Caroline quietly entered Martel’s quarters. There she found Martel sleeping face down on the table. Some wine slowly dripped from the bottle as it formed a small pool. A broken cup was on the floor, wine scattered along the ground. Martel himself was breathing somewhat heavily with flushed cheeks. A cruel smile formed upon her lips as she checked the hallway to see if anyone had seen her. No one was there besides a couple of guards who nodded the all-clear. She entered the room quietly and began to prepare her clothes. Once she was satisfied with her work, she took a small amount of incense and lit it underneath Martel’s nose. The incense, created to counteract the lethargic drug, made Martel just sober enough that he could be conscious, but he would be in little more than a dreamlike state.

After Caroline put the incense under Martel’s nose and waited for a couple of seconds, Martel began to rouse. He eventually looked up towards her drowsily, “snake,” He warily said with a slightly scared expression as he haphazardly pointed to her before he collapsed again.

Caroline’s eyebrow twitched, but soon a cruel smile reappeared on her face. She was going to make sure he suffered. She continued with the incense for a full minute before forcing the still groggy Martel to stand and began to prepare.

“Help, help!” she began to shout.

*Bang* *bang* “What’s going on in here?” The guard shouted as he entered the room. There he found Caroline below Martel. “What do you think you’re doing?” He shouted as he pulled Martel off her. “People like you deserve a flogging!”

“Wait a moment; he is a hero. Perhaps we should go straight to the King.” The other guard said.

“Good, go inform the King.” The guard said before turning back to Martel. “You’re coming with me.” He said as he grabbed Martel’s shoulder and began to push him out of the room forcefully.

Caroline had a wicked smile on her face behind them all as she held up her torn clothing. It was all going as planned. Moreover, Martel was even kind enough to hold onto the wine bottle, carrying the evidence of his crime. Eventually, the guard led the two of them back into the throne room. By now, the King, several nobles, and nearly all of the summoned people were present. The King was making a power-play to humiliate Martel further.

“What happened?” The King asked with a solemn tone.

Caroline stepped forward with a slight sob as she wiped the tears stain she had placed on the way from her face. “Your Majesty, the… the… the Shield Hero tried to force himself on me.”

There was an audible gasp as many surprised people looked at the listless Martel. Some looked at Martel with disgust, while others had a trace of doubt. Yutsuki had a look of anger on her face, but that soon turned to shock when she felt the Killing Intent Kuromi was trying to suppress. Kuromi only had a slightly furrowed brow, but anyone who knew her understood that look expressed her desire to kill.

“He is not only a fake but also a hypocrite,” Freed said with a sneer.

The King’s aid stood forward. “Miss, those are some serious accusations against the Shield Hero, one who was entrusted by the goddess that reigns over truth and justice. Can you explain from the beginning?” He said, unable to hide the slight sarcasm from his tone.

Caroline nodded as she took a deep breath as if trying to stop from crying. “Well, the Shield Hero and I had an enjoyable dinner, and I had a bottle of wine I wished to share with him and continue our conversation. Unfortunately, I was called aside regarding my equipment that his Majesty had given me before. When I went back to his quarters, I found him keeled over drunk as he had consumed the entire bottle. Given that he wasn’t on the bed, I tried to pick him up to a place where he could sleep peacefully. However… However.”

“Speak up.” The advisor said gently.

“When I tried to move him, he suddenly woke up and assaulted me. He tore my clothes, and he pushed me down on the bed. If not for the guard to come and rescue me, I do not know what would happen.”

The King stared at Martel. “Do you have anything to say for yourself? If you don’t, not even a hero is immune to the laws.” The King said as he tried to give an air of integrity.

“How could I be drunk if I never had wine,” Martel said with a slur.

“You’re holding a wine bottle.” The King retorted.

Martel had a look of surprise on his face before he looked at the wine bottle he was holding. Then, he looked over towards Caroline. “Is this the wine bottle ya gave me?”

“Yes,” Caroline said with a teary nod.

Then, Martel suddenly stood upright. The drowsy look on his face completely disappeared, and a sneer appeared on his lips. “You mean this unopened bottle of wine?” He asked as he gave it a shake exposing the unopened lid in the fluid inside.

