The Devil of the Shield

The Devil of the Shield is the thirteenth episode of The Rising of the Shield Hero anime.

Synopsis
As Naofumi shields Melty, the attacking knight accuses him of taking her hostage, with his fellow knights retreating to let the narrative play out. Naofumi finds the pendant on a guard for the Church of Three Heroes, which hates the Shield. At the Royal Palace, wizards edit the recording of Naofumi "kidnapping" Melty, with Knights across the land depicting Naofumi as a fugitive to the citizens. Unable to reach Shieldfreeden, Naofumi plans to protect Melty so she can fix their situation, and they hike the mountains to reach Siltvelt instead. At night, as the Queen's emissaries follow in secret, a loose rock on a trail alerts nearby guards, and they are met by the other three Heroes. As Melty explains the situation, Myne arrives and orders the Heroes to ignore her, claiming Naofumi has a brainwashing shield power. The three Heroes believe Myne and ask for Melty's safe return. Melty refuses, knowing that Myne will have her killed, and Naofumi attempts to flee with her and his party.

Plot
Naofumi Iwatani rapidly thwarts one of the knights's attempt at murdering Melty Q Melromarc, but the knights start shouting about Naofumi "trying to kill Melty", leading to all of them attacking the group and in turn causing Raphtalia and Filo to defend the group. After a few moments, the knights strategically retreat in seemingly terror, much to the confusion of Naofumi's group.

The knights, however, had recorded the battle in their crystal ball and sent the footage to the castle town, where a group of mages alter the footage heavily. Rather then defending Melty from her traitorous knights, the footage now shows a clearly evil Naofumi and company joyfully "slaughtering" the knights and "kidnapping" a terrified Melty. With the footage as "evidence", Naofumi's party are shortly declared number one enemies of Melromarc, forcing them to go into hiding. The altered footage is being displayed in every corner of the nation.

After being interrogated, one of Melty's former guards calls Naofumi "a devil who has committed the sin of disturbing the order of the country". It appears that The Church of the Three Heroes has its hand in the conspiracy, as the former guard was holding the rosary of that religion. Nafoumi suspects Aultcray Melromarc XXXII to be the the part of the ploy; Melty defends her father, but suspects her older sister, Malty S Melromarc, who may want to kill Melty and frame Naofumi as 'the Devil of the Shield'. Melty breaks down crying as she realizes how bad the situation is and also because she failed in the mission given to her by her mother. Naofumi reiterates that they need to leave the country if they are to stay safe, and persuade Melty to come with them for her own safety.

The group ditches their wagon, as they cross the border over the mountains, reasoning that the rough terrain should make it harder for the Melromarc forces to pursuit them. Reasoning that the King is focusing most of his efforts on keeping them away from Siltvelt, Naofumi decides that is their destination. While camping in the mountains, Melty asks for the reason for the bad-blood between Naofumi and her father. Melty was shocked by Naofumi's revelation.

She tells the group about her mother, Queen Mirelia Q Melromarc. Simply put, since Melromarc is a matriarchy, then the Queen holds much higher power then the King. For reasons that she doesn't understand, Melty was told by her Mother to make sure the Shield Hero was treated favorably and that she told the same to the King which seems not to be the case. The group realizes that they are being followed and moves on. Somehow, the soldiers are able to keep up with Naofumi's party and even reach the place ahead of them. While trying to sneak around another patrol, the group was spotted and was cornered along a cliff side by not only the patrolling guards but also the three Heroes Itsuki Kawasumi, Ren Amaki and Motoyasu Kitamura.

The heroes demand Nafoumi to surrender, but Melty steps in and explains the conspiracy to the heroes. While it seems at first the Heroes were willing to listen to them, Malty steps in and quickly steers their discussion against the shield hero. Malty accuses Naofumi of having unlocked a brainwashing shield and is using it to mentally control Melty, the "proof" being the appearance over the past month of people singing Naofumi's praises calling him the "Savior of the Heavenly Fowl" and adds of how the Church of three hero is currently working on dispelling the brainwashing. Even though the others (mostly Motoyasu) are buying it, Ren isn't as easily convinced. Motoyasu jumps at the wagon and considers that both Raphtalia and Filo are being brainwashed by Naofumi. Unable to confirm either side of the story, Ren proposes handing Melty over to their company until they know for certain that things are safe.

Melty, however, voices the fact that if she is put into her sister's custody, then she will be killed. Naofumi declares that none of them can be trusted and orders Filo to transform so that they can use her speed and agility to escape. However, as they're leaving, Motoyasu nabs Filo with a magic shackle that forces her back into her human form while Malty fires off a magic flare. Motoyasu takes Filo hostage while Malty begins pouring fireballs at Melty, openly showing her intention to kill her, claiming that if they are unable to dispel Naofumi's "brainwashing" on Melty, then she must die, much to Ren's and Itsuki's horror.

The group is forced to use their respective trump cards to escape (Naofumi's Wrath Shield, Raphtalia's Mana Sword and Filo's Power Gloves). Destroying a part of the cliff side, Naofumi tosses Ren the rosary he took from the guards and tells him to figure out by himself what's going on. The group is met with a Shadow, whom Naofumi recognizes as the same noblewoman who warned him about the Cult in the first place.

The Shadow asks that the group to instead travel to Faubley, which is in the exact opposite direction of Siltvelt. Though it may seem like an unreasonable request, Faubley is the current location of Melty's mother, the Queen - their only ally with the authority to counter Malty, the other three Heroes and the Church itself. Once the Shadow leaves, Melty demands Naofumi to call her by the first name and agrees to do the same with him in exchange. Raphtalia soon feels a strange smell in the air - Malty, gleeing diabolically, is revealed to have set the forest on fire, intending to chase them out.

Adaptation Notes

 * Light Novel: Volume 3 Chapters 15-20
 * Manga: Volume 5 Chapters 19-20

Trivia

 * The espionage force working under the Queen are called Shadows.
 * The state religion of Melromarc is revealed to be the Church of Three Heroes, who worship Spear, Sword and Bow but not Shield. They address the Shield Hero as "Devil", while the other three are considered "Holy Weapons".
 * Naofumi's alias as "The Savior of Heavenly Fowl" is being confirmed by Malty Melromarc.
 * Naofumi's rise in fame among the people of Melromarc is being painted as "brainwashing". It is also confirmed that certain faction of the people started worshiping the Shield Hero in Melromarc.

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