The Devil of the Shield

The Devil of the Shield (盾の悪魔) 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 rapidly thwarts the Knight's attempt at murdering Princess Melty, but the Knights start shouting about Naofumi "taking Princess Melty hostage". Claiming justice is on their side, he orders his comrades to attack "the Devil of the Shield", leading to all of them attacking the group and in turn causing Raphtalia and Filo to defend the group. After a short bout, in which some of the Knights act in a very dramatic fashion, the Knights strategically retreat seemingly in terror, much to the confusion of Naofumi's group. Filo asks Naofumi if they should pursuit the fleeing Knights, with the Shield Hero deciding against it; Raphtalia checks on Melty, who has been left visibly shaken by the unprovoked attack by her own guards.

The Knights, however, had recorded the battle with a crystal ball and sent the footage to the Melromarc Castle Town, where a group of mages alter the footage heavily. Rather than defending Melty from her traitorous Knights, the footage now shows a clearly evil Naofumi and his company joyfully "slaughtering" the Knights and "kidnapping" a terrified Melty. The doctored footage is then displayed everywhere across the nation. With this "evidence", Naofumi's party are quickly branded as criminals, declared the number one enemies of Melromarc, and thus forced into hiding.

Knowing that it would be foolish to enter any town or village, Naofumi and Raphtalia contemplate their next move. The Shield Hero's attention is also drawn to a rosary he found on one of Melty's former guards. Shortly after the battle, they tried to interrogate him but he stayed silent once again calling Naofumi "the Devil of the Shield" and "a devil who has committed the sin of disturbing the order of the country". It appears that the Church of the Three Heroes (the state of Melromarc's religion, which acknowledges every Hero but the Shield) has its hand in the conspiracy.

Naofumi also suspects the King to be part of the ploy, but Melty defends her father, though she suspects her older sister, Malty, might be involved. Naofumi accepts this but argues that the guards that attacked them were her father's men who may want to kill Melty and frame Naofumi as 'the Devil of the Shield'. Ultimately, Naofumi does not dismiss the likelihood of the King's involvement and Melty breaks down crying as she realizes how badly the situation has deteriorated and also because she failed in the mission given to her by her mother. With soldiers lurking on the horizon, Naofumi reiterates that they need to leave the country if they are to stay safe and persuades Melty to come with them for her own safety.

The group travels lightly, ditching their wagon (much to Filo's despair), as they cross the border over the mountains, reasoning that the rough terrain should make it harder for the Melromarc forces to pursue them. Considering that the King is focusing most of his efforts on keeping them away from Siltvelt, Naofumi decides that is their destination. As if to prove this theory, more and more soldiers are sent to find them. While camping in the mountains one night, Melty asks the Shield Hero why there is so much bad-blood between Naofumi and her father.

Melty is completely shocked by Naofumi's revelations. She then tells the group about her mother, Queen Mirellia, who told her to make sure the Shield Hero was treated favorably and that she said the same thing to the King, who does not seem to have listened. She also tells them that since Melromarc is a matriarchy, the Queen holds much higher power than the King. Naofumi finds this revelation very amusing but the moment is short-lived. A flock of ravens alerts the group, who realizes that they are being followed and move 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, Melty loses her balance and almost falls off a cliff, but is saved by Naofumi. The group is spotted though and are quickly cornered along a cliffside not only by the patrolling guards but also the other three Heroes Itsuki, Ren, and Motoyasu.

Itsuki demands that Naofumi surrender and hand over the Princess. When Naofumi retorts that he doesn't have her tied up or anything, a smug Motoyasu tells the "villain" they have the proof of his "crime". Melty steps in and explains the conspiracy to the Heroes and how the Queen said that the four heroes need to stop fighting and work together. She insists that they put down their weapons and Naofumi says he is willing to co-operate and explain everything he knows. Whilst it seems at first that the Heroes might be 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 adding of how the Church of Three heroes is currently working on "dispelling the brainwashing". This seems to confirm Naofumi's suspicion that the Church is involved in this conspiracy. Even though the others (mostly Motoyasu) are buying it, Naofumi tries to refute that if that was the case they wouldn't even be in this situation, to begin with. Even though Motoyasu jumps at the wagon and considers that both Raphtalia and Filo are being brainwashed by Naofumi, Ren isn't so easily convinced. Unable to confirm either side of the story, the Sword Hero proposes a compromise, hand Melty over to their company until they know for certain that things are safe.

Naofumi appears to consider this option (since he is cornered on a cliff-face), and so does Malty. Expressing her gratitude to Ren, Malty asks Melty to come over to her. The Crown Princess, however, grabs Naofumi's arm, whispering that if she is put into her sister's custody, then she will be killed. After a quick moment of consideration, Naofumi pats her hand reassuringly, then moves protectively in front of her. He declares that, as much as he appreciates Ren's proposal, no one present, specially Malty, can be trusted. When Malty and Ren object to this, Naofumi calls his treacherous first companion out on her position - revealing that she is not the crown princess, but Melty is. He tells everyone that Malty will simply claim that she is trying to save her precious sister and then secretly murder her in order to obtain the crown.

He then tells Melty that he will honor his promise to keep her safe 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 (acting in a very lewd manner), prompting Melty to attack the Spear Hero. Malty, in turn, begins pouring fireballs at Melty, much to Ren's and Itsuki's horror and confusion. Malty, however, abandons all pretext and openly shows her intention to kill her sister - claiming that if they are unable to dispel Naofumi's "brainwashing" on Melty, then she must die -, horrifying the Sword and Bow Heroes.

The group is then forced to use their respective trump cards to escape (Naofumi's Wrath Shield, Raphtalia's Mana Sword, and Filo's Power Gloves). Raphtalia uses her camouflage skill to sneak up on Myne, and her Mana Sword's power to incapacitate the evil Princess. Filo uses her Power Gloves, which Raphtalia gave her, to send Motoyasu flying with a powerful punch. Naofumi's Fire Shield destroys volley after volley of arrows, prompting the Knights to attack him head-on. They shoulder past Ren and Itsuki, seemingly oblivious to their presence. Naofumi, for his part, unleashes the full power of his Wrath Shield, destroying a part of the cliffside and sending everyone hurtling back.

Marveling at the Shields power, Ren spots Naofumi on the other side of a chasm. Naofumi expresses his faith that the Sword Hero can figure out what is really going on, then tosses Ren the rosary he took from the guards. Ignoring Ren's suggestion to wait, Naofumi and his group leave the scene. Naofumi is eventually able to remove Filo's shackle and 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 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 is slightly jealous of this but soon feels a strange smell in the air - it's revealed that Malty, grinning diabolically, had set fire to he forest, intending to chase them out.

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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