Y/n's Pov

A loud sound rang out through the busy streets of the island, and a sharp stinging pain was spread on my face. I looked at Rifana, who had just slapped me and dealt quite a bit of damage to my hp. Her cheeks were puffed out and her eyes were welling with tears. Before I could say anything, she hugged me tightly and cried onto me, speaking out as she did "How could you leave me like that! You're such a jerk Y/n-sama, I hate you so much" I stared down at her, in a bit of shock "your actions and words are extremely contradictory" She turned her head to glare up at me, her eyes red from crying. She swiftly kicked my shins, causing me to fall in pain. She fell with me, hugging onto me still "shut up! You left me without saying anything! Did you not even think about how I would feel!" I frowned and looked at her "I'm sorry Rifana.." she unwrapped her arms from around me and hit my chest, sobbing softly"I said shut up... I just... really hate you right now. I don't want to hear your stupid sweet voice." I sighed and stared down at her, she was gripping onto my shirt and crying. After a bit, she looked up at me and spoke again "Why. why did you leave." "do you want me to speak now?" She tightened her grip and glared at me, her voice laced with sarcasm "Nooo, I just asked because I wanted you to beam the information into my head" I held back the urge to use [telepathy] as I spoke "I was scared. You were the first person that I could care about in this world and I almost killed you. I didn't want to see you hate me, and I didn't want to hurt you again."

The next thing I knew, she punched me in the gut, hard. I had the wind knocked out of me for a bit while she spoke "You!... You thought I wouldn't hate you if you abandoned me!" I coughed a bit "I almost killed you... I thought you wouldn't want to see me again" She grabbed onto the collar of my shirt "I would have died if you never came into my life. I would be a rotting corpse in a dungeon cell. My life belongs to you." I stared at her "Let's not put it that way." She shook her head "no. you can do anything you'd want to me, kill me, hurt me, anything. Just not leaving me. I owe my life to you, so you can't leave before I pay that off" I grabbed her arms "I almost killed you, whatever debt to me you had is over" She glared at me "my debt to you isn't paid unless I feel like I've paid you back" I nodded "I feel like this situation is normally the other way around. this kinda feels like I'm getting robbed" She huffs "Shut up. dummy." She let go of my shirt slowly and hugged me again. I looked at Fitoria and she shrugged. I sighed and looked back at Rifana, hugging her slowly. She hugged me tighter and spoke "I missed you. . . Don't you dare try to leave me again" I frowned and hugged "Rifana. I'm sorry... I can't always stay by you." She growled at me "Why not!?" I frowned and put my hand on her soft head "I'm going to be doing some pretty reckless and stupid stuff. And I don't want you to be caught up in it." Rifana punched my foot and glared up at me "You are taking me with you. I don't care how dangerous it is going to be."

I sighed, ignoring the pain in my foot "Rifana, I can't take you with me. You should just take this chance and stay traveling with Naofumi. you always wanted to be with the shield hero right?" She grabbed my shirt again "I don't want to be with the shield hero anymore. I just want to be with you!" I stared at her, not knowing how to respond. her grip tightened on my shirt and she spoke again "I love you idiot." she pulled me down and went to kiss me, however, a hand blocked her. Rifana turned and glared, seeing Fitoria was the one that blocked her. Fitoria wiped off the side of her hand that Rifana's lips touched then crossed her arm "enough causing a scene. You got your revenge for him leaving him, now go back to your current party and leave us to get our lunch. Rifana kept glaring at her "You should go back to your forest, bird. This is between me and Y/n-sama. You can stay out of it" Fitoria gave Rifana a cold look and hugged onto my arm. "You interrupted me and my Y/n's lunchtime. So you can leave now." Rifana growled again, reaching for her daggers. "Your Y/n!? He is not yours!" Fitoria smirked and nuzzled against my arm "His titles say otherwise." I looked at my stats to see what she was talking about. I had 3 titles under the title section, [Failed Hero] [The Cursed one] and [Filolial King]. I looked down at Fitoria "when the hell did I get that title?" She giggled "I slipped one of my crown feathers into your weapon and the power accepted you as a king. Which means you are mine" Rifana growled "You bitch. He's mine, not yours!" Rifana jumped at Fitoria and attempted to stab her while Fitoria went to punch her, however, I stopped both of them and flicked Fitoria on the forehead "Alight, that's enough. I don't belong to anyone so stop trying to kill each other over ownership of me. Let's all just calm down and talk over lunch, without violence." The two huffed and glared at each other.

