concern, a rare sight. Now, what the hell happened here? And where did he come from?" Naofumi asked, pointing at Ake.

"You were passed out for this, but he helped carry your back.".

"I'll question you later. But why is the room a wreck!"

"Oh, Keel seemed to think that we were slavers, so Sakura had to catch him."

"The kid caused this much damage?"

"Sakura knows. He even pulled out some of Sakura's feathers… it hurts."

"Oh, they'll grow back, as for you." Naofumi walked over and pulled off the rope previously binding Keel's mouth.

"Back away from me, or you'll feel my wrath!" The boy yelled as he growled at Naofumi.

"Yell at me again and I'm putting this muzzle back on."

"Doesn't matter, I"ll-" Naofumi used his rope shield to tie up Keel's mouth again.

"Where's Raphtalia." At the mention of her name, the boy started to settle down a bit. But Sakura didn't release him just yet.

"She went to Belokaus to grab the slave ink. Although I don't understand why?"

"I need to register him, I did buy him."

"You did a purchase behind Sakura's back, how much did it cost?"

"That's what I'm hoping to figure out now."

/~/

"Master Naofumi, are you okay!"

"I'll let that one slide. Yes, after some healing magic I was fine."

"What a relief. I got the ink for you."

"Good. Mark the dog, I got things to do."

"On it." Sakura held up Keel as Raphtalia dipped some of Naofumi's blood in the ink. Naofumi wasn't there to witness it, but he can hear the grunts of Keel from the Inside.

"Belokaus!"

"Ahh, shield-."

"Drop the bullshit. HOW THE HELL DID YOU LOSE YOUR OWN MERCHANDISE!"

"I'm sorry shield. But the knights take priority. I did all I could to keep it, but they were adamant about it."

"Don't patronize me. Were you at least useful in finding the other one?"

"According to my henchmen, she didn't survive."

"Damn. Raphtalia isn't going to be pleased."

"If you like, I have-."

"No thanks." Naofumi tosses a bag at the slave trader and exited the tent. Outside. The party is sitting down on the floor, everyone getting up the second they hear Naofumi.

"Hey, you're back."

"Yeah. I see that you got the kid to calm down."

"It took a bit of convincing, but we got it."

"I am now convinced this is Raphtalia, but don't think I'll listen to you just because I'm under your ownership!" Keel exclaimed.

"I don't care, we already have our agreement." Naofumi turned around and faced the party. "Alright, you idiots, and Raphtalia. Tomorrow we leave at dawn. So you guys go have fun somewhere, I've got a meeting to attend." Naofumi started to walk off before turning back around.

"Oh, and Keel some proper clothes while you're at it."

"Y-you mean. Go to the d-demon tailor." Sakura asked, horrified at the mere mention of her name.

"Just go!"

"Spear guy was right, you're cruel!"

/~/

"How odd, you two are back already? It's not even night." Fitoria asked to take a bite out of a giant dragon's leg. The sheer presence of Fitroia was enough to send Keel to his knees, with Ake struggling a bit to stand as well.

"Yep. Wave has been taken care of with minimal casualties."

"Really. I guess that's a job well done then." Fitoria grabbed a giant dragon's tail and ripped it off. "So Fitoria can only assume that you're back for training?"

"Indeed, we need to get Keel here in fighting condition. You're better at hand to hand combat than Sakura so she thought this would be best."

"And what of the other one?" Fitoria asked, pointing towards Ake.

"Oh that's just Ake, he's just here."

"Umm… good morning," Ake asked, still being held back by Fitoria's royal pressure.

"Alright then, do they have their offerings prepared?"

"Yes, they do." Sakura ushered Keel and Ake to Fitoria's cart and took out two plates of food. One is chopped-up steak with some mushrooms, and the other is a bowl of rice.

"This is a combined dish. You mix the steak inside and eat it with the rice. I would bring more but I was unsure if eggs would be appropriate because… well you know." Ake explained.

