The Church of the Three Heroes

The Church of the Three Heroes, also named Cult of the Three Heroes, is the former national religion of Melromarc. It is a sect of the Four Saints Faith - though branched only into the Spear, Sword, and Bow Heroes, while the Shield Hero is completely left out.

Background
The Church of the Three Heroes is a religion which originated from the religion of the Four Holy Heroes. The cult preaches that the Shield Hero is a devil bent on destroying the world, while the other three Heroes are Holy Gods. This is formed as the basis of the Melromarc's foundation which discriminated against the Demi-Humans. In this religion, there are no good stories about the Shield Hero, as they were deliberately erased - the Shield Hero is written to be evil, brutal, and treacherous.

It is theorized by Melty and Naofumi that The Church of the Three Heroes may have formed due to Nafoumi's actions during their travel to Mamoru's time as he completely routed Piensa's forces from invading Mamoru's nation. If it is true, then Nafoumi is the reason for the shield hero to be called Devil.

The replica of a Legendary Hero's weapon was stolen by The Church of the Three Heroes. It was swapped with the fake from the altar of the Church of Seven Star Heroes in Faubley, which was kept as a proof of the Heroes' existence. To use that weapon once, several hundred people's worth of magical power must be sacrificed. Moreover, it is impossible to mass-produce that technology. Everyday believers have devoted their energies and risked their lives for several hundred years, the replica was accumulating magic.

They have a deep root in the nation of Melromarc and most conservative in behavior, willing to go to any means for their motives. They are more condescend towards Demi-humans and calling them impure and devil creatures.

Chronology
In times of the aftermath of the first wave, Eclair steps into stopping the slave hunters from capturing Demi-Humans from Demi-humans protected village. She was branded by the cult of having the Demi-Human Blood and also brainwashed by the shield demon, even-though the heroes were yet to be summoned. She was almost executed but was imprisoned.

During the Queen's absence, they proposed and succeeded in summoning the Four Holy Heroes. In no time, they spread the rumors about the Shield Hero being the worst with the false claim of raping his comrade throughout the nation, even before Naofumi himself came to know about the charges made against him. The nation immediately believed the accusation, for they been preached for a century, that the Shield Hero was evil, therefore making it impossible for the Shield hero to find friendly allies. They continued spreading many rumors by setting up fake Shield Heroes to do various crimes and pinning it on Naofumi. On the other hand, Naofumi assumed all the cold treatment he received was because of the false rape accusation and left it as it was. When Naofumi came to check the time of the waves, he felt a discomfort gazes and extremely bitter face from the nuns in the church. At the same time, other heroes and their party came probably for a class up, they even gave them dragon hour class sand for a skill, Teleport.

Naofumi went across the nation to peddle goods for money, under the guise of Holy Saint. Naofumi was recognized for his activity of the holy saint and people begin to doubt the cult's teaching. Some even begin to stand up for him. The other holy heroes also caused many problems for the people of villages in the nation. While Naofumi happens to clean up their mess. This ultimately shook the belief of the people. Naofumi again came to the church for a class up, but the Nun demanded 15 Gold coins per head, hoping to see his despair of unable to pay, but when he was ready to pay, she produced a document of king's order of prohibiting his parties class up.

After the Third Wave, Naofumi emerged victorious, while the other three heroes were defeated with much ease by the wave. This causes the Church of the Three Heroes to be more anxious. They finally plotted to kill the second princess and pin it on Naofumi. They even proclaimed those who speak in support of Naofumi to be brainwashed by supposedly brainwashing shield possessed by Naofumi and convinced the other heroes to kill him. They used the shadows of their support to inform the other heroes of Naofumi's whereabouts. After some transparent incidence, Ren and Itsuki begin to suspect and started their own investigation, leading the pope to annihilate them first. Later, they informed Motoyasu that Naofumi killed the other heroes, leading to a fight between Naofumi and Motoyasu. Finally with the truth being revealed they fought a hard battle and met their end in the hands of the shield hero. After seeing the followers constantly rising from the defeat and pain, Naofumi suspects the High Priest of using some sort of brainwashing magic on them and using them for his convenience.

The Queen speculated that the Church of the Three Heroes didn't kill Naofumi in the beginning to avoid war with the world and hoped the Waves would kill him. Due to the naivety of the other three Heroes, the Cult had an easy time controlling and using them for their bidding. The Cult planned to use the other Heroes when they were strong enough to kill Naofumi if he survived the waves. The High Priest's actions not only put his entire nation but also the world in crisis.

After the Church was exposed and Naofumi's name was cleared, the Queen declared the Church of the Three Heroes' heresy and most people soon abandoned it. There were some faction in the country, especially the moderate anti-shield nobles still followed the fossilized religion. but they too were slowly decaying.

Church
It is the location of the Red Hourglass of the Dragon’s Era which is kept inside the church in Melromarc's Castle Town According to Naofumi, the region gives off a solemn atmosphere.

Known Members

 * Biscas T. Balmus: Current High Priest and mastermind behind all of the Cult's atrocious actions.
 * Nuns:
 * Shadows: There is a sect of Shadows who are affiliated with the Cult.

Support
King Aultcray Melromarc XXXII aided the Cult to falsely frame and oppress the Shield Hero. Malty aided the Cult for her own reasons and gains. Mald and the Bow Hero's former comrades joined hands with the remnant of the three heroes Cult against the Shield Hero.

They were also financially aided by many nobles - some of these collect pass fees and heavy taxes to fund the Cult one of whom was taken down by Itsuki earning their ire towards him. Even during the brainwashing event many moderate anti-Shield Hero Faction of nobles were found to fund for the Cult.

Trivia

 * Almost all the believers of the Cult had a rosary of The Church of the Three Heroes, which consists of the symbols of Bow, Spear, and Sword.
 * Naofumi failed to notice the cult's belief and went to Church for a class up and holy water like it was normal. This is the reason for Raphtalia to think that Naofumi knows of Melromarc's popular religion. Naofumi thought the King and his first daughter to be the reason for his hardship and not others.