After managing to get them calmed down enough to get to a table at the place we planned to eat at, I was sat in between the two to keep them from fighting too much. Despite keeping them separated, they still glared at each other. I sighed and chopped both of their heads, which turned their glares towards me. I looked at them before speaking "enough glaring at each other. Let's just talk this out and get it over with." Rifana huffed and crossed her arms "I don't get why you're traveling with this ugly, overgrown chicken." Fitoria scoffed and crossed her arms "I don't get why he would travel with a disgusting rodent like you" I pinched their cheeks "Enough. don't immaturely insult each other. You are both equally adorable, and I would travel with both of you if the situation allowed it. Right now, let's just stop bickering and eat something." Fitoria hugged my arm and puffed out her cheek "Fine. just for now" Rifana grabbed my other arm and pouted "Only until we've finished eating." I let out a sigh and looked at the menu. After a while, we finally got to ordering and after a short and awkward wait, we got food. The two let go of my arms to eat, but they sat very close against me. I ate slowly, careful not to elbow either of them while I ate.

After finishing our food, and paying for it, we left the restaurant. They both grabbed onto my arms again, glaring at each other once again. I sighed as we walked, slowly becoming subjected to a game of tug-of-war between the two. I stopped once I noticed a certain blond Filolial girl high up in the air in the distance. The two girls also stopped and saw what I was looking at. After a moment, I spoke up "Naofumi is in that direction. I guess it's time to see how the Shield hero is doing" Fitoria nodded and we started walking in the direction that we saw Filo. As we approached, I noticed 2 unique looking people walking away from Naofumi's small group. A red haired man with a scythe on his back, and a blue haired woman with a lot of jewelry. To a normal person they would look like adventurers, however the gem on the mans scythe gave off the same energy as a hero weapon. I frowned a bit as they passed by us.

Rifana let go off my arm and ran over to Raphtalia "Raphtalia, you wont believe who I found" Raphtalia looked at her "Oh, Rifana, there you are. Why did you run off like that?" Naofumi looked at them for a moment before looking up at me and Fitoria as we approached. He lifted his shield arm, focusing on Fitoria "What are you doing here" Fitoria just hugged onto my arm "You don't have to worry about me right now. I'm simply here on a date with my Y/n, I wont be attacking any of you heroes unless I see that there is no hope for you" Naofumi looked up at me and sighed "And what are you do doing here?" I pat Fitoria's head a bit "we're taking a break from travelling for a few days, I decided it's best to come here since it's a decent vacation area and the bonus exp event will help me power level a bit before we go on out way." Naofumi nods and Filo speaks up "How long will you stay?" I went to stop patting Fitoria but she pulled my hand back down onto her head. "Probably just a day, it depends on Fitoria's mood." Fitoria sticks her tongue out at Rifana while Rifana glares at her. Filo was pouting a bit as she watched. Raphtalia sighed a bit and spoke up "Well, we've got to get going. Naofumi wanted to get some leveling done before it gets too late."

After a short farewell, Naofumi and his party left, taking Rifana with them as they left. I looked down at Fitoria "Come on, lets get back to our room and get changed. This is the perfect opportunity to see how far they've come." Fitoria nodded and we made out way back quickly, once we were in the privacy of our rented room, I used my inventory to switch into my new villain outfit, while Fitoria used the item I gave her to change. I looked away just in case because you never know what you'll see when it comes to clothes transformations on cute girls. While she was getting ready, I switched my chains into [Cardinal Blight] having it in shield form since that was the most transportable version. Soon, Fitoria grabbed onto my hand and started pulling me out the door. She lead us to the docks and found someone willing to take us to the other islands. We were taken to the first monster island, which was a spawning ground for weaker monsters like slimes. Locating the heroes was easy since there were many people complained about some groups that were stealing all the monsters and ignoring the rules.