“What!” Caroline, the King, and several people shouted.

The entire time, Martel had only been acting. The wine bottle was the fake prepared while the wine in it was his own that he had brought in his wedding band. The entire time he was struggling from bursting out in laughter from the terrible acting that the others were doing. Besides Caroline, the others didn’t seem to have such high Acting Expertise, not to his eyes.

Caroline didn’t understand how, but Martel suspected her. She thought of a countermeasure as fast as she could. “You, you pretended to be drunk to take advantage of me! Did you think being drunk would make you immune to your crimes?”

“Are you calling me an idiot, or are you just a fool?” Martel asked with the mocking expression. “If I wanted to do that, even if I didn’t drink some of the wine, I would’ve disposed of part of it. Moreover, the walls are thin. Why would I ever believe that I could get away with rape?”

“You! You still pushed me down on the bed. The guard found us there!”

“I did.” The guard affirmed.

“Can you explain that, Shield Hero?” The King asked with a grim expression as things were becoming more complicated than he had anticipated. “If you were sober, how did you end up in such a situation?”

“Because I was acting drunk. I already knew that this wine was spiked. If you don’t believe me, we can find someone to test it on. I was curious as to what she was planning on doing. I did not dismiss the possibility that she wished to tie her body to me and be intimately related to a hero, something that would give her status. However, when she to tear her clothes, pushed me onto the bed, and pulled me on top of her, I began to suspect that she was going to claim rape, as she has done.”

“Then why did you wait till now to reveal you were acting?” The King asked.

“I merely wished to see the attitude of the King to see if you were involved, and I cannot help but be disappointed.”

“Are you accusing me?” The King asked angrily.

“Of course, I am. Besides the obvious hatred you expressed towards me from the very beginning, I wondered why your daughter would approach me. Or will you deny the fact that she is your daughter?”

The King and Caroline had a look of shock on their faces. They had been present with him, or he had been alone nearly the entire time. However, he had already known their relationship without their knowledge. While it would have been exposed in the future, their goals would have already been achieved, and they could wave it off.

At this point, their expressions had betrayed them as everyone had begun to realize this was nothing but a trap. 

Realizing that their cover was blown, the King cleared his throat as he couldn’t deny she was his daughter with so many influential people present. “My daughter wished to join the heroes, to help save our world, but did not wish for her status to intimidate the Shield Hero who she admired. This is the reason why we did not tell anyone about her identity.”

“Interesting. You say she admired the Shield Hero. How do you feel about the previous Shield Hero?”

The King’s face cramped up for a moment before he tried to give a smile. “He was an admirable person who fought for our world and became a Duke of our kingdom.”

“Oh, I understand. It’s very easy for a child to inherit the prejudices of their parents.” Martel said with a mocking tone. “You admired the person your wife originally wished to marry even though he was old, and you were young and virile. The man who continuously thwarted your secret campaigns against the Demihumans. The man who physically beat you up and made you retire from military service. Yes, he is nothing but an admirable man.”

The King’s face became darker and darker as Martel picked at his scabs until he was fuming.

“Father!” Caroline shouted when she noticed his temper was about to burst.

The King took several deep breaths to calm down. “Shield Hero, until we come to the bottom of this, we are going to have to hold you. Advisor, send the Shield Hero to our previously mentioned accommodations.”

The advisor nodded, and several armed guards began to lead Martel away. As they did so, a slight smile appeared on Caroline’s lips.

[Caroline, Caroline. You think you are so clever with your schemes. Little do you know you are nothing but my chess piece. Remember, you will reap what you sow! Your life is in my hands.] Martel telepathically thought to her.

A flash of horror appeared on Caroline’s face, but she quickly hid it.

“Your Majesty, I have remembered your kindness,” Martel said as he was let out of the room. “I will be sure to repay you in the future.

Everyone stood within the throne room, frozen, at his fading laugh.

“Enjoy your imprisonment,” Freed mumbled under his breath as he sneered.

Ironically, the only person who heard him was Martel through the SRIN. Martel couldn’t help but shake his head in irony.