"Doesn't matter. Food is food." Fitoria took bowls of steak and rice. After taking a bite and chewing for a moment, Fitoria ends up dumping the entire bowl into her mouth and swallows in one gulp. "Hmm, 7/10, you pass." Fitoria got down from her rock and walked over to Ake and Keel.

Sizing them up, Fitoria notices the clothes Keel was wearing were very basic, just black shorts and a white shirt that exposed his midriff. The only exciting thing about his outfit was the bow near his ears, which the tailor said was necessary for the outfit. But what really caught her attention was Keel's body. It was extremely malnourished and scarred on pretty much all sides.

Fitoria reached her hand out, and a wave of energy immediately washed over Keel's body, closing up all the wounds. She then handed him over the giant tail she ripped off.

"Fitoria can't heal scars, but you should definitely consider eating more."

"Umm… thanks." Keel took the tail and took a bite, but immediately spat it out once he noticed it was raw.

Moving over to Ake, she found him perfectly built for a man of his age and gave him a pass.

"Alright, I pretty much got what I needed. Sakura, Raphtalia, and Ake, you go practice. I'll be working with Keel."

"Please go easy on him, he's only level 4."

"No promises." Fitoria grabbed Keel like a football and jumped into the air. Raphtalia looks over to Sakura as Fitoria leaves their eyesight.

"You know, you two act very similarly sometimes."

"Sakura has no idea what you're talking about." Sakura chuckled a bit before pulling out her sword.

/~/

Ake and Raphtalia clashed swords. Although she was doing her best, Ake had no issue dealing with her strikes, parrying the attacks and sending his own right back. At one point, Ake made a misstep which left himself wide open, giving Raphtalia an opening to quickly strike. But it was all a ruse, as Ake recovered quickly from his "misstep" and dodged the hit, quickly knocking away Raphtalia's sword afterward."

"Nice match Miss Raphtalia."

"Same here. You're only level 32, but you're easily able to keep up with us."

"Not to be rude. But a lot of your style was pretty much just you flailing about."

"I was not!"

"Not that it was on purpose. But that lacks some proper sword skills. Half the time I noticed that you swung for my sword instead of any exposed area that you could attack. That will not do."

"Ha, she totally does do that." Sakura teased.

"The same goes for you Sakura. You guys aren't focusing on your technique, and just hope your levels can make the difference. And although that may be the case most of the time, the second you go against an equal, you'll definitely lose."

"Hey, didn't Sakura use you as a step ladder?"

"I say most of the time and I was caught off guard. Anyways you still need to learn more than the basics. You need to know when to block, how to deflect, and when to strike. These are the proper techniques that you need to learn before being considered adept at the blade."

"See, this is why you should totally join, you'll be a natural adventurer."

"Unfortunately I can't, or at least now I can't."

"Why not. I'm sure Naofumi would welcome you in?"

"It's not that. As the vice-captain, I can't just leave my squad like that. It's also very likely that the captain would want us court-martialed for disobeying him. I'm pretty sure you know, but a human following the shield hero in Melromarc is basically a non-spoken taboo."

"Then why help despite knowing all of this."

"I don't know. Pride, the annoyance of the church, and a duty to help the man who saved my family. There was so much going on at the time that I couldn't really think straight. Like my captain, the person I looked up to for so long, will just call a sanction spell on a village just to "accidentally" kill the shield hero."

"A hard choice. So you either leave and abandon your squad, or stay and risk a court martial… I don't see any out here."

"You guys can try running away," Sakura suggested.

"The church has spies everywhere. Doing that will be very risky."

"With spies, I guess you can't… wait I think I have a plan."

"You do?"

"Do you have any more steak and rice?"

/~/

"I'll be heading to Siltvelt. Faburey is apparently doing swell, so you two can argue over who grabs Zeltoble, and we'll all meet back here without teleport waypoint."

"You sure we shouldn't deal with this together?" Itsuki asked.

"We don't have the means to travel between countries that fast, so you'll have to deal with it yourself so we can teleport each other next time. Just do what I told you with the methods and you idiots will all be fine."

"Let's hope you're right about this. And If I die, I'll haunt you for the rest of your life." Ren jokes.

