Naofumi's Triumphant Return

Naofumi's Triumphant Return (尚文の凱旋) is the twenty-first episode of The Rising of the Shield Hero anime.

Synopsis
After Naofumi survives thanks to Mirelia's help, she comes to visit him and tells him the truth behind the summoning of the Heroes and the discrimination against the Shield Hero. She also promises to clear his name and holds a trial for Aultcray's and Malty's crimes. Which one will prevail between Naofumi's long-awaited revenge and a more fair sense of justice?

Plot
Naofumi, Melty, Raphtalia, and Filo see themselves at an unknown ravaged shore, whose ruins bear a flag that has a symbol which resembles Melromarc's royal emblem which shocked Naofumi.. It was just a dream, as the Shield Hero wakes up in Castle Town's infirmary at Melromarc, recovering from the Blood Sacrifice's gruesome wounds, with the three girls sleeping by his bed. He had lost consciousness after destroying the malevolent Pope, his entire body bandaged and has been sleeping for three days (and needs one entire month to recover completely). Even with Queen Mirellia's potent healing magic, curses like the Blood Sacrifice can only heal with time, according to Raphtalia - Blood Sacrifice is a powerful cursed technique that destroys both caster's and target's bodies, but it seems to not have affected the others that much thanks to Fitoria's containment magic. Naofumi recognizes two of the Queen's Shadows (more precisely, one of them is the one who had previously warned him about the Church's conspiracy) among the medics treating him, and the Queen herself steps into his room to formally re-introduce herself. Naofumi questions her about why Melromarc hates the Shield Hero's figure so much, and she tells him the real story about it.

When the second Catastrophe Wave struck, she was away in an international forum with the other countries, discussing the battles against future Waves, and they came to an agreement that each nation should invoke one Cardinal Hero and fend off the Waves. She entrusted her friend, the Lord of Saeatto (the one mentioned by Van Reichnott), to keep her nation under control while she was away, but he was tragically killed during the Wave. King Aultcray had summoned the four Heroes at once, which angered the other nations, that's why Mirellia had to go around the nations to diplomatically quell their anger. She also explains that the Church of the Three Heroes had taken advantage of Aultcray's latent hatred for the Shield Hero persona to manipulate him and Malty into joining their plot. Nafoumi wonders, if he might have been treated better if he was summoned to another country, to which the Queen agrees that, there are other nations, like Siltvelt (who is known for Demi-Human supremacy), who empathize with and even worship the Shield Hero. Naofumi decides to leave Melromarc and fight off the Waves wherever they appear so he can soon return to his world. Mirellia tried to persuade Naofumi to stay in her nation; she says her country has no choice but to depend on the Shield Hero and offered him a reward of 500 gold coins along with the end to all his humiliation, but Naofumi remained indifferent.

More privately, Mirellia asks Naofumi to come to the Castle the next day to witness Malty's and Aultcray's punishment and have his name publicly cleared. Clearly disheartened, the Queen explained that it was the right thing to do even if Naofumi wishes to leave her country. Raphtalia is especially happy on hearing the news about Naofumi's name being cleared. That night Naofumi has a horrible dream about Malty and Aultcray being put to death in guillotines; though he shouldn't care about their deserved fate, he was still disturbed to the point of waking up frightened. Next day at the Castle, the crowd of Castle Town were summoned outside to view the trial through the remote display. Party members of the other three Heroes complain that they aren't allowed inside but the Shield Hero's party was allowed. Naofumi's party joins the other three Heroes, who were also asked to come. Inside the throne room. Malty and Aultcray are brought in handcuffed into the trial before the entire court, having the Queen herself as judge and executor.

