The Substitution of the Shield Hero

Since I had a bad feeling about things... and to mitigate variables, I convinced Lia, Sylvia, and Mein to stay with Rishia at the inn.

Mostly because something about a cute girl like Rishia watching over an inn alone raised all sorts of red flags in my head.

While I was certain this world wasn't a game, patterns were patterns. And there were plenty of games where characters like Rishia, when alone, were definitely...

Well, let's just say considering how absolutely DOGSHIT perverted, lecherous, and degenerate this world was, I wasn't risking things.

And since Lia and Sylvia were both functionally around level 100+ from the stat bonuses they gained, as well as the fact that Mein was an actually decent spellcaster when she wasn't being a literal Bitch, it should be enough.

In the worst case, since they were party members, any attack on them should automatically redirect towards me because of <My Body as a Shield>.

'It'd be pretty funny, actually...'

Since I set it that the attacker was forced to attack me instead, they should go flying through the air towards me and forced to complete their attack too...

Let's hope no one's dumb enough to test that.

...Pft. Who am I kidding?

Let's hope someone tries.

But anyway.

'The air here is pretty tense, huh?'

I was walking through the streets alone and headed back to the castle.

Because of recent events, I had switched from my hoodie, mantle, and jeans combo to a proper adventurer outfit.

Specifically, a green tunic, a cloak, and a synthesized leatherbound copy of the Lemegeton hanging from my left waist. Mostly to pass off as a spellcaster and have people ignore Fragarach still orbiting me.

It seemed to work pretty well since, while people stared at me, it was with the caution of people looking at normal adventurers.

...And that was something else I forgot.

Adventurers existed in this world. Like, people who went out of their way to roam the world, explore ruins, and reclaim treasures.

So...

'Why summon people from other worlds in the first place?'

As I made my way down the streets, I couldn't help but think about that fact.

Although the problem was definitely interdimensional, it was ALSO a global concern.

'It doesn't make sense for an entire world to be so helpless as to summon help from the void...'

I knew for a fact that if something like this had happened to Earth, we would literally destroy the world ourselves before resorting to summoning extradimensional help.

In fact...

'Wait. This is weird.'

If this was my world, we would definitely be harvesting the wave. Throw bodies at it to research various phenomenon and even try exploiting it no matter how unethical things got.

But this world, already morally bankrupt... didn't do that?

I paused in the middle of the capital plaza, watching as the crowd cheered for a fat noble's execution.

"Die you fat pig!"

"Go to hell!"

"I hope your soul gets eaten by a monster from the wave, you boar!"

The fat noble, a rotund man with only the barest of cloth covering his lower body, shivered as he was held beneath a guillotine. "N-N-No! I'm sorry! Don't-"

*thunk*

Cheers echoed. And a few people from the crowd even ran forward to kick the head around, still blinking.

I kept a neutral expression on and kept walking. But as I did...

'It doesn't make sense for this world to still be like this.'

They had magic. They had resources.

...Maybe it was just Melromarc.

But the fact that firearms didn't even seem to exist here until Takt introduced them was way too odd.

After all, if you took a bow to the extreme in developing it to be usable by the average person, you ended up with something gun-like. But there weren't even crossbows around.

So...

'Is it active suppression?'

That shamshir-guy had said the 'Army of the Waves.'

That Goddess of Betrayal still existed...

Was this the typical setup then? Where there was a shady organization purposefully keeping humanity in the dark ages so it was helpless against the invasion?

Because otherwise, it didn't make sense.

Humans were the same across most worlds. When pressed against the wall as a species, heroes would inevitably emerge. Geniuses who defied the commonsense who saw the world differently. Enough to change it-

'Ah.'

I came to a stop beside a building. "...So that's how it is."

Pieces fell into place.

The prevalence of slavery.

Four Bray's degenerate country.

The fat nobles who treated human lives with impunity.

The fact that there WERE decent people, but they kept quiet and stayed in line.

And the fact that I had felt myself under surveillance by five different individuals when I had first set off alone after Malty accused me.

One was neutral, undoubtedly Mirellia's shadow.

But there had been four different individuals observing me with hostile intent.

There was probably one from the church.

Another from the noble's faction, or that trash king.

But there had been two more too.

And considering that I had been ambushed along with the others shortly after the Wave occurred...

'They've already infiltrated. No, considering those status effects that Mein had before I removed them...'

