The Church of the Three Heroes

The Church of the Three Heroes, also named Three Heroes Church or 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 Three Heroes Church is a religion which originated from the pious sect of the Four Holy Heroes. The edicts of these sacrosanct's preaches that the Shield Hero is a devil bent on destroying the world, while the other three Heroes are viewed upon as Holy Gods. This is formed as the basis of the Melromarc's foundation which discriminated against Demi-Humans. In this clerical discipline, 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 that the Church of the Three Heroes may have formed due to Nafoumi's actions during their time travel to Mamoru's time line where Nafoumi completely routed Piensa's forces from invading Siltran. If this hypothesis is true, then Nafoumi is the reason for the shield hero to be labeled Devil of the shield.

The Items/Weapons of a Legendary Hero's weapon was stolen by The Church of the Three Heroes. Being swapped with a fake from the altar of the Church of Seven Star Heroes in Faubley, which was kept as 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 stand most conservative in behavior, willing to go to any means for their motives. The churchmen are more condescending towards Demi-humans, often calling them impure and devilish creatures. They also hold the royalty of Melromarc in contempt, often seeding followers within their societal echelons in order to upend it's matriarchal system so as to usurp power over the country.

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 Melromarcian following 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 instead had been 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 potential comrade throughout the nation, even before Naofumi himself came to know about the charges made against him. The nation immediately believed the accusation, for the clergy of the faith have been preaching for a century, that the Shield Hero was evil, therefore making it impossible for the Shield to find friendly allies. They continued spreading malicious slander by setting up fake Shield Heroes to commit various crimes and pinning the blame 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 a Holy Saint. Naofumi was recognized for his activity as a saint and people began to doubt the theists' discipline and fabricated misinformation. Some even started to stand up for him against such accusations. The other holy heroes also caused many problems for the people around the country, while Naofumi on the other hand. Happened to clean up their messes along his journey. This ultimately shook the idea surrounding alleged crimes against said heroic pietist the people initially had of whom.

Naofumi would again come to the church in search for holy water. Being formally introduced to the pope; Biscas T. Balmus, whom would later reprimand one amongst the nunnery for bringing the Shield a low quality item of which he sought when Naofumi addressed it as such. Parting with the holy order on amicable terms while said abbotcy secretly harbored ill design for the perceived Satan archetype. After returning for his, Raphtalia and Filo's class upgrade after battling against the Third Wave, with Naofumi emerging victorious, while the other three heroes were defeated with much ease by the calamity. Such events causes the Church of the Three Heroes to become more anxious. A surly Nun would demand 15 Gold coins per head to receive them, hoping to see his despair of being unable to pay, but after hearing he was ready & willing to compensate such a stipend at the cost of forsaking his own upgrade, she produced a document of the trash king's order which prohibited his parties rank up.

After the trio left and were met by the second princess shortly afterwards. The Church finally plotted to spring into action; with intent killing the next queen and pin the blame on Naofumi. They even proclaimed those who speak in support of Naofumi to be brainwashed via a supposed mind controlling shield possessed by the latter and convinced the other failed heroes to kill him; secretly plotting to have them done away with as well for their failures.

They used shadows of their support group to inform the other saints of the accursed shield's whereabouts. After some transparent incidence, followed by encouragement from Naofumi, Ren and Itsuki began to have suspicions and started investigating the churches actions, leading the pope to annihilate them first. Later, they informed Motoyasu that Naofumi killed the other heroes, culminating in a fight between The Shield and Spear Heroes. The truth wouldn't finally be revealed until after they survived Pope Balmus and his cult's Judgement attack that leveled a major continental checkpoint. Where the high priest revealed his ultimate goal of killing off the heroes and the Devil of the Shield before disposing of the royal family of Melromarc in a demented holy war to overtake the country in the name of their god.

After the bow and sword hero revealed that they'd survived the assassination attempt, the four heroes begrudgingly fought a hard battle together against the fanatics. 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. This greatly enrages the Shield ending with the religious figure meeting a grizzly end at the hands of the hated Shield Hero after being assisted by imperial armed forces led by The Queen.

Queen Mirella speculated the reason that the Church of the Three Heroes didn't kill Naofumi in the beginning was to avoid war with the world. Said zealot sect hopping the Waves would kill him. Due to the naivety of the other Heroes, the fanatics had an easy time controlling and using them for their bidding. The denomination 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 at risk, but also put the world in crisis.

After the Church was exposed and Naofumi's name was cleared, the Queen proclaimed the Church of the Three Heroes' heresy and disbanded their faith. With most people soon abandoning it in short order. There were still some factions in the country where people and nobles who participated in abusing and discriminating demi humans and the moderate anti-shield aristocracy still followed the fossilized religion. But they too were slowly in decline without the church's backing for support.

The anti-shield moderate nobles were aiding the seditious sanction behind the scenes. To counter, Nafoumi informally founded Chivalrous Thief Guild. Some remnants of the floundering heretics joined hands with vanguards of the waves along with Malty, Woman 2, Mald and some of Ituki's other companion's. They crossed the world and joined hands with the individuals behind the waves, in-order to take revenge on the Heroes.

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 sacred party's atrocious actions.
 * Nuns: Many amongst the nunnery serve to impede the devil of the shield for the ambition of their faith.
 * Shadows: There is a sect of Shadows who are affiliated with the Cult.
 * Idol Rabier: A fanatical devotee to the Cult of Three Heroes and Raphtalia's former owner. Killed in an attempt to end the Shield Demon.

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 personal gain. Mald and the Bow Hero's former comrades joined hands with the remnant of the three heroes Cult against the Shield Hero along with his demi human allies.

They were also financially aided by many noble families and clerical aids - some of whom collect pass fees and enact heavy taxations to fund their Cult.

One such affiliate of whom was taken down by Itsuki, consequently earning their ire towards him. Even before the brainwashing event many moderate anti-Shield Hero Faction of nobles were found to fund the Cult in its endeavors of theocratic supremacy.

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.