Mald

Mald is the former comrade of the Bow hero and a nobility of Melromarc by birth,

Personality
Mald has always had a stuck up attitude, which most likely came from his status as a noble. He has the trait of being self-righteous, and has a dictatorial mindset. He considers Naofumi a criminal and the Demon Lord of the Shield, despite the latter's name being cleared and the Three Heroes' Church being outlawed by the time the two of them actually met. Nafoumi suspect Mald's condescending attitude towards him, may be due to constant bad mouthing of Itsuki or may be due to the centuries of preaching of church of three heroes of shield being a villain.He has an intimidating personality which always pressures any one.

In Light Novel, L'Arc Berg believed Mald to be the shield hero for the rumour circulating about Shield hero to be fitting him, such as fiend, extort, fraud and kill anyone in his way. L'arc cautioned Nafoumi about Mald, even-though Nafoumi told L'arc many times of him being the shield hero. As noted by Naofumi, he has a way of deluding himself into believing his justice, which can be simplified as him simply calling people he dislikes and opposes "evil". Even when he and his faction resorted to brain washing, theft, murder and kidnapping against Rock Valley, he continued to insist that the "Demon of the Shield" was brainwashing people, that stealing from him was the same as liberating items from his wicked grasp, ext.

While he is not poor at planning and strategy, he is certainly prone to underestimating his enemies by almost insulting levels. He convinced himself he could defeat Ren after a practice match, wherein the latter was most likely holding back, and believed he could weaken and defeat Naofumi, Raftalia, and Firo, with his forces, and is utterly shocked when he can't even manage to hurt the Shield Hero at all.

Equipment
Mald is commonly called Armour by Naofumi due to wearing a heavy suit of armour over his body at all times. He is a front line fighter, as most of Itsuki's party are to compensate for his reliance upon the bow.
 * Spirit Turtle Sword: a sword he either stole or bought in preparation for his battle with Naofumi. While the sword itself is noted by Ren to be an amazing weapon, in Mald's hands Naofumi was able to block it bare handed.
 * Spirit Turtle Shield: a shield made for Naofumi by Oyaji that Mald and his men stole. While a high quality shield, the tool was ultimately taken from Mald by its rightful owner shortly after their bout.

Background=

Summary= Mald is one Itsuki, the Hero of the Bow's, party members, and the de-facto leader among them. He is commonly called Armour by Naofumi, who can't be bothered to remember his name and thinks of him as nothing but a pain. Mald later betrays Itsuki, and then his entire country by starting a separatist faction with Princess Malty, some other members of Itsuki's Party, and the remnants of the Three Heroes' Church.Though he is not a staunch believer of the three heroes church, he sided with him to regain his lost pride.

Chronology=

Devil of Shield Arc
c1-78

Cal Mira Island Arc
c78-114

Spirit Turtle Arc
Because of Itsuki’s loss, their prestige from being of a Hero’s party fell, and they were unable to reform the world and convince others to follow them as they pleased. And all fault lied with the Four Heroes.

c115-130

Slave Supremacy Arc
Mald reappeared claiming to be a hero. He had in his possession the Turtle Sword from Zeltbull as well as the Turtle Shield that was meant to be transported to Naofumi's village. c236

Mald, along with all of Itsuki’s other former companions, were executed. Ironically, they were burned inside the Brass Bull. Even though Armor had been informed beforehand that he was set to die, when the time came, he trembled and begged for his life. His legs gave way below him. Dreadful screams came from the bull statue.

c131-254

World's End Arc
c255-357

Towards the Legend Arc
c358-378

The Christmas of Shield Hero
c379-385

The Valentine of Shield Hero
c386-402

The White Day of Shield Hero
c403-409

Loop 1 to 3 - Tutorial Arc
c410-414

Loop 4 - Silt Welt Arc
c415-455

Loop 5 - Melromarc Arc
c456-574

Loop 6 - Foburei Arc
c575-current

Relationships= Heroes Both didn't respect each other but didn't show it at face. Naofumi noted of his personality and tried to avoid him. During the incident of Melty's kidnap, Mald was the first one to charge in to attack Nafoumi and became the first victim of curse burn.Later, Mald joined with the remnants of the church of three heroes and attacked Nafoumi's village in an attempt to restore his own pride which was lost during spirit tortoise incident, but was easily defeated by Naofumi & groups.
 * The Bow Hero (former)
 * Naofumi :

In light novel, Ren too finds his personality disgusting and was more irritated, when mald claims Ren and Nafoumi to be inferior to Itsuki.After the spirit turtle incident, Malty took Ren to Mald to have a spar. Mald concludes that Ren was inferior to him, this was because of Ren holding back and was not in the mind set to fight. Ren couldn't identify him until the slave supremacy arc, because of his loner traits.
 * Ren :

Companion Mald also looked down on Rishia, believing her to be weak, and later even Itsuki himself, believing him to be a false and useless hero. Other
 * Rishia (former):
 * Welst: He share the same opinion of Mald and accompanied him, till his death.
 * Malty Melromarc: She joined mald in insulting Raphtalia for her being demi human, during the first heroes conference. She again joined with him for starting a rebel against the kingdom.

Gallery=