We headed in the direction that people complained about, and found the heroes. It seemed that they just encountered each other and the 3 heroes began arguing while Naofumi's party was stood in the middle. I looked at Fitoria, despite the cloak hiding her face I could tell that she was frowning. I sighed and changed [Cardinal Blight] into bow form "alright, it's time for us to greet them" Fitoria nodded "I'll let you this one" I pat her head before stepping forward a bit before shooting magic arrows at the heroes. Naofumi used his shield to block the arrow, Ren deflected the arrow with his sword, Itsuki dodged the arrow, and Motoyasu got hit by the arrow. Immediately, Ren gets into a defensive stance while Itsuki draws an arrow and looks in my direction, Naofumi held his shield up and looked at me, while Malty yelled out "Who are you to dare attack Motoyasu!" I activated the bow skill [hundred arrows], firing it at the group regardless of whether they were hero or just party members. Naofumi used his shield skills to protect his whole group, Itsuki dodged everything he could while telling his party to defend while he counters, Ren deflects arrows and ignores his own party, and Motoyasu was just stood there while the mage in his party used a barrier spell.

Itsuki aimed his bow at me "It seems they aren't in the mood for talking, let's just take them out" He immediately used [Rapid shot] and fired multiple arrows at me while Ren used [Hundred sword]. I switched [Cardinal Blight] to shield form and blocked the oncoming attacks easily, though a cloud of dust was formed by the force of the impacts. I switched to spear form as I knew what would come next. Motoyasu yelled out "Finishing attack!" as he came through the dust using a combo skill with his spear. I used the spear skill [Counter] and sent him back in the direction he came from, with a large portion of his hp missing. I spun the spear in my hand to clear the dust and switched to sword form, looking down at the heroes. Motoyasu stood up slowly, using his spear as a crutch. Ren spoke out to Motoyasu "You idiot, don't scream out your attacks like that" Malty spoke up "It would have worked if your attack actually did something. Sir Motoyasu is not to blame for you and the bow hero's failure." Itsuki yelled out "Our failure? Not only did he attack before he should have, he also messed up his attack!" Motoyasu turned to Naofumi "Naofumi, use your shield and do something!" Naofumi sighed "What am I supposed to do?" Ren responded "Use your cheat shield"

Once more, they broke out into an argument, completely ignoring threat in front of them. I couldn't help but sigh I as I stared down at them. If breaking them apart was my goal, I would only have to stand here and watch. However, I had to unify them against an enemy so I acted. I lifted the sword above my head and activated a skill that only this weapon can use, [hero's blight]. The weapon glowed a dark red and began changing. All 4 weapons seemed to form at the same time. A long spear with a sword as the end, the cross-guard of the sword formed a bow. The only Issue with this, was the shield and gauntlet that formed on my arm. The rage shield attached to a sinister dragon scale gauntlet. I frowned but decided to address the issue later, doing my best to keep it out of Fitoria's view. I used a basic attack of the swordspearbow thing, which launched a blast of energy at the arguing group. All but Noafumi were affected by it. Ren was knocked back a lot and used his sword as a crutch to stand back up, Itsuki was burned and knocked to the ground, and Motoyasu was knocked out and instantly getting healed by the mage of his party. The remaining 3 heroes glared towards me for the interruption. I smirked and aimed at them again, speaking while using a voice changing skill "Did you expect a monologue? This isn't a game."

