“Shield Prison!” Father cried.
A prison materialized, trapping the monster and saving the pig.
“We need to get the rest of the villagers out!” Father shouted. “Anyone who can fight, protect the others!”
The nearby adventurers nodded, surrounded the villagers, and ran off with them, leaving Father scratching his head.
“So those guys are done too?”
“They’re scared for their lives,” I told Father.
Father sighed. “Well, no point in complaining over it.”
“It would be much easier if they just swarmed us rather than going after all the little guys,” I said.
If the people whose lives we were saving were just going to desert us, I didn’t need any kindness from them, I say.
Father sent all of the nearby monsters flying with a Shooting Star Shield. Father’s barrier shields came in handy for times like these.
Then, all of a sudden, a blaze of fiery rain came pouring down over Father and me. With my strength, it didn’t hurt or even tickle, and Father didn’t look like he sustained any injuries either.
“Hey!” Father and I turned to see a group of Melromarc knights standing across the village. “We’re over here!” Father yelled angrily. The knights appeared to have cast the spell.
I could tell from their expressions that they had been hoping that their spell would take out Father. But his Shooting Star Shield had stopped the fiery rain from dealing any damage. Should I teach those knights a lesson or two?
Keel, Sakura, Yuki, Kou, and I all fixated our nastiest glares at those detestable knights.
“Hmph,” one of the knights scoffed. “So the Shield and Spear Hero aren’t paper-frail after all.”
I was tempted to burn them all down in a raging tempest of flames. Just like I did last time. But when I raised my hand to start chanting the spell, Father pulled my hand down. Whatever Father might say, I still wanted to take those knights out. I would’ve never guessed that they would actually attack us in the middle of the wave. I wondered if they attacked Father this same way in the first go-around, baptizing him into the world of magic. I felt a storm of anger start to rise inside of me.
“What in the world do you think you’re doing?” shouted Keel, waving her dagger at the captain of the group of knights. “We’re doing our best to save as many villagers as we can! And you attack us!”
“So the Shield Hero has stooped to working with lowly demi-humans,” the captain responded. “You’ve fallen even lower than we could have expected, Shield Hero!”
“Who are you calling lowly?!” Keel shouted. “We’re just fighting to protect everyone! If you attack us again, I won’t hold back!”
Father was beating out the nearby blazing flames with his cloak. He ran over toward Keel and put his arm on her shoulder. “Keel, Sakura, I need both of you to calm down!”
In a flash, Sakura was in her angel form, her sword pointing straight at the back of the captain’s neck.
The captain yelped in surprise. “How dare you!”
“Choose your words carefully, or this sword will cut straight through you.” Sakura spoke calmly, even gently, but you could hear the bloodlust in her voice. “I’ll slice your head clean off.”
Classic Sakura. Hopefully, the captain would understand who really had the upper hand here.
“So you want to die, is that it?” The captain glared at Father.
I take that back—he did not appear to understand in the slightest. Personally, I would have no problem if Sakura sent his head flying.
“We only have one enemy,” Father said. “And that’s the monsters coming out of the wave.”
The captain turned away from Father. Undoubtedly, his mission was not to fight the wave but to take out Father instead!
“What are you prattling on about, you criminal?”
“If you insist, I’ll get out of here, so long as you take care of the rest,” Father said, pointing to the countless monsters rushing toward the town. Sakura still held her sword to the captain’s neck. Father walked up to him and grabbed him.
“What are you doing! Let me free, you fiend!”
“Yes, of course, I’m the enemy, aren’t I?” Father said. “You all really don’t even know how to extend basic courtesy, do you? We’re here evacuating civilians, fighting monsters, and then all of a sudden you show up and attack us. Wouldn’t that make you the enemy here? I’ll let you go if you fight alongside us. And you don’t even have to apologize to us. How about it?”
As he was talking, Father walked toward the horde of monsters, pulling the captain with him.
“Yes, and I know you did attack me behind my back, but it didn’t hurt at all, so I’m not mad or anything,” Father ranted. “But when you look down at me for only being able to protect . . . Well, it just makes me want to give you the firsthand experience of just how powerful my abilities are.”
What a glorious sight! His tone of cold, reserved fury stood toe to toe with that of Father in the first go-around, I say!
I was nearly moved to tears. While Father was usually kind and gentle-hearted, he would ever so occasionally show us a glimpse of his tough side. Yes, I should’ve expected this from the future leader of the Four Holy Heroes! Father, magnificent Father!
“L-let me go! Enough!”
Father finally let the captain go with a nasty look.
“You’ll never get away with this!” the captain growled.
“Still worried about me? I would be more worried about the monsters coming after you!” Father shouted.
I wasn’t sure it was because his threat worked or not, but the captain went running away as quickly as he could. What a repugnant sight.