A situation that reminded me of another isekai story. One where a jobless man reincarnated to another world. And one where a faceless god had pulled strings from behind the scenes by creating apostles to move among the mortal world...

This situation was definitely different. But the framework was undoubtedly the same.

Specifically...

'There must be reincarnators.'

Souls sent in somehow to either take over bodies or control them. Those in key positions to keep an eye on potential threats to the waves and eliminate them.

Did Mirellia know about them? Or the other countries?

If that was how it worked... then it must be why they kept summoning people from other worlds.

After all, souls from other worlds absolutely had different afterlife jurisdictions. You wouldn't be able to just hijack someone's body if they were summoned to another world without their world's entire afterlife bureau and/or divine pantheons step in.

Case in point: Me and the deletion of the Legendary Shield.

...Well, I still didn't know what or who exactly had helped me. But that message did say 'we' have decided...

Still.

'Enough thinking.'

I arrived at the unmanned front gates surrounding the royal palace.

...It looked like it had seen better days.

Did some of the citizens jump the gun on their anger?

Woven quilts of that trash king's being murdered with increasingly elaborate ways were strewn all over the place. The walls were also painted in blood with messages like 'Overthrow the monarchy!' and 'The Shield Hero was right!'

...And judging from the strewn limbs with fancy silk scraps rotting by the entrance, I could hazard a guess as to what they had used to 'paint' the messages.

Either way, unless this situation was resolved TODAY, it seemed like people might go out of their way to-

"Oh."

I finally saw it after I stepped through the unmanned front gates.

There, in the courtyard before the palace doors, a head was sitting on a pike.

A familiar head, and one encased in pure ice.

That trash king's.

His crown was still on his head and his expression looked weary and indignant.

Next to it, there was a sign.

===

The foolish king Aultcray Melromarc XXXII has been executed and shall forever be recorded as the Utter Trash who brought ruined the peace and prosperity of Melromarc with his own two hands.

A statue shall be constructed in the future where citizens may vent their anger.

For the crimes committed by Utter Trash, see the reverse of the sign.

===

Curious, I walked around to the other side to read what exactly the guy's crimes were... at least, what they were 'officially.'

===

As recounted by Mirellia Q Melromarc, Sovereign Queen of Melromarc, this Utter Trash committed the following:

Conspiring with the Church of Three Heroes to murder a Legendary Hero and so strengthen the Waves.

Conspiring with the Church of Three Heroes to use an artifact to poison the mind of former princess Malty S Melromarc to fall into lust as well as accuse the Shield Hero of a Crime Most Heinous.

Accepting bribes from various noble houses to avert his gaze as they committed Crimes Most Heinous upon the citizens of Melromarc.

Ordering executions without express permission of Her Sovereign Queen Mirellia Q Melromarc.

Conspiring with outside forces to sabotage Melromarc's peace and prosperity by summoning the Four Legendary heroes without express permission of Her Sovereign Queen Mirellia Q Melromarc during negotiations with Four Bray, Siltvelt, Shieldfreeden, and Zeltoble.

Formal notice of these crimes will be sent to all citizens in the near future.

- Mirellia Q Melromarc

===

"Well, damn." I murmured as I read the list of crimes. "I guess that's one way to try and solve it."

The people were restless.

Blood was literally in the air from the constant stream of executions... but that blood wasn't enough to calm the hearts of the citizens who had been put through the worst crimes due to that trash king's action and their queen's absence.

Executing the king and making an over the top display like this would help.

But it was just a bandage.

After all, it wasn't JUST the King who had caused these issues.

It was the nobles too. The ones who governed places beyond just the capital here.

If Mirellia didn't handle it properly, then the people would probably demand her and Melty to take responsibility.

And considering that slavery existed and was enforced with magic here...

'We could be looking at a Whore of Babylon situation...'

Public opinion could devolve fast. And considering the crimes that those lecherous nobles committed, the 'price' that people would demand from Mirellia and Melty if it reached that point...

"Mm. Yeah, no." I picked up my pace and made my way towards the throne room.

A coup d'etat was NOT the same thing as a revolution. And I was not about to let rabid men who were undoubtedly waiting for a chance to 'partake' in 'royal grace' do something stupid and just cement this broken system of slavery and punishment rather than clear the board entirely.

Also...

'I still haven't gotten proper compensation yet, dammit!'

...I couldn't things go to hell and a handbasket without getting SOMETHING out of this...

And Mein didn't count.