I shot another basic attack at them, this time Naofumi moved to the front and blocked it with his shield. He spoke up after "That weapon you're using, its a copy of the cardinal weapons. I thought that was destroyed." I shot another attack at him "This weapon is [Cardinal Blight]. It's not like that incomplete replica. This weapon was made for the sole purpose of killing useless heroes. This world is in need of true heroes, not defects that can't work together. I'll give you bastards till the end of the next wave to hit Melromarc. If I see that you are incompetent, I'll kill you all. You're party members included." Naofumi's glare hardened at the threat towards their parties. Malty in her infinite wisdom spoke up "You will not kill anyone! Motoyasu will stop you!" I looked towards Fitoria and she gave me a nod, understanding what I was going to do. I smirked and used [Quick Step] to appear behind Malty, switching [Cardinal blight] out of its merged form and into spear form, stabbing through her back and out her stomach. Silence seemed to fall as the scene in front of them played out. Malty stared down at the spear sticking out of her, shaking slightly. I lifted my foot and kicked her, pushing her off the spear and onto the ground. "Oh no, The hero didn't save you." None of them could move as I began walking away, swinging the spear to get the blood off of it. As soon as I was next to Fitoria, I spoke up "Remember Heroes, this world doesn't need you if you can't work together. No matter how strong your sword, how true your arrow, how righteous your spear, or how protective your shield. Alone, you cannot save anything."

We left the scene quickly, using my teleport ability to take us to a check point that I had set at the forest on the main Island. I let out a sigh as I changed my weapon back into my chains and my outfit back into my normal clothes. Fitoria used the item I gave her to change back to her normal outfit as well before hugging onto me tightly from behind and mumbling "we have a lot to talk about..." I sighed a bit and pat her head "Let's get back to our room first." She nodded but still held onto me. I lifted her up, onto my back and carried her to the Inn. Once we made it back to our room, I set her down and she let go of me. I sat down onto the bed and she sat next to me. It was silent for a moment before she spoke up "I told you not to use that shield." I let out a sigh "I didn't really have a choice there, I didn't even know that it would appear in that form." She lightly punched my side before leaning on me "It must have been hard on you to kill that person." I frowned a bit "No. She'll only die if they can't act quickly enough to stop the bleeding. I used a skill to avoid her organs so blood loss is the only problem. It's on them if she dies." She made a sound of acknowledgment before nuzzling into my side more "Seeing that shield and watching you stab her... It makes me feel bad. You don't have to do this you know?" I pat her head a bit "No, you can't be the only one playing bad to get them to work together. This world needs a necessary evil like us to get things done."

She gripped onto me and pulled me down to lay on the bed before speaking "It feels like I'm corrupting you somehow." I chuckled and pet her "No, someone as cute and fluffy as you only give me a reason to fight more." She huffed and hugged me. "I don't think I can get a good rest like this. Sing me a lullaby from your home world." I looked at her "I don't really know many from my home world." She looked up to glare at me "Shut up and sing one" I chuckled and responded "that's a contradiction there.... alright, I think I know a good one." She huffed again before pulling blankets over us and cuddling into my side, waiting. I smiled a bit and began singing in the softest voice I could, lightly petting her

"You are my sunshine

My only sunshine

You make me happy

When skies are gray

You'll never know, dear

How much I love you

Please don't take my sunshine away"

She relaxed a bit with her eyes closed, but I could tell she wasn't asleep yet, so I continued.

"I'll always love you

And make you happy

And nothing else could come between

But if you leave me to allow another

You'll have shattered all of my dreams"

I felt her grip onto me a bit, but she didn't say anything. I continued to lightly pet her, for some reason it was a little difficult for me to continue, but I fought though it to finish the song.

"You are my sunshine

My only sunshine

You make me happy

When skies are gray

You'll never know, dear

How much I love you

Never take my sunshine away"

Her grip finally loosened, and by her light breaths I could tell she was finally asleep. I stared down at her and noticed some tears going down her face. I gently wiped them as to not wake her, and heard her mumble in her sleep "master..." I smiled bitterly, I probably reminded her of something accidentally. I gently kissed her on her forehead and whispered "sweet dreams Fitoria... rest well."