Y/n's pov

Naofumi is glaring down at Melty, after just telling her to get lost. Melty stared at him "Please wait! you have to hear me out!" Naofumi sat back down on the barrel, still glaring "I dont 'have to' listen to a word that comes out of you royals' filthy mouths." A knight opened the door "Melty-sama, his Majesty calls for you. Come with me" Melty looked at the knight before looking at Naofumi "very well. bye Filo-chan" Melty ran out towards the guard. I sighed and looked at Naofumi "Rifana, stay with Naofumi. . . . Naofumi, see you at the wave." I walked out, following after Melty. Filo called out "Mel-chan Y/n!" Naofumi spoke out to here "Filo." I didn't hear anymore as I closed the door behind me, looking over at Melty. "Hold up princess." The knights surrounding her turned towards me, pointing their weapons at me. Melty looked over and spoke "put your weapons down, He is a friend" the guards put their weapons down at her order and I walked up to her "Let us walk and talk, I'm sure your father isn't patient enough to wait longer than he wants to" she nodded and started walking, with me walking next to her.

"so, what is it that you wanted to talk about Y/n?" "I wish to accompany you after the next wave of calamity ends." She looked up at me "Why? aren't you a part of the shield hero's party?" I sighed "I wont go into too much detail with so many untrustworthy people around. but I will be leaving the shield hero's party after the wave is over. and currently I have nowhere to go after I leave the party. I figured it would be best to find something of some importance, so being your companion or guard was my first idea" she nodded and frowned "It would be nice to have someone to keep me company, but I don't know if my father or mother would allow it." I smiled at her "Your father is most likely worried about your safety. I can easily prove that I can protect you. If he thinks the guards are enough to protect you, then the recent events involving you would prove otherwise." She nodded "I suppose that would work for my father, but I'm not so sure about my mother" "I would be able to talk to your mother when you go to report to her. Or we could see if the Shadow that has been following us could check for your mother's approval." Melty looked up at me in shock "you know about the shadow?" I nodded "I've noticed them watching since I first joined Naofumi's party. They seemed to be watching more when you showed up." She frowned "I didn't think anyone would be able to see them" "they wouldn't be easily spotted by regular people. but with training and experience people can sense even the shortest glance" she nodded and sighed "I guess I could have a shadow go and see about getting permission from my mom, if she says yes I would love to have you around" I nodded as we got up to the castle gates.

Melty dismissed the group of guards around her and the all headed off towards one of the nearby towers. Melty walked though the door into the castle, but when I tried to follow her the guards by the doors pointed spears at me. I prepared to take them out but Melty called out "let him though, he is with me" The guards took the spears away and nodded, I could see them glaring at me under their helmets as I walked past them over to Melty. "thank you princess. I would have likely caused a scene if you hadn't spoke up" She frowned and nodded , looking ahead and walking quickly. I easily kept up with her speed, since she had shorter legs. We made it up to the doors leading to the throne room without speaking a word to each other. The guards opened the doors for her, allowing both of us in without any spear pointing. Melty walked closer to the thrones, with me walking a little ways behind her and to the side.

She stopped walking and stood still at the same spot that the heroes stood during the ceremony after the first wave. She looked up at the king who sat at his throne and spoke "you wished to speak to me father?" He smiled at her "Yes my dear, I wished to catch up to you while you are here in the capital. We haven't spoken in so long. But first..." The king looked at me, a bit of disgust in his eyes and spoke "Who is this boy accompanying you." Melty looked at me and nodded to me. I nodded back and bowed slightly "My name is Y/n L/n. I am an acquaintance of the princess, that wishes to become her personal guard or companion with the permission of her mother. and hopefully given you consent as well." The king stared at me, putting a hand on his beard "He has some manners it seems... What make you think I should give you my consent to accompany my daughter? The guards and soldiers have done a fine job protecting her thus far." I stayed in my bow and spoke "I would be able to stay by your daughter at all times, no having to switch guards every so often or having her without a protector. I would also be keeping her company. Social interaction that your daughter doesn't get enough of during her travels. I also wouldn't lose sight of her when she goes off to play with filolial, Like what happened on her most recent travels"

The king frowned, nodding slowly "I see your points, however I do not know if you are strong enough to keep my daughter safe. You speak well, and are decently mannered. But I have not seen you fight." I nodded and smiled "I have fought in the 2nd wave and survived, and plan to fight in the upcoming wave as well. however, If you wish to test me here, I am happy to oblige" The king nodded and I heard movement around me. I changed my chains into silver chains, and the end piece into a silver hook. I looked at the guards around me before looking up at the king "Do you wish for me to incapacitate them all or simply beat them" the king stared down at them "If they surrender or are unable to continue, I will consent to you accompanying my daughter Melty" I nodded and looked at the guards. There were 8 of them, each of them held a speak in their hands with a sword at their waist. The king gave a signal and the started attacking. Their patterns were easy to read, and only moderately difficult to avoid. They attacked in ways to try and trap me or force me into the way of other attacks. I easily dodged and parried their attacks, watching them to gauge how strong they actually are. After a while I started to attack back, countering their attack to knock them into each other, or simply kicking them back. They started to break their formation, which allowed me to let my chain unravel a bit. I used my chain to take away their spears and knock them onto the ground. 2 of them were knocked out from the fall, and 1 surrendered, but the other 5 slowly got up and pulled out their swords.