In his previous life, everything had roughly gone the same. His initial dinner with Caroline was not as jovial due to his depression. However, he also wasn’t the kind to act out on his depressed feelings against others who were not involved. However, he had gained a habit of drinking, so he had drunk Caroline’s wine, which resulted in him passing out before Caroline reentered the room. Generally speaking, everything went down very similarly except for the fact that Martel didn’t try to defend himself. Instead, he immediately attacked and killed Freed, who had made a snarky remark which caused the guards to attack him. Under the influence of the wine, he was severely injured and thrown into a cell. Ironically, his second chance had also given Freed a second chance. However, Martel did not plan for Freed to live for too long if he hadn’t changed his bad habits even with the penalty he would suffer. 

With a thought, Martel cast the spell Judgment through one of the SRIN on Freed. After doing so, Freed had a slightly strange expression and scratched his forehead. However, neither he nor anyone present noticed the balance scale tattoo that appeared there. The balance scale would reveal the evil deeds committed that had yet to be atoned for. In Freed’s case, when one would look at the balance scale on his head, they would see a list of his crimes, but they would be greyed out and not as impactful as they were not committed in this world. From then on, after Freed committed a crime, anyone who looked upon the balance scale would precisely know what he had done.

“Everyone is dismissed,” the King said grimly with a wave.

“Your Majesty,” Kuromi said to hold him from leaving. “We were brought here not as your ally, but an ally to the world and each other. If you stabbed one of us in the back, you best watch the shadows as he may find a dagger in yours.” She said with a dark expression before she faded into the shadows and disappeared. 

The King nearly collapsed from Kuromi focused Killing Intent. It was only now that he had begun to regret his actions. He had completely lost the faith of everyone who he had summoned. He could see it in their eyes. Moreover, he couldn’t do anything about it. He had already summoned everyone possible. The other countries would be furious if any of those summoned suddenly disappeared, and it would be put on his head. Given he wasn’t the ruling monarch, him losing his head was a distinct possibility. He did not doubt that his wife would willingly do so to keep the peace.

Caroline left the room with a look of anger. She couldn’t believe a peasant had made her feel fear. She would show him! While he was rotting in a cell, she would join a hero and become stronger than him ensuring he would forever be underneath her feet. Now, the only problem was figuring out a hero who would willingly accept her after all that had happened. However, she already had someone in mind.

 

Yutsuki made her way to Kuromi’s room, worried about the latter’s temperament as she was usually quiet and contained.

“Kuromi, are you there?” She asked.

Kuromi opened the door and let her in. “It’s a little late now, but I didn’t think it would be a good idea if we associate much publically.”

“Ah, I didn’t think of that.”

“You’re quite innocent. There’s a lot you need to learn.”

“Do you think Onii-sama will be okay?”

“He will be fine.”

“… He’s a little too good at playing the villain, isn’t he.”

“He was always a villain, though.”

“Eh? How can you say that?”

“Did you not realize? His expression was the same as when he’s in the bedroom and bullies us.”

It took a couple of seconds, Yutsuki finally realized what she meant as her face turned a bright shade of red. “It doesn’t mean you should call him a villain.” She replied with a flustered stutter.

Kuromi shook her head. “Yutsuki, you’re quite innocent, so you idolize him as a saint when he would be the first person to disagree. He’s killed many people.”

“I know that! But he only killed deserving people.”

Kuromi sighed. “It isn’t that simple. Regardless of whether or not they deserved it, killing is still killing. Taking a life is something that can only stain one’s soul. I know Anata does not wish for those of us who have yet to kill to do so. If not for the fact that the road to power is paved with corpses, he would do his best to lock us all up to protect us. How about you, Yutsuki? Can you find it within yourself to kill another person?”

Yutsuki took a deep breath before she gave Kuromi a firm look. “Teach me how.”

A slight smile appeared on Kuromi’s lips as she appreciated Yutsuki, who she had come to see as her younger sister. “I speak from experience when I say it will be hard, but it will also be easier because you are not alone.”