"Well if you don't suck, then you won't have to worry about dying. Especially if you boost your squad."

"Naofumi, I'm not putting slave crest on my team. It's not just."

"Same here, you're on your own in that department."

"Alright fine, but don't complain to me if your team isn't strong enough. I tried warning you." Naofumi taps the air for a bit. Soon being engulfed by a beam of light and disappeared from his spot. Itsuki and Ren gave their own goodbyes to each other, and also disappeared in a flash of light.

Appearing at the front door of his tavern room. Naofumi opens the door, and witnesses a squad full of knights all crowded around the bed.

"And that's when Sakura will send her spies."

"Wait wait wait, you have spies?" Ake asked.

"Yeah, Sakura took over a wild Filolial group. Now the spies will-."

"What the hell is this!?"

"Oh hey, you're back."

"Can you stop letting people into this room? Who are these guys?"

"They're my squad. We're trying to figure out how to properly transfer so we can avoid a court martial. "

"Would that even work? What's stopping them from denying a transfer?"

"Well, we technically work under the lord of Ryute, as he holds the authority of the knights in that area. If we can get approval from him, which we most likely can. We can swap no problem. The only issue is getting there, and getting the letter to be signed."

"Is it really that difficult to get some papers signed?"

"No, it's actually a very simple process. It's just that the shadows may take us out beforehand."

"You keep saying shadows like I know what that is."

"Everyone, cover your ears, and don't stop until I give the thumbs up."

"Yes sir." all the knights covered their ears immediately. With Sakura and Raphtalia following shortly after, Naofumi ordered them too.

"The shadows are basically a group similar to what the heroes call Shinobi. As a vice-captain, I'm allowed to know of their existence. If I reveal this to anyone else, they will most likely assassinate me."

"Then why tell me?"

"Heroes are a special case but that's not the point. The church has its shadows everywhere, it's how they see and know all actions done. I'll most likely be moving up on their target list after helping you because the 3 heroes' church despises the shield hero."

"I'm well aware."

"Then be warned. They'll stop at nothing to stop us from escaping. The only reason we're still alive is because Siltvelt will go to war if the shield hero is directly killed by the church. So they'll be trying to do indirect methods for now. Especially since the sword and bow are starting to lose trust with Melromarc."

"The politics of this place is insane."

"It's hard to follow, but you'll get used to it." Ake put his thumbs up, allowing everyone to uncover their ears. "Now Sakura was thinking that she can use her spies to-"

"Wait, you have spies?"

"Not important."

"Pretty sure it is."

"Shut it. Anyways, Sakura will use her spies to carry the knights to this Reicnott guy, while Neila gets the papers signed."

"There, we'll be under the protection of the lord who's very close to the queen. So the church will think twice about attacking anyone there."

"It'll also give an added benefit, as the church will be too focused on us to attack you." A puppy girl added, reminding Naofumi of someone.

"Wait, where's Keel?"

"He's currently with Fitoria."

"You sure he'll be okay with her?"

/~/

Keel rolls away from one of Fitoria's punches, and throws one of his own. However, the punch was easily blocked, and he ended up getting tossed into a tree.

/~/

"He'll be fine. Fitoria will teleport him to us after she's finished."

"And she's not helping us with this, why?"

"She claims she didn't want to get caught up with the "drama of humans" and that we're on our own."

"Figures. Alright, if we're doing this plan, we should move now before they start mobilizing a counter force."

"Don't worry, we're in citizen territory. The odds of them attacking are very-" A ball that only Naofumi can recognize as a grenade flies through the window. "slim?" Everyone else nonchalantly stares at the bomb as its fuse burns down, but Naofumi acts quickly and traps it behind a airstrike shield, blocking the blast.

"Slim you say Ake!"

"There's always room for error." As Ake got up from his bed, several people cloaked in white entered the room and started to attack. Before they could reach anyone, Naofumi trapped everyone inside a shield prison and sent them a party invite.

"Accept quickly."

"Okay." Ake and the rest of the group accept Naofumi's request. And they are soon teleported in a flash of light.