one of them charged at me and attempted an over head swing, but they were quickly knocked out by a punch to the gut. The other four got into a formation and watched me carefully. I held onto the chain, swinging it in a circle motion before launching it at one of them. they attempted to block with their sword, but the silver hook broke the sword and hooked into their armor. I smirked and pulled the chain, sending the person flying towards me. Once the were close enough, I kicked them into another one of the guards who attempted to use the change to charge me. The knocked into each other and went into a nearby pillar, both knocked out. The hook was still stuck in the armor of one of the ones in the pillar, so the other two guards charged at me. I wrapped the chain around the closer one's neck and used them as a shield against the other, before kicking them into each other and pulling hard on my chain. the hook came out of the armor and flew into the 2 guards i just kicked, knocking them into the wall. They both fell onto the ground, unable to get up. I slowly wrapped the chain back around my arm and looked at the king. "Is that sufficient enough Sir King?" The king nodded "Yes, that is more than enough. I give my consent to you staying by my daughter so long as you understand your place and don't attempt to use your position for your own benefits." I nodded and bowed "You needn't worry about that. I only desire survival and safety for myself and those I believe are trustworthy."

Melty looked at me and then at the guards that I had taken out, she seemed slightly upset but didn't voice it. She looked back up at her father and spoke. "Since that is out of the way, I suppose we should get back on track and go to reason I am here. Mother sent me to question your recent actions" The king frowned and spoke to her "My dear daughter, It is much too soon to be getting into such serious conversations. You have just arrived safely back home, you should spend some time relaxing a bit and getting settled in before we discus such matters" Melty frowned and shook her head "No, Mother wanted me to do this as soon as I arrived. The matter of summoning all 4 heroes here has caused many problems. And word of the Shield hero's treatment has made even more problems that could lead to war." The king shakes his head "I do not wish to talk about this daughter. I did what I had to in order to protect my family. now please drop this topic and allow us to spend some time bonding" Melty clenched her fists and shook her head "No. If you do not wish to speak about this then we have nothing to talk about. I will be going to my quarters now." She turned around with a huff and started walking out. Stopping a few feet away from me and looking at me "Come along Y/n." I nodded and bowed to the king a final time before following after Melty. She stomped angrily down the halls as she headed towards her room.

She was very visibly upset over this, but attempted to look as dignified as she could as she angrily walked. I reached a hand out and touched her shoulder "Princess. I believe it would be best for you to take a moment to calm and collect yourself." She turned to me and spoke in a raised voice "Stop calling me that!" she stood there, huffing for a few moments before taking a deep breath and sighing. "call me by my name. you don't have to call me princess." "I am simply calling you by your title while we are here in the open Princess. I don't mean to upset you" She grabbed my arm and looked into my eyes "I don't care about if we are out in the open or in a private setting. We are friends aren't we? I don't want you to treat me like you are my servant" I chuckled and carefully removed her hands from my arms "That is very bold of you to say princess. One might get the wrong idea if you say such things to them whilst looking so sternly at them." She stared blankly at me for a few moments before her face turned beet red and she waved her hands in front of her quickly "that isn't. I. .umm. ahhh" she punched my arm and hung her head down, visibly embarrassed. I smiled and grabbed her hand "I know what you meant Melty. I was just teasing you a little. It seems to have helped to calm yourself from that anger you had previously." she stared at me as she collected herself, taking deep breaths. After she finished she looked at me and pulled her hand away quickly, looking away with a pout "hmph." I smiled more and spoke again "Let's continue to your room Melty. you must be tired after such an eventful day." She nodded slowly and started walking again

Once we reached her room she sat down on her bed and let out a deep sigh, looking down at her hands that she had set neatly in her lap. She seemed to be deep in though as a frown made it's way onto her face. I shook my head and called her name, causing her to snap out of her thinking and look at me "huh?" "Excuse me for interrupting your thoughts. but it seemed like something was upsetting you. you shouldn't be contemplating so much when you should be relaxing and getting ready to sleep." She nodded and looked down again "sorry. I just feel like I'm not getting anything done. I didn't get any answers out of my father, Sir Naofumi doesn't trust me, and I haven't been able to do anything my mother had asked of me." I shook my head again and sat down next to her on the bed "you shouldn't be thinking so hard about that. You haven't failed at anything yet. there is always tomorrow to get things done. you have a lot of responsibilities for someone so young, and as far as I've seen, you are doing very well for yourself. You have your responsibilities to tend to, but you have to remember that you are still a child. you shouldn't force yourself to grow up so quickly, take time to have fun and calm down or you will just stress yourself out and not get anything done." She nodded slowly, still staring down at the ground "but.." I flicked her forehead "No buts. just sit there, relax. don't think about all of the problems and just think about having some time to enjoy yourself. It's unhealthy for young ladies to stress themselves before bed." She looked up at me, holding her hands to the spot on her forehead that I flicked. I smiled at her and continued talking "Now. Since it is so late, I'm going to go get you something to eat and drink while you ready yourself for sleep." She nodded slowly as I got up and walked towards the door. I opened the door and began stepping out, stopping when I heard her speak "Y/n, wait" I looked back at her, seeing her holding onto her shirt while looking down "What is it Melty?" She looked down more, gripping her skirt more "thank you" I chuckled "you're welcome. now start getting ready for bed. hurry before I get back. I don't want to walk in on you changing into your nightwear." I closed the door, hearing a squeak behind the door as I walked away, heading to the kitchen to pick up food for her.

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a/n:

it took way too long for me to finish this chapter.