Aultcray gets frozen by the Queen's ice magic for suggesting her to be brainwashed by the Shield Hero and Malty is given a temporary Slave Crest (similar to Beloukas' slave rituals) to ensure she won't lack the truth anymore since she is a pathological liar. Motoyasu still refuses to believe their guilt in the crimes. Their first charge is their conspiracy together with the Church's Pope to murder the Cardinal Heroes as the Church's remaining followers are being hunted and arrested, though Malty refuses the charge of not being involved in their plot to kill the Heroes and overthrow the state, but it was proven that at the very least she colluded with the Church. The second charge was how Malty tried to murder Melty and frame Naofumi for the crime, also setting the forest fire to smoke them out, which is confirmed by Ren and Itsuki, much to Motoyasu's shock. The Slave Crest tortures Malty every time she tries to lie her way out of the trial. Aultcray was also shocked by the revelation that Malty tried to kill her sister. He claims that he summoned the Heroes to fend off the Waves but the Shield Hero had "assaulted" his daughter. Malty's Slave Crest finally confirms the lie about Naofumi having tried to "rape" her, thus clearing his name at the public eye for good. All of their plot and evil deeds were exposed in front of everyone. In the last defense attempt, Aultcray insists that Naofumi is the "Shield Devil" and claims to have done all this "for the sake of Melromarc and his family" so that the misfortune of his past didn't repeat. The Queen's verdict is, father and daughter are found guilty of all the crimes of high treason and conspiracy, officially stripped of their royal status and sentenced to death. However, Naofumi doesn't feel any better, as he knows from his dream what comes next. Melty feels sorry that many had suffered and even died (such as Raphtalia, Keel, and Rifana) due to their crimes. The audience, outside, thinks the death penalty to be too much even for Aultcray and Malty.

The public execution follows exactly the same as shown in Naofumi's dream. After the Queen explains the reasons which led to their deaths, the audience becomes outraged and demands them executed. Naofumi still questions whether death is what they truly deserve. Malty pleads help to Motoyasu but he simply looks away, so she turns to Naofumi, for the first time calling him by his given name, "Naofumi-sama", and begging for help. Her Slave Crest doesn't react, making Naofumi realize that her pleading is sincere, and cementing his view that this would not be a satisfying death for her. Upon also seeing that even the Queen herself is very reluctant and sad on going ahead with the execution, Naofumi suddenly orders to stop it, much to the surprise of everyone. With sadistic pleasure, he states that death is something too good and merciful for them to easily escape their punishment, so they may choose between being instantly killed or having their names permanently changed from Aultcray and Malty to "Trash" and "Bitch" respectively (with Malty's new adventurer name being "Slut" instead of "Myne"); such humiliation overjoys the crowd. Their death sentence is then officially lifted in exchange for this permanent tarnish on their lives. Queen Mirellia also declares the Three Heroes Church to be outlawed and abolished, with Melromarc's original faith, the "Church of Four Heroes", officially back as the country's official religion, with the Shield Hero being equally revered with the other three Heroes, again to the public's happiness as they throw away their old Church rosaries.

Queen Mirellia intends to hold a ceremony to generously award the Heroes, but Naofumi wants none of it; he instead declares that he, as a Cardinal Hero, will help all nations against future Waves, but may think about a reward later. At sunset, as Naofumi, Filo, and Raphtalia are departing, Melty vows to change Melromarc for the better, especially for demi-humans. After they are gone, Mirellia confesses to Melty that she would sacrifice herself in exchange for Malty and Aultcray, had Naofumi not stopped the execution. As Naofumi's party prepares to leave the Castle, the entire people and even the Knights respectfully pay their farewells. With happy tears, Melty thanks him for bringing her back home safely and sparing her family. Naofumi now smiles, as he feels he can be himself again, respected and revered as a true Hero. As one of the Four Cardinal Heroes, he reassures his vow to fight the Waves wherever they happen.

Light Novel & Manga Differences
Motoyasu does not defend Malty nearly as adamantly but in the end he still trusts her.

Trivia

 * This is the third episode without any opening theme.
 * The Queen confirmed Aultcray's hatred for the Shield Hero.
 * The status screen of the Queen is shown during Malty's slave registration, despite being mentioned in the first episode that Status Magic is exclusive to the Heroes.
 * This episode shows the first time for Malty to call Naofumi by his given name, and he was the only Hero whom Malty never called by name; however, in English dubbed versions, she had called Naofumi by his name at least twice (in episodes 2 and 13), without the "Mr." honorific.
 * This episode showed for the first time for Mald and Rishia Ivyred to talk on screen.

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