 

With a bang, the creaking solid metal cell door closed, and Martel found himself in darkness. It was akin to solitary confinement as there was only the slightest ventilation. The door was all that was carved into the otherwise solid room. Martel, whose hands and legs were individually chained to the wall, couldn’t help but feel a wave of nostalgia. It was the same cell he was placed into during his previous life. It seemed that the King had intended to put him there regardless of his actions. If everything with the same as last time, he would be rescued in five days, but Martel did not intend to wait.

“Hey, Loli Big Boobs, you there?” He asked the shield, which was now affixed to his ring.

“I told you not to call me that!” Shield Goddess said through the shield. “How can you be so calm? It’s like you were expecting this!”

[Because I was.] “So, if I wanted to take some gold from the treasury as recompense, would that be considered a crime?”

“Of course not!” Shield Goddess replied with anger. “That fool of the King may not realize the seriousness of what he has done! The hero is someone who fights for the sake of the world! This means that those who unjustly prosecute a hero are guilty against the entire world! Taking from the treasury for compensation is an acceptable punishment.”

“What if I had committed a crime?”

“Then, of course, you should be punished.”

“Does that mean that justice is not what you define?”

“No. Although justice is one of my authorities, that only means I have powers regarding it. Justice and injustice were created along with this world. Regardless of what the denizens in this world may think, the concepts of justice and injustice are empirical.”

“Does that mean that every action is one of those two with no gray area?”

“Circumstance can dictate an act being just or unjust. There are many actions which fall under neither category, though I would define it as neutral, not grey.”

“Interesting. Well, it’s nice to know that I can talk to you freely. It must get quite boring, only being able to talk with only your sisters after being with them for so long. If you want to talk, just let me know.”

“… Thanks.” She said quietly.

“Feel free to keep an eye on me if you wish. However, I would advise you to look with discretion.”

What why? Are you going to do something bad? So that you know, not even a god can wipe away a crime.”

“Nothing of the sort. I’m referring to situations like when I need to bathe.”

“… I’m hanging up now!” Shield Goddess replied, unable to hide the slight flutter in her voice.

Martel couldn’t help but chuckle until he thought: [how does she know the concept of hanging up?].

Pushing those thoughts out of his mind, Martel began to use his Ki to get out of his bindings. Ki also existed in this world, and many had reached up to Rank 10, but none of them genuinely utilized it. The System was this world strength, and its greatest weakness as its denizens tended to rely too hard on the raw power provided and ignored the technique. Manifestations were incredibly rare and mostly restricted to the weapons. With a thought, his Ki transformed into a key which perfectly fit the lock. With a *clang*, the first of his bindings fell. 

Martel noticed that he also got a System notification of the time. To his surprise, his Ki expertise had increased dramatically, above 25% need to reach Level 1. However, it only rose by an additional 3% when he unlocked the next cuff. It made sense as that experience also represented the time he had learned to use Ki before he obtained the System. Unfortunately, Ki was one of the few in the Expertise System that did not have an associated Stat increased with level. Instead, it ‘strengthened the Ki pool, and Ki control was improved.’ He was a little disappointed as his Ki was already Rank 10, and his control was near-perfect, so even the Expertise System wouldn’t help too much. However, he always had the feeling that there was something beyond Rank 10.

With a flash, a near replica of himself appeared before him. It was an android which he had previously prepared and stored within his wedding band.

“Sorry that your first time in this body will have to be like this, Marty,” Martel said to the AI he had created with his mental imprint made possible by his ESPER ability.

“No problem. My concept of time is different, and I can always shut down my cognitive process.”

“… It sounds so depressing when you say it like that.”

Marty shrugged as he began to put on the restraints. “I’ll take primary control of the SRIN in the area.”

“Intervene as necessary to protect the girls.”

“Of course.”

With a flash of purple, Martel disappeared. Although Martel initially wished to go to the treasury, someone was currently patrolling the interior. From a prior conversation, he knew this occurred every once in a while, so he had to wait. For now, he set his destination to the Royal Library. The royal librarian had already retired for the evening. The patrolling guards only guarded the exterior, which meant that Martel had plenty of time alone. With a flash, he appeared in a secluded area of the library.