/~/

Reappearing at a random campsite. Naofumi undoes his shield prison and uncovers a cart.

"Sakura, hurry up! We need to-" Naofumi looked on in confusion as his hand subconsciously grabbed an arrow from the sky. His confusion quickly turned into fear as he noticed the area he was in was surrounded by archers.

"Cart now!" Naofumi uses every ability he can to defend everyone from the attackers. Although a couple of people were hit, they were all able to get inside the cart and get away.

"They figured out our hiding spot!?"

"Sakura told you we should have relocated!" An arrow flies into one of the cart boards and breaks it. Looking behind them, several more carts of the church are currently running after them.

"Hey, watch the cart!"

"I don't think they'll listen to words. Raphtalia."

"On it."

"I'll help too." A girl dressed in the robes of a caster came forth. "Let's blow 'em away with some magic."

"Way ahead of you."

"As the source of your power, we command you. Reshape the heavens and earth, and combine elements in a burst of energy! [Eclipse]" With light in Raphtalia's hand and darkness in the witches. They both shoot out a blast that forms into a black sun. The sun rose into the air, and shot a line of energy at the carts, blowing them all up.

"Nice one!"

"You too!" Raphtalia and the witch girl high-fived each other, before Naofumi spoiled their victory.

"There's more ahead!" Naofumi pointed to a blockade of carts.

"What a nuisance. Keep the cart steady."

"Wait what, do not-" Sakura jumped away and the cart immediately started to wobble. As she was in the air, an aura of wind surrounded her as she turned into a blur. "[High Quick Strike!]" The opposing side did their best to attack back, but effortlessly ran through their defenses, and ran back to the unstable cart.

"I think I'm going to be sick!"

"Me too!"

"Please, don't you ever do that again?"

"Don't worry you're still alive."

"Umm… I don't think that statement is going to last." A knight from Ake's squad pointed towards the sky as a bird of fire crashed into the cart, sending everyone to the ground.

"I swear, you have to make things so difficult to shield." A voice insulted. Looking up, Naofumi notices that it was the pope himself, holding a weird sword.

"You know, I expected you to show up on this path towards the border. But, it looks like we also have gathered all our targets in one place. How swell," The spear changed to a spear and started to gather up energy.

"Raphtalia, Sakura. I don't think we can fight this guy."

"Then portal us out of here."

"I can't, still on cool down." Naofumi swapped through a few shields before picking the chimera viper shield.

"When I say run, get out of here."

"What no, Sakura can't leave you."

"I'll be fine, just get everyone out first."

"B-"

"Sakura, I order you to move!" When Sakura went to reject this time, her crest activated. Although the crest was too weak to even cause any pain, she still felt a shock in her chest.

"Fine."

A beam of light similar to the Sanction spell Ake's squad used descended from the sky. Naofumi bought the entire team some time by utilizing his air strike shields, but no matter how much he summoned, they broke through.

Sakura waited for the moment when all the nuns' guards were down to make her grand escape. She Used high speed to pick everyone but Naofumi up, and dashed past the nuns immediately.

"You can struggle all you like as a shield demon. You aren't going to survive the full power of the heavens. We'll find your companions, and give them the same treatment as yourself here, as that is the only path of heathens who follow the words of the demons." The beam broke through Naofumi's last shield and crashed into him. Naofumi stood tall at first, holding up the beam, but the pressure started to get to him, and soon started to falter.

"Strong isn't it? The more followers I have, the stronger this beam becomes. You're only delaying the inevitable."

"Can just shut up already!" Naofumi was brought down to his knees as the beam almost fell.

'Come on, come on. Portal shield, activate, teleport Melromarc.' No matter how many times Naofumi tried. The portal will never come.

"So this is how I die then, "Purified" by cultists. How swell." As Naofumi let go. The beam finally fell uncontested and engulfed the shield hero.

The party looked back as they witnessed an explosion strong enough to scorch the earth. With no time to turn back, Sakura just kept on running, hoping to keep her final orders from her master alive.