Martel was a little surprised because the System had assimilated Emotion Magic by absorbing his wedding band, which was enchanted, not because he had cast magic. Interested, he cast an inconsequential spell by drawing out the word and by pure mana manipulation. The former became designated as Word Magic while the latter received no system notification. With his curiosity sated, he turned to look at the books. His brow furrowed when he affirmed that it would take far too long to search the books and read them even with his endemic memory. 

[Perhaps there could be a System Feature? The System seems to be biased towards creating features that resemble computer programs, which gives me an advantage with my Ability ‘Computer Network Minded.’ Perhaps something like a Database? It’s not uncommon for video games that have discoverable text to allow the player to read it any point in time simply by finding it.]

[… The System is kind of broken.] Martel couldn’t help but think. However, he quickly put that thought aside. The Crown of Origin appeared on his head, and the Drone appeared next to him. Luckily, the scanning function of the Drone did not require extra mana. Given that it only took about a second to scan a book, he could scan over 15,000 pages before running out of MP, more than enough to scan the roughly 2000 books in the library. 

As the Drone scanned the books, Martel spent most of his time walking around while he categorized the Database. He was amazed to find that there were also spell books but only Lesser. It wasn’t until he entered the locked portion of the library that he encountered any Intermediate spells. Martel couldn’t help but be disappointed that he had not found higher spells, but found the reason when he searched for the relevant information in his Database. Lesser spells were generally available to everyone, but only most nobles possessed Intermediate Levels. As for Higher, even most kingdoms didn’t have them. It seemed as though Martel was going to have to make retrieving the Wand Goddess’s Grimoire a priority.

As of now, his spells included:

Lesser Bolt of Fire/Water/Lightning

Lesser Wind Blade

Lesser Curse/Poison

Lesser Light/Darkness

Intermediate Fireball/Waterball/Thunderball

Lesser/Intermediate Manipulate Earth/Nature

Lesser/Intermediate Buff/Heal/Remove Curse/Restoration

Lester/Intermediate Illusion

Overall, it wasn’t bad concerning spells, but he couldn’t help but feel slightly disappointed with the lack of Higher spells as it would not be too long until he could cast them. He looked at the casting requirements, and his eyebrows couldn’t help but twitch. 

Regardless of how it was produced, all magic in this world required mana as fuel and an additional condition, the minimum being understanding and imagination. Gēmā magic was chanting based. The benefit to this was that the spell would always have the same effect once the chanting was done. However, the chanting itself was created as a form of magic by the First Generation Wand Hero, who was Japanese. For some reason, he had decided to make the magical language Kanji heavy Japanese. Theoretically, so long as someone understood enough Japanese, they will be able to create spells. This was a massive advantage to those who came from Japan or understood Japanese like Martel but left the others to suffer.

However, as he was examining Magic Theory, he came to realize something. Chanting it did not necessarily refer to the verbal chant. It was popular because the magic would go through the verbal chant, which would always be specific. However, it was also possible to run the magic through the chant in thought, but it was much more difficult as the chant had to be completed in a single thought. This was incredibly difficult to do regularly, much less in combat, which meant no one practiced it. However, Martel was an exception. With his ability, Computer Network Minded, he could create a function where he would perfectly chant a spell. This gave him an extreme advantage against other magicians as his spells could be launched nearly instantaneously while others had to speak the chant, which cost time. So long as he hid this fact, he could easily surprise equal level magicians and still win. He quickly created a function for every spell he knew, which he could access instantly.

Content with this information, Martel teleported into the now empty treasury. 

When Martel arrived, he noticed a strange blue glow in some areas. He was confused for a moment but then realized that it was mana, which she could see thanks to his Talent: Eyes of Magic. He further used the Eyes of Analysis to discover that they were alarm barriers which would alert the Royal Treasurer if something crossed them. Given that the Drone’s scanner would not trigger the alarm, he sent it to gather information about items that he did not understand at first glance while he went about collecting unprotected items.

Martel was slightly dumbfounded when he found the treasury contained coins worth more than 4 million gold. This was an insane amount as the average cost to make a castle was around half a million. The Kingdom had most likely been collecting gold under the guise of using it to fend off The Invasion. However, Martel believed it was most likely King intended to strengthen his forces as he had control over much of the military. Once The Invasion was over, many kingdoms would be weakened, if not destroyed, ripe for conquest. The only ones who could stop a conquest were the heroes, which the King had summoned to gain their goodwill before any other kingdoms could.

“Loli Big Boobs, how much of this can I take.”

“All of it… And don’t call me that!”

Martel chuckled as he enjoyed teasing her, but he hesitated about the amount he should take. The Kingdom would still need gold to respond to The Invasion as well as to run normally. Although he didn’t care for the King, he had yet to come to an opinion about the Queen. A lack of funds would also adversely affect the average citizen before anyone else. In the end, he took 1 million gold. Overall, it was far more than he initially wanted, and he could come back at any time. Additionally, a large portion would also be used as an investment to provide him with a steady supply of gold. These funds were imperative in gaining resources to fight The Invasion and improve this world’s infrastructure for that end.

After he had taken the gold, the Drone sent him some interesting information. It had found Higher magic spells! It turned out that the Kingdom’s ancestors were descendants of the First Generation Wand Hero, who had left them these unique spells. Typically, scanning the spells would be enough, but these were different. They were magically enchanted in a way that would allow whoever used them to learn and understand what the spell entailed more quickly. All spells required a chant, a specific manipulation of mana, and a precise understanding of the spell effect. These spellbooks would help facilitate learning, which would be extremely useful, if not for him, then for others.

The spellbooks were part of the treasure that was protected by an Alert Spell. He could dispel it, but he was worried that the treasurer would notice even if the alert was not sent. In the end, he decided to use his space magic to teleport the items to him. He looked at the spells and was slightly surprised as all of the spells fell under the Primal element, which was slightly a misnomer as it was not considered an element. After asking the System, Martel found that Primal referred to mana’s strength, which was dependent upon overall aptitude. The spells he attained were:

Barrier of Detection - Detects any significant organism that crosses the barrier and relays that to the caster within a certain radius. Casting at a higher level increases: the difficulty to detect/dispel, the range that the alert can be sent, and the size of the barrier. It requires Mana Crystals as fuel to be sustained.

Mana Arrow - Creates an arrow of mana that can be fired on its own. 40% of Primal attack value(+20% per Spell Level).

Mana Barrier - All damage received is taken from MP. The barrier breaks so long as the damage received(not attack value) exceeds 20%(+10% Per Level) of the value of Primordial Resistance. It can be cast on a person or around an object so long as significant mana(or Mana Crystals) are provided. The maximum size of the barrier is dependent on the Spell Level.

Martel was quite content with the spells, especially Mana Barrier. Mana Barrier was an excellent spell for mages, especially with low growth levels, who would not have much armor or health. For himself, it was even more reason to focus on his magic. The barrier could be placed below the armor, which would further nullify the damage. It made him that much harder to kill.

Martel continued to look around the treasury, scanned everything, and took what he deemed useful. He ignored all of the armor and weapons, excluding the shields which he copied, and focused on raw materials as he intended to make his own. He also took mana crystals and potion recipes. After he was satisfied, he took a look at the Smart Map. The Smart map provided him the coordinates he needed for his space magic. Unfortunately, he could only go to places he or his SRIN had been, which meant he couldn’t travel just anywhere. Knowing this, he purposefully sent out some SRIN outside the city. After he confirmed accordance, he teleported to a secluded area, having escaped full of loot.

Martel created a Dimension Door that covered a previously determined area at his home on Earth. The next second, a large number of androids, SRIN, and resources appeared surrounding space. Martel proceeded to take all of them into his inventory before he turned to look at the blank space. With a thought, a hatch suddenly appeared out of nowhere. This was his stealth craft, which he named the MW Kuromi created thanks to Angelica’s technology and the SRIN. It had all of the highest stealth capabilities while only having minimal AI, no weapons, and only impulse engines. Martel jumped into the cockpit and took off towards the center of the humanoid realm.